Maker Mix, with Bill Nye (Part 1) – StarTalk All-Stars

About This Episode

Makers of the world, unite! In the first part of our 2-part Maker Mix, Bill Nye and Chuck Nice roll up their sleeves to answer Cosmic Queries from our fans about makers and the maker movement. You’ll hear all about the present and the future of 3d printing, from making replacement parts for tractors, to making replacement parts for people like joints and human organs made from one’s own DNA that wouldn’t require anti-rejection drugs. Explore how 3d printing and ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization) can be used to support human colonization of Mars. Bill and Chuck speculate about whether 3d printing could reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing, and how 3d printing could be used in agriculture and food preparation. Find out how Bill thinks 3d printing could revolutionize the creation and dispensation of prescription drugs, surgical tools, and chemical compounds. Dive into some of the details, like how we might be able switch materials used by printers to create items made from both plastic and steel, or whether 3d printed materials can be made as strong as forged or diecast products. All this, plus whether we should move from an emphasis on STEM to one on STEAM that includes the arts, 3d printing of nanobots and nanotechnology, how the Mars 2020 Rover will test the feasibility of creating rocket fuel from the Martian soil, and whether Chuck’s wife would rather have a second, 3d printed version of Chuck or a 3d printed wooly mammoth.

Elements of this show originally appeared in other podcasts, in segments brought to you by Google as part of their Making Science with Google initiative. For more information, visit makingscience.withgoogle.com.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Maker Mix, with Bill Nye (Part 1) – StarTalk All-Stars.