UC Berkeley (funded by DARPA) has created cyborg beetles guided wirelessly via laptop. These spy beetles were created with the intent of bugging actual conversations, literally acting as the "fly on the wall". The beetles range anywhere from 2 to 20 centimeters.
University of Tokyo and MIT join forces to create a high speed, three fingered, robot pitcher. From Pink Tentacle:
Light-weight, tiny, and easily doable, Mark Jurey's penny stove instructional demonstrates how to make a sleekly simple (and cheap) camping stove.
A brand new Japanese prototype offers users the ability to manipulate real 3D forms, employing a touch interface with a squeezy, rubbery feel.
iRobot released their new soft blob morphing robot this past Tuesday. The amazing shape-shifter has the ability to squeeze
Whether you love Björk or you hate her, her Wanderlust music video is must-not-miss. Created by Encyclopedia Pictura, a California based production company, the video combines live action, puppets, scale models, and computer generated animation.
Sorry Nissan Land Glider, the BMW Simple makes you look like a Granny car. This prototype truly feels like a car and motorcycle combined (plus it bears an amazing resemblance to the Tron light cycle).
Korean artist Osang Gwon creates more than just alluring paper-made girls. Gwon has moved past traditional papercraft, taking volumes of photographs of his subjects and constructing sculptural forms from the carefully arranged 2D images. Gwon shows in galleries, and has done commissioned projects for both Fendi and Nike.
MIT scientist explains OLEDs by electrocuting a pickle. From Gizmodo:
Austrian composer Peter Ablinger has created a "speaking" piano. Ablinger digitized a child's voice reciting the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court to "play" on the piano via MIDI sequencer. Apparently, the computer is connected to the piano, which analyzes the human speech, and then converts it to key-tapping.
Instructables member Mike Galloway has constructed his own private planetarium: a fiber optic starfield ceiling for his newborn baby.
First thing's first. Remember Pee Wee's amazing breakfast machine? For those who missed out, watch (best YouTube version dubbed in Italian): Who dares compete with Pee Wee?
Toshiba's latest fuel cell prototype would enable the consumer to charge any number of gadgets in a matter of seconds.
This past weekend Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall with a visit from France's Royal de Luxe street theatre company.
British artist Richard Wilson's "Turning The Place Over" holds affinities to Gordon Matta-Clark's site specific "building cuts" from the seventies. Wilson created a rotating cut facade, which reveals the building's interior with each turn.
Foldschool offers free download plans to create 3 different cardboard chairs. Each chair is designed by Swiss-based architect Nicola Enrico Stäubli. Design conscious & cheap, folding-it-yourself is a fun, cheap alternative to a trip to Ikea.
World's most expensive car mod? A wealthy Swede began with a 1973 Lincoln Continental, and three years and one million dollars later, ended up with a real life replica of the famous batmobile.
Pen Spinning lives in a similar world of the unassuming arts of Cup Stacking and Dice Stacking. All three performing arts truly require a great deal of practice and skill.
Insekten!, test shots using Canon macro lenses and the Canon 5D Mark II, by YouTube user Powermaennchen.
We've featured Temporary Services before, but we thought they deserved a full spread. In this post, we've included some of their How-To drawings and examples of recreated prison art.
Wikipedia's definition of dice stacking: "Dice stacking is a performance art, akin to juggling or sleight-of-hand, in which the performer scoops dice off a flat surface with a dice cup and then sets the cup down while moving it in a pattern that stacks the dice into a vertical column via centripetal force and inertia."
MAKE Magazine recently opened the Make: Science Room, a "DIY science classroom, virtual laboratory, and a place to share your projects, hacks, and laboratory tips with other amateur scientists."
According to Wikipedia, to be called "the Stradivari" of any field is to be deemed the finest there is...
And by hottest, I mean most popular. These ladies have got skills. I want to be as good as them, and I've already begun my research. If you're also interested in joining the ranks of hottest bubble gum blowers, go here for some beginners tips.
Using a scanner to "take photos" is like having great studio lighting, a top of the art photocopy machine, and a high quality camera all in one. The process results in a shallow depth of a field, amazing detail, and best of all a dreamy, magazine-like quality.
A Guinness World Record has been set by nine-year-old student Rohan Ajit Kokane, from Belgaum in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka.
"Bang Goes The Theory" is back on Wonderment. This time it's not a vortex cannon demolishing houses (three little pigs style). In this episode, Jem Stansfield's latest stunt involves him climbing a 1210 feet high building like a real life Spider-Man. Stansfield uses a special pair of hand built vacuum gloves, powered by a vacuum cleaner on his back.
To say Steven Purugganan is fast is an understatement. The twelve-year-old from Longmeadow, Massachusetts has won two Cup Stacking world championships, and appeared in commercials for McDonald's and Firefox.
Considered one of the best stuntmen of the 20th century, Cyril Raffaelli has been in many films, including Luc Besson's The Transporter and John Frankenheimer's Ronin.
Whoa, these bygone era triplets are seriously flexible. "The Ross Sisters were a trio of female sibling dancers consisting of Aggie Ross, Elmira Ross, and Maggie Ross (whose real names were Vicki, Dixie and Betsy Ross). Their public attention peaked during the 1940s, during which they were featured prominently in the 1944 film Broadway Rhythm. The sole remaining known film clip shows them performing "Solid Potato Salad", which features the sisters' amazing contortionism."
Self proclaimed "Paper Airplane Guy", John Collins, is the master of paper crafted flight. Collins hosts workshops for Corporate America, using the paper airplane as a metaphor for success:
Pie lollipops. The perfect snack. Forget settling on one slice, with the pie pop you can sample multiple flavors. Luxirare posted a beautifully photographed (somewhat) tutorial on how to make your own. Premade fillings, jarred like jam, enable you to make a wide variety in one batch. Check out the amazing photographs below; click through to Luxirare a few DIY text tips.
With many internet/Lego nerds anxiously awaiting the completion of the world's first full size Lego House, Barnaby Gunning Architects and British TV personality, James May, finally unveiled the finished product this past Friday. The house (was) 100% Lego, "including a working toilet, hot shower and a very uncomfortable bed".
Dutch designer Anneke Jakobs created this recycled Chiquita banana box chandelier while a student at the Utrecht School of Product Design.
Well, the online beatbox world champion. Still, pretty incredible, considering the title winner is a cute 17-year-old girl hailing from Canada.
Jake Layall combines the motorbike and unicycle to create the R.I.O.T Wheel (Re-Invention-Of-The-Wheel). Weighing in at 1100 pounds, Jake spent 18 months building his creation for Burning Man back in 2007.
Words fail me. This kid is astounding.
These Saudi boys bring the term "Extreme Sports" to a new level.
Entitled "Venus", the "Natural Crystal Chair" is Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka's latest project.
Jem Stansfield from BBC's Bang Goes the Theory has "put scientific theory to the test" with his Vortex Cannon. Filmed at 1300-fps, you can see the cannon knock down three different houses made of straw, stick, and brick with an explosive vortex ring.
