画面上で3Dアバターを作ると、フルカラーで3Dプリントしてフィギュアにしてくれるサービス「Mixee Me」ではちょっと不満だが、CTスキャナーと3Dプリントを利用して自分の正確な顔を彫像にするというのもちょっと怖い。では、お金に余裕があって、ハイテク好きで自己愛の強い人たちは、今何に注目しているのだろうか。

そのような人たちをかなり満足させられると思われるサービスを、日本の新興企業クローンファクトリー社が提供している。顔の3Dプリントを専門にしているこの会社は、たったの13万8000円で、あなたの顔の小さなモデルを3Dでプリントアウトし、人形の身体の上に付けてくれるサービスを提供しているのだ。また、愛するペットの特徴をそっくり保存した3Dの額（フォトリア）を作ってもらえるサービスもある。

日本文化について世界に情報を発信するニュースサイト「カルチャージャパン」のダニー・チューが詳しくレポートしているように、自分の「クローン像」を作る工程はかなりシンプルだ。基本的な流れは、まず被写体となる人間が複数のデジタル一眼レフカメラに囲まれた椅子に座り、連続して撮影を受ける。その後、撮影した複数の写真から頭部のデジタルマップが生成され、3D像としてプリントアウトされる。

「クローン像は、石膏のなかで固まるインクを何層も使用してプリントアウトされている」とチュー氏は述べている。

「TechHandle」は、自分の姿を3Dプリントするこのサービスについて、
「結婚式などの人生の特別な瞬間を、髪型や化粧、ドレスを3Dプリントすることで残していきたいと考える一部の日本人女性」の間で人気だと述べている。

ファッション系ブログ「Messy Nessy Chic」では、「カルチャージャパン」の記事をもう少し冷めた視点で取り上げ、次のように警告する。「これらのクローン人形と目を合わせてはいけない」

気味が悪いかどうかは別として、こうした人形によって危機にさらされる可能性があるのは、その持ち主の評判だけだ――最近ニュースに上がっている3Dプリントで制作する銃よりもはるかに安全だと言える。

こうした人形たちは、オシャレだろうか、それとも気味悪いだろうか。下の投票で意見を聞かせてほしい。

[Andres Jauregui　日本語版：丸山佳伸、合原弘子／ガリレオ]

As Oklahoma begins to recover from the deadly tornado that tore through its central region Monday, officials with the state attorney general's office have reported price gouging, looting and predatory scams in the storm-ravaged area.

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Three Chicago teens accused of gang-raping a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint and posting the video to Facebook will face charges as adults, Cook County prosecutors announced Friday.

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The family of a south Texas US Marine Corps veteran that has gone missing in Mexico says he was kidnapped by armed men.

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He became an Internet celebrity after using a hatchet to stop a homicidal man who claimed he was Jesus from killing innocent people, but now it appears the tables have turned on Caleb McGillvary.

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Yonhap News Agency, the largest news organization in...

So all you haters out there need to get over the fact that this goat identifies as a chicken and deserves the support of its farmyard in its choice to identify and be accepted as a chicken on the Internet.

And since by stating that there's a...

A grisly carcass discovered last week on a New Zealand beach looks like the stuff of nightmares: Its mangled, decomposing body, half buried in sand, measures about 30 feet long; its eyeless head houses gaping jaws bearing a dozen or so pointed, cone-like teeth. Is it prehistoric? Is...

A veteran teacher, respected in the community and trusted with chaperoning students on trips abroad, is now accused of what authorities are calling an abuse of trust and power.

Giovanna Yaranga, a Spanish teacher at Vermont's Burlington High School, is accused of having a sexual relationship with...

Two homeless New Mexico women were charged with murder, and a third was charged with conspiracy in the death of a New Mexico man. According to Albuquerque police, the man was allegedly enticed with sex then stabbed and stuffed into the trunk of his car.

The three women...

Disturbing details in the trial of Noah Crooks, an Iowa teen accused of the attempted sexual assault and murder of his mother in March 2012, came to light when the boy's father testified in court Friday.

An emotional William Crooks described his son's troubled relationship with his mother,...

Disturbing new evidence has come to light in the case of an Arizona defense attorney who is accused of shooting his lover's ex-boyfriend.

Joseph Palmisano, 48, was arrested April 18 after allegedly shooting 25-year-old Ryan Hall, the former boyfriend of the attorney's secretary, with whom the...

It might be a well-known symbol of the state of Georgia, but a new online petition started by an Atlanta man seeks to have the Confederate Memorial Carving at Stone Mountain changed.

McCartney Forde, who started the Change.org petition, wants to remodel the monument on the north face...

Beau Rutledge, a 2-year-old Georgia boy, was mauled and killed by the family's pit bull at home Wednesday afternoon, according to police.

Fulton County Police Detective Melissa Parker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the attack occurred around 1 p.m. when the toddler's mother stepped away to use the...

A police officer in Colombia is being hailed as a hero after preventing a possible suicide.

A security camera captured the moment when the officer pulled a man from the path of an oncoming metro train in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

On Tuesday, Medellin police chief...

Although it's been aiming bellicose rhetoric -- not to mention, missiles -- at the United States and South Korea lately, North Korea is now singing a different tune for some of its neighbors. Pyongyang's new ambassador to Mongolia officially asked for food aid for North Korea...