Using precision lasers, a Nanoscribe 3D printer can print models of the Empire State building in a space the width of a human hair. Watching the machine build through the “lens” of an electron microscope is otherworldly—but the printer’s potential runs beyond microscale model making.

Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, led by Jens Bauer, believe such 3D printers may help craft a new generation of materials lighter than water and strong as steel.

Today, the sturdiest materials tend to be the densest (like metals), and the least dense materials tend to be the weakest (like foams). Ideally, materials are both lightweight and strong. A rocket’s skin, for example, needs to contain a column of super-pressurized fuel and at the same time weigh as little as possible.

Learn more here https://theconversation.com/scientists-create-bone-like-material-that-is-lighter-than-water-but-as-strong-as-steel-22729