3D Printing News Unpeeled: Concrete Mix, Saving Endangered Species

Nabam Bapu, Anang Tadar and Likha Nana of Papum Pare in India have started a firm, Arunachal Ivory and Ornaments, which uses 3D printing to recreate ivory, wild boar teeth, clouded leopard teeth as well as eagle talons. The team hope to sell the items as well as supply them to tribes so that they don't have to hunt animals to extinction in order to carry out their rituals. 

Kamal Khayat of the Missouri University of Science and Technology got a grant of $1.4 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make an artificial intelligence tool to determine the best composition of locally available materials for 3D printed concrete aggregate and admix. This could save a lot of money and time for the military in letting them ship in less material from overseas and even use materials such as ground glass and other local materials in the aggregate. 

Zvonko Vugreshek of Pixolid has worked with designer Lilian Van Daal to make a lamp using text prompt AI. The lamp plays with transparency and repeats certain natural structures. Machine learning, it's the new voronoi.