At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a team inside the Frontier Tech Lab has built one of the most engaging examples of additive manufacturing (AM) in education right now. Led by lab coordinator Isaac Regier, the team created a fully hands-on fossil dig experience inside the museum. Using 3D printing, they reproduced real fossils from the museum’s own collection, along with the surrounding rock and sediment, so visitors can dig up bones just like paleontologists would. The work is part of a broader renovation of the museum’s Paul D. and Betty Marx Discovery Center, set to open in June, which is adding more hands-on activities focused on “nature’s engineers.”
Instead of placing rare, fragile fossils in a pit where they could be damaged, the team recreated them using 3D printing, creating a space where visitors, especially kids, can dig, touch, and explore without limits. And to this team, that’s the key idea, having access to these fascinating experiences. Because nothing drives interest in things like ancient fossils quite like being able to actually handle them. It’s a change we’ve been seeing for some time in museums around the world, moving beyond the “look but don’t touch” rule toward spaces built for real, hands-on discovery, or play, even.
Real fossils are incredibly delicate. Many are one-of-a-kind, and we’ve seen some so valuable they’ve sold for hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. You don’t hand them to a six-year-old with a brush and say, “Go for it,” right? But with 3D printing, you can create accurate replicas that look and feel real, or real enough, to teach the same lessons, without the risk of having the fossil break…