3D Printing News
Note: we are now including articles on plant-based foods in the field of vegan nutrition.

The Journal of Cranofacial Surgery reports on the progress being made using AI to identify and improve the results of custom implants for damaged facial tissue. AI can help with material selection and design by providing faster and more precise choices. Even so, further research is needed to more smoothly integrate AI into biomedical procedures.

Scientists are using the gene-editing tool CRISPR to improve the ability of a fungus to produce protein. The process reduces the environmental impact by 61%. The altered fungus has a flavor resembling meat and is easier to digest than the wild fungus. Microbial proteins found in yeast and fungi are drawing increased attention since animal agriculture adds about 14% to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The specific fungus being tested is Fusarium venenatum which has already been approved for human consumption in the U.S., China, and the U.K.

Barilla Group, maker of my favorite pastas since they contain no additives like soy lithium, has opened a new Innovation and Technoloigy center in Parma, Italy, to use 3D printing in their sauces, pastas, and bakery products. The new facility employs 200 specialists who cooperate with universities and research institutions. The laboratories use electronic noses, AI-driven sensors, holographic design systems, and 3D printing to output a new brand combining culinary art with "design craftsmanship". Initial results include pasta shapes that were previously impossible to manufacture and offer "a multisensory dining experience."

A new device can measure gait, improving physical therapy programs and custom orthotic design. Being tested at the pediatric rehabilitation clinic in Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University, is a portable mat with a pressure-sensitive walkway. The device, called the GAITRite, brings together physical, occupational, and speech therapists to treat infants from children to young adults. Gait patterns being studied include how long patients spend on the left foot versus the right foot, the distance they swing their legs and how much weight each leg is bearing.

A new noninvasive wearable device measures blood flow to the brain. The data is essential to diagnose and begin treatment for neurological disorders like stroke, vascular dementia, or traumatic brain injury. Current methods are far more challenging, like MRI and nuclear medicine imaging. The new device is easy to use and less expensive. It accurately measures blood flow to the brain as opposed to blood flow to the scalp. The new system employs a 3D printed head mount which was tested on 20 healthy volunteers.

A Ph. D student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has created an energy-saving method to change 2D structures into curved structures while in space. This system resolves the cost and difficulty of transporting large structures like satellite dishes into space. The new process uses pure resin and a continuous carbon fiber 3D printer to print bundles of fiber, with each fiber about the diameter of a human hair. The 3D printed resin is frozen, then reactivated with a low-energy heat stimulus that turns it into a curved 3D shape. This method, called frontal polymerization, eliminates the need for autoclaves large enough to cure a full-size satellite dish. The scientists were able to create 5 different configurations, including a cone, a twist, a saddle, a spiral cylinder, and a parabolic dish. Their inspiration came from a Japanese art form called kirigami, which can produce cuts in addition to the folds seen in origami.

Ready for the fall/winter weather, Cookiecad has produced a special limited-edition PLA with a pumpkin scent. The resin, priced at $34.95 USD for a 1kg spool, sold out instantly but scented resins are clearly on the horizon. Coffee, tea, and bamboo are available elsewhere, as well as mosquito-repelling citronella filament.

Milan Fashion Week brought out some fascinating 3D printed footwear. The examples shown here might not help you carry your groceries but they are certainly fun to look at.

A new prototpe of a 3D printing knitting machine has been developed at Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon. The machine builds up solid shapes with horizontal layers of stitches. The work was presented at an ACM symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in Busan, Korea on Sept. 30 under the title "Using an Array of Needles to Create Solid Knitted Shapes". The machine has a bed of knitting needles arranged in a 6x6 block, with each block made up of a printed symmetrical double hook attached to a brass support tube. The machine can knit or purl. and the researchers have worked out a library of code for each type of stitch.

A tiny 3D printer with a printhead the size of a sesame seed could mend vocal cords in real time during surgery. It seems that up to 9% of people develop vocal cord disorders during their lives. Contributing factors include acid reflux, smoking, chronic coughing, abnormal growths and cancers. While still a prototype, the new device is part of an ongoing effort to produce minimally invasive processes for surgery, but most of the available methods are too large to work with vocal cords.

Many companies are using high-tech and confusing language to disguise the fact that plastics are part of their product or their process, especially in the food industry. Buyer beware. Demand an easy-to-understand explanation before you eat or buy.

We review many hundreds of articles each month, culling the most significant for you. We also welcome suggestions from our viewers for products and processes that we may have missed.

c.Corinne Whitaker 2025