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The World’s First 3D-Printed Guitar. Scott Summit does unusual things on his vacations. For instance, he just spent a week up in the mountains, taking in the majestic scenery and all that, but also sitting at his laptop creating a 3D model of his ideal guitar. Then he sent the computer design to 3D Systems (DDD), which used its massive 3D printers to transform the graphic model into an actual acoustic instrument that Summit can play. As far as anyone seems to know, this is the first 3D-printed acoustic guitar on the planet, and it raises all kinds musical possibilities. (As several readers noted, people have already made 3D printed electric guitars.) As a kid, Summit pined after fancy guitars. These days, Summit spends most of his time designing custom body parts and stylish prosthetics that get built from 3D printers. Since the acoustic guitar would be made from fused plastic, Summit figured it would have some serious shortcomings. But, no. Summit describes this version as a rough draft.

3D Printed Meats May Soon Be on the Menu. Ready for the latest oddity to come out of the 3D printing craze? A startup wants to create 3D printed meat to fill the human craving for animal protein without continuing to take an environmental toll on the planet. According to Cnet, billionaire Peter Thiel is directing between $250,000 to $350,000 from his philanthropic foundation toward Missouri-based Modern Meadow to create the bio-printed meat.

The company hopes to use the same technologies developed to create medical-grade tissues to bring food to the world's dinner tables (or barbecues). "If you look at the resource intensity of everything that goes into a hamburger, it is an environmental train wreck," says Modern Meadow co-founder Andras Forgacs. Don't get excited too fast — it will be a while before you can enjoy a 3D-printed steak on your dinner table. SEE ALSO: 3D Printer Creates Copies of Your Live Fetus Is 3D printing the future of food? Image courtesy of iStockphoto, BDMcIntosh. Print you own counterfeit trainers: Is 3D piracy closer than we think? Pirate Bay starts offering 'blueprints' of 3D objects to 'steal'People would steal designs then 'print out' objectsCopyright groups say if it takes off, 'Everything would go out the window' By Amy Oliver Updated: 20:01 GMT, 1 February 2012 'Stealing' trainers by downloading a blueprint then covertly printing out a 'copy' at home may seem like the work of science fiction.

But the concept could be a reality sooner than we think. Last week file-sharing site The Pirate Bay introduced a new category called 'Physibles' designed to allow people to share physical objects for download via 3D printing technology. Home 3D printers to 'print out' objects already exist. Copyright group the Anti-Counterfeiting Group said that if this becomes widespread, 'Everything would go out the window. Last week file-sharing site The Pirate Bay introduced a new category called 'Physibles' designed to allow people to share physical objects for download via 3D printing technology 'There would have to be another law.'

Transplant jaw made by 3D printer claimed as first. 6 February 2012Last updated at 09:07 ET A computer model of the fitted 3D-printed jaw is shown next to an image of the manufactured part A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been fitted to an 83-year-old woman's face in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind. The transplant was carried out in June in the Netherlands, but is only now being publicised. The implant was made out of titanium powder - heated and fused together by a laser, one layer at a time.

Technicians say the operation's success paves the way for the use of more 3D-printed patient-specific parts. The surgery follows research carried out at the Biomedical Research Institute at Hasselt University in Belgium, and the implant was built by LayerWise - a specialised metal-parts manufacturer based in the same country. Articulated joints The patient involved had developed a chronic bone infection. However, once designed, it only took a few hours to print. "This was repeated with each cross section melted to the previous layer. A third industrial revolution.