With a few notable exceptions, just about all 3D printing up to this point has been done with plastic as a base material. A collaboration between MIT’s Mediated Matter Group, MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and MIT’s Glass Lab has led to a pretty exciting advancement: 3D printing with molten glass.

The group calls their process G3DP. It involves an upper cartridge acting as a kiln at up to 1900 degrees Fahrenheit. The lower chamber anneals the molten glass, allowing it to cool slowly, letting the newly-printed structure harden. The team figured out that by precisely adjusting the orientation and thickness of the optically transparent glass, they can closely control the light transmission, reflection, and refraction qualities of the finished objects.

That may sound a little like mumbo-jumbo, and the video only seems to focus on the (admittedly very impressive) artistic value of the G3DP method. But in simpler terms, it means that this method might help us make higher-quality, less-expensive fiber optics in the near future. It could even be used as a simpler method of making eyeglass lenses – and the decorative possibilities are still a pretty big part of the G3DP method’s appeal, of course. Just imagine these gorgeous bespoke light fixtures all throughout your house!

The post Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot: MIT’s 3D Printing Uses Molten Glass first appeared on Gajitz.

Scientists have created the coolest way to use lasers we’ve seen in a while. A team at University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics made a superhydrophobic surface that causes water to bounce right off of it like a SuperBall hitting the floor.

The material was made by using lasers to etch microscopic structures into the metal. Unlike current chemical nonstick coatings, the etching won’t degrade and wear away over time. (We’re looking at you, 10-year-old “non-stick” Teflon pans.)

The team behind the etched metal was inspired by nature’s many hydrophobic, self-cleaning surfaces. They use the example of the lotus leaf: it is extremely hydrophobic and uses this quality to keep its surface clean of dirt and debris.

Studying the lotus leaf up close yielded the discovery that the lotus leaf surface is covered in a hierarchal structure of patterns on the micro and nano scales. They recreated the same type of structure in their multi-functional hydrophobic surfaces to induce the crazy water-bouncing effect seen in their videos.

Possible uses for the new superhydrophobic surface are widely varied and completely awesome: waterless toilets, ice-proof airplane wings, smoother flowing air conditioning pipes, anti-microbial coatings, and effective rust-proofing.

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The next time you pick up an eco-friendly pair of shoes, you might actually be wearing the byproduct of the thriving pineapple industry. A new textile called Piñatex has the potential to push environmentally-harmful products like leather, vinyl, and even cotton out of the way. And, interestingly enough, it is made from the discarded leaves of pineapple trees.

Carmen Hijosa invented Piñatex while working in the leather industry. On a business trip to the Phillippines, she witnessed first-hand the toxic effect the industry had on the environment and on its workers. On the same trip, however, she was struck by a brilliant idea: the ridiculously abundant natural fibers in the Phillippines could be used as a harmless and versatile substitute. After years of research and development, Hijosa founded the company Ananas Anam and patented her invention.

Once the fruit is harvested from the pineapple tree, the tree is left to rot. Hijosa developed a method in which the otherwise-wasted leaves from those trees are harvested, degummed, and put through a process that turns them into a non-woven textile comparable to felt or leather. The Piñatex can then be stamped to resemble other materials such as metallic vinyl, leather, or snakeskin.

The most exciting aspect of Piñatex is that it is completely sustainable and uses no more water than it takes to grow the plants, which are already being grown for the food industry. Even cotton, long considered an eco-friendly textile, uses an alarming amount of water in its production. Piñatex is currently being tested in real-world applications such as clothing and upholstery, and it has the potential to become an incredibly versatile, Earth-friendly alternative to traditional textiles.

The post Next-Gen Eco-Friendly Leather Comes From Pineapple Trees first appeared on Gajitz.

The solar panels we know today are bulky, dark things we bolt on to roofs or maybe plop some out in the desert to collect rays. Chemical engineers and material scientists at the Michigan State University’s School of Engineering have been working on a new type of solar harvester that looks just like a transparent, luminescent pane of glass.

UM’s solar concentrators can be applied to just about any clear surface, including windows and cell phone screens. Previous attempts have used colored glass and were quite inefficient, rendering them annoying to say the least.

The new generation is colorless and works by using small organic molecules to absorb invisible wavelengths of sunlight: near infrared and ultraviolet. These special molecules move the captured rays the edge of the panels where they are picked up by thin photovoltaic cell strips and converted to electricity. The center of the panel is left free to capture solar power and still act as a window or phone screen.

Because the panels only work with light that is invisible to the human eye, they look completely transparent. The research team believes that they can scale the design up to encompass entire office buildings – but for now, we’d be happy with a phone that charges itself every time we pull it out of our pockets.

The post Clear Charging: Solar Cells Just as Transparent as Windows first appeared on Gajitz.

Plastics are one of the biggest threats to environmental health, and have been for over half a century. They never break down into compounds that can be absorbed by the earth; they just get distributed all around the world by a variety of methods, harming animals and clogging waterways. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have introduced a material that could take the place of conventional plastics – and it’s completely natural.

The new material is called shrilk, and it’s made of the same biological material as shrimp shells, which just so happens to be the second most abundant natural material on the planet. Chitosan is a form of chitin, a material that can be found in insect shells, crustacean carapaces, and butterfly wings. The researchers chose to synthesize the material from shrimp shells because they are abundant and most often discarded after they are removed from the shrimp.

Although there have been previous attempts to make biodegradable plastics to replace the harmful ones we currently use, those materials are often not robust enough to make objects like toys and cell phones. The method used to make shrilk is inexpensive and allows it to be made into objects by injection molding or traditional casting.

Shrilk is not only made from an environmentally safe material; they are biodegradable and begin to break down within a few weeks. When they do, they leave behind beneficial materials that actually support the planet’s health. In an early shrilk experiment, the bio-plastic was placed into a container with a black eyed pea plant and provided vital nutrients to the plant. Since we obviously can’t keep using and discarding plastic in the way we do now, shrilk might just be the answer to our packaging and product needs.

The post Mighty Shrimp: Tough Bio-Plastic Made From Shrimp Shells first appeared on Gajitz.