 Last week, public knowledge hosted its second 3D DC event on Capitol Hill. More than 500 people RSVP'd and more than 20 representatives from the 3D printing community came to show what their printers, scanners, and research was all about. Objects ranging from vases to recreations of ancient sculptures were exhibited, showing people in attendance that the future of 3D printing is now, and it relies on people's ability to think outside the box. Two of the people taking 3D printing to new heights are Jordan Miller and Dan Chen from the University of Pennsylvania. Dan explains that they're printing 3D filaments out of sugar to house blood vessels to build human tissue. We'll take ourselves and we'll form them around this structure which we've printed and so then we'll dissolve away the structure and we'll look for this hollow tube network so we can take this tube network and fuse blood through it. So in this way we can keep large-scale tissues alive so all the cells within that tissue have necessary nutrients and oxygen to survive through the blood flow that comes from this printed sugar network. Regardless of the event's title, not every exhibitor had a 3D printer. Some looked at 3D printing and sought ways to make it more practical. Annie from Vermont, this is our product called Filabot. Filabot makes filament for 3D printers. You can put pellets in, you can put shopping bags, soda bottles, milk jokes, pour it in, create new filament. It also creates a closed-loop recycling system where if you have a bad print, you can throw it back in the system, make new filament and make a correct print. As the event wore on, it was clear that 3D printing was not only exciting to people who had never seen it, but was sparking conversations with people that were familiar with the practicality of 3D printing already. Whether you were printing skin tissue or Legos, there was something in 3D printing for everyone and that's why 3DDC was such a great success.