An 83-year-old woman needed a new lower jawbone last year for transplant and instead of a traditional implant, the medical team used a 3D printed jawbone manufactured by LayerWise. The transplant was carried out in the Netherlands last June and it has just now been announced. The implant was printed out of a titanium powder using a laser, layer-by-layer until the finished product was completed. The implant is a complicated part with articulated joints and cavities to provoke muscle attachment along with grooves to direct the regrowth of nerves and veins.

According to the team, it took 33 layers of titanium melted using the laser for 1 mm of height. That means that the finished jawbone had many thousands of laser passes. One of the interesting parts of the 3D printed jawbone is that it has a special double bridge that was attached and false teeth screwed in the that dental bridge. Also interesting is that the finished titanium jawbone weighs 107g, which is about one-third heavier than the replaced bone.

[via BBC]

The 4 inch-long bullet was invented by Red Jones and Brian Kast, who aside from being engineers are also hunters. So if you hate this tech, blame the game that they couldn’t hit. Although to say that this is overcompensating would be an understatement: the high-tech ammo has an optical sensor, an 8-bit CPU that handles “guidance and control electronics” and electromagnetic actuators that control its fins.

The bullet is meant to be used with smooth-bore firearms, i.e. ones that don’t have grooves inside their barrels. The grooves give spin to normal bullets to help them fly straight, but since this bullet literally has a mind of its own it doesn’t need the spin. The screenshot above shows the path left by a prototype fitted with an LED, proving that its electronics and battery are not destroyed when the bullet is fired. That is one weird trajectory.

Sandia’s press release also said that the bullet’s flight gets steadier with distance, so it’s better suited for long-range targets. The current prototype isn’t up to the U.S. military’s standards in terms of velocity, but its inventors are confident that they can make it go faster by using customized gunpowder. Or they could invent bullet time. Check the link below for more details.

[via Sandia National Labs via BBC News]

Developed by Japan’s Burton, Inc., and based on technologies from AIST and Keio University, this 3D display can display images not just in the air, but underwater too. The system uses “by focusing laser light to produce plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air.” It’s capable of producing about 50,000 dots per second at a frame rate of somewhere around 10-15 fps. While their demonstration uses simple geometric shapes and words, I think they should replace the image with Princess Leia.

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I wonder if this technology would fit inside an astromech droid.

[via DigInfo.TV]

I understand how some people would want cosmetic surgery performed to reduce their waistlines or to make their noses pointier or to lift up their sagging skin (although I’m not for it at all.) I also understand that some people want to change their eye color sometimes and use contact lenses to do so.

What I don’t really get is how far some people will go to make such physical changes – like undergoing a laser procedure to permanently change their eye color from brown to blue.

The technology is developed by Dr. Gregg Homer from the Stroma Medical in California, and he calls it the Lumineyes technology. The procedure makes use of lasers that remove the brown pigment called melanin from the top layer of the iris. The color then slowly turns to blue over the course of a couple of weeks, as you can see above. And this change won’t come cheap, as it’s going to be priced at $5,000, although you might have to wait for a couple of years to get the procedure done if you’re interested.

Dr. Homer explains: “A blue eye is not opaque, you can see deeply into it, while a brown eye is very opaque. I think there is something very meaningful about this idea of having open windows to the soul.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather stick with my brown eyes. (Destiny’s Child wrote a song about brown eyes once, and I don’t think having an opaque eye color is that bad.)

[via The Daily Mail via Dvice]

Patrick says that all of his wristbow’s parts are homemade. It even has a laser sight, which is powered by two AA-batteries which are tucked on his palm along with the laser sight’s toggle. The wristbow’s bolts are made of carbon fiber tubing with brass and steel tips, although crossbow connoisseurs might balk at his bolts because they have fletching – the feathery things near the back of the arrow – which bolts are not supposed to have. Watch the not-bolts and the wristbow destroy things in the video below:

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That’s an ultra-silent crossbow. It didn’t make a sound even when it hit the can! Oh. Yeah, yeah I knew that there really was no audio the first time around. Heheh. Heh. Patrick says he’ll make an instructable soon so that Deus Ex fans can augment their cosplay with their own wrist-mounted crossbow. Who knows, maybe Patrick will even accept custom orders like he does with his other creations.

[via MoHacks]

The remote also has three buttons – left, right and turbo – but it seems like using the light alone is fine, especially since the car is dual-sided and is totally fine with being flipped over. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t designed with accuracy and fine control in mind. Part of the fun of playing with a Lazer Stunt Chaser would be wondering just how far it can follow the light. Watch it zip around in the demo video below:

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Quite the suicidal toy eh? Here’s another video, this time with bigger ramps and other Lazer Stunt Chaserz in the mix:

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A flying version of this would be awesome, although I guess it would be a lot more dangerous too. You can order the Lazer Stunt Chaser from Amazon for about $54 (USD). It comes with a charger and a stunt ramp. Next time your cat is being a dick, just point the Lazer’s remote at it. Just kidding. Don’t do that. Don’t point it at animals or humans. Especially at human crotches. But feel free point your browser to the official website for more info.

[via Gizmag via Oh Gizmo!]

So what’s an energy-saving alternative that will look hip, colorful, and futuristic on your wrist? It’s designer David Blanc’s Elusive watch that’s still quite elusive nowadays, considering that it’s not actually being manufactured yet.

Here’s another possible reason why the watch was named like so: the watch’s face is also elusive. That’s because it doesn’t have a face – just a hole where a face is supposed to be. This is where the battery-saving stuff comes in.

Instead of displaying the time on a LED or LCD 24/7 or having two hands running across it at any given moment, you have to insert your finger into the face to have it displayed: one finger for the time, and two for the date. After it’s triggered, the time would be projected onto your skin using a tiny, harmless laser beam. Pretty neat concept, eh?

[via Yanko Design]

BMW says that the laser is the next logical step in vehicle lighting. When you say “laser,” I think of the lasers like Wicked Lasers sells that can blind you and destroy orbiting satellites. That is not what BMW has in mind though. The light created by BMW’s laser headlights would not be harmful to people or animals and would not blind oncoming drivers.

The light would be converted first so that it is suitable for road use. BMW says that an LED can create 100 lumens of light per watt while a laser could produce 170 lumens per watt. However, since lasers can produce nearly parallel beams of light, they could be as much as a thousand times brighter than the LEDs used today.

The first car to showcase the technology will be the BMW i8 concept. However, BMW is working on commercializing laser diode technology now, and it could see production in a few years time.

The laser has a range of 85 miles, which means the beam could leave our atmosphere. Therefore, Wicked says that you should not aim the laser at satellites in orbit because it could mess up the sensors on an orbiting satellite. The laser could also blind pilots.

The thing has 1W of power. That makes it 8,000 times brighter staring directly at the sun and it has 86 million lux. The laser uses special thermopile detector that lowers power to keep temperatures in line. The body of the laser is aluminum for rugged design. It sells for $999.95 (USD) in 1W form, $299.95 in 300mW, with a 500mW middle ground for $499.95.

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I doubt that’s ever going to become a reality. But what scientists are coming close to doing is coming up with a laser that, when shot at clouds, can induce precipitation. In simpler words, that translates to “make it rain.”

Humans making it rain? That doesn’t like it’s something new, I know, but this method is. Traditionally, man can induce rain by using a method called cloud seeding. It’s basically injecting a certain chemical or substance such as silver iodide that serves as the “seed” to make it rain. However, some of these chemicals (specifically, silver iodide) are toxic and have detrimental effects on humans and animals.

The team of scientists from the University of Geneva have recently published their results detailing how they were able to induce the formation of droplets of water in the air, which is the first step to creating rain itself. After over 113 hours of firing from a mobile laser lab, the team discovered that the laser was able to create particles of nitric acid in the air, which can jumpstart the condensation process.

[via Wired]

As you can see it is needlessly, freakishly thin. I don’t think even Apple, the company that made the anemic MacBook Air, would want to create a device this skinny, never mind if it’s even possible with today’s technology. Some of you may find it nice to look at, but personally if I had any device this thin I’d be worried about damaging it all the time. But I like the other features that Aatma Studio made up:

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The holographic display is really sweet. Combine that with the laser keyboard and this is practically a tablet. I think Aatma Studio made this to ride on Apple’s bandwagon and use it to show off their 3D animation skills. If so, consider it a job well done.

[via Into Mobile]

Just like Stark, Priebe built his dangerous toy by hand. It uses a laser diode from a Casio projector, mounted to a brass housing that Priebe made just for the glove. Two Li-ion batteries provide enough power for about an hour of lasering. So how dangerous is it? Here’s Pop Sci’s take on the Laser Glove: “In the U.S., the maximum strength for consumer laser pointers is typically five milliwatts; Priebe’s handheld laser is 1,000 milliwatts, enough to instantly blind anyone not wearing special safety glasses.” Yikes.

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Priebe is actually taking orders for the glove, although I don’t know how many units he plans to make and how much he’s asking for one. Just drop him a message on his YouTube channel for details. And get a pair of those special safety glasses will you?

[via Make: & Popular Science]

Styropyro used a 700mW laser diode from a 12x Blu-ray burner; if you don’t have a spare burner around, he suggests hitting up Modwerx for the diode. You can even find stronger lasers at that website. Watch the video to find out more about the conversion and to see exactly how dangerous this real-life laser gun is.

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I wonder if you can somehow fit this bad boy into a gun mod. If you have a replica of the neat Dead Space plasma cutter, Kipkay already showed how you can convert that to a laser gun.

[via Hack A Day]

The system uses a camera to see where the turn lane is and then has three laser scanners in the front of the car. The scanners are able to map the area 100M in front of the car and can sense cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The driver of the car has a HUD that would give warnings if they were in danger of a collision.

If the driver is still rolling into traffic and the systems senses an oncoming car, it will apply the brakes if the vehicle is below 10km/h. I guess that is the threshold to keep the system from hitting the brakes on you if you are trying to zip through traffic. The brake can be cleared by pressing the pedal if the system applies it.

The Sith Series (sheesh, might as well change their name to Lucas Lasers) is made of two Class 4 1-watt Spyder 3 lasers – the same lightsaber-ish laser that got them a cease-and-desist letter from Lucasfilm. You can use each end separately or go Darth Maul on your Powerpoint and hold two presentations at once. Seriously though this thing is very dangerous. Both a direct hit or a reflected beam can result in permanent blindness, cause dark surfaces to catch on fire and may ignite skin, hair or clothing. Yikes. That’s why buyers will be required to apprentice under a Sith Lord review Wicked Lasers’ safety training video and pass a Laser Safety Test.

The Sith Series double handed laser can be ordered at Wicked Lasers’ website for $600 (USD). Let’s be honest – even if we all had $600 to spare most of us don’t need a laser, let alone a two-headed one. Still, I’m sure some nerd out there can wrangle a couple of legitimate excuses to possess such an amazing tool, so I’ll just wait for the cool videos of their projects and exploits. Wicked Lasers, you wicked.

[via Uberreview]

Modder Kipkay has taken that Plasma Cutter and hacked it to have real lasers inside to look like the one from the game. The video at the bottom of the story here even shows you how the thing was made. This is some awesome DIY action, and I bet a lot of people that have one of these have wished it was real.

The lasers he used are blue and purple in color and are strong enough to even light matches and pop balloons. They appear to similar to those found in those Spyder III laser pointers from Wicked Lasers. If you build one of these, be sure and let us know.

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[via Superpunch]

NASA scientists are now conducting a study that Dr. Evil would approve of. They’re looking at the possibility of using a ground-based laser to clean up the debris. The space agency says that about 60% of the junk orbiting the Earth right now that threatens satellites like the ESA Earth observing satellite can be traced back to the Chinese military test of an anti-satellite weapon and the collision between the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 satellites.

They would use a medium-powered (5kW) laser on Earth to track and then fire at the orbiting debris. The laser wouldn’t burn the debris up itself or attempt to directly destroy it. However, the scientists reckon the laser will slow the down the debris’ orbit enough so that it will fall back into the atmosphere and burn up before hitting the ground. The system may even be able to maneuver satellites from the ground with the satellite needing no propulsion of its own.

[via TechnologyReview]

Patrick took a lot of custom parts and crafted them into a very sci-fi looking pulse laser pistol dubbed the DIY Pulse Laser Gun. He says that the pulse is a kW-class and shoots a beam of coherent infrared light.

The beam is powerful enough to punch through a razor blade, plastic, and 5mm thick Styrofoam when focused. The construction uses Plexiglas, brass, aluminum, and each of the parts was handmade.

The project took about 70 hours to complete. I want one, and if you do too it seems Patrick will make one for you – if the price is right.

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If you do buy one, just don’t shoot it at your eyes.

[YouTube via Hacked Gadgets]

The threshold for a laser weapon that is good for defense is 100 kilowatts of power. The prototype laser that the Navy has been working with had only 14 kilowatts of power. The Navy has announced that it has been testing a new injector that has greatly increased the power of the laser and brought the Free Electron Laser up to the megawatt class.

The Navy also points out that the laser could be used for more than shooting down missiles. It could also be used to guide other weapons and more. The cool part about a laser is that it never needs bullets and the beam travels at the speed of light.

[via Wired]

That’s exactly what this YouTuber WorldScott did with a pair of these 1000mW, 45-nanometer bad-boys. He perfectly lined up two Spyder III blue beams on a kernel of popcorn, and let it sit there on a turning saucer until the kernel went blammo. All in all, it takes about a minute for a single kernel to pop.

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At that rate, he should be able to pop a full bag of Orville Reddenbacher’s in about 2 to 3 hours. Okay, it’s not very efficient, but it sure looks cool.

[via The Daily What]