3D printing is leaving the tech conferences and heading into our homes

You know that slightly niggly, slightly crazy feeling you get when you feel something or someone is watching you? I have that feeling that today as I sit writing about a tech subject that's very topical and very exciting. The eyes have it, full of soulfulness and a sense of spiky intellect. The hair is ruby-red with snowy white bands and the ears are bobbed... the likeness is fairly uncanny as I look at Sophie, a beautifully rendered 3D sculpture of my almost decade-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Her sandstone replica sits serenely, almost regally, on the corner bookshelf while the real dog lies on a cosy rug snoring soundly, oblivious to the clear advances in tech over the past few years that have made the exactness of her "clone" possible.