3D printing is the next big thing mankind is looking forward to. It’s still in its initial stages, but it’s showing a lot of promise. Imagine printing anything you need, anytime you need it. It’ll revolutionize the manufacturing process. A decade or two from now you’ll be able to print anything you want at home. You won’t need to go to a store anymore. The new PlayStation and iPhone will be printed at your house and all you’ll need to do is buy the designs. Let’s take a look at some of the current applications of 3D printers.

Food

If you thought 3D printers were only capable of printing nuts and bolts, then think again. Welcome the space age pizza. NASA successfully tested a 3D printer that was capable of making a pizza. Now you might be thinking, why would NASA of all people go through all that trouble? The answer is simple, space exploration. You’ve got to feed the astronauts something. The ingredients used in a 3D printer have a longer shelf life than traditional food products. So instead of packing astronauts their lunch, NASA insists they make it themselves. At least they’ll be able to enjoy a better meal than they’re accustomed to. Read more How To Use 3D Printers.

Bones

A broken bone will heal. And thanks to 3D printers, it’ll heal much more quickly. The artificial bone manufactured by 3D printers can be used to bridge broken bones. It allows the bone to heal itself and then dissolves into nothing. It’s kind of like stitching wounds. The thread dissolves once the wound is healed. You can participate in adventure sports all you like. If you break something, you can print yourself a new bone and go right back to doing back flips. The medical applications of 3D printers doesn’t just end there, there’s a lot more you can do with it.

Prosthetics

Not only can you mend broken bones with 3D printers, but you can also manufacture prosthetics. If you’ve met with an unfortunate accident that requires you to wear them, you’ll be greatly benefited by this innovation. It greatly reduces the cost of prosthetics and simplifies the process of making them. All you need to do is take a picture of the area that requires the prosthetic and you can create a design based upon that. With the new generation of prosthetics people with disabilities will be able live much more comfortably.

Car

If you’ve seen Nat Geo’s Mega Factories, then you’ll know that cars have a very complex manufacturing process. The amount of time it takes for a car to reach from design phase to completion is quite a lot. With 3D printing that time can be reduced significantly. Polyurethane moulding will soon give way to 3D printing in the automobile manufacturing process. If you’re a classic car enthusiast, you’ll know how difficult it is to procure spare parts for them. However, with 3D printing it’s not so difficult anymore. You’ll be able to restore your old hot rod with minimal effort on your part.

Cells

This is probably one of the best applications of 3D printers. What if there was a way to avoid animal testing? Not only will it be in the wellbeing of rabbits, but it’ll also give PETA once less thing to talk about. 3D printers can manufacture tissues that can be used to test prescription drugs. It gives a more accurate result than the ones given by animal testing. It’s about time we stopped relying on animal testing altogether. It’s not something you would expect from a civilized species. After all, we’re not living in the Dark Ages anymore.

With the advent of 3D printing many possibilities have opened up on the horizon. Things we couldn’t imagine a few years back now seem possible. This innovation has opened up many new avenues for mankind. Not only will it revolutionize the things we’ve done so far, but it’ll also give us leverage to explore new horizons. This is a technological turning point for us, one that will define our progress towards the future. With 3D printers mankind will be able to print its own destiny. It may sound cheesy, but in a weird way it’s true, or at least we’d like to think it is.

Author Bio:

Shruti Vaghe, the author of this article, is a freelance blogger, currently working with RIMCO, a company specializing in polyurethane moulding. Shruti loves photography and on weekends she sharpens her wildlife photography skills. You can follow her on Twitter