Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder are researching and producing 3-D children's books for those who are blind or visually impaired.  The Tactile Picture Books Project uses 3-D printing to revolutionize the production of tactile graphics and images in children's books.  The availability of tactile books is a crucial way to promote early literacy in children with visual impairments.  The rise in popularity and affordability of 3-D printers in the past few years has prompted scientists and others to experiment to see how the tool can be used to create all sorts of things, including tactile books.  

At a recent summer camp through their Science Discovery program, the researchers introduced high school students to the concept of 3-D printing and computer science — without computers.  They had the students use Legos and other tools to turn a 2-D image into a 3-D object to show them that the field of computer science isn't just writing code.