Daily Bits

noemi

Printing in 3D with Bone

by

3D printing is fast growing in popularity, and while access to 3D printing may not be that prevalent yet, the interest is definitely there. People have been printing all sorts of things in 3D these days – even chess sets! I don’t think there’s anything cooler – as of now – as what Juliana Meira do Valle and Michael Storey have done. Juliana is a DXArts/Art major and Michael is a Mechanical Engineering major. That is a perfect combination for this kind of project, don’t you think?

Basically, they decided to make meal to use as material for 3D printing. With this meal, they printed out, well, bones. How did they do it? They had two recipes for the bone meal.

Initial Bone Recipe

Powdered Bone Meal — 5 parts by weight.
12x Powdered Sugar — 1 part by weight.
MaltoDextrin —- 1 part by weight.

The other recipe resulted from the fact that they needed something stronger.

Secondary Bone Recipe

Powdered Bone Meal — 4-5 parts by weight.
UF plastic resin glue — 1 part by weight.

The result? Awesomely realistic bones!
3d Bones

This project has huge potential in many different aspects. Think about it – if someone can create “real” bone material, then 3D printing can be used for a host of medical purposes! Less critical – perhaps – but no less interesting is printing out entire skeletons for museums and similar purposes! Mark my words, we are going to hear about 3D printing a whole lot more in the months to come. In the meantime, hats off to these two students!

Via Open3dp

Why Pi Is Wrong

by

2Pi
I am going out on a limb here and throw a challenge to hardcore Pi lovers out there.  It feels weird, to be honest, as I have made it a point to “celebrate” Pi Day ever since I heard about it.  In fact, yesterday, I joined countless other people around the world in making a toast to 3.1415…

One day after International Pi Day, however, I discovered a video by Vi Hart, who is a self-proclaimed anti-Pi person. So why is Pi wrong? Allow Vi to explain it all to you – with a nice looking raspberry (I think) pie to boot.

Indeed, every math student who had to struggle with all those formulas might agree with Vi.  I have to be honest and say that I love how Vi neatly illustrates how Pi makes things confusing.  Still, I am not about to abandon the idea of celebrating Pi every year.  If, however, you want an alternative to Pi, check out The Tau Manifesto.

Via Vi Hart

The Best Use for Pizza Box Supports

by

I know someone who is very handy with old boxes and those sorts of things.  He’d get “trash” and cut them up to make them useful – like a DIY iPad stand, for example.  But, have you ever thought of making something useful out of those plastic pizza box supports that come with every pizza you order?  If you’re anything like me, you’ll end up with so many of those things.  Either that or you just throw them away every time.

Here’s a cool idea from Serious Eats: recycled pizza box support as a mobile phone stand.

Pizza Box Support

It’s rather simple, actually.  You just need to get that plastic thingamajig, and make sure you wash it thoroughly.  I would think that dishwashing liquid can remove all that grease.  (The last thing that you would want is grease to get all over your phone and probably ruin it.) Snip off the front leg and mount your mobile phone.  I am not sure about the angle – you might have to do a little bit of cutting off here and there to get your desired angle, but you get the idea.  I say it’s a cheap – not to mention semi-creative – alternative to mobile phone stands that you can buy today.

This got me thinking – what other “everyday things” can you turn into something useful like a mobile phone stand?

Via Serious Eats

 

Perhaps the Coolest Carnival Costume This Year

by

Carnival is a season that is celebrated in various parts of the world. It is normally conducted right before Lent starts, and different areas have their own ways of celebrating. From Asia to Europe to North America to South America, Carnival is something that countless people look forward to. One thing is common: Carnival is full of festivities and fun.

Most people may know about Carnival as celebrate in places such as Brazil and Germany, but did you know that it is also celebrate in the tiny country of Cyprus? This island has a long tradition of celebrating Carnival, and can be traced to the times of Venetian rule in the 16th century. Much like many other celebrations, the Cypriot Carnival is characterized by parties, parades, and people dressing up in their most creative costumes and putting on fabulous makeup.

Speaking about creative, here is a short video clip of a guy who just might have the best Carnival costume this year. Shot in the streets of Limassol, where the Carnival is mainly celebrated, the video shows a guy in a Transformers get up.

I have to say that the costume as a whole can have cleaner lines, but the fact that he was able to create one that actually transforms smoothly deserves two thumbs up! This is definitely way better than that parody video of Optimus Prime I posted some time ago!

Google Person Finder for Those in Japan

by

People Finder
The whole world is watching the events unfold in the east following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan earlier today. Though the country is the most prepared country in the world for this kind of natural disaster, today’s event is another reminder of how helpless us humans can be when the forces of nature are unleashed.

While many of our readers may not be directly affected by the earthquake and the following tsunamis, let us collectively show our support to our fellowmen in whatever way we can.

If you know anyone who is affected by the earthquake and tsunamis, or you have any information related to the disaster, here is a tool that you can use. Google has come up with a People Finder site, which is both in English and Japanese.

Let’s say a prayer for everyone out there.

Ecotopia: A Worthwhile Facebook Game?

by

Ecotopia
For some reason, I have never gotten into FarmVille, which is perhaps the most popular Facebook game of all time. I did find myself wasting lots of hours on CityVille, though, for reasons I cannot explain. Now, here comes another game, which aims to catch the attention of the hordes of people already addicted to Facebook games. Called Ecotopia, the game seems to have some similarities with CityVille and other games in the same category. The big difference is that Ecotopia is being touted as a “green game”. It is being developed by Talkie, in cooperation Conservation International, with Hollywood star Harrison Ford’s support.

The game has not been launched yet, but there is already a Facebook page for Ecotopia. According to what the developers, the game is:

  1. Eco-friendly
  2. A heroes-versus-villain adventure
  3. Players start with an environment that is dirty and inhabitable. The task is to generate resources and eventually create one’s own utopia – with the good of the environment always a prime consideration.

Just like all other social games on Facebook, players can connect to their friends and interact with them via the game. Indeed, no social game will be complete without these features. For those who may already be raising their eyebrows and thinking that the game is nothing more than an escape from reality, Ecotopia does reach out to the real world. I don’t know exactly how the system will work, but the developers say that “players will also be heavily rewarded for performing real-world acts of green and incorporating them into their Ecotopia gaming experience.”

I know many of my Facebook friends do not care about my fish, my mafia, or my city; but if Ecotopia is going to be good as it is being hyped up, I wouldn’t mind risking the ire of some Facebook friends for a worthy cause. Shall we give it a try when it comes out on the 4th of April?