PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New video series 'Beyond the Desktop' explores potential of 3-D printing

Can additive manufacturing transform medicine, aerospace and space travel?

2015-09-09
(Press-News.org) The Wilson Center's Science and Technology Innovation Program (STIP) is releasing a five-episode video series looking at the potential for additive manufacturing to transform how we build things - and what we need to do to fully realize this potential.

Beyond the Desktop explores how additive manufacturing could affect the fields of medicine, aerospace, space technology and more. Beginning Sept. 9, 2015, a new episode will be released each Wednesday through early October. Episodes will be posted on the Wilson Center homepage: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/3dprinting

Many feel the true impact of additive manufacturing will be felt at the industrial level, where companies in different sectors hope to use the technology to make better and more innovative products at a lower cost.

"Desktop 3-D printing has received significant media coverage, but this hides the larger story happening in industry, where the technology will change everything from prototyping to the production of complex parts and the design of supply chains," says David Rejeski, director of the Science and Technology Innovation Program at the Wilson Center and executive producer of the series.

The series looks at how doctors are already incorporating 3-D printing into their surgical work, how aerospace manufacturers are finding cost savings in using additive manufacturing to build critical parts, and how startups are using 3-D printing to enable longer supply chains into space.

Beyond the Desktop builds upon other STIP work focused on additive manufacturing. Last month, the program released the results of a workshop that examined the environmental and human health implication of additive manufacturing. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the workshop was conducted in conjunction with the Center for Manufacturing Innovation at the University of Florida. For more information, please visit the archived workshop page: http://nsfamenv.wilsoncenter.org/

Beyond the Desktop was filmed on location in California, Illinois and Washington, DC in 2013-2015. Aaron Lovell, senior program associate for STIP, was the director and producer of the series. Joe Filvarof was the associate producer and cameraman.

INFORMATION:

About the Science and Technology Innovation Program The mission of the Science and Technology Innovation Program is to explore the scientific and technological frontier, stimulating discovery and bringing new tools to bear on public policy challenges that emerge as science advances. Project areas include nanotechnology, synthetic biology, citizen science and crowdsourcing, serious games, participatory technology assessment, transformative social networking and geo-engineering. For more information, visit: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/science-and-technology-innovation-program

About The Wilson Center The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world. For more information, visit: http://www.wilsoncenter.org



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Ocean life triggers ice formation in clouds

2015-09-09
Researchers have shown for the first time that phytoplankton (plant life) in remote ocean regions can contribute to rare airborne particles that trigger ice formation in clouds. Results published this week (Wednesday 9 September) in the journal Nature show that the organic waste from life in the oceans, which is ejected into the atmosphere along with sea spray from breaking waves, stimulates cloud droplets to freeze into ice particles. This affects how clouds behave and influence global climate, which is important for improved projections of future climate change. Clouds ...

How to spawn an 'exceptional ring'

2015-09-09
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Dirac cone, named after British physicist Paul Dirac, started as a concept in particle and high-energy physics and has recently became important in research in condensed matter physics and material science. It has since been found to describe aspects of graphene, a two dimensional form of carbon, suggesting the possibility of applications across various fields. Now physicists at MIT have found another unusual phenomenon produced by the Dirac cone: It can spawn a phenomenon described as a "ring of exceptional points." This connects two fields of ...

Cells from human umbilical cord blood improve cognition in Alzheimer's disease model mice

2015-09-09
Putnam Valley, NY. (Sept. 9, 2015) - Alzheimer's disease (AD), which affects an estimated 26 million people worldwide, is the fourth leading cause of death among the elderly and the leading cause of dementia. Predictions are that the number of AD cases will quadruple by 2050. Although pharmacological methods for treating AD have been discovered, none significantly delay the progression of the disease. However, cell transplantation research using animals modeled with AD has indicated that human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBCs) can ameliorate some cognitive deficits ...

The Industrial Revolution put an end to 1,800 years of ocean cooling

2015-09-09
The high frequency and magnitude of volcanic eruptions could have been the cause of the progressive cooling of ocean surfaces over a period of 1,800 years. This is made apparent in an international study published recently in the journal Nature Geoscience, involving researcher P. Graham Mortyn of the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and the UAB Department of Geography. The study emphasises that this trend came to an end with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the resulting global warming caused by human activity. It further shows ...

Tree planting can harm ecosystems

2015-09-09
The world's grassy biomes are key contributors to biodiversity and ecosystem services, and are under immense pressure from conversion to agriculture and tree planting, report Joseph W. Veldman, of Iowa State University, and his colleagues in an article for the October issue of BioScience. The authors argue that forest- and tree-focused environmental policies and conservation initiatives have potentially dire ecological consequences for undervalued ecosystems, such as grasslands, savannas, and open-canopy woodlands. To illustrate this forest bias and its consequences, ...

Researchers reawaken sleeping HIV in patient cells to eliminate the virus

2015-09-09
LA JOLLA, Calif., September 9, 2015 - A consortium of investigators led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have found that a new class of drugs may be used to purge pockets of dormant HIV from a patient's body, eliminating the virus once and for all. Since these agents are already being explored in clinical trials for treating cancer, the route to approval for treating HIV may be significantly shorter than usual. Antiretroviral therapies have made it possible for people to live with HIV for decades. However, patients continue to ...

Battery-free smart camera nodes automatically determine their own pose and location

2015-09-09
Scientists at Disney Research and the University of Washington (UW) have shown that a network of energy-harvesting sensor nodes equipped with onboard cameras can automatically determine each camera's pose and location using optical cues. This capability could help to enable networks of hundreds or thousands of sensors that could operate without batteries or external power and require minimal maintenance. Such networks could be part of the Internet of Things (IoT) in which objects can communicate and share information to create smart environments. Previous work at UW ...

Ebola virus disease in Liberia

2015-09-09
A newly published research study by U.S. Forest Service researchers demonstrates that the social vulnerability indices used in climate change and natural hazards research can also be used in other contexts such as disease outbreaks. Authors of the article include Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) researchers John Stanturf, Scott Goodrick, Mel Warren, and Christie Stegall, and Susan Charnley from the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Published in the online journal PLOS ONE, the study illustrates how census and household survey data, when ...

Study reveals need for better understanding of water use

2015-09-09
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A new study reveals a pressing need to better understand water use in America's rivers, with implications for drought-stricken regions of the country. Findings from the study showed that virtually all of the water entering the Wabash River in Indiana during summer months is withdrawn and then returned to the waterway. "In a nutshell, in the summertime we generally use what is equivalent to the entire volume of the Wabash River so that by the time the river reaches the confluence of the Ohio River, the water in the Wabash on average has been through ...

This week from AGU: Mercury's spin, New Zealand fault, early-career scientists and research

2015-09-09
GeoSpace Mercury's movements give scientists peek inside the planet The first measurements of Mercury's movements from a spacecraft orbiting the planet reveal new insights about the makeup of the solar system's innermost world and its interactions with other planetary bodies, found a new study recently accepted in Geophysical Research Letters. New research calls for rethinking of New Zealand's Alpine Fault The major fault line of New Zealand's Alpine Fault, which runs almost the entire length of the South Island, has been assumed to be a near vertical crack. However, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Hormone therapy reshapes the skeleton in transgender individuals who previously blocked puberty

Evaluating performance and agreement of coronary heart disease polygenic risk scores

Heart failure in zero gravity— external constraint and cardiac hemodynamics

Amid record year for dengue infections, new study finds climate change responsible for 19% of today’s rising dengue burden

New study finds air pollution increases inflammation primarily in patients with heart disease

AI finds undiagnosed liver disease in early stages

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announce new research fellowship in malaria genomics in honor of professor Dominic Kwiatkowski

Excessive screen time linked to early puberty and accelerated bone growth

First nationwide study discovers link between delayed puberty in boys and increased hospital visits

Traditional Mayan practices have long promoted unique levels of family harmony. But what effect is globalization having?

New microfluidic device reveals how the shape of a tumour can predict a cancer’s aggressiveness

Speech Accessibility Project partners with The Matthew Foundation, Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress

Mass General Brigham researchers find too much sitting hurts the heart

New study shows how salmonella tricks gut defenses to cause infection

Study challenges assumptions about how tuberculosis bacteria grow

NASA Goddard Lidar team receives Center Innovation Award for Advancements

Can AI improve plant-based meats?

How microbes create the most toxic form of mercury

‘Walk this Way’: FSU researchers’ model explains how ants create trails to multiple food sources

A new CNIC study describes a mechanism whereby cells respond to mechanical signals from their surroundings

Study uncovers earliest evidence of humans using fire to shape the landscape of Tasmania

Researchers uncover Achilles heel of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists uncover earliest evidence of fire use to manage Tasmanian landscape

Interpreting population mean treatment effects in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire

Targeting carbohydrate metabolism in colorectal cancer: Synergy of therapies

Stress makes mice’s memories less specific

Research finds no significant negative impact of repealing a Depression-era law allowing companies to pay workers with disabilities below minimum wage

Resilience index needed to keep us within planet’s ‘safe operating space’

How stress is fundamentally changing our memories

Time in nature benefits children with mental health difficulties: study

[Press-News.org] New video series 'Beyond the Desktop' explores potential of 3-D printing
Can additive manufacturing transform medicine, aerospace and space travel?