Tech (and Wrecker) visited the North Carolina State University campus.
"This is the campus of a rather prestigious local university. Admittedly, I do not understand the term 'university,' as it is only accessible to the humans of Earth...."
"This 'bell tower' is considered the main point of interest on this campus. Impressive."
"How do I look? Now please get me down; this stone is very uncomfortable to sit upon."
"Quite an impressive erection, I must say....
"What is so funny, Wrecker?"
"I said, 'erection', Wrecker.... As in 'structure' or 'edifice'. I was not making a 'dirty joke' nor am I in possession of a 'potty mind'. Remove your own mind from the primitive refuse removal system, please."
"What? Lie down here? For what reason, Wrecker? (Sigh), very well, I shall humor you if it will make you stop talking.
"AH. I see. Very amusing. You are a child, Wrecker."
"Do stop with the phallic innuendo, Wrecker. Be respectful, please. You are embarrassing me and our female host."
"What an intriguing seal. I wonder why that female is holding a hat on the end of a stick. I shall need to research it later...."
"I am humbled. How brave these humans must have been, to go into battle with only the primitive weapons of the time."
"The people of this planet have my respect."
"That center symbol looks familiar, somehow."
"I have no idea whatsoever what this sign could possibly mean. I am sure it makes sense to the students of this school."
"There are many impressive erect--STRUCTURES, here."
"Hello? Can you see me?"
"Pick me up, please. I have very short legs, and cannot cover much ground."
"There are a number of Objets D'art on display around this campus. I quite like this one."
"The colors are lovely, and the metalwork quite impressive, considering the limitations of this planet's tools and resources."
"What did you say, Wrecker? You have an idea for an especially aesthetically-pleasant photograph that would highlight the details of this sculpture? I am intrigued."
"Infantile. You are absolutely infantile, Wrecker. This entire excursion has been one long, rambling penile quip to you, has it not? I am going home...."
Researchers have developed a metallic gel that is highly electrically conductive and can be used to print three-dimensional (3D) solid objects at room temperature.
“3D printing has revolutionized manufacturing, but we’re not aware of previous technologies that allowed you to print 3D metal objects at room temperature in a single step,” says Michael Dickey, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “This opens the door to manufacturing a wide range of electronic components and devices.”
To create the metallic gel, the researchers start with a solution of micron-scale copper particles suspended in water. The researchers then add a small amount of an indium-gallium alloy that is liquid metal at room temperature. The resulting mixture is then stirred together.
As the mixture is stirred, the liquid metal and copper particles essentially stick to each other, forming a metallic gel “network” within the aqueous solution.
“This gel-like consistency is important, because it means you have a fairly uniform distribution of copper particles throughout the material,” Dickey says. “This does two things. First, it means the network of particles connect to form electrical pathways. And second, it means that the copper particles aren’t settling out of solution and clogging the printer.”
The resulting gel can be printed using a conventional 3D printing nozzle and retains its shape when printed. And, when allowed to dry at room temperature, the resulting 3D object becomes even more solid while retaining its shape.
However, if users decide to apply heat to the printed object while it is drying, some interesting things can happen.
In 1997, I graduated high school, and in fall of that year I began my undergraduate degree at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. I would proceed to drop out of a full-time semester in fall of 2000, leaving my G.P.A. saddled with numerous F’s. Twenty years later, in spring of 2020, I went back to NCSU to finish up my Bachelor’s degree, which I switched from Philosophy to English with a concentration in Film. I couldn’t take full-time semesters because I had too many other responsibilities to tend to simultaneously, so it took a while, but on May 5th, 2023, I graduated with my B.A. at long last!
Going back to college 20 years older than most of the other students in my classes was a challenge. There were social challenges, academic challenges, and physical challenges, but it was an experience I wouldn’t trade. I’m not sure I would even trade it to go back in time and graduate within 4 years in 2001. The university has changed so much since I attended in the 1990s, and the vast majority of changes are going the right direction. There is a huge push towards diversity and inclusion there, which I really appreciate. I do feel that my education was more robust and valuable than it would have been 20 years ago. More than that though, it’s the fact that I got to witness the changes a public university goes through firsthand, which gave me some perspective.
I will likely write more about this experience in due course, but for now I just wanted to let the world know why I’ve been so scarce the past couple of years. I have been writing for school, but I am excited to get back to my profession of writing, to explore some new avenues for my work, and to continue my artistic experimentation as well. The future looks bright, and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me along my path, encouraged me to keep going, and/or continued to inspire me while I accomplished this important goal for myself.