from Sara 013‘s flickrstream

Link and photo via medgadget.com.

Designed by Fabio Novembre, the trees act as an oasis in the middle of the city Milan:

Link and photo via mocoloco.com.

The Japanese are gearing up for a time when there are more elderly folks needing assistance than there are young whippersnappers available to do the choirs. The RIBA, or Robot for Interactive Body Assistance, is a 400 pound (180 kilos) device designed by engineers at the RIKEN institute and Tokai Rubber Industries to carry people up to 135 pounds (61 kilos) between hospital beds, wheelchairs, and even toilets. The device is full of tactile sensors to make carrying safe and comfortable for patients, and it can even recognize faces and be commanded via voice to perform basic tasks.

Creepy. Cute bear ears aside, I’d like a different nurse, thank you.

Link and photo via medgadget.com.

For the emergency deposits:

Photos from bladediary.com. Thanks to Radian for the link!

London, England.. soon to be home to a city within a city, thanks to The Shard.

As Inhabitat describe it:

The 72-storey building in the London Bridge Quarter will contain premium office space, a world-class hotel, luxury residences, a spa, restaurants & cafes, retail space and a 15-storey public viewing gallery. On the ground level, public piazza, restaurants and cafes will be open to the public with places to rest and changing art installations. Access to public transportation via bus line, train and underground will be directly on site.

How very pretty and science-fictional is that cityscape?  And for once this isn’t design-pr0n, they’ve actually started construction on it.  Of course, whether they finish it is another thing entirely.  Worst case, future-London gets a 72-storey squelette.

I want this on my desk right now:

Click through to see the full glory of Frank Buchwald’s Machine Light series, and decide which one goes on your covet-list.

Via makezine.com. Can you figure out how he did it? Click through the link for the answer.

Video via geekologie.com.

A 50,000 ton water Cherenkov detector, via makezine.com.

From inventorspot.com:

Closed, a jean brand that provides designer styles based in Hamburg, has launched a denim vending prototype machine in Florence, Italy to see how people embrace jeans-on-the-go. If the concept seems to take off, the idea is that it will be setup in train stations, bus stations and airports around Europe so those jet-lagged and unclean can find themselves in a new and clean pair of jeans.

T-shirt via geekologie.com.

photo by Jules, via The Third Mind

Graffiti + Nintendo Wii = Wii Spray.

Wii Spray Stencil – Beta from Martin Lihs on Vimeo.

I hope this makes it to stores in the near future, because I would like to give these guys some money.

Plus, you know..  virtual grinder tags:

thanks to the guys from Stairs to Nowhere from the tip-off!

From Igor Siwanowiczs’ photostream.

Thanks to Alys for the tip-off!

Musician Calvin Harris has used the conductive body paint to turn 15 ordinary bikini clad performers into human switches:

Link via fashioningtech.com.

Beautiful photos of the Osarizama Mine, taken by Michael John Grist. Here’s a video given a close up view:

Thanks to VertigoJones for the link!

h+ have a great interview with Zach Lynch, author of The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World .

In “This is your brain on neurotechnology” they look at how society might be re-shaped as neurotech matures and becomes more widely used.

This is just a taste:

For example, there are over 100 compounds in clinical development right now focused on treating some form of memory loss. And we expect a small handful of these over the next decade to improve memory in normal humans. So you can imagine the inherent coercive force that will emerge as those treatments become developed. Imagine a 65-year-old programmer living in San Francisco and she’s competing with a 25-year-old in Mumbai, India. Neither one knows whether the other is using one of these cognitive-enabling drugs.

And it’s not just drugs; there are neurodevices in development that will be able to improve memory and speed learning. What we’re going to see is what I call “neuro competition.” This is the next form of competition that individuals and businesses and nations will adapt to gain competitive advantage –- except this will be a neuro advantage. Just as companies today compete for a competitive advantage in information technology –- whether it’s the latest social software, the latest IT backbone, the latest servers, or the latest customer relationship management systems –- they will use neurotechnologies to improve their competitive positioning.

In 1985, American artist Evelyn Rosenberg developed a technique for embossing thick metal plates by blasting them onto a mold with sheets of plastic explosive. “Detonography,” as she calls it, can impress very delicate images into metal surfaces, and can weld dissimilar metals together into single panels. Shown above is “Pillars of Knowledge,” featuring four detonographs treated with various chemicals to produce different patinas.

Via makezine.com.

Via imgfave.com