CU Boulder and Columbia University Find a Biopolymer Formula for 3D Printable Earth

• Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, working alongside scientists from Columbia University, have identified a surprising solution to one of additive manufacturing’s more unconventional frontiers: getting natural earthen materials like clay and sand to behave reliably inside a 3D printer. The answer, it turns out, has long been sitting in the ice cream aisle.…

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, working alongside scientists from Columbia University, have identified a surprising solution to one of additive manufacturing’s more unconventional frontiers: getting natural earthen materials like clay and sand to behave reliably inside a 3D printer. The answer, it turns out, has long been sitting in the ice cream aisle. The research draws its conceptual foundation from the animal kingdom. Termites raise towering mounds, wasps construct elaborate nests, and honeycomb worms build reef-like formations along coastlines, all without a gram of cement. What these organisms rely on instead are biopolymers, large biological molecules that act as natural binders, frequently found in saliva, to hold soil and organic matter together into cohesive s