3D printing has fostered in a new era of problem solving and historical revelation. With the aid of 3D printing, an historical child’s skull could be modelled and printed in order to gather information about the history of humans and the nature of the individual’s fate. Radiolab acquired the 3D scan of an artifact known as the Taung Child Skull by the Field Museum. Thanks to a digital shoot, the 3D print honed a reflective accuracy possible solely as a result of the new technology available.
Tune in to the Radiolab podcast to hear Wits University Professor Lee Berger and Dr. Chris Stringer from London’s Natural History museum as they investigate the anthropological find. With the child’s skull, the researchers hope to answer probing questions involving our origin as a species and the manner by which the child died. With the advent of 3D printing, the scientists can observe an accurate rendering of the skull and use the model to further their hypothesis and studies.
Radiolab: “The Skull” — Taung Child Skull from shootdigital on Vimeo.
By posting the file on Thingiverse, users can download and 3D print for themselves the ancient remnants of a child. The video above illustrates the process creating an accurate model thanks in large part to MakerBot and its 3D printing capabilities. The skull itself is at once harrowing and alluring. The investigation into the demise of a youth is certainly fascinating as well as its connection to our own frailty and imprint in time. Our current technology at the hands of 3D printing can bring what was once undiscovered, unknown, unfamiliar into our homes with the ability to 3D print. Where will that leave our remains? Only history will tell, a history paved by the future we lay.
Source: Radiolab
