Model Airplanes

Switzerland was the first European country to open up an embassy in Myanmar in 2012. In the following interview, Mizzima Editor-in-Chief Soe Myint talks with the Ambassador of Switzerland Mr. Paul Seger about Myanmar relations and his positive view of the democratic transition.

You engaged with the Myanmar government in 2012 by having an embassy in Yangon. Why was that important for you?

Switzerland was the first European country to open up an embassy in 2012. For us that was quite an important sign because we wanted to honour the progress towards democratisation, towards more freedoms, towards the opening Myanmar at that time. Besides this symbolic gesture we also wanted to be present in Myanmar to support the country. In the same year Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had been visiting Switzerland, and had been meeting with parliamentarians and representative from government. So there was a movement of opening Myanmar and we wanted to acknowledge that.

And then two years later President Thein Sein visited. What was achieved as far as the bilateral relationship was concerned?

I would say that was an historic moment because it was the first time that a president of Burma or Myanmar visited Switzerland at all. For us it was a sign of the continued opening of Myanmar. Thus, welcoming President Thein Sein in Switzerland was a way to support the opening and the progress towards democracy, human rights and fundamental freedom. We encouraged the president to continue on that pathway. The year before, in 2013, Switzerland had included

Article source: http://mizzima.com/news-opinion/peace-justice-human-rights-and-good-governance-are-pillars-development-says-swiss

Here’s the million-dollar question: Will 3D printing be the game changer journalists like me are so eager to dub it, or is it a niche technology that’s destined to become even less relevant as flexible automation solutions and collaborative manufacturing robots decline in price? Is there really a role for 3D printing outside of prototyping?

Smart people spend a lot of time thinking about these things, so I reached out to one of them. John Hornick is the author of the new book, 3D Printing Will Rock the World. He has been a counselor and litigator in the Washington, D.C., office of the Finnegan IP law firm for over 30 years and has lectured on 3D printing all over the world.

ZDNet: There’s been a lot of promise around 3D printing, and certainly it’s making it’s way into lots of industries, but the revolution still hasn’t arrived. Why not? What are the hurdles?

More robotics

Article source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/body-parts-and-rocket-engines-the-sci-fi-case-for-3d-printing/

May 13, 2016 | By Alec

The Polish aerospace scene is blossoming, something that is very apparent from the large number of Polish student teams entering international space exploration competitions. Of the top ten student teams entering these competitions in 2015, three came from Poland. What’s more, 3D printing is often featured heavily. 2016 is expected to be no different, something illustrated by the Ares 2 Mars Rover. Built by a student team from the Technical University of Warsaw for the University Rover Challenge, it heavily relies on lightweight 3D printed parts. Poland has joined the space race.

These Polish teams are by no means the only ones to heavily rely on 3D printing, as it is seen as one of the breakthrough technologies that could propel space exploration into a new age. For that sector has stagnated. Despite the fact that the first manned space flight occurred more than half a century ago, humanity hasn’t been able to travel further than the moon.

NASA and other parties are hard at work trying to change that. So far, 38 attempts to send unmanned probes to Mars have been made, with the Curiosity Mars Rover (that landed in 2012) being the biggest success. Following up on that achievement, however, requires a far more efficient approach to space exploration. Curiosity weighed 899 kg, and every single gram sent into space costs immense amounts of energy and money. To put a man on Mars, we need high-precision and high-strength production techniques that minimize the likelihood of

Article source: http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160513-polish-students-prepare-for-spacewalk-on-mars-with-3d-printed-ares-2-rover.html