I had the opportunity of visiting from time to time the Tangible Media Group at Media Lab, MIT Cambridge US, and I have always been fascinated by their capability to transform the idea of computer interaction into tangible ones (I still remember a system to design a telecommunication network using sand and laser light…).
Now I stumbled onto an article from that group reporting on the Transforming Appetite project.
Researchers have created layers of food materials, cellulose, starch, protein, through a process of controlled deposition (additive manufacturing, like the one used with 3D printers) that when immersed in water change their shape becoming 3D objects. The trick is in the way the layers are structured, leading to different ways of absorption of water as temperature increases.
Imagine. You take a bag of flat pasta, put it into boiling water (don’t forget a pinch of salt!) to cook them and when ready you’ll find “fusilli”, “penne”, “tortiglioni”, “conchiglie”…. (being Italian I know an unlimited set of names for different types of pasta).
Now this may just be fun, may be something to impress your friend. But behind it there is quite a bit of technology, an understanding of material structures and the capability to design them in such a way that they will acquire a desired property. This is just an example of what we are going to see more and more: design structures that can evolve under specific conditions.
The researchers are also pointing out the advantage that may be derived in terms of packaging. It is clearly cheaper to package 2D layers than 3D objects. That is surely true, however I am still captivated by the idea of designing the properties of a material.