… Read More → "Control room at the Haunted Mansion"The Haunted Mansion Backstage tumblr has outdone itself with a set of photos from about 2002 showing the control-room at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
via Boing Boing
“Nepenthes” by Dan Corson is a collection of four, 17-foot tall light-up sculptures that devour sunlight, and spit it back out after sundown. Though they share their name with plants known for eating bugs and occasional small animals, these sculptures just soak up rays during the day with solar panels mounted on top, and use that energy to glow for about four hours after dark. … Read More → "Portland’s new streetlights are psychedelic, carnivorous plants"
To anyone that’s ever broken a bone, the negatives of traditional plaster casts are familiar: they’re cumbersome, heavy, and can get rather smelly. Victoria University of Wellington graduate Jake Evill is looking to change all that with his Cortex cast. A mere concept for now, Evill says the cast — which is specifically fitted to each wearer based on X-rays of the fractured bone and … Read More → "3D-printed ‘Cortex’ cast concept puts a modern spin on bone fracture treatment"
< … Read More → "Portable device detects toxic blue-green algae in water"Cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, can potentially be quite nasty. Some types of the bacteria produce toxins, which can poison humans or other animals that ingest water in which they’re present. Now, however, scientists are developing a portable sensor that will instantly alert users to the presence of the microbes in water samples.
via Gizmag
The International Energy Agency’s latest annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Reportwas released this week, and according to current trends, renewable energy sources will collectively overtake gas as the world’s second-largest source of energy by the end of this decade.
Renewables—hydro, solar, geothermal, biofuel, and wind—are the fastest-growing energy sector, and an estimated increase … Read More → "IEA: Renewables will be world’s second-largest energy source by 2018"
Modern operating systems may seem baroque in their complexity, but nearly every one of them – except for Windows, natch – are based on the idea of simplicity and modularity. This is the lesson that UNIX taught us, explained perfectly in a little film from Bell Labs in 1982 starring giants of computation, [Dennis Ritchie], [Ken Thompson], [Brian Kernighan], and others.
via Read More → "Retrotechtacular: Bell Labs introduces a thing called ‘UNIX’"
Artist Jeremy Mayer (previously) just completed this beautiful set of swallows using assembled typewriter parts. The pieces required Mayer to find multiple sets of identical parts adding a significant amount of time to sourcing materials, but as a happy accident the artist also discovered his design allowed for the wings to partially retract. If you’re unfamiliar with Mayer’s work it might surprise you to … Read More → "A beautiful set of sculpted swallows from old typewriter parts"
Buttercup was born with a backwards foot that prevented him from walking normally and hurt, and nobody wants to see a lame duck.
Because the foot needs to be flexible, the usual plastics used in 3D printing aren’t viable. Instead, NovaCopy printed a mould, which will be used to cast a silicone foot for the lucky duck, creating several iterations of the design to come up with the perfect one. It … Read More → "Disabled duck to walk again thanks to 3-D printing"
In partnership with British Airways, Designworks has created a new electronic bag tag designed to save both paper and valuable time at the airport. Customers simply hold their smartphone over the electronic bag tag, which presumably uses NFC to update the tag … Read More → "New electronic bag tags save time and paper at the airport"
