Want a pair of pants that fits you perfectly? Need to churn out a few hundred keychains? Soon, you may be able to hit "print." On September 26, MIT scientists are expected to introduce a groundbreaking 3-D printer. They're not the first to do so — 3-D printers have turned from fiction into fact. Although there are currently only six publicly accessible 3-D print shops around the country, experts project that we will find the printers in our favorite department stores by 2017.
The scientific ramifications of 3-D printing are developing more quickly. 3-D printers substitute a material like plastic for a traditional printer's paper and ink. The technology has quickly found medical applications. North Carolina based 3-D printing company Geomagic has harnessed the technology to make hearing aids. Whereas it used to take trained professionals hours to make a single hearing aid, pressing "print" can now produce several hundred at a time.
