When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Since 1923, people have visited a 2.7-mile wooden boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York. Despite protests, New York City Commission approved a plan last week to replace part of the iconic structure in fabled Coney Island with plastic and concrete, according to the Associated Press.
AP writes that city officials said they picked plastic because it lasts longer and is cheaper than natural wood. The city stopped using the long-lasting lumber species in 2008 because it came from rainforests, and since then they haven’t had a reliable supply of environmentally friendly hardwood.
In The New York Times, Liz Robbins provided more context over the year-long fight over the city’s proposal to fix a five-block stretch in Brighton Beach, where wood is used. The section is a mile from the historic district of Coney Island. “Economic sense clashes with the emotional connection that many Brooklynites have to the Boardwalk,” she writes.
Robbins reports:
‘It’s like putting a piece of plastic into a diamond ring, and this is our jewel,’ said Rob Burstein, 57, the chairman of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance, whose online petition to keep the Boardwalk wood was signed by more than 1,700 people since the beginning of the year.
In the end, the economics of the situation won out. A City Council member told The New York Times that maintaining the wooden boardwalk costs more than $1 million per year. According to the new plan, the cost to replace the five-block section in Brighton Beach is $6.85 million. The parks department told Robbins that figure is more expensive than all concrete but less expensive than natural woods rated for an eight-year life, and plastic planks can last about 75 years.
Robbins explains that two small sections of the boardwalk are already concrete after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg mandated that tropical hardwood usage from endangered rainforests be reduced.
Here’s the plan for the renovation: a 12-foot concrete section for emergency vehicles flanked by 19-foot-wide sections of the plastic polymer on either side for pedestrians. Robbins writes, “This is not the all-concrete sacrilege that local preservationists had feared, but they still see the hybrid product as a travesty of tradition.”
Comments
Post a Comment