Dr. Kolitsky, a biology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia has a blind friend who inspired him to create tactile objects via 3D printings so that he could feel what certain things look like. As a sighted individual with no problems seeing objects, other than my need for prescription glasses, I think I take for granite my ability to know what something looks like. The blind don't have any way to understand how historic figures or objects look. With this new method, Kolitsky takes 2D objects and makes them 3D. This allows the blind to know what something "looked" / felt like. Read more on this at: http://3dprint.com/12908/3d-printed-tactile-objects/