If someone places the winning bid on a work of art at an auction, it must mean that they liked the piece more than any of the other bidders … right? Well, actually, it could just mean that they were wealthier than any of the other bidders. Swedish design company Kosta Boda, however, recently held an event where money was irrelevant. In order to win a piece, bidders had to have the most … Read More → "Emotions used instead of cash at unique art auction"

Nacho Cabellero, a 3rd year bioinformatics PhD student at Boston University, explains about the genetic variant that causes the herb cilantro to taste like soap to 10% of those who had their genetics analyzed through 23andMe, himself included.

The first time I tried cilantro I didn’t realize it; I just thought somebody had emptied a bottle of Old Spice on my pizza in an attempt to poison … Read More → "Smell may be the reason why cilantro tastes like soap to some people"

A team of Russian physicists want to revisit Nikola Tesla’s greatest unrealized plan, update it with modern technology, and try to make his theoretical world-wide wireless power transmission system a reality. And they’re using Indiegogo to make it happen.

Tesla, born 158 years ago today, built Wardenclyffe Tower in 1902 in New York State. He planned for the massive … Read More → "Physicists rebuilding the Tesla Tower for planetary energy transmission"

If you find yourself wandering around Liverpool in the middle of the night, you might be surprised to happen upon a warehouse with a glowing blue door. Inside, you’ll see countless live jellyfish floating peacefully in the unlikely setting. It’s not a hallucination. It’s art.

Artist duo Walter Hugo and Zoniel quietly opened the installation a couple of weeks ago … Read More → "This abandoned warehouse is filled with live jellyfish"

The idea of truly flexible displays never gets boring, and now LG has created its biggest bendable screen to date: an 18-inch OLED panel that has enough flexibility to roll into a tube that’s an inch across.

The prototype display uses a new polyamide film at the back instead of the usual plastic to make it thinner and, in turn, more flexible. It has a … Read More → "This flexible 18-Inch screen rolls into a tube one inch across"

The superefficient Biolite woodstove will boil water in minutes from twigs and charge your phone while it does it…

It uses an electric fan to drive combustion to unthinkable heights, allowing it to power a small thermoelectric generator that keeps the fan going (a small battery starts things off). The generator puts out enough power to run a USB charge-port that you can use to keep your phone and lights charged.

< … Read More → "Superefficient campstove that charges your phone while it boils water, using only twigs"

Based in Tehran, the Sharifi-ha House by Iranian architectural firm Nextoffice is a luxurious home by anyone’s standard. The seven-floor residence boasts an elevator, swimming pool, and a sizable gym. More interestingly, it also features three rooms which resemble large wooden boxes and sit upon operable rotating platforms…

Sharifi-ha House’s three operable rooms remain in a flat, or “closed” position during cold weather. However, … Read More → "Two-faced Sharifi-ha House changes shape on demand"

Someone throw together an IndieGoGo for a 21 gun salute. The crowdfunded project take control of ISEE-3, NASA’s 30-year-old satellite, is kaput. The sad news is a blow to anyone who loves space, science, or stories of redemption by scrappy underdogs.

If you’re just joining us, here’s the backstory: ISEE-3 was a … Read More → "The plan to resurrect NASA’s long-lost satellite has failed"

Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum are planning a trip to Mars. They’ve been hashing out the details for 20 years now, and alternate between being extremely excited and utterly terrified by the prospect, refusing to discuss it after 5 p.m. to avoid nightmares.

The couple’s far-out dreams of space travel differ from those of many others because theirs could, potentially, come true. They founded a private … Read More → "Meet the couple who could be the first humans to travel to Mars"

Kevin Whitney is a farmer in Chickasha, Oklahoma. One day last October, he leaned over a grain elevator while inspecting its interior. His cell phone fell out of his shirt pocket and into a silo containing 280,000 bushels of grain.

Whitney assumed that it was lost. But it wasn’t. The phone was going on a long journey down the Arkansas and then Mississippi Rivers until it arrived at a depot in Convent, Louisiana. … Read More → "Oklahoma farmers loses phone in grain elevator and gets it back, from Japan"