Cutting Edge: 3D Printing goes multi

Harvard University researchers have given 3D Printing, a breakthrough in itself, a breakthrough of its own. They found a way to 3D printers to use multiple novels and multiple materials, resulting in a new form of printing called MM3D or multinozzle multimaterial 3D Printing. In this form of printing a single nozzle can inject ink made up of eight different materials. Not just that, each nozzle can change materials 50 times a second. The MM3D printing method can use both solid core materials and flexible ones without unwanted mixing because it uses Y-shaped funnels to prevent backflow. All this means much faster printing. There needs to be no changing of printheads and materials in creating a printed object. It also means infinite combinations of material. The breakthrough has promising implications for the manufacturing industry because functional objects can now be printed in a short time. 

Virtual Reality for cows

Tech portals are not entirely certain that it’s happening for real, but it seems like some cows in Russia at a farm called RusMoloko are getting the rare treat of wearing VR headsets. It’s been seen that the emotional well-being of animals improves yield, so everything from music to mood lighting to brushing is being tried. It’s being widely reported that modified VR headsets have been planted on cows showing them a ‘cow’s paradise’ or rather, a pleasant meadow, and calming them. The hope is that the cows will be happy enough to produce more milk. The initial release could be a way to draw attention to an agricultural technology conference, many believe, and only time will tell whether the tests are real. VR has been tried out on animals, cats and chickens included, before. 

Go master says no

It’s a sad day for the ancient Chinese strategy game, Go. Korean Grandmaster of the game has decided to quit professional competitions in the game since Artificial Intelligence in the form of Google’s AlphaGo all but took over the game. Lee Se-dol was won the world championship in the game 18 times and has been the only person to defeat AlphaGo once, but AI knows how to teach itself to the extent that it is now unbeatable. While AlphaGo’s feat has been impressive, it has been the death of the game, in a sense. It’s certainly taken the fun out of it for Lee who no longer likes the feeling that he’ll never be Number One at the game any longer — there’s always AlphaGo to do better and win, self-learning from each instance of the game. 

Compiled by Mala Bhargava