Coolers are a part of every camping trip and fishing excursion, because they are a convenient and necessary tool for keeping freshly caught fish cold or frosty beverages close at hand. The problem is that modern coolers are mostly made from plastic and polyurethane foam, materials that are costly for the planet from production to post-consumer waste. Now, husband and […]
Durable & Recyclable Cooler
Tent Shaped House
Japanese studio Takeru Shoji Architects has completed Hara House, a village home designed to look like a tent. Hara House is located in an agricultural village belonging to a single family in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. As a result, the clients asked Takeru Shoji Architects to design them a home that would communicate with the other buildings around it, including the […]
3D Printed Fruits
With global bee populations dwindling at an astonishing rate, there is a risk that produce supplies will be diminished at some point in the near future. A new generation of innovators, such as Bezalel Academy of Art and Design graduate Meydan Levy, are coming up with food alternatives to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Levy designed Neo Fruits, a collection […]
Snacking Pod
Most of us spend much of our time on the go, rushing to work and shuttling kids to activities. Somewhere in the midst of the hustle, we have to eat. Stak has created a snacking pod to match those lifestyle needs, while aiming to create a long-lasting, eco-friendly product that eliminates the temptation of convenient but wasteful individually wrapped snacks. […]
Natural Cherry Blossoms Dye
Acutely aware of the massive waste in the textile industry, material development company PANGAIA (pronounced Pan-guy-ya) uses plants to make natural fabric dyes, skipping the need for harsh, synthetic additives. One of these natural dyes is sourced from the petals of the Japanese Sakura tree, which only blooms for a few days each year. The result is a gorgeous, light […]
Can Robotic Ships Talk In The Future?
The US Navy is not only developing robotic warships, but it also wants to teach them how to speak. In a request for proposals, the Navy has outlined how it wants its autonomous surface vessels to be able to have back-and-forth verbal radio communications with the crew of other ships to avoid collisions. If Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) are ever […]
New Ultrasound Tech Makes Any Surface Touch-Sensitive
A new type of ultrasound technology promises to make a touch-sensitive surface out of just about any common material – metal, glass, wood, plastic – which could open up a number of new ways to interact with our gadgets. UltraSense Systems, the company behind the tech, says its ultrasound system-on-a-chip (about the size of a pen tip) is cost-effective, ready […]
IBM’s Lithium Battery Uses Seawater Materials
Lithium-ion batteries are seen as a vital technology in our pursuit of sustainable energy, but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to their impact on the Earth. The construction of these devices involves sourcing of heavy metals like cobalt, which are expensive and come at significant environmental and humanitarian cost. IBM has this week unveiled a […]
Google AI Breast Cancer Detector
A new artificial intelligence system is proving more effective at detecting breast cancer in mammograms than trained radiologists. The software, developed by researchers from Google Health, is not designed to replace human radiologists but instead assist and speed up current diagnostic processes. Although mammograms are the best diagnostic tool for uncovering breast cancer clinicians currently have at their disposal, they […]
Phone Friendly Heated Gloves
Although heated gloves have been around for some time now, the things are generally pretty thick and bulky – best-suited to activities such as skiing. Vancouver-based Candle Apparel has designed a more dextrous alternative, in the form of its “city-oriented” Candle gloves. The basic gloves themselves are made of a sleek, stretchable, breathable, water- and wind-resistant blend of milk silk, […]