3d Printing is the Future

                Ladies and gentlemen we have come to the age of the 3d printer. In the embedded video we see a child amputee patient receive a 3d printed prosthetic iron man limb. The arm cost just $350 in materials to make, as noted by Microsoft's The Collective Project, which is featuring stories of students making positive changes for their communities. That makes it far cheaper than the $40,000 it traditionally costs to make such limbs. For those who don’t know what 3d printing is 3dprinting.com defines it as: “3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.”

                This process has allowed for people to be able to come up with limitless amounts of creations. Essentially if someone can design a virtual version of it they can get a printer to make it. This has led to interesting applications of the technology. Prosthetics are one; there is also now a push to make replacement organs to lower the dependency of organ donors. They even now have a specialty 3d printer for making food items.

                3d printing is taking us into the future. 3d printing is becoming more widespread every day, its rapid adoption since 2011 has it possibly making its way into every consumer’s home in a matter of years.  The materials it uses are becoming cheaper and cheaper. It’s going to take a major corporation to take a huge chance on making one that can be adopted by the common person. Once a company makes it possible for the most user friendly version of the software where someone can just conceptualize their vision we will reach a new day. On that day we will be able to create anything we want in the comfort of our houses. People will be able to make the food they see on TV without the need of a personal chef. Victims of bad accidents can be given new limbs and organs quicker and cheaper.

The Scientific Method & An interview with a Future Rapping Scientist

This post will be all about the Scientific method and applying it to real scientist. First off The Scientific Method, as defined by ScienceBob.com, is an organized way of figuring something out in which there are usually six parts. The first is of those is finding out the purpose/question for what you are doing. Ask what do you want to learn? An example would be, "What doorknob in school has the most germs?" or "Do girls have faster reflexes than boys?" The next step research; find out as much as you can. Look for information in books, on the internet, and by talking with teachers to get the most information you can before you start experimenting. Thirdly is to form a hypothesis. After doing your research, try to predict the answer to the problem. Now conduct your experiment. Design a test or procedure to find out if your hypothesis is correct. Fifth is to make an Analysis. Making sure to record what happened during the experiment. Last is the conclusion. Review the data and check to see if your hypothesis was correct. If your hypothesis is wrong, it is not "bad" if your hypothesis was wrong.

Now to check to see if scientists are putting the practice to the theory I decided to interview a real scientist. This man is a personal friend of mine and he might be the greatest rapper alive one day. This man is Zachary Tucker of Bellarmine University also sometimes referred to as Fresh Duh Chemi$t. Interviewing future Dr. Tucker I asked him about how he went about designing an experiment in the realm of chemistry. He started off by telling me that there are specific procedures to take into consideration when designing an experiment. He told me to “Start off by having a goal of what you want to achieve or further your knowledge of.” I thought this to be in line with the first step of the scientific method. Next he told me to “Do background research on the subject if there is any.” He also added that there is almost always background info including the likes of previous experiments and results as well as preexisting theories. He told me that next he likes to think of the equipment he will need for the experiment. He says thinking of this ahead of time allows for you to be, and I quote, “As cost efficient as possible.” Science is expensive and you can’t afford to ruin an experiment by not having everything or having too much and wasting it. Next there needs to be a procedural write up for documentation, “so that replication is possible.” Lastly was to analyze your data and interpret the results. “While interpreting the data remember to be conscious of sources for error.”

That’s it for this post. We learned of the methodical approach to sciencing, which isn’t a word yet, and we heard from a very talented future scientist in Dr. Tucker, when it is a recognized word. After the interview I can say surely that future Dr. Tucker does in fact use his own form of the scientific method. It follows very closely in line with the definition from ScienceBob.com. So keep in mind there are variations as well as different definitions but for our purposes I think we nailed it.