The Father of JD Printing

    About twenty years ago, the surgeons at the Wilford Hull medical center working to separate a pair of conjoined(连体的) twins thought that only one would be able to walk after the operation. After a model of the girls' bone structure was {#blank#}1{#/blank#} using 3D printing, however, they found a shared upper leg bone to be bigger than expected and split it successfully, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} in both twins being able to walk. Now eighty and still working as chief technology officer of 3D Systems. Chuck Hull is enjoying some minor {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 31 years after he first printed a small black eye-wash cup using a new method of manufacturing known as 3D printing.

    At the time, he was working for a company that used UV light to put thin layers of plastic coats on tabletops and {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. He had an idea that if he could place thousands of thin layers of plastic on top of each other and then cut their shape using light, he would be able to form three dimensional objects. After a year, he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a system where light was shone into a bottle of photopolymer – a material which changes from liquid to plastic-like solid when light shines on it – and traces the shape of one level of the object. Subsequent layers are then printed until it is {#blank#}6{#/blank#}.

    After patenting the invention, he set up 3D Systems, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} getting $6m (£3.5m) from a Canadian investor. The first {#blank#}8{#/blank#} product came out in 1988 and proved a hit among car manufacturers, in the aerospace sector and for companies designing medical equipment. The possibilities appear endless – from home-printed food and medicine to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} that pictures of objects be able to be taken in shops and then recreated using plans downloaded from the Internet Although deliberate in his responses, there is one moment when the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} spoken Chuck Hull tells of his surprise about what exactly his creation was capable of achieving.

    A recent troubling study showed that "fake news" spread significantly faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth, and the effect is even more remarkable when regarding news as opposed to reporting on natural disasters, finance or science. So how can we encourage individuals to seek {#blank#}1{#/blank#} online content? Leading scholars are trying hard to deal with this question.

    Processing new information requires a considerable mental effort, especially when that information seems to conflict with your {#blank#}2{#/blank#} worldview. It takes the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to admit you may be wrong. But with a great amount of conflicting information available, who's to say what's actually true and what's false? If you can't tell, why not just make life easy and go with what supports your current beliefs?

    So what {#blank#}4{#/blank#} do we have? Many suggest that we can {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the issue by reforming adult behavior, but this is aiming too far from source. An alternative solution is using early education to help individuals recognize these problems and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} critical thinking to the information they deal with. Currently, there is a push in the US to include Internet information classes into primary and secondary school curriculums. The movement, which has received some support, aims to make fact-checking seem like second {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to individuals at an early age.

    Primary and secondary school are {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to be supplying students with the skills they need to develop into productive and informed members of our society. As our society develops, the curriculum we are teaching our students needs to develop as well.

    The Internet is an amazing tool, but to use it most effectively we have to accept its benefits while also understanding the ways in which it makes us dangerously {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. If students are still learning the practices such as writing in school, shouldn't they be learning how to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the Internet responsibly as well?