Hacked together as a solution to biking through smog-filled China, artist Matt Hope’s Breathing Bike offers a little respite from deadly inhalations. But it probably gets hot inside that gas mask.
To escape air pollution, many Beijing cyclists don the kind of white face mask you see nurses wearing in hospital wards. The city’s cars, factories, and coal power create smog so thick the airport is occasionally forced to shut down. Just breathing Beijing air for one day can have the equivalent effect of smoking anywhere between one-sixth and 21 cigarettes, depending on whom you ask.
But artist Matt Hope has a better--or least, more dramatic--solution than a flimsy mask. His "Breathing Bike" is a mobile sculpture that, with each turn of the pedal, powers a personal air purifier, tucked away in a mesh Ikea dustbin on the bike’s rear. Clean air exits the purifier through the tube of a "Chinese fighter pilot breathing thingy" (in Hope’s words) where it makes its way directly to the cyclists face and lungs.
"It seems to make more sense to give you clean air rather than to try to filter it, because when you filter it [with a mask] you can’t breathe," Hope explains in a YouTube video. "So I thought I could use my basic knowledge of electrical, mechanical stuff and put it to some use and make this kind of weird, provocative object."
Perhaps it’ll provoke people to stick with their bikes as opposed to buying a new car. China’s quickly abandoning its long tradition of urban cycling, and forecasters expect China will add 20 million new vehicles to the road this year.
But there’s just one hitch to getting around on the cycle: It’s packing a deadly 5,000 volts of electricity. According to Hope, "if you ride this in the rain, you could potentially kill yourself. So I’m a little bit hesitant to use it."
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-05-14 16:23:53 UTC
In the gold-mining process, the precious metal is often extracted from low-grade ore in a technique known as gold cyanidation. As its name suggests, the process utilizes highly-poisonous cyanide, some of which ends up entering the environment in the mines’ tailings. That’s not so good. Scientists at Illinois’ Northwestern University, however, recently announced their discovery of a new gold recovery process that’s based on a non-toxic component of corn starch.
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Continue Reading Non-toxic corn starch could replace cyanide in gold mines
by: Reuters: Green Business News, 2013-05-15 09:27:54 UTC
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Warren Buffett-backed Chinese carmaker BYD Co Ltd rolled out Hong Kong's first electric taxi fleet on Wednesday, marking a milestone for its all-electric battery car that highlights its promise and its limitations.
Diamonds is a series of hanging pendants designed by Sylvie Meuffels for JSPR that cross industrial with a bit of classy elegance. Much like the stones they’re named after, these eye-catching lights will shine from the ceiling they hang from.
There are three geometric, diamond-shaped variations to choose from and the metal cage frames are made from powder-coated steel in either black or gold.
Kobe Design University’s design collectiveDesign Soil presented a collection of new works in Milan called “Lagrangian Point”. The overarching theme of the collection comes from a 1772 essay by Joseph Louis Lagrange called “Essay on the Three-Body Problem.”
From the designers:
In 1772, in the “Essay on the Three-Body Problem,” Joseph Louis Lagrange indicated the Lagrangian Point, a point exists in the space between the revolving two bodies that gravity and centrifugal force are balanced. A material put on this point keeps balancing and revolving without changing a relative position. A calm stability is found in throughout the various forces crossing. Yet, not only in the astronomic subjects, it is able to be found in places where close to us. The collection of, “Lagrangian Point” is the works produced by finding the equilibrium hidden behind the apparently unstable forces and structures.
Crimp low table by Tomoya Yoshino is made with two thin boards that are unable to stand alone, but with the curves, they are able to not only stand, but support the heavy weight of glass.
Half Throttle by Kohdai Iwamoto is an assembled shelf aimed at the Pythagorean theorem. After inserting the prop into a square hole of the shelf board, just twist the prop to 45 degrees.
Seven-Tenths by Yuki Matsumoto is a series of parts that can be assembled to create multiple items. The various parts have a common structure, and can be replaced to change it into a small box, a birdhouse, or a swing.
Lean is a coat rack and side table by Kengo Babata with a leg that leans on the next and that one on the next and so on.
Tensile bookshelf by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi is using the pliable characteristic of plywood to fix the shelf boards. By inserting the prop into the slit hole of the shelf board, the slit part is pushed out by the prop which creates an arch, and the shelf board get fixed by its elasticity.
By inserting a stick into a holed board and tilts it, the stick will get stuck in the side of the hole. The Torque low table by Nobu Miake and manufactured by YASUTA Veneered Surfaces & Design applies this rule to support two tabletops at different positions. As it is stable by the legs tilting, it will increase the strength as more stuff loaded.
Straw desk light by Kohdai Iwamoto is inspired by a straw placed in a glass. It can be adjusted the angles of the light by hooking the light itself inside of the base with different levels.
Sling Wall Shelf by Weena Lee Shas five different lengths of sides and tilts easily depending on the weight and the shape of stored items. It becomes stable at the position by keeping its balance by the center of gravity.
Trinity Stool by Junichiro Oshima is a folding stool with tied knots at the both ends. The rope passes through the legs and the seat to give the relation that pulling each other from different directions, and in doing so, the rope tightens the legs firmly. You can also use the rope as a handle to carry the stool from place to place.
Water Balance vase by Risako Matsumoto is a shelf and vase in one that begins to lose its balance once the water in the vase begins to evaporate.
Catena mobile by Yumi Nakamoto is made of rayon yarn and piano wire. The beautiful curve is made when both ends of the yarn are pinched together.
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-05-12 03:04:18 UTC
Whatever your tipple of choice is, from water and pop to whiskey and rum, they all come in bottles, though the aesthetic appeal of these bottles differs greatly depending on the brand. The Satechi Touch USB LED Lamp gives new life to these empty bottles by turning them into a base for a table lamp...
Continue Reading Satechi Touch USB LED Lamp lights up empty bottles
by: Reuters: Green Business News, 2013-05-11 11:04:08 UTC
GAINESVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - After a two-year battle with cancer, Joseph Fitzgerald was determined to leave his final resting place to Mother Nature.
Calls to boycott western fashion companies mounted following the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza Building that killed more than 800 people in Bangladesh, but labor activists caution that this is not the most effective solution to the problem. Instead, they businesses and the government to step up their standards so that locals can still benefit from the work without the hazards. Here are nine brands that are leading the way.
Google’s amazing new Timelapse may be the closest thing to a time machine that we’ve seen yet. Forget waiting for Doc to fix the time-traveling Delorean, Timelapse has the capability of showing some of the big changes seen on Earth since 1986. Although it can only go back 28 years, the feature lets us see the incredible growth of urban sprawl, or deterioration of the world’s forests, and the drift and melt of glaciers from year to year.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-05-03 16:58:46 UTC
Back in 1993, graphic designer brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag were on the lookout for a messenger bag. Zurich citizens worthy of the name travel ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2013-05-01 09:44:11 UTC
Designing sustainable product is all about quality of design, fun and changing peoples behavior in a playful fun way. I think this chicken house with ...
Office suite of furniture is designed to let you take a break from your workday and get fit.
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