By Brian Berletic

3D printing started out as a novelty for many, producing toys and trinkets. But as more and more people experiment with 3D printers, and push them to their limits, the more practical uses 3D printing seems to have.

An incredible story has emerged from Eisen Lab at Berkeley University, California. The lab does genetic research, and an important part of genetic research includes visualizing the results of your research through electrophoresis. Even if you know nothing about genetic research, you have probably seen the DNA bands produced by electrophoresis when viewed under ultraviolet lighting (pictured above).

To make these patterns, researchers create a gel and use “combs” to place in the gel as it sets. Once fully set, the comb is removed and the well that is left is ready to receive prepared samples. Electricity is passed over the gel in a solution, and DNA fragments are pulled through the gel, separating depending on their length. Longer fragments travel a short distance, while shorter fragments make their way further to the other side of the gel. What results are the distinctive bands associated with genetic research.

The combs, among all the other equipment, are perhaps the simplest, and one would think the cheapest to replace. However, a blog post by Russell Neches who had been working in Eisen Lab, found out they were about  $51 each! $51 for a piece of plastic!

So Russell went about measuring preexisting combs, designing them in 3D on a computer using OpenSCAD, and printing them out, each for about 21 cents. For the cost of a cup of coffee, he would eventually print out what would have cost him $150 to buy from the lab’s regular supplier (shipping not included?).

Of course, you cannot autoclave (using heat and pressure to sterilize equipment) most 3D printed items, unless you make a mold with 3D printing and pour into it a resin that can be autoclaved. But at 21 cents a piece, they are nearly disposable, and will certainly finish printing before even the fastest delivery service would arrive. Recycling the plastic may also be a possibility, and the heat involved would likely kill any pathogen present.

3D printing can be used to make many other pieces of lab equipment. Several designs that we’ve developed for various users are featured in a collection maintained by ProgressTH on MakerBot’s Thingiverse 3D library.

In the future, not only will personal manufacturing help save money at existing labs, it will make building a new lab possible for those who could never afford to do so before.

This will be essential as breakthroughs are made in gene therapy, opening the door to customizable treatments effective like nothing else before, but will require a vast decentralized infrastructure of cheap lab equipment to administer these custom-tailored treatments to those who need them most.

Brian Berletic writes for ProgressTH.org. Follow ProgressTH.org on Facebook here or on Twitter here. 

By Joshua Krause

These days everyone is talking about automation, and how robots may take millions of our jobs over the next 20 years. By some estimates, this new wave of automation could wipe out nearly half of the jobs that exist today, and what will replace them isn’t exactly clear. The rapid advance of digital technology has spawned an existential crisis in the workforce of the developed world.

However, robots that work for other humans are just the tip of the iceberg. There are all kinds of ways that robots could drastically change life for humans, and not in a good way. If anything, the robots that are coming to our workplaces are pretty tame compared to some of the stuff we’re going to see in the near future. Buckle up, because the following is pretty weird.

Researchers in Amsterdam recently created robots that can ‘mate’ and create offspring in a roundabout way. Each robot is programmed with a genome that determines their software and hardware. They can communicate with each other through WiFi, and combine that information randomly to create a new genome, which is then sent to a 3D printer. Thus, a new robot is born in a way that resembles evolution in nature. So what could be so advantageous about teaching robots to reproduce themselves in this manner?

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In the Robot Baby Project at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, scientists have developed a way for robots to have ‘sex’ and pass on their DNA to offspring.

Doing this can allow them to ‘develop their bodies through evolution,’ making for successive generations that have more advanced physical and behavioural capabilities.

As the process continues, the researchers say robots can become more suitable for use in unknown environments that could be hazardous to humans, like deep sea mines or even other planets.

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Of course, all great technologies are by their nature, a double-edged sword. Every technology that can be used for good can also be used for evil. Or even with the best of intentions, any new technology can lead to horrific accidents. Self-reproducing robots will be no different.

Right now these little robots seem novel and harmless, but when combined with other advances that are on the horizon, they could be a serious threat. Right now we already have artificial intelligence algorithms with the capability to learn and retain information, and we already have robots that can consume matter from the environment for energy. Altogether, science has laid the groundwork for machines that act like living creatures. They could in the very foreseeable future, think, eat, and reproduce.

Think of the applications that a foreign military or a terrorist organization would see in this. They could plop a few self replicating bots in a city or in the wilderness, and give them a single non-negotiable order to say, consume and destroy a certain resource, spy on the population, or just flat-out kill everything they see. These automated bots would multiply, evolve, and learn as they carry out their mission. They could adapt to any attempts to combat them, and once they’re unleashed, they may be impossible to fully exterminate.

To be clear, that scenario is a long way off. The ability to think independently, consume resources from the environment, and reproduce, are all quite primitive in robots. Jellyfish are probably more proficient at all three of those tasks, and they don’t even have brains.

But as minor as these reproducing robots may seem, you can’t ignore the implications of what they may be capable of in the future. If ever there was a technology that could escape our ability to control and manage it, this is it.

Also Read: Robots to Breed with Each Other and Humans by 2045

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .

By Everett Numbers

California law will no longer look the other way on homemade guns, or “ghost guns,” as gun control advocates call them. Building a gun from parts or a 3D printer will soon require a background check. It will also require that a state-provided serial number be permanently affixed to the weapon.

Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed Assembly Bill 857 into law on Friday, much to the chagrin of gun rights groups. Brown had vetoed similar legislation in 2014, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“I appreciate the author’s concerns about gun violence, but I can’t see how adding a serial number to a homemade gun would significantly advance public safety,” Brown wrote two years ago, the Bee reported.

Enough has apparently changed in that time; while California Senate President pro-Tempore Kevin de León’s (D-Los Angeles) 2014 bill failed, the 2016 version pushed by Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) succeeded.

In addition to requiring a background check through the state’s Department of Justice in order to obtain an official serial number, the builder of the homemade gun is prohibited from selling or transferring the weapon under the new law. It goes into full effect in 2019, according to the Associated Press.

Proponents of the “ghost gun” regulations claimed that without the law, Californians would be endangered by felons or others barred from owning guns simply 3D printing or building their own. Gun rights advocates, however, see the law as only hurting non-criminals.

“In addition to many other terminal issues presented in the bill, AB 857 fails to conform its exemptions to federal law, thereby placing potentially hundreds of thousands of good, law-abiding people at the mercy of an unconstitutionally vague criminal statute,” the Firearms Policy coalition argued in June before the bill was passed.

The group issued another statement following the California legislature’s approval of the bill.

“California gun owners will have to carefully weigh the risks of compliance before submitting to an openly tyrannical government that puts them and their Constitutionally-protected property in the crosshairs of a growing police state,” the Firearms Policy Coalition said in a statement Friday.

Before the new law was passed, “unfinished” lower receivers were made and sold to construct guns that would be legally untraceable. These parts usually consist of a trigger, firing pin, and an ammunition feeding mechanism.

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This article (3D Printed and Homemade ‘Ghost Guns’ Must Now Be Registered in California) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Everett Numbers and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article atedits@theantimedia.org.

Also Read: Activist Post’s Chronicle of 3D-printed Weapons

By Nicholas West

As further proof that technology is indeed a double-edged sword, the U.S. Army is seeking to utilize the wonder of 3D printing to create a faster way to deploy pervasive surveillance.

3D-printed military drones have been explored for several years, with some successes reported. In May of 2013, Robo Raven was announced which incorporated 3D-printed components to produce independently flapping wings.

This development was followed shortly after by the Department of Defense funding a project at the University of Virginia for what would become the first fully 3D-printed military-grade drone, called The Razor. At the time of the announcement, it was expected that a full drone could be produced in approximately 30 hours at a price per unit of around $800.

Now, several years later, the military is seeking to combine advancements in 3D printing with a trend toward drone miniaturization into a project that will offer the capability for soldiers in the battlespace to produce their own quadcopter drones within 24 hours.

The Army Research Laboratory, as part of the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments, tested the prototype – a quadcopter they are calling ODSUAS – and reported a successful test with speeds up to 55 mph.

A Defense One report highlights the plans, which also could eventually incorporate advancements in artificial intelligence to produce autonomous swarms of these mini-drones. My emphasis added.

…A new project by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Georgia Technical Institute just might help. It aims to give soldiers the ability to 3D-print swarms of mini-drones to specific specifications within 24 hours. Its creators call this approach “aggregate derivative approach to product design,” or ADAPT.

“A soldier with a mission need uses a computer terminal to rapidly design a suitable [drone],” says a poster by project chief engineer Zacarhy Fisher. “That design is then manufactured using automated processes such as laser cutting and 3D printing. The solution is sent back to the soldier and is deployed.”

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Fisher says the drone itself could be fabricated in less than a day, with total turnaround time of less than three days….

The trick is to limit the number of potential build options around one of the four different tasks a soldier might need a small drone for. Previous research from Georgia Tech has identified those as perimeter surveillance and defense, reconnaissance for inside buildings, reconnaissance for inside caves, and jungle reconnaissance. Depending on the mission type, you know if you need a video camera, target designator, light detection and ranging and other pieces.

The authors describe the basic approach as inspired by Lego.

“The on-demand approach is succinctly explained via an analogy to Lego®,” they write. “Lego® bricks contain a number of modular parts that can be constructed into different models depending on what outcome is desired. Instructions are provided to help the user build different systems out of the same set of components.” At the beginning of December, the researchers performed a demonstration on several of the drones at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

Future capabilities could include combining 3D printing, drones, and artificial intelligence, an of research being led by Kyrre Glette at the University of Oslo, who in 2014 demonstrated the first steps in program to allow robots to 3D-print themselves.

Full Defense One report available here

It is this final scenario which tends to worry even ardent supporters of technology and military development. A swarm of robots that can self-replicate and make decisions about surveillance and targeting without human input conjures up every warning we have ever received from the annals of science fiction. Now that science fiction is become a clearer reality with each passing day, we would be wise to no longer dismiss those cautionary tales.

In the following videos you can see 3D-printed drones in action, and a hint at the future of miniaturized drone swarms in the final video.

Robo Raven

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjOWpwbnmTw?feature=oembed&w=777&h=437]

The Razor

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwRD7UBGecg?feature=oembed&w=777&h=437]

ODSUAS (on-demand small unmanned aircraft system)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXTeIi6kq-E?feature=oembed&w=777&h=437]

Air Force “Bugbot” Nano Drone Swarms Of The Future

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78mgfKprdg?feature=oembed&w=777&h=437]

Nicholas West writes for ActivistPost.com. This article can be freely republished in part or in full with author attribution and source link.

By Daniel Lang

The last thing you would expect is for the US military to create a 3D printed gun. After all, you’d think that an organization as large and well funded as our military wouldn’t need plastic guns. 3D printers are for people who don’t have massive factories at their disposal, but the Army has the military-industrial complex.

Nonetheless, the US Army recently revealed that they have created a 3D printed grenade launcher, which they have appropriately dubbed RAMBO or Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance. It was designed by the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command and the U.S. Army Manufacturing Technology Program.

RAMBO contains only 50 parts, and with the exception of a few springs and fasteners, is all 3D printed. However, not all of these pieces are plastic. The barrel and receiver are aluminum, and were printed by a metal sintering machine. The Army is also working on printing the 40mm ammunition that goes with the weapon. Early tests show that the weapon functions, and now the Army is testing its reliability under long-term use.

So why does the army want to build 3D printed weapons in the first place? They don’t explicitly say, but RAMBO and its ammo was designed and produced in 6 months, which is far shorter than what it would take to create a new weapon from scratch using traditional channels in the arms industry.

The Army probably doesn’t intend to actually deploy this prototype weapon. One could only guess, but it’s more likely that they are prototyping the concept of designing their own weapons. The research and development phase of any weapon is notoriously long and expensive, so by doing that part themselves they could skirt around the arms industry and save a ton of money.

The only question is, will the military-industrial complex abide this money saving measure?

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By Derrick Broze

The controversial organization Defense Distributed just made it easier to create your own untraceable handguns.

On October 1, Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed began selling two of the most common handgun “80 percent” receivers. In addition to selling a computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) mill which can complete unfinished lower receivers for AR-15 semi-auto rifles, Defense Distributed will now sell unfinished receivers for Glocks and single-stack M1911s.

Using Defense Distributed’s mill, known as the Ghost Gunner, anyone with $1,600 and some basic milling knowledge can create the lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle. The term “ghost guns” was first popularized by gun control advocates because the weapons do not have a serial number and are thus untraceable. Wilson and Defense Distributed have since re-claimed the term in a sort of send-up to the U.S. government, which the company is still fighting over the alleged violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

“It’s a certain type of person who builds and enjoys an AR-15—that’s a lot of gun, and most people don’t feel the need to have a big ol’ battle rifle,” Wilson told ArsTechnica. “But we believe lots of people are interested in the conversation about an untraceable, concealable handgun. It’s been on the roadmap the whole time for this project. It’s just always been a question of how we get there, and it ended up being very, very difficult—kinda like the brass ring of the project, if you will.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5cwP1HmEGo?feature=oembed&w=777&h=437]

“Just like the ARs and stuff, you’re making the identical item that you would otherwise handle, purchase, and fire—so it feels identical,” Wilson notes. “These are real guns.”

Wilson is a former University of Texas School of Law student who gained notoriety in the tech world for his involvement in a series of controversial digital projects, including Dark Wallet, an application to make bitcoin transactions anonymous and untraceable, and his efforts to spread firearms blueprints to the public via downloadable files. In January, Wired named Wilson one of the “most dangerous people on the Internet right now,” putting him in league with Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

In May 2013, Defense Distributed released a video of Wilson firing the world’s first fully 3D printable firearm, the 16-piece Liberator .380 single shot pistol. They also released the 3D printable files to the Internet. Within days the State Department demanded that the files be removed from public access, citing a violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Defense Distributed complied, though Wilson admitted to Forbes that removing all relevant data from public access “might be an impossible standard.”

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With the release of the new lower receivers, advocates of gun ownership and privacy have achieved a victory. The government could not stop the spread of these weapons or this technology if it tried. It will eventually try and the Cody Wilsons of the world will do everything they can to break past the barriers set by the State. Obviously, individuals with ill intent could make use of this tech, just as the privacy advocate who wants to protect her family might make use of it. We cannot allow fear of bad men using these weapons drive us to support attempts at banning or restricting access. Tyrants want the people in fear and without a means for defense. Don’t fall prey to the manipulation and fear porn.

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2

Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com

This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link.

By Brian Berletic

Ravaged by a tumor, a 37-year-old patient in Thailand had her right metacarpal thumb bone removed. Put in its place, is a titanium prosthesis created using a mirrored 3D scan and 3D printed cast of her existing left bone. The process was carried out by researchers, scientists, and doctors at Thailand’s prestigious Chula University (Chulalongkorn University) and Phramongkutklao Hospital.

3Ders.org would report:

The procedure is a first in the medical world, though it is sure not to be the last 3D printed titanium metacarpal implant. As Boonrat Lohwongwatana, a member of the engineering team that created the implant says, “This technique can also be used to replace damaged bones from other parts of the body and it only takes a couple of weeks to make one of these bones.”

For the last several years, this team of researchers at Chula University have been developing this technique, using scans taken from patients to then 3D print a mold for casting a replacement part in titanium. The 3D printer used was the ExtraBot, also made in Thailand and derived from the opensource Ultimaker 3D printer. The printer uses both ABS and PLA plastic and is fitted with the E3D Volcano extruder. In other words, it is an affordable, relatively mainstream piece of technology used as part of a revolutionary medical advancement.

Chula researchers hope this process can eventually be done within 24 hours and as noninvasive for patients as possible.

Thailand is not the only country using 3D printing to create implants. Last year it was reported that an Australian cancer patient received a 3D printed titanium rib cage also using scans from the patient to create the final implant. This implant, however, was not cast in a 3D printed mold, but rather printed using titanium itself as an input material.

It is interesting to see how 3D printing is being used in a variety of ways to help real patients. Thailand’s technique is based on the need to use simple, cheap tools to create groundbreaking results. Australia’s breakthrough proves what technology in the future may be able to do when prices for metal 3D printing finally come within reach of more hospitals and institutions around the globe.

What is certain, however, is that all of these examples prove the utility of 3D printing is no longer theoretical. It is helping real people around the world today.

Brian Berletic writes for ProgressTH.org. Follow ProgressTH.org on Facebook here or on Twitter here.

By Brian Berletic

Corporations will take as much as the public allows them to. It is ultimately up to the public to represent their own best interests, and unrealistic to expect corporations or the governments charged with reining in their behavior to keep abuse and overpricing in check.

While the US government held a hearing regarding Mylan’s EpiPen pricing in which a package containing two of the devices costs a whooping $600 ($300 per device), little appears to have been done except provide the public with the belief that “something” will eventually be done by what is a clear case of price gouging.

What perhaps was more effective than the expensive and ultimately superficial Congressional hearing, was a DIY biohacking group’s demonstration of turning an ordinary store-bought autoinjector into a functioning EpiPen, called an “EpiPencil.”

The autoinjector-based EpiPencil costs about $30-$40.

READ: EpiPen Price Hikes Inspire “EpiPreneurs” to Create Affordable Alternatives

The demonstration helped tangibly illustrate just how cheap the components of the EpiPen really are, essentially consisting of a syringe, a needle, plastic casing, and a spring.

Of course, the EpiPencil cannot be stored for months like the EpiPen can, but it is an important starting point for other biohackers seeking to lower the price of healthcare through innovation and opensource decentralization.

The EpiPencil.

With 3D printing, our own innovation lab has found it possible to cut costs even further. We are developing an opensource design of the autoinjector used for the EpiPencil. Costs for the PLA plastic used in printing out prototypes reveals an expected price of around $3 for the finished product.

By Matt Agorist

A groundbreaking potential solution to homelessness and poverty is now a reality thanks to a company called Apis Cor. The company, based in Russia and San Francisco, has developed the capability to 3D-print an entire house in just 24-hours.

As the Telegraph reports, Nikita Chen-yun-tai, the inventor of the mobile printer and founder of Apis Cor, explained his desire is “to automate everything.”

“When I first thought about creating my machine the world has already knew about the construction 3D printing,” he explained, “But all printers created before shared one thing in common – they were portal type. I am sure that such a design doesn’t have a future due to its bulkiness. So I took care of this limitation and decided to upgrade a construction crane design.”

What sets Apis Cor’s product apart from the rest is that its mobile printing technology can print everything right on site. Prior to this method, portions of the house had to be made off-site and then transported. However, thanks to Apis Cor, that costly process is now a thing of the past.