Long before you take that first sip of an ice-cold beer, the ingredients that went into that beverage had to ferment for weeks. Now University of Washington chemist Alshakim Nelson is hoping a 3-D printer can speed things along. Nelson, along with UW researchers Abhijit Saha, Trevor Johnston and Ryan Shafranek, produced a hydrogel as thick as peanut butter that’s composed mostly of water, but also contains a yeast-infused polymer that makes up 30 percent of the mixture. The traditional way of making beer involves adding yeast cells to a stew of barley, water and other ingredients, then letting them… Read More