Art Forms in Nature: radiolaria from Haeckel and Blaschka to 3D nanotomography, quantitative image analysis, evolution, and contemporary art

Illustrating the Invisible: The Role of Drawing in the Career of Bland J. Finlay

This is a dedicatory article to the role drawing played in the career of Bland J. Finlay FRS, written by his son. It explores some of the many diagrams Bland produced as part of his research, while reflecting on the broader influence of protozoloogical illustrations in art and architectural history.

Design and Additive Manufacturing of a Biomimetic Customized Cranial Implant Based on Voronoi Diagram

Reconstruction of cranial defects is an arduous task for craniomaxillofacial surgeons. Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing of titanium patient-specific implants (PSIs) made its way into cranioplasty, improving the clinical outcomes in complex surgical procedures. There has been a significant interest within the medical community in redesigning implants based on natural analogies. This paper proposes a workflow to create a biomimetic patient-specific cranial prosthesis with an interconnected strut macrostructure mimicking bone trabeculae. The method implements an interactive generative design approach based on the Voronoi diagram or tessellations. Furthermore, the quasi-self-supporting fabrication feasibility of the biomimetic, lightweight titanium cranial prosthesis design is assessed using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology.