Food Producing 3D Printers Might Feed Astronauts In the Not-So-Distant Future

by Sylvan Bachhuber, age 14

Nothing sounds more like science fiction than a box that creates an entire meal from a gel-like substance, and then literally prints it out. As crazy as it seems, scientists believe that contraptions like this may actually exist in the next 20 years.

A team at Cornell University is pioneering this food-producing technology. They have manufactured a device called the Fab@Home 3D printer, successfully producing realistic bananas, mushrooms, and cheese.

The industry of 3D printing is progressing rapidly, as engineers come up with bigger and bolder ideas. With more advanced technology, people could defy the current boundaries of food production. A Japanese company uses its 3D-printing technology to make a life-size pure chocolate replica of your sweetheart’s head. Other avant-garde ideas include cakes with logos inside, or hot dogs with ketchup and mustard in the center. The possibilities are almost endless.

A food-producing printer would be useful for space expeditions. Instead of loading up on vacuum-sealed packets of food, astronauts could bring along one microwave-sized box that printed off whatever meal their hearts desired. Having printers make foods that replicate familiar flavors could help curb homesickness while fortifying their meals with vitamins and amino acids.

Since 3D printers could customize nutrients in food products for patients with specialized needs, they would be particularly valuable in hospitals.

While the practical and helpful applications for a device like this are many, we still have a long time to go until the technology is capable of producing a large variety of foods. The existing printers can only shape a single item, because syringes are filled with a single ingredient. Take the chocolate heads for example, melted chocolate is inputted into the printer as it builds the shape up layer by layer. To actually produce a food item, engineers would have to work with many different kinds of materials in a range of textures and temperatures. To get to a point where a single printer can make more than one thing that tastes and looks like real food, we will have to wait about 5 to 10 years. It would take an additional 5 to 10 years to build a machine that could produce an entire meal.

The prospect of meal-producing 3D printers, confined to imaginations and science fiction, may soon become reality.

[Source: www.wired.com]













wooow looks great!you inspired me to start my own websohp. Like 1,5 years ago I found your blog, and I started reading for the beginning of your blog... and that inspired me so much! all your hard work and hard work pays off! Now I have for about a year my own websohp in handmade accessoires and it is really hard work but I so love it! Everyday I check your blog to look what you are doing!Keep on doing the good work =D – Tlou , wooow looks great!you inspired me to start my own websohp. Like 1,5 years ago I found your blog, and I started reading for the beginning of your blog... and that inspired me so much! all your hard work and hard work pays off! Now I have for about a year my own websohp in handmade accessoires and it is really hard work but I so love it! Everyday I check your blog to look what you are doing!Keep on doing the good work =D (2014-12-07 00:13)
Your hosntey is like a beacon – Jane , Your hosntey is like a beacon (2016-04-27 16:09)
I believe alnrey all of the parallels now are numbered so you can tell by which one has less copies. Usually Orange is rarer than Gold. It also matters if it is chrome or base bowman for the orange/ gold because chrome orange and gold are #’d to 25 and 50 recivstpeely. A regular Bowman card that is orange will usually be numbered to 250 while a Gold isn’t numbered at all. It’s a mess. – Dina , I believe alnrey all of the parallels now are numbered so you can tell by which one has less copies. Usually Orange is rarer than Gold. It also matters if it is chrome or base bowman for the orange/ gold because chrome orange and gold are #’d to 25 and 50 recivstpeely. A regular Bowman card that is orange will usually be numbered to 250 while a Gold isn’t numbered at all. It’s a mess. (2016-04-27 17:57)
Name

Location

Email

Comment