WEBVTT - Is 3D-Printed Food Worth Eating? 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.920 You're listening to Part Time Genius, a production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:19.040 and iHeartRadio. 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:24.840 Guess what Will? What's that Mango? 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.520 So I was reading about three D printing this week 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.960 and I realized I've been thinking of it as a 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.040 new technology when really it's been around for nearly half 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:34.640 a century. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:36.199 Oh wow, I actually had no idea I went back 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:36.960 that far. Yeah. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:41.040 So, the Japanese researcher Hideo Kodoma submitted the world's first 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.240 patent for a three D printer in nineteen eighty one, 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.920 and two years later, American inventor Chuck Hall created the 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.519 first working prototype. And before you ask, yes, we do 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:53.800 know what the first object you prayed was. It was 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.840 a little plastic eyewash cup. You know, I don't know 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.120 what I was expecting you to say, but that definitely 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.960 was not it. And what even is an eye wash cup? 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.640 It is a tiny cup with a curved rim to 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:06.640 fit around an eyeball, so if you get a piece 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:08.440 of dust in your eye, you can fill the cup 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:09.760 with water and flush it out. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:12.680 Like, was this a recurring problem for Hull? 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.959 Yeah? His eyes were notoriously dirty dirty. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:16.880 Yeah. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:18.920 No, I'm actually not sure why he chose an eye 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.080 wash cup, And I know it sounds like a random 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.800 thing to make as the first three D printed object, 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:25.839 but to be fair, that would probably be the case no. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:26.640 Matter what he picked. 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.720 You know, it's still impressive that he was three D 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.120 printing over forty years ago. Like, I feel like I 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:33.280 only heard about. 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.920 This in the last I don't know, at least within 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:36.160 the last decade, right. 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.399 Yeah, So it took a lot of years of fine 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.240 tuning to make three D printers affordable and simple enough 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.960 for the consumer market. But now that we have, it's 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.200 easy to see what guys like Codoma and Hall knew 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.720 the whole time, which is that three D printing is 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.480 truly revolutionary. It's transforming almost anything you can think of, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.600 from construction to food prep to aerospace engineering. And of 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.840 course there's an incredible creative community that's developed around it too. 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.400 And the reason we're thinking about all of this is 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.600 that one of our listeners asked us to do an 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.639 episode about three D printing, and we love an intriguing request, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.639 and we really wanted to know how people make things 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:13.880 out of thin air or thin plastics. 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:15.320 So let's dive in. 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:39.400 Hey, their podcast listeners welcome to part time genius. I'm 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:41.600 Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:43.799 friend Mangeshot Ticketer and on the other side of the 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.600 soundproof glass printing out the same sheet of paper for 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.680 what must be the hundredth time now, not exaggerating. He 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.440 just keeps printing. That's our friends and producer Dylan Fagan. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.480 He just keeps loading and reloading the same sheet. He's 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.560 wasting a fortune on ink. But do you know what's 0:02:58.600 --> 0:02:59.480 going on with this mango? 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.799 Yeah, he said he felt left out about not having 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.760 a three D printer, so he's using a two D 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.560 printer to print out a picture of a three D printer. 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:08.080 Got it. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.280 I guess the idea is if he prints it on 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.160 the same page enough times, eventually the ink would build 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.880 up and the picture will be three dimensional. 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:17.359 You know, that's an interesting idea. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.440 I'm not sure that'll work, but you've got to admire 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.280 this guy's ingenuity always. And weirdly enough, that is basically 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.720 how a three D printer works. Like following instructions from 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.520 a digital file, the printer gradually builds an object by 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.560 adding one layer of material on top of another on 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.880 top of another, and the problem here is that you 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.640 need to use something a bit sturdier than liquid ink, 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:38.480 and most. 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.360 People make three D printed objects out of plastic, right. 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.200 Yeah, but plastic is really just the tip of the iceberg. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.080 So industrial three D printers can handle all kinds of 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:53.040 multiple materials, including ceramic, wood, fiber, paper, glass, even edible proteins. 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.240 Actually, oh, that's right, edible proteins. So will When was 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:57.920 the first time you heard about three D printers? 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.400 You know, I feel like this probably goes back to 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.360 the days when we were working a little bit more 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:05.920 closely with the house Stuff Works team. 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:07.080 Even thinking back to. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.960 You know, Marshall Brain who founded so many years ago, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.240 and remembering him talking about this, it might have been 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.279 a little more than a decade ago. It was probably 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:17.840 like fourteen fifteen years ago. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:18.440 How about you. 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:19.680 Yeah, I think about the same. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:21.680 I remember. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.440 Around twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen. The first time I 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.799 heard something interesting with three D printers was before this party. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.200 They had all these attendees send in photos and then 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.640 as a party favor, they were handed a three D 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:36.880 printed pez dispenser of their own face. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.200 Oh no, cool. I remember thinking that was just really 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:40.839 weird and fun. 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.200 At the time. But the thing that really blew me 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.279 away was when they started talking about those three D 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.000 printed foods like pizzas and cookies, Like if you could 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.919 print a meal at home, that just seems so futuristic 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:52.159 to me. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:53.120 Yeah. 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.840 The London pop up you're talking about was called food Inc. 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.080 And even though it was only open for three days 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.120 back in twenty sixteen, it made an impression because it 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:05.160 was many people's introduction to the idea of printable meals. Now, 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.520 in the years since, lots of other companies have tinkered 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:11.520 with similar concepts, including a finished research center that's developing 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.160 vending machines that print snacks huh. And this Israeli food 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:19.200 tech company called Stakeholder Foods that's specializing in three D 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.920 printed meat, which sounds so weird. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:25.200 How do you print meat? 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.360 It's you know, you can load just about anything into 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.240 a three D printing syringe if it's a smooth consistency. 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.160 So Research as a Columbia did it with chicken puree 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.719 and ran it through a system that cooked it while 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.559 it was printing. But in the case of Stakeholder Foods, 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.520 the three D printed meat is actually plant based. They 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.479 make three D printed whitefish filets and steak using a 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.680 mixture of water, soy and pea protein, also oil and 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.400 a few other ingredients in there. And so these faux 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.320 meats have different textures, so the outside gets crisp when 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.080 you cook it, and the steaks even come with lines 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:00.919 of three D printed fat. 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.960 That sounds so bizarre, but I guess it's fine as 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:05.720 long as it tastes good, right, So. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.680 The bad news about that. There was a Wired journalist 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.280 named Matt Reynolds and he did this taste test last 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.400 year and he described the Stakeholder meats as being quote 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.520 technically food, but ad they quote had all the joy 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.479 of licking a catering catalog. So you know, delicious food 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.560 might be an area where three D printing still has 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:24.320 a long way to go. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.320 So you know, you mentioned that London restaurant and how 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.000 it was many people's first introduction to three D printed foods, 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.599 but Gabe tipped me off that Star Trek had a 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.520 machine called the Replicator that could produce anything on demand, 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.760 so basically a three D printer, and the crew mostly 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.440 used it to make food and drinks, which is pretty cool, 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.039 But I guess, as you were describing, we're not quite 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:48.760 there yet no. 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:50.760 But I am glad you brought up the connection between 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.760 three D printing and science fiction, because this idea has 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.560 been a recurring theme in sci fi stories for some 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.960 time now, and some actually predate Charles Hol's Big Brain 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.839 break through in the early eighties. In fact, the earliest 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.080 known reference to three D printing was in a short 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.240 story by American novelist Murray Leinster. It was called Things 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.480 Passed By. It was published in nineteen forty five, about 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.360 four decades before hle printed his Eye wash Cup, and 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.520 it describes a machine that uses plastic to create three 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.480 dimensional objects from two dimensional drawings. 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.200 And I'm sure he described printing an eye wash cup. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:26.760 I kind of wish. 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:28.760 But now in this story, the tech is used to 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.080 build spaceships, and the process is incredibly similar to how 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.520 three D printers would eventually work. So Linser describes the 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.960 liquid plastic flowing through a hose connected to this moving 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.840 arm that gradually deposits blobs of plastic in shapes determined 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.640 by the drawing. Now, he likened it to an insect 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.000 spinning a cocoon, which I kind of actually love that description, and. 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.800 It's kind of accurate, right, Like, so Obviously this stuff 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.240 is rooted in sci fi. But walk me through some 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.480 of the real world applications of three D printing, Like 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.360 why were so many people excited about it? 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.320 The since people are so enamored with three D printing 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.360 is because of its ability to help us prototype. Take 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.360 jewelry for instance, Like, Historically, it's been a very time 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.400 consuming process. So after coming up with an idea for 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.040 a piece of jewelry, the designer had to hand carve 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.160 a model from clay kind of sculpt out the details there. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.360 Then they'd use that model to create a mold, and 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.520 then finally pour molten metal into the mold to create 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.480 this finished piece. That could take days or weeks or 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.640 even longer depending on how sophisticated it was. But now 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.719 jewelers can actually design new pieces digitally using CAD software 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.120 and three D print them as wax or like a 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.840 resin model, and then they can go from design to 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.280 prototype or even a finished product in just a few hours. 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.959 These days, about ninety percent of all jewelry sold in 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.079 the US has been made with some degree of three 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:47.600 D printing. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.240 So what definitely do you mean by some degree? 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.280 Well, in addition to prototyping, designers can skip the mold 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.800 making stage and just print metal jewelry directly. This has 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.559 done through a process called laser centering, which also kind 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.319 of sounds like something they'd have in Star Trek. 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.640 Yeah, star Trek, the next generation of jewelers, I'm not sure. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.760 Yeah, well, let me tell you what centering actually is. 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.520 So you spread this thin layer of metal powder on 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.760 a bed and then a laser fuses it together. Then 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.960 you spread a thin layer of powder on top of that, 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.280 and then laser it again, building layer by layer, and 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.800 after each sweep of the laser you add a fresh 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.760 layer of powder on top, and it keeps building until 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:26.679 the object's finished. 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.880 That's obviously incredible. But are we just using this for 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.760 jewelry or are there other applications? 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:34.240 No, it's just jewelry. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.680 People have not figured out anything but jewelry now. Definitely 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.319 other applications, like all kinds of industries are using laser centering. 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.960 For example, car manufacturers use it to prototype hardware. It's 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:50.400 even used for some finished products like aerospace components, medical hardware, electronics, 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:51.400 like it's pretty long list. 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.240 Well, speaking of medical hardware, one thing that blew me 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.080 away is that almost every hearing aid on the market 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:58.679 these days is three D printed. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:09:59.120 Oh wow. 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.520 Yeah, people use have a hard time finding hearing aids 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.840 that match the contours of their ear canals, and that's 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.600 because hearing aids only came in a few standard sizes, 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.000 so if one of them didn't fit, you just had 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.360 to make do with something that was too loose or 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.880 too snug. But now with three D printing, audiologists can 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.559 take a digital scan of a patient's ear and create 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.240 a perfectly customized hearing aid just for them. And you 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.480 can find these advances all over the medical field, like 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.880 whether it's with three D printed surgical tools, implants, or 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:30.800 even artificial limbs. 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.199 That is really so cool. We've come a long way 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.720 from that one little eye wash cup. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.760 And I think the coolest fact about this technology is 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.080 that it's not just limited to stuff like making a 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.160 custom phone case or improving an industrial production process. It's 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.920 actually improving and saving lives every day in ways that 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.040 most of us don't even realize. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.600 Indeed, and you know, we have some really fascinating examples 0:10:52.600 --> 0:11:09.559 of that coming up. But first, let's take a quick break. 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:12.360 You're listening to part Time Genius and we're talking about 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.880 the world of three D printing. All right, mego, so 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.440 tell me more about how this technology is actually saving 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:18.400 lives these days. 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.040 Yeah, it's not just saving any lives, it's saving turtle lives. 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.199 Okay, I'm intrigued, tell me more so. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.320 Back in twenty sixteen, a group of animal rescuers in 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.480 Brazil came across a tortoise that had lost eighty five 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.240 percent of its shell in a brush fire. The tortoise, 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.560 which the team named Freddy, didn't have a high chance 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.439 of survival without a shell, so after treating the little 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.760 guy for his burns, they decided to build him a 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.000 new one. First, they built a three D model of 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.880 a shell based on pictures of Freddy and other tortoises. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.920 Then they printed out in four interlocking pieces, and the 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.160 all white plastic shell was assembled in gluten place around 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.120 Freddy's body, and as a final touch, the team hand 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.840 painted it to make sure it looked like his old shell. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:04.960 That's heartwarming and pretty amazing science. Yeah yeah, I love 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.080 the story. And it's not just Freddy. Other turtles have 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.080 been saved with three D printing as well. For example, 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.680 in places like Arizona and Florida, hundreds of turtles a 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.600 year are injured by cars and left with broken shells, 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.720 and a turtle with a hole in its shell is 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:24.440 highly vulnerable to infection and even spinal damage. In the past, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.400 custom prosthesis for this type of injury could cost hundreds 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.200 of dollars or more. But now it's actually possible to 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.840 scan the broken pieces of a turtle shell, create a 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.800 three D model, and print out new ones for as 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.840 little as I don't know, like twenty bucks, oh wow. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.000 And similar techniques have been used to restore bird bills, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.520 reattach alligator tails, and replace the missing limbs of cats, dogs, 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.600 and other species including humans. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.040 It really is pretty incredible. 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:52.960 And actually, you know, you talked about how three D 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.960 printing has brought the cost of animal prosthesis down, and 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.400 that's actually also true for humans. So high end bionic 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.680 arms canst upwards of one hundred thousand dollars, which means 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.960 that less than one percent of the adult amputee population 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.000 can actually afford to buy one. 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.840 I can't even imagine. But is that because the components 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:12.040 are so expensive or why is not? 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.120 I mean, that's part of it, But the other issue 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.520 is that the production process is just super complicated like, 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.880 different components get made in separate factories by different companies, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.000 then yet another company assembles them. So all these manufacturing 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.520 costs and markups get factored into that final price. But 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.440 three D printing can streamline this process by cutting out 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.640 the middleman. Now a company can scan print and as 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.280 symbol a bionic arm with a single facility. 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.559 And so how much cheaper does that actually become? 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.240 You know, there's some variables here, like the size and 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.800 complexity of the arm, and of course what kind of 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.120 insurance you have. But if you look at the two 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.360 leading companies in the field, you've got Unlimited Tomorrow and 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.160 Open Bionics. Their prosthetic arms cost five to ten times 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.440 less than a traditional manufactured one. And this is especially 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.720 important when you consider the difficulty for young amputees because 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.800 kids outgrow these prosthesis and you know, they need bigger 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:05.720 ones as they get older. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:07.760 You know, I never actually thought about that, Like I 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.120 feel like I get stressed out watching how fast my 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.480 kids outgrow their shoes. Yeah, you can't even imagine for amputees. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.360 No, it's very true, and the lower cost isn't actually 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.120 the only advantage here, because when all the components are 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:23.840 three D printed. There's also more opportunity for customization. For instance, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.600 open i Biotics calls their limb the Hero Arm, and 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.200 it has all these cool magnetic panels that you can 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.600 pop off and on. They come in different colors and textures. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.240 You can coordinate them with your outfits. They even make 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.880 these panel sets based on licensed characters, so you can 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.400 trick out your arm to look like like Iron Man's 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.360 Gauntlet or Adroid from Star Wars. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.200 Like, there's so many cool possibilities. 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.800 I'm sure that is great for kids, but I bet 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.480 there are plenty of adults who would also love a superhero, 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:50.040 are right. 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.240 I mean it's so cool you get to cosplay at 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.240 work and nobody can complain because like, that's just. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:55.080 Your arm, you know. 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.520 And I know that decorating your arm might sound frivolous, 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.480 but I actually found this quote from one of open 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.160 Bionics founders, Samantha Pain, and she pointed out that having 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.640 a prosthetic limb that purposefully looks artificial is kind of 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.120 subversive and fun. So, as she puts it, quote, a 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.320 generation ago, as a society, we valued conformity. Everyone wanted 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.160 to look the same, and that's why you saw a 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.560 lot of prosthetic arms that tried to blend in that 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.960 tried to look human, but as engineers, we couldn't quite 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.320 get the look right. So it's really cool that as 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.160 time moved on, we began to celebrate individualism and self expression. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.960 Yeah, that feels really liberating. Of course, while getting creative 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.640 seems smart for three D printing for your prosthetic arms, 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.680 when it comes to three D printing internal organs, it 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.760 helps to get as close to the real deal as possible. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.320 And that's why bioinc is so important, because while your 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.240 body might not accept a bladder made of artificial material 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.920 like plastic or carbon fiber, if you print one using bioinc, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.200 the chances are it'll get along just fine with your interiors. 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:56.840 So what is bioinc. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.840 It is basically a mixture of a special kind of 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.680 eletin and the cultured cells needed to create living tissue. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.720 And this gets a little technical here, but let's say 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.960 someone's missing an ear and their doctor wants to print 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.800 a functional replacement, which is a thing they can actually do. 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.920 The first step is to harvest stem cells from the patient. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.280 These are undifferentiated cells, meaning they don't have a specific 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.320 purpose yet, and they can turn into other types of 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.680 cells like tissue or bone. You can kind of think 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.360 of them like a blank template of the human body. 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.600 So the doctors would manipulate the genes in these stem 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.720 cells so they develop into cells that do have a 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.800 specific purpose. In this case, that would be functions related 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.920 to hearing and balance. Then you mix them with gelatin 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.760 and some other high end biomaterials to create something called 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.840 bioinc and you load that into a three D printer 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:49.160 and voila instant ear. And the best part is, since 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.240 it's made from the patient's own cells, the odds of 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.320 the body rejecting it are much much lower compared to 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.280 a donor transplant. This actually might blow your mind, but 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.480 the first three D printed organ was transplanted into human 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.240 way back in nineteen ninety nine, which is the same 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.520 year a few other important things happened like SpongeBob SquarePants 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.600 debuted and Napster launched. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.040 So three equally important advanced mess. 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.600 But that's also the year that scientists at the wake 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.240 Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine created a new bladder using 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.199 cells from a patient, and they successfully implanted it in 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.119 the same person without any complications. The procedure has actually 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.440 been repeated about a dozen times since then, and all 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.000 of those three D printed bladders, even the ones from 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.879 a couple decades back, are still fully functioning today. Wow. 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.280 You know, I'm thinking, as you're talking about this, about 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.760 all the people waiting on transplant lists for organs, So 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.480 can we do this for any organ. 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.640 So as the technology stands, it's easiest to bioprint flat 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.120 or hollow organs. So you think about bladders, things like skin, ears, 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.159 wind pipes, right, these are things that have been successfully 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.000 transplanted already, but anything more complex and that is still 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.040 off the table. So scientists have made some headway in 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:08.760 recent years by printing small scale, functional replicas of hearts, kidneys, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.040 even brains, and the hope is that in the next 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.119 few decades they'll be able to make them full size. 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.239 You know, maybe I think we've proven conclusively that three 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.640 D printing can can really help humans and animals, especially 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.040 tortoises with the story you were telling there, And that's 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.080 all great, But like any technology, it's a tool that 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.840 can also do harm unfortunately, So we probably should take 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.000 a moment to recognize what may be the darkest side 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.000 of three D printing, and that is ghost guns. 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:35.600 So I know this is the thing that people have 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.800 been worried about, that you can make three D printed 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.840 guns that can actually fire real bullets. But why exactly 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:43.159 are they called ghost guns. 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:44.320 It's actually because they. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.040 Don't have serial numbers like all real guns do, and 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.240 this makes them virtually untraceable. So the first three D 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.360 printed gun was created in twenty thirteen by a Texas 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:57.000 firearms activist named Cody Wilson. Now, it wasn't exactly the 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.439 same as a real gun. It only fired one bullet 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.800 at a time, and it was prone to breaking, but 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.760 Wilson released his design as an open source project that 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.119 anyone could download or modify, and over the next few years, 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.919 he and others kept tinkering. They figured out how to 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.639 make fully functional guns from three D printed kits and 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.119 some basic metal parts, and some of these homemade guns 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.000 were used in actual crimes. So, as you can imagine, 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.199 this became a concern for law enforcement and for public 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.959 health and safety groups gun control activists. Now, obviously there 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.960 are strict rules that govern gun manufacturing in the US, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.800 from licensing to requiring those serial numbers. We also have 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.040