3D printing is almost like something out of a Sci-Fi novel, or a television show. It’s an amazing new technology, and already people are using it to do pretty much anything- from making furniture to creating parts for robots, to even trying to synthesize human organs. It’s rare that a technology will become so widely used, in so many fields, so quickly after it’s first invented. After all, the modern form of 3D Printing- known as “fused deposition modeling”- wasn’t released to the commercial public until the 90s.

Yes, 3D Printing sure is an amazing piece of technology. However, as versatile as it is, things are starting to very quickly become a little bit… weird.

Most of the time, people use 3D Printers to make all sorts of neat things. Scale models, mechanical parts, you name it. But sometimes, the oddest stuff comes out of the 3D Printing industry. Not just run of the mill weird stuff either, but really, really weird stuff.

Like a miniature Sand Beast.

This strange little contraption contains no metallic or electronic parts, and is powered completely by wind. It can strut along a desk or tabletop in strange, almost creepily spider-like motions, and most remarkably- it was 3D printed almost entirely as a single piece. It’s all one solid object, but crafted in such a way that it moves. The only thing that was added, in fact, was the propeller.

Or how about an entire restaurant?

This year in London, a new restaurant is opening up called Food Ink. Everything in the restaurant- from the tables to the chairs to the diningware- is entirely created using 3D printers. Even the food has been printed out into intricate designs and shapes, for the pleasure of any diners. This strange little restaurant will only be open for three days in July, but it might represent a new trend of strange, futuristic dining experiences.

But both of those pale in comparison to what a few police officers in Michigan have had done this month.

Not too long ago, the FBI requested that Apple provide them with a way to break into the phones of the San Bernardino killers, in order to further the investigation of the crime. Apple refused, and that decision was later held up in court. This set a precedent, and now it’s pretty clear that law enforcement can’t force Apple or any other company to give them access to private users’ information, even if it could greatly help an ongoing case.

This poses a bit of a problem for the police, as it’s hard to get at evidence if everybody refuses to give you access to it. But the police working on a recent murder case in Michigan have found a way around that. They determined that the phone of the murder victim wasn’t just locked with a difficult to guess passcode, but also with a fingerprint scanner, like many newer iPhones have.

So they waltzed on down to the University of Michigan and had a professor there create a perfect 3D printed copy of the dead person’s finger. Just in order to open their phone.

And the professor did it too, and as far as anybody knows -it’s an ongoing investigation so information surrounding the case is a bit sensitive and limited- it worked just fine.