Rapid Ready Roundup: Oddities and Men in Black 3

In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing, I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.

This won’t be your standard Rapid Ready Roundup. Today I’m going to focus on some of the … unusual uses people or businesses have found for 3D printing. It’s always interesting to see how additive manufacturing (AM) inspires people to think outside the box.

Starting with the most conventional use, Men in Black 3  has hit the theaters, sporting its own array of oddities in the form of aliens and weird technology. Sony Pictures contracted San Francisco-based service bureau, Moddler, to create prototypes of the props used in the movies. Moddler used an Objet Eden 500 to print the props — including a whole tray of Beretta prototypes.

Moving down (or up, depending on how you look at it) the ladder of strange, billionaire Peter Thiel has invested $350,000 in a company named Modern Meadow to further research the 3D printing of meat. From the company’s USDA submission:

The objective of this proposal is to construct muscle tissues by a novel and versatile tissue engineering technology and to assess their texture and composition for use as minced meat … The ultimate product that will be developed based on the proposed studies is an animal muscle strip that can be used as minced meat for the preparation of sausages, patties and nuggets.

Next we have the Japanese company, Fasotec, offering to create pregnancy memorabilia by using an ultrasound picture and AM to build a 3D-printed replica of fetuses. The multi-material keepsake uses white resin to build the fetus and surrounds it with a clear material in the shape of the mother’s uterus. Each 90x60x40 mm sculpture costs $1,230 and comes with its own display box.

Last, Inition co-founder Andy Milns used an MRI scan of his brain to have the organ printed out in chocolate. Perhaps feeling his zombie, Milns then ate the candy grey matter. The AM system responsible for this unusual treat was 3D Systems’ ZPrinter 450.

“I’ve been involved in some weird 3D projects over the years at Inition, but eating my own chocolate brain was one of the most bizarre,” said Milns.

Below you’ll find a short video about Miln’s experience.

Sources: Inition, Objet, Geekosystem, io9