3D printing

A flat piece of plastic that shapes itself into a shoe? An orthodontic device that moves into position to straighten teeth? Computational architect Skylar Tibbits is shaking up the material world.

An optogenetic breakthrough, 3D printing hits the big leagues, and a monumental sugar sculpture in this roundup of today’s three need-to-know stories.

Growing up in Sierra Leone, David Sengeh knew all too many amputees. Now studying at the MIT Media Lab, he talks about his idea of redesigning the socket that connects an artificial limb to a human body -- and his dream of creating custom-designed, low-cost, comfortable sockets that 3D printing technology could make accessible to anyone, anywhere.