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Fetal SMPL was trained on 20,000 MRI volumes to predict the location and size of a fetus and create sculpture-like 3D representations. The approach could enable doctors to precisely measure things like the size of a baby’s head and compare these metrics with healthy fetuses at the same age (Credits: Alex Shipps and Yingcheng Liu/MIT CSAIL).
CSAIL article

For pregnant women, ultrasounds are an informative (and sometimes necessary) procedure. They typically produce two-dimensional black-and-white scans of fetuses that can reveal key insights, including biological sex, approximate size, and abnormalities like heart issues or cleft lip. If your doctor wants a closer look, they may use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which uses magnetic fields to capture images that can be combined to create a 3D view of the fetus.

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“Our system can turn a seemingly static, abstract image into an attention-catching animation,” says MIT PhD student Ticha Sethapakdi, a lead researcher on the FabObscura project. “The tool lowers the barrier to entry to creating these barrier-grid animations, while helping users express a variety of designs that would’ve been very time-consuming to explore by hand” (Credits: Courtesy of the researchers).
CSAIL article

Whether you’re an artist, advertising specialist, or just looking to spruce up your home, turning everyday objects into dynamic displays is a great way to make them more visually engaging. For example, you could turn a kids’ book into a handheld cartoon of sorts, making the reading experience more immersive and memorable for a child.

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A new software and hardware toolkit called SustainaPrint can help users strategically combine strong and weak filaments to achieve the best of both worlds. Instead of printing an entire object with high-performance plastic, the system analyzes a model, predicts where the object is most likely to experience stress, and reinforces those zones with stronger material (Credits: Alex Shipps/MIT CSAIL, using assets from Pixabay and the researchers).
CSAIL article

3D printing has come a long way since its invention in 1983 by Chuck Hull, who pioneered stereolithography, a technique that solidifies liquid resin into solid objects using ultraviolet lasers. Over the decades, 3D printers have evolved from experimental curiosities into tools capable of producing everything from custom prosthetics to complex food designs, architectural models, and even functioning human organs.