Sound Chair
Although this chair looks like it’s made from LEGO, designer Matthew Plummer Fernandez actually used a much more geeky material in building it: sound waves. The Sound/Chair has contours that precisely match sound waves mapped on a 3D graph of volume (height), frequency (depth), and time (width).  We love the purple color, too (but [...]

 
Researchers at Purdue University are working on tech that will turn every cellphone into a roaming nuclear weapon sniffer and are lobbying Congress to legally require cellphone users and carriers to participate. The Distributed Nuclear Detection by Ubiquitous Cellphone project would be kind of like the massive cellphone dragnet in The Dark Knight, but it [...]

 
Researchers from the University of Missouri have made a major contribution to the field of medicine and the use of gold nanoparticles to treat everything from arthritis to cancer and in new modes of medical imaging — not to mention the dozens of other fields that utilize gold nanoparticles in processes and/or products.

 
Rigid, stuck-to-the-wall blackboards will soon find their way to the recycling house. In an era where ‘monologues’ are taboo, the Flexboard comes as a perfect response to our ‘interactivity’ needs. It is an established fact that classrooms are the best places to learn. Hence, it is also essential that the learning is structured to suit [...]

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MIT researchers have designed a new robotic underwater vehicle that can hover in place like a helicopter — an invaluable tool for deepwater oil explorers, marine archaeologists, oceanographers and others.

 Pauline W. Chen – a compassionate doctor
Pauline W. Chen: I would like to believe that I am a compassionate doctor. But when I must convey bad news to a patient, one of the first things I worry about is time.

 
Helicopter designed to be launched from a Sub
Students from the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in cooperation with four students from Pennsylvania State University have developed a submarine deployable helicopter. Their autonomous “Waterspout” is capable of exiting a submarine, floating safely to the water surface, and taking off [...]

 Still waiting for the one we can ride in
If you’re looking for the smallest most sophisticated R/C flying vehicle around then your wait is over. The Micro R/C 4-Channel Flying Saucer incorporates amazing technology in a package not much larger than your outstretched palm. With 4-propellers you’d assume the Micro Flying Saucer would be hard [...]

Never underestimate the power of horny goat weed
Low libido? You can try out the soft green heart-shaped leaf of the horny goat weed instead of the common anti-impotence pills, for a new study has revealed that it could also rekindle your sexual desire.

 
Going from zero to Twitter Master in one short morning
Over the past few months, Twitter has emerged as one of the hottest online tools of all time. But while Twitter serves well as a vibrant social network, its also serves as a legitimate business tool. People on Twitter use it to find people working on [...]

 
Scientists from the University of Illinois have developed photonic crystal biosensors that would contribute a great deal to drug development, by detecting DNA-protein interactions. The physical setup of the biosensors include a low RI (refractive index) polymer grating that has an outer film coating of high RI Titanium Oxide. Above the film sits a standard [...]

 
 Alaska wants to build a 17-mile road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to connect two remote outposts.
Among the many bills Congress is considering before it recesses for the November elections is a proposed land swap between the State of Alaska and the federal government that would allow a gravel road to be built through [...]

 
If you had been worrying about breast cancer, a bra may be able to warn you in case you develop cancerous tissues. The bra would detect the cancerous growths before they can spread to other areas and help a lot in prognosis, as cancer always needs to be treated early for better results.

 
 EPOS-Lite
It’s about time the whole restaurant menu/payment ritual was streamlined. To the rescue comes EPOS-lite, a design concept for a tablet that serves as both a menu and wireless payment device. It even wirelessly recharges itself as you place it on the tabletop.

 
 Reversible Destiny Lofts
You won’t have your grandparents over to your posh, colorful apartment in Tokyo while living at the Reversible Destiny Lofts. Designed by NY-based architects Arakawa & Gins (who, between you and me, need to pick some different colors for their website), these units are packed full of all sorts of hurdles only the [...]

 
Video games improve the mind-to-numbers relationship
A daily dose of computer games can boost students’ scores on standard math tests, says a new research. The study, which was carried out in Scottish schools, was conducted by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) – the main organization for the development of the curriculum.

 
Breakthrough in animal testing
As Japanese consumers become ever more “fussy” over food safety issues, there is a growing demand for technology that improves food quality. To ease the minds of health-conscious meat-eaters, researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH) have developed a convenient method for identifying cattle infected with mad cow disease, simply [...]

 
Car House (Salzburg, Austria)
The compact Volkswagen Beetle has always been a fuel-efficient car, but what about applying that conservationist model to a house? German architect Mark Voglreiter took up the challenge and nailed it with the “Auto Residence.” Its thermal insulation makes it very energy-efficient. The house was rented in 2004 for a pricey $2,500 [...]

Unusual new headphone design
The iSound, designed by Seohyun Baek, is a set of headphones that lets you to listen to your mp3 player while still hearing the background noise around you. That’s a pretty handy thing, especially when that background noise is oncoming traffic.

 
Z Pen 
The Z Pen is a fairly normal looking pen which can be used to write as normal. Once writing has been completed you can then download data from it and have the writing converted to text with OCR.

 
 ”Glass Forest”
The 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge has just concluded with some pretty astonishing imagery in the winning slots. This picture, dubbed “Glass Forest,” is a scanning electron micrograph of diatoms (weird unicellular algae) clinging to a marine worm, and won the photography category: to my eyes it looks half like a palm [...]

FingerFood By designer Ken Goldman 
Take one look at this idea and you know it’s a good one. You’ve been there: you’re at a cocktail party, hungry enough to eat a horse, but you don’t have enough hands to hold your drink, a heaping plate of tasty vittles and a fork, and still be able to shake [...]

 
Could microSD cards – tiny devices the size of a fingernail – replace bulky CDs and intangible downloads for next-generation music lovers? Selling albums in microSD format is the latest concept from SanDisk, the California-based manufacturer of flash memory cards and developer of SD cards, which are now widely licensed.

 
Political conservatives operate out of a fear of chaos and absence of order while political liberals operate out of a fear of emptiness, a new Northwestern University study soon to be published in the Journal of Research in Personality finds.

One small sign of a larger social shift
Count this as another busted myth of modern times: In family life, the husband always wields the television remote. Lately, the wife is just as likely to be changing the channels. A poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Center showed that 21st century couples share decision making [...]