The Organic London Skyscraper concept seeks to show how the financial outlay required to build a skyscraper could be moderated. The idea proposes that the paper and plastic waste created by the existing residents or tenants of a building could be recycled and used to create panels for its continued construction. The building would grow using the waste of its residents and Chartier-Corbasson suggests that enough materials could be produced within a year to … Read More → "Concept skyscraper rises from recycled waste of residents"

Robots almost universally treat the environment as one giant obstacle that needs to be avoided. But obstacles can be turned into tools, as long as you know what the obstacles are potentially good for. In the video below, Georgia Tech’s Golem Krang robot uses a bunch of stuff that would otherwise be problematic to perform a task:

In this experiment, we design a complete rescue scenario with a 100 kg brick object blocking entry … Read More → "‘MacGyver’ robots use their environment to solve problems"

Getting lost in a museum is easy, and aimlessly wandering from wing to wing is a nice, relaxing, not-at-all-claustrophobic way to spend an afternoon. Alternatively you could venture into The BIG Maze at DC’s National Building Museum, an on-site installation filled with winding paths, dead-ends, and a cool reveal at the end of the road…

From the outside, there’s no possible … Read More → "The middle of this massive indoor maze reveals how to get back out again"

Even before birth, concerned parents often fret over the possibility that their children may have underlying medical issues. Chief among these worries are rare genetic conditions that can drastically shape the course and reduce the quality of their lives. While progress is being made in genetic testing, diagnosis of many conditions occurs only after symptoms manifest, usually to the shock of the family.

A new algorithm, however, is attempting to identify … Read More → "Algorithm hunts rare genetic disorders from facial features in photos"

Navigating a sailboat out of the heart of a fierce coastal squall takes a special combination of concentration and skill. But for an extremely weathered yachtsman, surviving tough weather might become a sort of routine, a ritual even. Draw down the mast, bale out the water, hope for the best, pray.

But maintaining that same sort of calm and attention—the kind it takes … Read More → "How to sail around the world and not go mad"

MIT’s decade-plus pitch to embed microchip-based drug-dispensaries in humans has been re-framed as a microprocessor-based, wireless-controlled, fully Internet-of-Things-compliant, implantable contraceptive.

Since 1999, MIT’s Robert Langer et al have been pitching the idea of using microchips to deliver medicines. The idea, way back then, was envisaged chips with reservoirs of drugs kept behind a gold membrane. Applying a voltage to the membrane would dissolve it to release the liquid. 

Perhaps because healthcare is one of the world’s most regulated research fields, it took from 1999 to 2006 for MicroCHIPS (the company set … Read More → "Wireless-controlled contraception implant is coming, says MIT"

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an audio reading device to be worn on the index finger of people whose vision is impaired, giving them affordable and immediate access to printed words.

The so-called FingerReader, a prototype produced by a 3-D printer, fits like a ring on the user’s finger, equipped with a small camera that scans text. A synthesized voice reads words aloud, quickly … Read More → "MIT finger device reads to the blind in real time"

Advertisers aren’t the only ones interested in your spending habits — hospitals and insurance companies are taking note as well. Carolinas HealthCare, which operates hundreds of healthcare facilities from hospitals to nursing homes and care centers throughout North and South Carolina, is purchasing transaction data and other information on its patients to try and get ahead of any medical problems,& … Read More → "Hospitals hope to predict illness by analyzing your spending habits"

Software provider Cube Cities has created a visualization of the risk to surrounding buildings in New York City posed by the presence of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to promote its risk mapping services. The giant, sentient mascot from Ghostbusters was placed on a Google Map at 52nd Street to highlight potential rampage.
via Read More → "A 3D visualization of the risk to surrounding New York City buildings imposed by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man"

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of handheld console, The Fine Brothers gave a bunch of kids Game Boys and asked them what they thought of them. SPOILER: Not impressed. So not impressed some of them can’t even understand how people could have possibly enjoyed playing with them. Spoiled little jerks. I used to play marbles and have checker wars with my brother when I was a kid. I am well … Read More → "Modern kids react to playing Game Boy"