It gets a bit scarier. Professor Lee Cronin, at the University of Glasgow, has been experimenting with something he calls “reactionware,” which he hopes will allow people to print their own medication at home. A 3-D printer shoots a sequence of chemical agents into special gel chambers that create a controlled reaction. Cronin says that before long, consumers should be able to download a “recipe” from a drug company -- for, say, ibuprofen -- that they could then print out at home. This holds great promise for patients, drug researchers and developing countries in need of medicines.
Professor Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard University offers one compelling suggestion: Require that all 3-D printers be connected to the Internet to function, then make them check with a list of prohibited items online before printing a new object. This sounds promising, and in theory could be used to prevent intellectual-property infringements as well.
