Make it from gold. Make it from cake. Make it from clay; frost it then bake. Makers use all kinds of materials. Today, creative entrepreneurs are using technology to build and test new ideas quickly and inexpensively. What technology is that? Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. With some software and a machine that can print layers of plastic or metal, glass or ceramic, or even cookie dough, anyone can design and print almost anything and become a maker.
WHAT CITIES ARE MADE OF
Make it from concrete? Why not! Concrete is an inexpensive, rocklike building material. It is the most-used human-made material on Earth. For every person on the planet, roughly one ton (2,000 lbs) of concrete pours into projects each year. All of this concrete helps people build infrastructure. Infra . . . what? Infrastructure is the way society meets people’s needs. It’s our cities, homes, schools, roads, hospitals, airports, railways, seaports, water supplies, cell towers, and much more.
Much of our infrastructure is made or partially made of concrete. This isn’t a new idea. Long ago, the Romans used a type of concrete to build a sophisticated and elaborate network of roads and aqueducts (elevated waterways). In the modern world, infrastructure and concrete still go together. They are critical to our everyday lives. Can you see a role for 3D printers in building new, much-needed infrastructure?
HUGE PROJECTS, VAST CHALLENGES
Makers are printing everything from toys to heart valves to jet engine parts these days. But the maker machines to print really big things are still being developed. Imagine printing an entire house, or a school building, or even a skyscraper 100 stories tall. This very minute, engineers around the world are working on ways to print buildings, bridges, and more: that is, the infrastructure that makes up our built world.
Denne historien er fra November/December 2019-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra November/December 2019-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
