Information about each layer is transmitted from the computer to a laser beam, which melts the PCL into a 3-D structure.

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Basements provide good protection if equipped with a suitable door and a concrete roof, but basements of pier-beam houses would leave their occupants exposed and vulnerable if the structure above them were blown away, said Ernst Kiesling, a former professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech.

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The beam of X-rays scatter and produce an image from which a 3D structure can be determined.

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On April 8th 1982 Dr Shechtman fired a beam of electrons at a slice of aluminium-manganese alloy, in order to understand its crystal structure.

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