In a gorgeous history that spans continents and millennia, Aarathi Prasad weaves together the complex story of the queen of fabrics. Through the scientists who have studied silk, and the biology of the animals from which it has been drawn, Prasad explores the global history, natural history, and future of a unique material that has fascinated the world for millennia. For silk, prized for its lightness, luminosity, and beauty is also one of the strongest biological materials ever known. More than a century ago, it was used to make the first bulletproof vest, and yet science has barely even begun to tap its potential. As the technologies it has inspired - from sutures to pharmaceuticals, replacement body parts to holograms - continue to be developed in laboratories around the world, they are now also beginning to offer a desperately needed, sustainable alternative to the plastics choking our planet. Prasad's Silk is a cultural and biological history from the origins and ancient routes of silk to the biologists who learned the secrets of silk-producing animals, manipulating the habitats and physiologies of moths, spiders and molluscs. Because there is more than one silk, there is more than one story of silk. More than one road, more than one people who discovered it, and wove its threads. From the moths of China, Indonesia and India to the spiders of South America and Madagascar, to the silk-producing molluscs of the Mediterranean, Silk is a book rich in the passionate connections made by women and men of science to the diversity of the animal world. It is an intoxicating mix of biography, intellectual history and science writing that brings to life the human obsession with silk.

3D printed electronics have captured much attention in recent years, owing to their success in allowing on-demand fabrication of highly-customisable electronics on a wide variety of substrates and conformal surfaces. This textbook helps readers understand and gain valuable insights into 3D printed electronics. It does not require readers to have any prior knowledge on the subject.3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing of Electronics: Principles and Applications provides a comprehensive overview of the recent progress and discusses the fundamentals of the 3D printed electronics technologies, their respective advantages, shortcomings and potential applications. The book covers conventional contact printing techniques for printed electronics, 3D electronics printing techniques, materials and inks inks for 3D-printed electronics, substrates and processing for 3D-printed electronics, sintering techniques for metallic nanoparticle inks, designs and simulations, applications of 3D-printed electronics, and future trends. The book includes several related problems for the reader to test his or her understanding of the topics.This book is a good guide for anyone who is interested in the 3D printing of electronics. The book is also an effective textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses that aim to arm their students with a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of 3D printed electronics.Related Link(s)