3D printing: apps beyond the digital

21 April 2012 | NewScientist | 5

IN 2009, a TV advert for the iPhone introduced us to the idea that “there’s an app for that”. And now there is. Just about any task that can be made easier with a smartphone and a bit of software has been turned into an app.

But if you need to lubricate a bicycle chain, fix a leaky pipe or try out some paint colours, the only app store available is an old-fashioned shop stocking a narrow range of products made by traditional chemical companies.

That could change. The rise of 3D printing creates the possibility of apps that can make chemicals (see page 8). The inventors see it as a way of delivering existing products to far-flung places, but there is nothing to stop enterprising chemists from writing apps for novel products and selling them direct to consumers, much as musicians

use websites like Bandcamp to bypass the music industry.

That would subject the chemical industry to the same kind of internet-fuelled disruption that other industries, notably publishing and music, have been through in recent years. But publishing and music have arguably become more

creative and attractive as a result, so that is something to encourage.

Chemical apps obviously raise some concerns that don’t apply to digital ones. Consumer chemicals are subject to health and safety testing; a similar regime would have to be developed for the products of

chemical apps. And it is not hard to envisage apps for illegal recreational drugs. But existing laws should be able to cope.

Just as music and publishing companies initially pushed back against digital technologies, established chemical firms won’t like it. They will raise legitimate concerns about intellectual property theft. But again, the law should be able to keep up – and companies that accept and use the new technology will likely prosper.

The biggest barrier to chemical apps is that most people don’t own 3D printers – yet. Software apps didn’t take off until smartphones were commonplace. But as the price comes down, the technology gets better and the applications continue to expand, the much vaunted 3D printing revolution may yet come to pass. Then there really will be an app for that. n

Apps beyond the digital

EDITORIAL

Chemicals on demand from 3D printers are an exciting prospect

THE rich just keep on getting richer. In most developed nations inequality has been growing for decades; last year the OECD reported that its 34 member countries were more unequal than at any time in the past 30 years.

As the gulf between rich and poor rises up the political agenda so it has become an object of scientific study. The findings are

not encouraging for anyone.There is already ample evidence

that people at the bottom suffer a range of health problems. More controversially, unequal societies appear to have higher levels of social ills, from teenage pregnancy to violence and obesity, that affect quality of life across the board (New Scientist, 16 April 2011, p 50).

Now there is another reason to

decry growing inequality. Greater wealth correlates with selfishness and lack of empathy (see page 52), which might help explain why the divide persists and the rich seem so reluctant to close it.

Apologists for inequality argue that it is harmless, or even a powerful motivator. The evidence suggests otherwise. A huge gap between have and have-nots is bad both for individuals and for society. It is in everybody’s interests that we narrow it. n

Sympathy for the rich

“There is nothing to stop enterprising chemists from writing apps and selling them to us”

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3D printing: apps beyond the digital