Walker Matthew, Humphries Stuart
School of Life Sciences University of Lincoln Lincoln UK.
Ecol Evol. 2019 Mar 13;9(7):4289-4301. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5050. eCollection 2019 Apr.
In the commercial and medical sectors, 3D printing is delivering on its promise to enable a revolution. However, in the fields of Ecology and Evolution we are only on the brink of embracing the advantages that 3D printing can offer. Here we discuss examples where the process has enabled researchers to develop new techniques, work with novel species, and to enhance the impact of outreach activities. Our aim is to showcase the potential that 3D printing offers in terms of improved experimental techniques, greater flexibility, reduced costs and promoting open science, while also discussing its limitations. By taking a general overview of studies using the technique from fields across the broad range of Ecology and Evolution, we show the flexibility of 3D printing technology and aim to inspire the next generation of discoveries.
在商业和医疗领域，3D打印正在兑现其引发一场革命的承诺。然而，在生态学和进化领域，我们才刚刚开始接受3D打印所能带来的优势。在此，我们讨论一些案例，在这些案例中，3D打印技术使研究人员能够开发新技术、研究新物种，并增强科普活动的影响力。我们的目的是展示3D打印在改进实验技术、提高灵活性、降低成本以及促进开放科学方面的潜力，同时也讨论其局限性。通过全面概述广泛的生态学和进化领域中使用该技术的研究，我们展示了3D打印技术的灵活性，并旨在激发下一代的发现。
