That 3-D data then got plugged into a solid-modeling program where engineering parameters such as material, thickness and structure were assigned to the shape.

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"The rigid material becomes a structure and the other layer is the force that can start bending and twisting it, " said Mr Tibbits.

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Some 3D systems allow the properties and internal structure of the material being printed to be varied.

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With the help of advanced computer technology used to design fighter planes, he has been able to calculate structure, curvature, material and cost so accurately that forms impossible to create and build through traditional methods can now be brought in on budget and on time.

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The original structure is removed, and only the material that was on the sides remains.

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Backfill: material used to build up and consolidate the land behind a seawall or similar structure.

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Crick, along with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins, was given the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

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The slim devices are arranged in rows across a support structure made of silicon carbide, a very light and very stiff material that will not bend or warp when it experiences the temperature extremes of space.

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These intense rays are then channelled off into beamlines and focused on to samples of material, like the Mary Rose timbers, allowing their fine structure to be analysed.

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