Mar 25
How Malaria Defeats Our Drugs
Posted in: Today's Chili
In the war against malaria, one small corner of the globe has repeatedly turned the tide, rendering our best weapons moot and medicine on the brink of defeat. Ed Yong reports.
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Mar 22
For nearly a century, scientists assumed the human nose was capable of discerning about 10,000 different odors. Turns out, that number was missing a whole bunch of zeroes—new research shows that the human nose can detect over 1,000,000,000,000 distinct scents. Tell your dog to quit being so smug.
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Mar 20
On the heels of great news that dark chocolate really is good for you
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Mar 20
Tequila is the answer to many of life’s problems—and now, a sweetener made from the stuff might just be the answer to our diabetes and obesity pandemics, too.
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Mar 20
Is Gluten Actually Bad For You?
Posted in: Today's Chili
These days, just casually strolling down a grocery aisle, one can find a multitude of gluten-free products. From gluten-free whole grain bread to gluten-free beer to gluten-free Betty Crocker chocolate brownie mix, the market for food items without gluten has exploded over the past decade. But is gluten all that bad for you? Should a normal person avoid gluten in their diet
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Mar 19
Thanks to what looks like a little square of jello, you could tell your milk has gone bad without even opening the (gross-smelling) container. The gel is actually a nanorod-embedded smart tag that changes from red to green, mimicking the growth of bacteria in milk without touching it
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Mar 19
A long vertical pipe sits against white-painted brickwork in the corner of a cramped storeroom. Two men wearing orange boiler suits and gloves crouch at its base. One uses a scraper to remove lumps of what looks like wet papier-mâché from the outside of the pipe, into a red bag held by the other.
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Mar 18
Toshiba just took the wraps off a medical breathalyzer that the company says can diagnose diseases by analyzing the air a patient exhales. "Bad breath" just took on a whole new meaning.
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Mar 18
Can Stun Guns Cause Cardiac Arrest?
Posted in: Today's Chili
Most of us have probably laughed at someone on television getting shocked by a stun gun. They tense up and fall to the ground, seizing like an epileptic. Once the shocking stops, the person gets up, seemingly unharmed. The occasional wet-your-pants complication is classic humor! All joking aside, there have been several reports showing the use of high voltage stun guns, like the Taser, (known in the medical world as electronic control devices { ECD’s}) can (rarely) cause cardiac arrest.
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Mar 17
Late last year we found out about Looking Glass, a volumetric printing service. Each 3D object consists of printed slices stacked and stuck together in a case. This month the company relaunched with a better and more affordable service.
I talked with Looking Glass founder Shawn Frayne shortly before their relaunch. Shawn said they’ve “made dramatic improvements in the resolution and color-fidelity” of their product since we first heard about them. They can also now make prints out of CT scan data, in addition to .obj, .ply and .skp files. With the help of these improvements, Shawn said that they’re barely keeping up with orders. Doctors in particular have been asking Shawn for prints of CT scans.
The two images above show a Looking Glass print of an injured foot based on CT scan data. Shawn says it’s the first volumetric printed object with varying opacity. Speaking of which, Shawn said that Looking Glass isn’t looking to compete with 3D printing services. The company is focused on making prints that are great to look at instead of ones that are meant to be touched or used.
In my first article about Looking Glass, I mused that the prints would be much better if the slices were removable. Shawn said he’s gotten requests about that option as well and that it is possible, though his company isn’t going to offer that option anytime soon. I wonder if making the slices removable is a lot more complicated than it sounds.
Shawn did offer an alternative to my suggestion. Instead of one Looking Glass print with removable slices, the company can take a 3D model and split it into multiple prints: “We do however offer cross-sectional prints, where several Looking Glasses can be combined like building blocks to reconstruct, say, a heart or enlarged cell volumetric image. When these blocks are pulled apart, the internals of the volumetric image can then be examined.”
Looking Glass accepts orders online if your source file is .obj or .ply. Their standard size is 9 cm x 5 cm x 4 cm (approx. 3.5″ x 2″ x 1.6″), and costs $65 (USD) plus $10 shipping anywhere in the world. Email Shawn at smf[at]lookingglassfactory.com for other print requests, such as printing from CT scan data or printing large objects. Shawn says they can make prints as large as a person if they want to. You can also check out and buy customer-submitted prints on the Looking Glass site.
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