From ears to guns - 3D printers coming of age

As 3D printing technology improves, new and innovative uses for the machines are being thought up all the time. From new body parts to working guns, here are a look at some of the most surprising 3D printables.

Body parts

Scientists used 3D printing to merge tissue and an antenna capable of receiving radio signals.

Read more: 3D printed bionic ear hears better than the real thing

Food

Love Kitchen Road Manager Doug Ruthven slices a pizza, made by the mobile kitchen, for distribution in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building September 17, 2007 in Washington, DC. — Alex Wong/Getty Images

NASA hopes 3D printer technology could one day feed astronauts on Mars. Warning: 3D printer pizza may not look as appetizing as this one.

Read more: NASA funds 3D pizza printer

Medical devices

A 3-year-old girl now has the use of her limbs thanks to a 3D printer.

Read more: 3D printer helps 4-year-old girl who can't use her arms play with toys

Sonograms

Japan's 3D computer-aided design venture Fasotec employee Tomohiro Kinoshita displays a nine-month fetus and mother's body image, made of two-color acrylic resin at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Nov. 26, 2012.

Expectant parents in Japan who can't wait to show the world what their baby will look like can now buy a 3D model of the fetus to pass around to their friends.

Weapons

In May 2012, University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, 25, become the first person to successfully fire a real bullet from a gun that was created on a home 3D printer. The gun is mostly made of plastic, with the exception of two metal pieces: a metal firing pin and a six ounce piece of steel that is required by law under the Undetectable Firearms Act.

Read more:> Liberator gun made with 3D printer fires first successful shot