Any dad who loves to build and create will appreciate these practical and thoughtful gifts.

May 21, 20255 min readOne Woman’s Pharmaceutical Journey to a Good Night’s SleepWhen insomnia took hold of this journalist, she relied on her science reporting to find a medication that (mostly) workedBy Rachel Nuwer Malte MuellerThis Nature Outlook is editorially independent, produced with financial support from Avadel.I never had issues with sleep until the COVID-19 pandemic. A couple of months into lockdown in 2020, I found myself unable to fall or stay asleep. My worries played on an unstoppable loop, and the longer I lay in bed, the more anxious I became about not sleeping. This vicious cycle left me exhausted. After a few months, I became depressed. It was time to get professional help.This was the start of a years-long odyssey to find an effective sleep aid without negative side effects. The first medication I tried was 50 milligrams of an antihistamine called hydroxyzine, prescribed to me after a five-minute telehealth appointment. It effectively knocked me out, but it left me feeling so groggy the next morning that I struggled to get out of bed. I stopped taking it.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.I lacked the energy to meet with a physician again, so I went back to relying on a grab bag of pills. These included over-the-counter melatonin, a hormone used to treat sleep problems; diphenhydramine, an antihistamine and sedative commonly sold as Benadryl; my husband’s gabapentin, which is prescribed to treat epilepsy and nerve pain but is commonly given as an anti-anxiety sleep aid; and tablets of questionable provenance that were labelled as alprazolam, used to treat anxiety conditions, which I acquired on a pre-pandemic trip to Sri Lanka. I rotated through these remedies in an attempt to not become overly reliant on any one of them.Last year, my struggle to sleep markedly worsened. Stress still seemed to be in limitless supply. My identity is wrapped up in my job as a science journalist, but as the media industry continues to collapse in on itself, it is becoming more and more difficult to make ends meet. At night, my chest would tighten as I tried to imagine a viable future in my chosen career. Layered on top of that were the stressors of the 2024 US presidential election and interpersonal drama with my increasingly conservative father.I found a sympathetic primary-care provider in the form of a physician’s assistant (PA) — a licensed medical professional who, in some states, can prescribe medications but isn’t actually a physician. She listened to my problems and asked me questions about my life. At the end of the appointment, she agreed that I should try the antidepressant bupropion. I was still having trouble sleeping, however, and my night-time anxiety spiked following the election. “Sadly, we are getting a lot of these messages,” my PA said when I told her about this. We added buspirone, an anti-anxiety medication, to my daily regimen. I immediately started sleeping better. But buspirone left me feeling deflated, numb and unmotivated during the day. My PA suggested that, as long as I didn’t develop serious depressive thoughts, I should stick it out for a month to give my body time to adjust.I agreed to give it more time. Then, about three weeks in, I woke up one night from a nightmare and felt something crawling through my hair. Then, I saw a flash of light, as though someone was standing over me taking a photograph. I quickly realized that these had been hallucinations that occurred in the transition from sleep to wakefulness. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, and the vividness of the experience was extremely disconcerting. The next day, I learnt that disturbed sleep is a side effect of buspirone. My PA agreed that I should stop the drug.But, I still needed help to fall asleep. The obvious choice would have been benzodiazepines or ‘Z-drugs’ — classes of medications that have a sedative effect. But these drugs can also lead to dependency. Worryingly, too, a study in mice, published this year, found that one of these drugs, zolpidem (Ambien), might interfere with the brain’s ability to clear waste, including toxic molecules associated with Alzheimer’s disease. These results still need to be replicated in humans, but they do mirror findings from at least one observational study. I told my PA I wanted to steer clear of these medications.Through reporting for another story on sleep medication for this Nature Outlook, I was cautiously excited to learn about a new class of insomnia medications known as dual orexin receptor antagonist (DORA) drugs. These work by blocking a molecule that promotes wakefulness, and they have fewer side effects and a lower risk of dependence compared with other sleep aids. My PA was familiar with one of them, Belsomra, and said I could try it.It took almost three weeks for me to receive the prescription, and my insurance would not cover it. There are no generic DORA drugs. Thirty daily tablets of Belsomra was going to cost me an astronomical US$500. But, I was desperate to get some sleep and my pharmacist was able to find a coupon that knocked $150 off the bill. I sucked it up and paid.As I write this, I’ve been taking Belsomra on and off for a month. When it works well, I fall asleep quickly and soundly, and wake up feeling clear-headed and rested. About one-quarter of the time, however, my anxiety manages to cut through the medication and I struggle to fall asleep. My PA said that I can try doubling my dose to the maximum 20 milligrams, by taking two tablets each night. But I haven’t tried this yet, because I’m aware that each pill I pop before bed is about the same price as ordering a fancy cocktail.I held out hope that my health-insurance company, one of the largest in the United States, would eventually agree to cover Belsomra. The initial rejection note that the company sent included a list of eight cheaper, generic Z-drugs and benzodiazepines — all have a risk of dependency — that they required me to try first. My PA and I worked through the list of prescriptions in an effort to make a case that none of them were suitable. And finally, in late March, we had success: the insurance company agreed to pay for Belsomra for the next year. Even with that coverage, however, I’m still required to pay a steep $150 for a month’s supply of the drug, which my pharmacist confirmed is normal for this medication. So, until a generic DORA drug comes out, this particular sleep solution will unfortunately be available only for those who have enough extra income to be able to pay for the privilege.I’m certainly aware that my trials and tribulations with insomnia have benefited from a tremendous amount of privilege. I have found an understanding and supportive PA, and my insurance pays for my appointments with her. I live in a country where these medications are available — DORA drugs are not available everywhere yet and I have enough disposable income to pay hundreds of dollars in the interest of self-care. I also have a level of education, and a job as a science journalist, that allows me to access and comprehend the latest health-care findings, and speak directly with scientists at the forefront of research. I can only imagine the collective exhaustion and frustration of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who are not in my position, and who are struggling on their own to get a good night’s sleep.It should not be like this. Medical professionals should be the ones calling the shots on what care their patients need — not insurance companies that are focused on ringing out as much profit as possible from clients who are already paying exorbitant premiums. However, until the system changes, millions of people will continue to take the same tortuous path that I have been forced onto, and resort to medications that might have harmful long-term effects while the most advanced therapies remain tantalizingly out of financial reach.

Following last week's PlayStation Plus catalogue additions for May, Sony has announced its next batch of departures, with Monster Hunter Rise and more all leaving the service in June. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here The era of ray-tracing is here. After years of tiptoeing around the modern lighting feature, some games are now requiring ray-tracing hardware to run such as Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, Star Wars Outlaws and the new DOOM: The Dark Ages. In an interview with Digital Foundry, Id Software’s director of engine technology Billy Khan explained that ray-tracing isn’t just a fancy lighting solution, but it’s a tool that helps to speed up the process of making games. Without the need to pre-bake lighting solutions, game’s can not only take up less space on a PC or console, but developers can iterate faster than every before. DOOM would’ve taken longer without ray-tracing Speaking to the tech analyst team, Khan explained that making DOOM: The Dark Ages “without ray-tracing” while keeping the same larger environments and complex cinematics “would have had to elongate the time [of development] by a magnitude of years”. For decades now, developers have been forced to pre-bake lighting with lightmaps and shadowmaps that take ages to calculate. As soon as something is changed in an environment such as a light fixture moving place or a piece of the environment changing location, those pre-baked calculations need to be ran all over again. Unlike ray-tracing, these pre-baked maps also take up storage space. “Without ray tracing and with the same design goals, we would have had to elongate the time by a magnitude of years.”DOOM: THE DARK AGES DIRECTOR OF ENGINE TECHNOLOGY BILLY KHAN “The more you can quickly iterate on it, the more polished and diverse the gameplay encounters can become,” Khan told the outlet. “Ray tracing allows us to do WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), replacing the approximate representation used by artists and designers with exactly what it’s going to look like on PC or console, without bakes that take hours upon hours. You can imagine what kind of speed improvement that is. It’s a 10x if not 100x improvement in iteration time. A lighter can now move a light in the middle of a meeting if we want a spot to be darker, for example.” Khan explained that making DOOM: The Dark Ages with ray-tracing requirements wasn’t just a technique to make the game look “really great”, but to overall make “a better game”. With the power of real-time ray-tracing instead of generated pre-bakes, there’s a lot more time allotted to experimentation that the team otherwise couldn’t afford. “Without ray tracing and with the same design goals, we would have had to elongate the time by a magnitude of years, because we wouldn’t have the ability to create the same type of content,” he explained. “If you have a baked lighting solution, some of those things can feel out of place, especially when you’re in a mech smashing into buildings and tearing chunks off. You can’t bake for these dynamic objects, so the ambient lighting would look off without RT; with RT, all of that stuff looks homogeneous and more real.” Khan also explained that it’s lucky that “all the platforms have ray-tracing”. While a Nintendo Switch 2 port hasn’t been announced, even that system supports ray-tracing in some form, although we’ve only seen one instance of it running on the hardware and that doesn’t look great. With this in mind, there wasn’t a need to spend an extreme amount of time working to support older hardware, even if gamers with older GPUs now need to upgrade to play. (Remember, we all upgraded for DOOM 3.) So-called “forced ray-tracing” is only going to become more common as the industry continues to evolve. With games now taking much longer to make, ray-traced lighting and reflections are a key component in shortening that development time. While we could have waited another three years fro DOOM: The Dark Ages, Id Software might not have been able to. DOOM: The Dark Ages Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X Genre(s): Action, First-Person Shooter Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share

Perks: Hot tub, mountain view, swimmable pondThe Catskill Mountains are known for having a plethora of intimate, rustic lodgings, and the Willow Treehouse doesn’t disappoint. The modern build of the tree house was designed by Antony Gibbon and built by William Johnson. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and bedroom overlook the woods and the swimmable pond. Plus there’s a full kitchen with a modern aesthetic, if your travel crew likes to prep at home. Don’t forget to soak in the wood-burning hot tub. From $456 per night.BOOK NOWCozy TreehouseLocation: Sanbornton, New HampshirePerks: Shared beach access, snowmobile trails, grillThe Cozy Treehouse, planted 12 feet in the air inside New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, is made from a mixture of reclaimed materials, and features plumbing, heating, a full bathroom, and a kitchenette with a medium-size fridge. Get back to nature by firing up the outdoor grill while relaxing in some Adirondack chairs. Plus, if the outside world beckons during your getaway, there’s Wi-Fi available in this unique tree house. From $418 per night.BOOK NOWRyders TreehouseLocation: Baird, TexasPerks: Screened-in porch, waterfront location, fireplaceIf you’re looking for a vacation rental in the Lone Star state, consider a trip to Baird, where the Ryders Treehouse instantly captivates with an outdoor spiral staircase that leads up to a plush bedroom and well-stocked screened kitchen. The outdoor offerings are just as cozy in this two-story tree house: Relax in the hammock or on the porch swing that hangs from the sturdy branch of one of the many live oak trees that surround the property. From $474 per night.BOOK NOWTreefLoft at Base CampLocation: Perryville, MissouriPerks: Deck, rain shower, bathtubFor a design-focused treehouse experience, consider TreeLoft at BaseCamp. A skylight just above the king-size bed allows for nocturnal sky gazing with a remote solar shade to keep you sleeping in the wee morning hours. There’s a rain shower for two in the walk-through bathroom, a relaxing soaking tub, and plush robes for your comfort. The kitchen offers an indoor-outdoor coffee bar and tiny appliances for all your cooking needs. Outside you’ll find a hot tub placed next to towering, eastern, red cedar trees with a privacy fence, a separate deck for grilling or nesting in the trees, and a firepit below with ambient lighting for s’mores or storytelling to make this a one-of-a-kind experience. From $587 per night.BOOK NOWHeartland TreehouseLocation: Langlois, OregonPerks: Outdoor tubs, sauna, outdoor kitchenIf your idea of relaxation is spending time in the great outdoors soaking in a tub, then the Heartland Treehouse, in Oregon, is your spot. The wooden deck is outfitted with white side-by-side tubs with an elegant candelabra in the middle. The outside is just as cozy as the inside, as the treehouse has built-in benches and a firepit in the middle for ultimate woodsy vibes. From $228 per night.BOOK NOWLuxury Treehouse with Views of the SierrasLocation: Visalia, CaliforniaPerks: Mountain view, shared outdoor pool, barbequeFor a modern, design-forward tree house experience, look no further than this luxury treehouse with views of the Sierra, resting just steps away from a 300-acre almond farm. The treehouse bedroom has a beautiful wooden bed frame with a Casper mattress and a cozy fireplace for cool evenings. Take nature walks around the area that could lead to chance encounters with opossums, red-tailed hawks, owls, and red foxes. From $268 per night.BOOK NOWThe Sanctuary TreehouseLocation: Cobb, Califonia

Soul Trader Following the breakout success of Metaphor Refantazio, Atlus’ only action-RPG gets a second lease of life on Switch 2 (and it’s pretty good, too) Nearly 20 years later, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army proves that there’s a bit of life left in the peculiar spin-off series yet. Image credit: Atlus Article by Dom Peppiatt Editor-in-chief Published on May 21, 2025 By now, you should know what to expect from an Atlus game. Whether you’re wading into the Boschian fever dream of Metaphor Refantazio or winding your way down the seven circles of hell in Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus likes it dark. Dark and weird. Unconstrained by the trappings of normalcy. A bit edgy and a bit juvenile, but all provocative and goth. Raidou Kuzonha vs. The Soulless Army is no exception. The curious PS2 game (which enjoyed a 2006 release in Japan and North America, and 2007 in PAL regions) carries on Atlus’ fascination with the occult and the Satanic, but with one major variation from all the developer’s other titles: this one is an action-RPG. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Now, you need to immediately get your brain away from the idea it’s a Soulslike, or anything similar. It’s more of a hack-and-slash, peppered with the need for strategic flourish. Unlike previous MegaTen games (and their use of the phenomenal Press Turn system), your protagonist, Raidou Kuzunoha, can attack with either his close range sword or his long range gun. But this wouldn’t be a MegaTen game without demons, so of course Kuzunoha can also summon two demons at a time to help in battle. At launch, this game was fine. I’m a MegaTen sicko, so of course I played this as soon as it hit the PAL market (I also played the sequel, later, which is better in almost every way). It wasn’t anything to write home about, really, and the combat was grating more than it was inventive. But, oh my, how all that has changed now - nearly two decades later. Coming to the Switch 2 at launch, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army Remastered is a bit of a misnomer. What we’re getting here is more of an enhanced version, and one that actually feels like a natural and intentional growth of the original game. And do you know why that is? Because, somehow, many of the same developers that worked on Raidou and its sequel during the PS2 era are still at the studio. This is Tsuchigumo, and I don't think he likes you very much. | Image credit: Atlus Yeah, I know, right? What’s effectively happened here is that Atlus has been able to say to its staff: “hey, remember that game you very nearly got right at launch in 2006? Have another swing at it. Load it with all those cool combat ideas you wanted, improve the systems, take what we’ve learned in the last 19 years and go wild”. And the result is an enhanced piece of niche role-playing history that plays better than ever. First up, Atlus has remade the game’s pre-rendered backgrounds into actual 3D. Everything looked fine before, but now there’s more interactivity, more impetus to get off the beaten path (and, potentially, more to actually do - negating some criticism of the game’s short length from its release). Atlus has crammed more demons into the roster, too, meaning you’ve got more freedom in how you approach battles, as well as more options for summoning and fusing. Again, this feels like a direct reply to criticisms of the game’s small offering at launch in 2006. If you’re a MegaTen sicko, you’ll appreciate the additions of demons like Idun, Hayataro, and more from SMT:5. The combat upgrades themselves - more status effects, a more streamlined menu, more movement for Raidou in battle, more control over your demons - all seem to have been retroactively added into the game from the second in the series. No complaints, here; Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon improved upon the first game in nearly every way. It makes for a far better experience than the original game, and one that actually stands up pretty well in 2025. It’s not exactly going to blow newcomers away, but it’s novel - and a perfect ‘on the go’ kinda game to show off on the Switch 2’s fancy hardware. I'll defeat you with the power of friendship and this gun I found. | Image credit: Atlus Another small quality-of-life thing that’s worth mentioning is the encounter rate. It’s been fixed. No more random encounters. Instead, demons are visible on-screen and you (sort of) get to choose when to engage. To make things even more engaging, we’ve got English voice acting, too… And you know what? It’s pretty good! And that may be what makes this re-release so appealing to me, actually. The original Raidou games contain some of the most enjoyable, and memorable, narrative moments from any title Atlus has ever made. Yes, that includes Persona. There is a humour to these games that really works - and the interactions between Raidou himself and his familiar cat Gouto is a great example of good games writing: tutorializing whilst delivering story. Your demons have all those powers outside battle (so you can reveal the hidden thoughts of NPCs - often vulgar, always funny - or roleplay as a detective to see more in a given scene). The weird, occult-leaning setting of 1920s Japan is fairly unique, and Atlus does well to dive into how curious it is, understanding that it’s a time of change, a time of anxiety, but also of excitement and growth. Having this coloured in with competent and fun voice-acting is something I didn’t know I needed. Batles are a bit complicated, but once you nail the rhythm, they work well. | Image credit: Atlus This is a far better product than I was expecting, honestly. The Shin Megami Tensei 3 remaster was fairly basic and barebones, but this… this is a shining example of how you can re-release a game some 19 years later and have it actually offer something new, and fix things that the original version lacked. After a brief preview, this has gone from ‘hm, that’s interesting’ to ‘oh, well I’m going to buy that, then.’ Your mileage may vary, of course, but I think this is a fascinating example of what Atlus can cook up with its legacy titles. Now, where’s my Digital Devil Saga 1 + 2 HD Remaster, ey?

What an udder surprise.If you watched any of the reactions to the Mario Kart World reveal trailer, then chances are you saw somebody loudly exclaim "you can play as a COW?!".Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Lidar company Luminar reached a deal with Yorkville Advisors Global and another unnamed investor that could bring another $200 million into its coffers through the sale of convertible preferred stock over an 18-month period. The agreement, which was announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday, follows an abrupt change in leadership and layoffs. Earlier this month, Luminar’s board replaced founder Austin Russell as CEO and board chair. Luminar’s board appointed Paul Ricci to the role. Ricci is the former chairman and CEO of Nuance. The company also launched another round of layoffs — its third since spring 2024. Under the terms, Luminar will issue $35 million in convertible preferred stock to the investors. Luminar may issue additional tranches in amounts of up $35 million no more than every 60 days at a purchase price equal to 96% of the stated value of the convertible preferred stock. However, Luminar isn’t under any obligation to issue additional stock. “Today’s transaction provides us with additional financial flexibility and further strengthens our balance sheet,” Luminar CFO Tom Fennimore said in a statement “We’ve made substantial progress in extending our liquidity runway with our restructuring efforts, and the additional capital available to us under this facility provides us with another tool to realize our long-term value.” The company said proceeds from the initial $35 million issuance are expected to be used for general corporate purposes and debt retirement. Yorkville has offered these lifelines to other struggling publicly traded companies, a list that includes failed Lordstown Motors, Faraday Future, and the now bankrupt Canoo. Luminar was founded by Russell in 2012 when he was just a teenager. Luminar, and Russell, became Silicon Valley darlings when the lidar startup broke cover in April 2017 after operating for years in secrecy and at the height of the autonomous vehicle technology hype cycle. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In 2021, Luminar merged with special purpose acquisition company Gores Metropoulos Inc., with a post-deal market valuation of $3.4 billion. Today, Luminar has a market cap of $179 million. Luminar raised $250 million prior to the SPAC announcement. Luminar has had some wins, but also restructured several times. Luminar cut about 30% of its workforce in 2024 via two rounds of layoffs. Some of those layoffs spilled into the first quarter of 2025. A total of 212 employees were laid off. In a regulatory filing earlier this month, the company said it began additional layoffs May 15. These new layoffs are expected to cost $4 million to $5 million in cash charges. These costs are expected to be incurred in the second and third quarters of this year. Topics

The VFX team at Daydreamer leveraged the AI-powered toolkit Slapshot to help create British rapper Little Simz’s latest music video, Young, directed by Dave Meyers. In the video, Simz is transformed through prosthetics and a glinting gold grill as an elder version of herself, daydreaming of a wilder, freer time. The Daydreamer team on the project included creative director Pete Rypstra, VFX supervisor Tom Clapp, 2D lead Polly Gwinnett, technical operator Jake Day, executive producer Chris Allen, and producer Eliza Light. Working under Clapp and Gwinnett’s direction, the team used Slapshot’s AI Roto tool to isolate wardrobe and environment elements across 18 shots, plus additional crowd scenes. In post-production, Meyers requested a last-minute color change for Simz’s robe and bonnet, originally shot in black, along with background wall replacements for several crowd scenes. Slapshot was used to isolate the garments and produce high-quality mock-ups in a range of color options. “Simz’ robe and bonnet were originally black on set, but Dave was keen to amplify color in the promo,” explained Gwinnett. “There wasn’t much time, so Slapshot allowed us to create clean mattes quickly and iterate multiple color comps to find the perfect look.” Check out Young now: Source: Slapshot Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologist—L'Wren brings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.

Prague-based startup Additive Appearance, a spin-off from Charles University, has released PrismSlicer, a slicing and design-for-additive-manufacturing (DfAM) software developed specifically for multi-material inkjet 3D printing. PrismSlicer focuses on delivering high-fidelity color accuracy, precise volumetric control, and efficient material use, addressing needs across sectors such as industrial design, healthcare, dental, model making, education, and rapid prototyping. To address limitations found in traditional slicing software, PrismSlicer incorporates a photorealistic rendering engine, material-aware slicing algorithms, and voxel-level volumetric authoring. These capabilities aim to reduce trial-and-error, decrease print failures, and accelerate production workflows. “Many users struggle to anticipate how a print will turn out, especially with complex gradients and intricate color textures, ” said Tobias Rittig, Ph.D., CTO at Additive Appearance. “We built PrismSlicer to eliminate that uncertainty. With precise previews and interactive controls, it becomes much easier to get it right on the first print.” PrismSlicer Software. Image via Additive Appearance. Key Differentiators Distinct from conventional surface-based slicers, PrismSlicer adopts a volumetric approach that supports native 3D gradients, material property interpolation, and adaptive color mixing. This approach enables precise spatial distribution of visual and functional features, maximizing the utilization of hardware capabilities. Core features include photorealistic visualization with realistic translucency effects, automated color and texture optimization through device-specific material profiles, and volumetric design tools allowing integration of pre-sliced models with 3D gradients and digital materials. The software supports widely used platforms such as Stratasys PolyJet, Quantica NovoJet, and various custom inkjet printing systems, running across Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Printout 3. Image via Additive Appearance. “The early version released in collaboration with Quantica validated our core technology, ” noted Rittig. “Now, the full-featured PrismSlicer is here and it’s ready to support a much wider user base across multiple ecosystems.” Designed to meet the evolving needs of industries dependent on multi-material, full-color 3D printing, PrismSlicer combines speed, accuracy, and intuitive workflows—including guided steps to simplify complex processes. For users without direct access to printers, its predictive preview capability provides a cost-effective way to test designs digitally before production. PrismSlicer Photorealistic Preview. Image via Additive Appearance. In addition, PrismSlicer supports sustainability by significantly reducing the need for physical test prints, thereby cutting material waste, saving time, and lowering costs. This digital print verification aligns with broader efforts to promote environmentally responsible manufacturing. Offered through a subscription licensing model, PrismSlicer benefits from regular quarterly updates and feature enhancements. Future development plans include expanding support for additional printer models, refining design tools, and further improving visualization accuracy. Additive Appearance is also actively growing partnerships across sectors such as medical prosthetics and dentistry, commercial printing, industrial prototyping, toy and figurine production, and visual effects. Developments in Multi-Material 3D Printing  Multi-material 3D printing is a growing area throughout the additive manufacturing industry. In 2024, a team from the University of Colorado Boulder conducted a study that developed a “Pantone system for material properties.” Their findings outline how repeatable 3D printed properties can be achieved by mixing three “primary” materials – a soft elastomer, a rigid plastic, and liquid constituents. Custom software was used to design hundreds of digital composite material samples. The mechanical properties of the 3D printed samples were then tested, characterized, and mapped. This ultimately allowed users to find the perfect material mixture to achieve the desired properties of their 3D printed part.  Elsewhere, researchers from the MIT Media Lab, Harvard University’s Wyss Institute, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute used multi-material inkjet 3D printing to fabricate hybrid living materials.  Called the Hybrid Living Material (HLM) fabrication platform, the team created customized material recipes to combine resins and chemical signals. These signals can activate certain responses in biologically engineered microbes, offering the potential for producing 3D printed medical devices with therapeutic agents.       Take the 3DPIReader Survey — shape the future of AM reporting in under 5 minutes. Who won the 2024 3D Printing Industry Awards? Subscribe to the3D Printing Industry newsletter to keep up with the latest 3D printing news. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry Youtube channel to access more exclusive content. Featured image shows PrismSlicer Software. Image via Additive Appearance.