Improving 3-D Printing By Copying Nature 128
An anonymous reader writes "Biologist Janine Benyus is excited about the 3-D printer revolution and she thinks it can be improved by modeling natural processes. 'Benyus, who wrote Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and co-founded the institute Biomimicry 3.8, would like to see a transition in manufacturing—from big, smoke-belching factories to small, clean desktop printers. The key to making it truly sustainable, she said, lies in mimicking how a natural ecosystem functions. "Nature uses life-friendly chemistry, which is nontoxic and water-based, and which does not require high heat," said Benyus. In contrast, most of the products people use today have been forged in industrial-size furnaces, with a plethora of toxic solvents. A potato chip bag may seem like a simple item, but it is actually made up of several thin layers of different materials, one to make it strong, one to make it airtight, and so on.'"
Nature uses life friendly.. (Score:2, Insightful)
"Nature uses life-friendly chemistry, which is nontoxic and water-based, and which does not require high heat." So where is the water-based oil, coal and natural gas? What a load of hooey.
But I like big, smoke-belching factories (Score:5, Insightful)
Great granddaddy left the crappy farm and came to the USA and worked in the factory. Finally, his family had enough food to eat, a roof over their heads, and people weren't trying to kill them every other week. But the factories are all going away now. No more forges, no more assmbly lines, no more smog, no more jobs. Unless you're lucky, and move to Silicon valley, and manage to strike it rich and not develop a disease, go insane, or burnout before you hit age 30. At age 30, you either reture to a beach somewhere on your IPO cash, or are shuffled off to jobs that can't keep up with inflation, as your job functions are moved overseas.
More important than using recycled stuff (Score:5, Insightful)
Non-toxic? (Score:5, Insightful)
Case in point: oxygen in the atmosphere [wikipedia.org]
I don't have a problem with sustainable practices, because that will be better for all concerned, but lets steer clear of justifying it with Gaianism crap.
Please quite making asinine statements. (Score:5, Insightful)
I hate such noob statements ""Nature uses life-friendly chemistry, which is nontoxic and water-based, and which does not require high heat," These are essentially teleological arguments.
Nature (the environment) uses what is available. Life evolves to survive, or it ceases to exist. Simple as that. You are a biologist, quit with the Mother Nature-Goddess Gaia worshipping nonsense.
Re:Please quite making asinine statements. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd mod you up.
There's the whole problem of what is 'nature' and what 'use' means. Is not man a part of nature? Are we not just clever monkeys? The only thing outside of nature is the supernatural, but last I checked, neither gods nor ghosts were making much of anything.
life-friendly chemistry. WTF does that mean? "nontoxic and water-based" - ok, so now it's all about what solvents are involved? Water is a great solvent, but right now I am enjoying it mixed with some ethanol. Than you, yeasts. Yeast is natural, right?
What is the matter with high heat? Are you afraid of fire, Ms Benyus? I think you are. Fire from coal is pretty intimidating, for sure, but also very useful. Coal, iron, and steam changed the world but people like Benyus probably don't think it was for the better. You worship the sun, the wind, the moon. You don't want to think about the fire from the earth, the fire beneath the earth, energy that comes from other tan your god, Sol. You don't like coal, or petroleum, or nuclear power. But you won't tell yourself why. You just don't think they're 'natural'.
Re:Nature uses life friendly.. (Score:2, Insightful)
They are called "sugars" and "vegetable oils". Plants and algae make them from water and carbon dioxide.
They can be used as is or further transformed into alcohol or biodiesel, respectively.
Life-friendly chemistry? (Score:5, Insightful)
I know of a few animals [wikipedia.org] and plants [wikipedia.org] you'd better not mess with or risk getting sick/dying.
Why is it that the greenies always seem to equate natural things with healthy things? Nature will kill you, given half a chance.
Re:Nature uses life friendly.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Is there anything that hasn't 'been shown to cause cancer in animals'?
Janine Benyus is not a biologist (Score:5, Insightful)
Janine Benyus has a BS in Natural Resource Management and english lit from Rutgers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janine_Benyus [wikipedia.org]