3D printing thing might just be Africa's industrial magic wand

Toby Lankford, who describes himself “a developer/tinkerer that loves aerial and personal robotics, living off grid, and growing good food naturally with robots” has a project that should be of interest to Africa’s endangered rhinos and elephants.

He is working on a 3D printed drone that he hopes can be used as a bush plane to assist in stopping the poaching of  Africa’s wildlife.

With drones, it’s like we’re living in the Wild West of 3D printing, if this and other news over the past week is anything to go by. In Britain, a 3D printed drone was launched from a British military warship over the weekend and successfully flew to shore, a demonstration that could pave the way for futuristic spy drones that could be printed at sea.

The drone, largely made of nylon, is cheap and quick to make; the print run takes 48 hours in total, including time for cooling. It potentially heralds a new way of waging war;armies in the battlefield could print their own custom-made weapons, vehicles and replacement parts as needed, reducing the need for imports or relying on factories back at home.

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration just approved the first 3D printed drug, a medication for epilepsy that allows it to dissolve more quickly, which means that a high drug load, up to 1,000mg can be delivered in a single dose. More importantly, it opens the door for medication to be more effective by being tailored for individual patients.

It’s already happening with prosthetic limbs. In Uganda, 3D printing is being used to create custom-made prosthetic limbs for amputees. In the past, the all-important plaster cast sockets that connect artificial limbs to a person’s hip took about a week to make, and were often so uncomfortable people ended up not wearing them.

Plastic printed ones can be made in a day and are a closer, more comfortable fit. It also makes huge savings, with the cost expected to come down from $5,000 to $250 per prosthetic fit – 95% cheaper.

Ugandan schoolboy sits next to his 3D printed artificial limb at the Comprehensive

 Rehabilitation Services in Wakiso, Uganda.

There’s all kinds of nifty, astonishing, and crazy 3D printed products under design right now; the recent explosion in the technology is thanks to an clutch of 3D printing patents that expired in early 2014 and made it available for the broad market.

NASA is working on a 3D printed “tree”, which, instead of a whole tree, is a cellular array that mimics plant cells and secretes organic materials such as wood, rubber or cellulose.

The team believes they can pull of a proof-of-concept deadline by October, and are hoping to create unique materials like carbon-reinforced wood, or wood infused with copper nano-wires, which means that perhaps one day there will be no need for unsightly electricity posts and wires everywhere to transmit power; trees themselves could just act as transmission lines.

Early this year, Hans Fouche of South Africa printed a lawn mower in just nine hours, and followed it up with a vacuum cleaner that doubles up as a flowerpot. Fouche’s inventions came just months after Togolese inventor Afate Gnikou actually assembled a 3D printer from electronic waste collected from dumpsites around the capital Lomé.

3D printing works by translating digital information into physical objects; computer software directs molten metal, plastic or other material to build an object layer by layer.

The technology turns traditional manufacturing upside down; instead of massive factories running on expensive equipment, it makes possible light, decentralised, “guerilla” manufacturing.

Element Under Review: Unbihexium (Ubh)

Calculations concerning the origin of the universe show that unbihexium is a "primordial superheavy element", meaning that it was formed in supernova explosions in a very early period. Further calculations show that an isotope of this element, having 126 protons and 184 neutrons, should have a high stability and that large amounts of this isotope must have been present when the earth was formed.

It is assumed that giant monazite halos, seen in a black mica called biotite, derive from the decay of this element. Other supposed traces of its decay are found in meteorites, namely Angra dos Reis in Brasil, Kapoeta in Sudan, Toluca in Mexico, El Taco in Argentina, and Nakhala in Egypt [2].

Present experimental plans for the production of element 126 are the nuclear fusion of hafnium with xenon, palladium with bromine, and thorium with krypton.

Proposed Poem

You blossomed

in ancient times

in the burst

of exploding

stars.

Now people are searching

for your ashes on Earth,

in giant halos of mica

and in stones

from the sky.

And there are

also those

who are striving

to see you blossom

among us,

as a tiny star,

with Hafnium

and a beam

of Xenon,

right here

in the lab.

Sodium for Sustainable Batteries

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are commonly used for electrochemical energy storage, for example in portable electronic devices and electric vehicles. However, increasing demand for lithium and depleting reserves make it necessary to look for cost-effective and sustainable alternatives. Sodium ion batteries (NIBs) are promising alternatives. Sodium, while providing lower energy densities than lithium, has a suitable redox potential for use in batteries and is an abundant element. Still, new materials and additional insight are needed to make NIBs a viable alternative for ambient-temperature energy storage.

Linda F. Nazar and colleagues, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, give an overview of recent developments concerning electrode materials and electrolytes for sodium ion batteries. Analogous to LIBs, the cathode materials need to intercalate sodium ions, which are transported through the electrolyte during charging, while sodium atoms are stored in the anode material.

There are several good options for cathode materials, e.g. layered sodium transition-metal oxides. In contrast, finding suitable anode materials is a bigger challenge: Elemental sodium is unsuitable for commercial applications because of safety concerns, and in contrast to lithium, sodium atoms do not intercalate in graphitic carbons. There have, however, been developments in using disordered carbons, low-potential transition metal oxides, and sodium alloys, which are promising steps on the way to viable batteries.

Overcoming the multitude of challenges facing sodium ion batteries could allow competitive, cheap, sustainable energy storage for bulk and stationary purposes.

Better Solvents for Peptide Synthesis

The synthesis of peptides, that is, the formation of amide bonds between amino acids and/or peptide fragments, is usually carried out in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF).

Chemical Pen

The above figure (ball pen) represents something of optimum importance to the educationists, bankers, farmers, traders, et cetera; as an individual existing in this age, you can't do without it nor ignore its tremendous aid to humanity.

It's hard time we looked beyond its mere physical appearance and focus on its components/architecture.

I hope the figure portends all we need for this analysis.

Nota bene: the polyethene tube is mostly filled with dye/pigment solutions.

Element under Review: Tungsten (W)

Shiny, steel-gray metal.

Density: 19.25 g/cm³.

It was discovered by the Spanish brothers Juan José and Fausto Elhuyar in 1783. It is called Wolfram in many European languages, which is the reason for the symbol W. Wolfram means "filth of the wolves" in old German because its presence in minerals interferes with the production of tin: it "eats" tin like a wolf. The name "tungsten" comes from the Swedish tungsten, heavy stone.