Beauty and the Beak

[intaglio]

From The Grist

Sometime in 2005, Beauty the bald eagle was shot in the face by a poacher, which damaged her beak badly enough that she couldn’t eat on her own. Animal rescue workers found her before she starved to death, and volunteers at the nonprofit group Birds of Prey Northwest nursed her back to health via tube-feeding and, later, hand-feeding with forceps. But it became increasingly clear that her beak was never going to grow back — meaning that Beauty would never be able to feed herself. She was on track to be euthanized.

/snip

Calvin developed the new beak using a 3-D modeling program, then used a 3-D printer to fabricate it. After an arduous procedure to attach her prosthetic, Beauty was able to eat, drink, and preen herself on her own.

They observe in the article that this might be taken as a metaphor for the real America

Ruined by guns, kept alive by nonprofits, technology comes to the rescue? Sure, I think it works.

Whatever, this is a cool story.

[HopeHoops]

1. Reminds me of Angel from "The Next Karate Kid" with Hilary Swank.

[lunatica]

2. That's a wonderful and uplifting story!

It made me choke up at the end.

[marzipanni]

3. Yes, that is a cool story!

and here are some others about animals who needed prosthetics designed for them, including Beauty from your post.

http://www.neatorama.com/2012/01/04/10-amazing-stories-of-animal-prosthetics/

3-D printers are interesting. We've been watching videos about them. Here's a short article if anyone hasn't heard much about them yet-
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/27/3d-printer-form-1-gets-6x-its-100k-funding-goal-on-kickstarter-in-one-day/

[Flaxbee]

5. there's a long discussion about it in GD from a ways back... I started the thread...

but can't search b/c I lost my star.

Quite a few people added interesting links about additive manufacturing - if you find the thread, please post it (so I can bookmark it!)

[marzipanni]

6. Here's your thread about 3-D printing. I'm going to bed now but will look at it tomorrow.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021259921

[Flaxbee]

4. Fantastic, wonderful

Thank you for posting this.

I've been following 3D printing (or "additive manufacturing&quot for a long time now - it gives me much hope.