3D printing for glow in the dark.
According to researchers reporting in ACS Omega,¨they developed a colorful new ink for 2D and 3D art made of mica pigments in alginate, a sugar from seaweed that forms a stable gel without heat. Some artists are embracing 3D printing as a new medium, allowing them to create intricate 3D compositions that are difficult to produce in any other way. But the rigid, plastic-based materials used in many 3D printers require high heat for workability. The researchers could control the consistency of the media by adding more or less of the calcium chloride crosslinker. The team demonstrated the new bioinks, which they call ArtSea Ink, by 3D printing 2D art of a firefly, with a glow-in-the-dark additive to depict its abdomen, and a 3D structure showing the anatomy of the human brain. ¨
