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"Other research groups have also created antibacterial nanopillar surfaces, but none of their approaches can be used on ordinary polymer surfaces or be scaled up easily," says Albert F. Yee, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California, Irvine.

Mohammad Al Faruque, the director of UCI’s Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, led the team which showed that a simple device, such as a smartphone, can capture acoustic signals that carry information about the precise movements of the printer’s nozzle. These recordings can then be used to reverse engineer whatever object is being printed and re-create it somewhere else. Basically, this poses a huge security risk due to how easily detailed and confidential processes can be deciphered using common, everyday gadgets.

The team of researchers at UCI's Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, led by Mohammad Al Faruque, were able to recreate a 3D-printed key-shaped object with 90 percent accuracy using the sound copying and processing technique they developed.

Mohammad Al Faruque of the Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems lab. "According to the fundamental laws of physics, energy is not consumed; it's converted from one form to another -- electromagnetic to kinetic, for example. Some forms of energy are translated in meaningful and useful ways; others become emissions, which may unintentionally disclose secret information," he explained, in a complicated way of saying making stuff = sound clues. Like, you could fake a chair by listening to the chipping sounds of a carpenter.