The Nishijin textile district in the north of Kyoto was established over 1200 years ago. Today, the relatively compact area covers only a few blocks just northwest of the city’s busy Imadegawa-Horikawa intersection. But there are no sprawling industrial factories…
A type of plastic that can be reheated for an hour and converted back to its original molecular state has been developed by researchers in the US, and being completely recyclable and reusable, petroleum-free, and able to broken down by…
Glasses with transitional lenses are a neat idea in theory, but they have some shortcomings in practice. That's why researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing an alternative – clear eyeglasses that can be manually tinted into sunglasses,…
Researchers working at Michigan State University (MSU) have created a completely transparent solar collector which is so clear that it could replace conventional glass in windows. The new devices – dubbed transparent luminescent solar concentrators – have the potential to…
Nissan is currently testing out a prototype that it says could make car washes a relic of the past. The test car benefits from a new nano-paint treatment that repels dirt and grime. The automaker is putting the car through…
If you want to make someone Ooh and Aah in the bedroom the Luminous Fiber Optics Bed Cover is a good start. The Italian based company Luminex creates luminous bed covers with fiber optics woven right into the material. That…
Researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a self-healing polymer that can mend itself and fully restore its mechanical properties in just a few minutes when heated at low temperatures. The material could be used to create…
Everybody’s favorite nano-material may have a plethora of near-magical properties, but as it turns out, it could also be bad for the environment – and bad for you, too. It’s easy to get carried away when you start talking about…
An inflatable concrete building sounds a bit ludicrous – until you see the seemingly-magical construction of a Concrete Canvas shelter. Concrete Canvas, a UK company, has created shelters that combine a less durable material – canvas – with one of…
Global color authority Pantone partnered with Valspar paint to bring a new line of paint exclusively to Lowe’s called PANTONE UNIVERSE Paint Collection. The collection features 100 hues that range from classic neutrals to the most saturated brights, and everything…
Listed as one of the hottest inventions this year, according to Webmpires, Silent Velcro is a new product that everyone will want. The new concept lets you avoid those awkward moments of creating a painfully loud ripping noise the next…
The world's first 3D-printed plastic gun has been successfully fired in Texas, USA. The handgun, named The Liberator, was assembled from 17 separate printed components completely made from ABS plastic, with the exception of a metal nail used as a…
Remember when your parents told you not to draw on the walls ? The complete opposite can be told now with this dry erase paint from IdeaPaint. One coat of this durable and cost-effective paint can turn any smooth surface…
When it slammed into the surface of Earth, there was little sign of the beauty that lay inside. But cutting the Fukang meteorite open yielded a breathtaking sight. Within the rock, translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine gleamed…
The Korean team of Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST has developed a high performance flexible all-solid-state battery, an essential energy source for flexible displays. The technological advance of thin and light flexible…
While they were each once hailed as the lightest solid material ever made, metallic microlattice and aerogel have now been moved back to second and third place (respectively), with aerographite taking the crown. Developed by a team from the Technical…
Chemical substances are often defined as "any material with a definite chemical composition" in most introductory general chemistry textbooks. According to this definition a chemical substance can either be a pure chemical element or a pure chemical compound. But, there…
Here’s a grandmother that really can’t stand Apple products — she hates them so much, in fact, that she unloads dozens of bullets into a MacBook Pro and a couple of iPhones. Of course, it’s all just a marketing campaign…
Launched in 1994, Icebreaker was the first company in the world to develop a merino wool layering system for the outdoors. It was also the first outdoor apparel company in the world to source merino directly from growers, a system…
It seems that a lot of people have been talking about putting things in the road lately. Just within the past few years, we’ve heard about asphalt-embedded parking spot locators, power strips and coils, piezoelectric generators, and heat-harvesting water pipes.…