Pope's Swiss Guards are wearing new 3D-printed helmets

After more than 500 years and 40 popes, the Swiss Guard is dropping its classic metal helmets and adopting 3D-printed ones made of plastic–PA-12, to be exact. Why 3D-print such a long-standing part of Vatican tradition? The Swiss Guard has been around since the 1500s, after all. For starters, the new PA-12 helmets are lightweight and UV resistant, which makes them more comfortable than the traditional steel version–which could heat up during the hot Roman summers and burn the guards. They’re water resistant too, so they don’t need to be polished constantly to avoid rust. The new helmets were created using HP’s “Multi Jet Fusion” tech, which is the company’s commercial 3D-printing product aimed at enterprise customers who need to fabricate final manufactured parts–quickly