The first time I wrote about MIT's Skylar Tibbits and what he calls 4D printing, I refused to use that term. It seemed pretentious and, well, dishonest. Self-assembly meets 3D printing was more ...

3D printing has already transformed manufacturing, healthcare, engineering, and product development. Now, researchers are taking the concept a step further with 4D printing, a technology that allows ...

Newswise — New hydrogel-based materials that can change shape in response to physiological stimuli, such as water, could be the next generation of materials used to bioengineer tissues and organs, ...

New 4D hydrogels — 3D materials that have the ability to change shape over time in response to stimuli — may lead to the development of human tissues, and even organs, that are more like their natural ...

Combining materials with different swelling ratios creates structures that transform into tubes when exposed to water. (Courtesy: Yu Bin Lee) Materials that controllably change shape over time – often ...

The concept of 4D printing isn't a new idea, but processes that use new types of environmental stimuli keep on appearing. 4D printing is usually defined as 3D printing with materials that change shape ...

Shape-memory polymers or shape-shifting materials are smart materials that have gained significant attention within materials science and biomedical engineering in recent years to build smart ...

During the early stages of life, organs do not just appear in their final form. They take shape through a process of controlled bending, twisting, and folding. These changes help cells organize into ...

Enter 4-D materials, which are like 3-D materials, but they change shape when they are exposed to specific environmental cues, such as light or water. These materials have been eyed by biomedical ...