Squishy wheels, slippery surfaces and a scary mask round out this week's gallery.
1. Björk’s 3D-Printed Mask
Icelandic singer Björk, known for her avant garde approach to art, debuted a custom, 3D-printed mask during a performance in Tokyo this past week. Rottlace, as the mask is called, was made by a team at MIT’s Mediated Matter lab and Stratasys, led by professor Neri Oxman. The scientists used 3-D scans of Björk’s bone and tissue to create the final design.
2. Dancing Zoetrope
Credit: Ying Chai Su via YouTube
Media artist Akinori Goto has given the zoetrope, a 19th-century toy, a design upgrade. These cylindrical toys had images painted on the inside wall of the drum and would create the illusion of an animation when spun around. Goto’s zoetrope is a 3D-printed version made of wire that creates the illusion of a woman dancing. It won the Runner-up Grand Prix and the Audience Award at this year’s Spiral Independent Creators Festival.
3. Fold-Up Catamaran
The FOSCAT32 is an energy-efficient catamaran with lightweight folding hulls. Designed by Hakan Gürsu of Designnobis, it can switch from solar to wind as a power source.
4. Climate Research Centre in Greenland
Danish architects Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter has revealed their design for the Icefjord Centre, a climate research and visitor centre to be located in Ilulissat, Greenland, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The building will house scientists studying the Ilulissat Icefjord, a 250,000 year-old glacier. Visitors can observe the glacier from the rooftop platform, which leads down to a walking trail.
5. Glass Slide Opens in Los Angeles
The US Bank Tower in Los Angeles officially opened its Skyslide, a 46-foot-long glass slide that connects the 70th and 69th floors. For a fee starting at US$19, visitors can slide down through the transparent structure, which offers a view of the city below.
6. BMW’s MINI Vision NEXT 100
Credit: MINI UK
BMW’s MINI Vision NEXT 100 concept car envisions a future where people share cars that respond to individual drivers with personal greetings as well as customized controls and colours. See how it works here.
7. Vektor Car
This concept vehicle, Vektor, was designed by Pakistan-based Bilal Majeed as a method of transportation for those living on the edges of cities. It’s a single-person car half the size of a standard vehicle and could be a way for those at the end of a train line to cover the last mile home.
8. Particle Animation
Credit: David McLeod via Vimeo
Colourflow is a vibrant animation from Australian digital artist David McLeod. It captures the collective motion of a murmuration or a school of fish evading a predator. The animated particles move as if contained within an invisible sphere. Watch it here.
9. Squishy-Wheeled Robot
This little all-terrain robot is a softy. It has silicone-based wheels that flex over rough terrain and a soft motor that provides torque without straining engine parts. [Video]
10. Slippery Surface
Credit: OhioStateExperts via YouTube
By embedding nanoparticles of silica into plastic, scientists at Ohio State University have found a way to make surfaces super slippery. Whatever liquid goo is contained inside - be it shampoo, ketchup, mayo, or oil - slides out completely without any clinging or waste.
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