Image: Stuart Fox/NASA
With the intent of starting new missions on the Moon by 2020, NASA will need an off-roader capable of handling a multitude of situations. The Chariot is one of the new prototypes for NASA’s next generation lunar rover. Taking a cue from the Mars rovers, it will have six wheels, each with it’s own independent steering.
Image: Mauricio Anton
All images by Allen Qu
From November 2008 the London Science Museum will be celebrating the work of graphic designer Kenya Hara and architect Shigeru Ban and their eminence in car design. The ‘Japan Car’ exhibition will run until next April and will be exhibiting cars that reflect ‘the soul and spirit of Japan’, and give us a few more ideas in alternative transportation.
Andrew Nahum, principle curator of Technology at the Museum has said, “these cars intrigue us and prompt us to ask whether this is a glimpse of the future of road transport.”
Image: Ars Electronica
Since 1990, Dutch kinetic artist Theo Jansen has been creating and nurturing the evolution of large new life forms called Strandbeest. At once awkward and strangely beautiful, these sand beasts are born of the technological age, unrelated to any animal or plant now living on the planet. Their habitat is the beach, and their food is the wind.
All images: The Play Coalition
The nifty new ‘plantbot’ is a plant pot with the ability to seek out sunlight as it moves and changes over the day; ensuring optimum sunlight for indoor plants.
All images: Curventa
Andy Green, an RAF wing commander, broke the sound barrier in a jet car called ThrustSSC in 1997. Now, a new car capable of breaking the sound barrier is in the making with a lofty goal of 1,000 miles per hour for its top speed.
Image: Jim’s outside photos
The flag dropped this month on the first-ever clean, green motorsports racing series at Road Atlanta’s 11th Annual Petit le Mans. That’s right. Green racing. Eco-conscious and a hell of a lot faster than prototype solar-racers. The need for speed is satisfied by three ‘street-legal’ alternative fuels including E10 Ethanol, Sulfur-free diesel, like Sweden’s EcoPar, and mean, green(er) American corn-based E85.
All images: Nexus404
Clubbers, joggers and hikers, watch out for this: Gotwind’s Dance Charger that uses human movement to charge mobile phones.
Trialed at this year’s Glastonbury music festival, and sponsored by Orange, this clever gadget can be strapped to your arm while you dance the day and night away, and is plugged directly into your phone when it needs charging.
Image: United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The list of medical uses for marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) continues to grow. The Journal of Natural Products recently published a paper outlining the newly isolated antibiotic effects of the class of molecules known as cannabanoids. This group includes the non-psychoactive cannabichromene, cannabigerol, and cannabidiol but also includes the well-known and definitely psychotropic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Image by: Gemini Observatory
Written by new contributor, Jonathan Fincher
Do you see that photo above? As far as photos of our universe go, it’s pretty blurry and not all that spectacular, except for one little detail: this is the first photo of a planet orbiting a star outside of our solar system. Ever.
Some muscley mastermind at a gym in Portland, Oregon has devised an ingenious way of getting out of paying the lecky bills – by getting his customers to generate the energy for him.
Adam Boesel’s newly opened gym uses human-power to create real energy from four spin bikes at a rate of 200 to 600 watts per hour, depending on how fit the rider is. The energy produced is then stored in a battery that’s used to run the rest of the gym’s equipment, along with solar-power.
Imagine setting out for work on a crisp fall morning and instead of boarding a train, bus or car you climb onto, or rather balance precariously, on the centre of a huge one-wheeled vehicle made for one. This is the monowheel, and it’s one of the most bizarre transport designs which has enthralled inventors for over a century and a half.
Hand-crafted by Russian carpenter from Apple Tree wood
Since the advent of cell phones we’ve seen the initial cumbersome 1980s design shrink considerably while its technological capacity has increased.
Ziricote phone by Hulger
Tic Tacs
If you’re a bit of a hypochondriac, professing to have a brain tumor every time there’s a hint of a headache, then you need to read Oddee’s recent article about ten people and their strange medical problems.
There’s a 24 year-old women with PSAS, or Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome, who experiences an unbelievable 200 orgasms every day, a Dutch man who never gets cold and is able to swim under ice, a girl who is allergic to water, even her own sweat, and a 17 year-old who can only eat tic tacs.
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