Sometimes a baby's outer ear may be a tad misshapen. Surgery can help later on, but a plastic mold makes the most of the fact that a newborn's ears are pliable. They can reshape within weeks.

A 3D printer fabricating an ear. (Image credit: Lindsay France/Cornell University Photography) The whole process took less than two days: half a day to design the mold, a day to print it, half an ...

Sometimes a baby's outer ear may be a tad misshapen. Surgery can help later on, but a plastic mold makes the most of the fact that a newborn's ears are pliable. They can reshape within weeks.