Front Design has many products that were "designed by animals" like the rat-gnawed wallpaper and the fly lamp that captured the motion of flies. their technology products are uber innovative. they also have products with concepts such as "design by explosion" where a chair is molded by an internal explosion and uv-sensitive wallpapers designed by sunlight. this one is probably my favorite, it's a lamp that "wakes up" and lightens up when you enter the room and lays down when you exit. [via]

mirrorSpace is one of HeHe's many cool projects. it's a set of telepresent mirrors placed in different locations that will capture who ever is in front of the mirrors and superimpose the live streamed video onto them, so that all the portraits can merge in the same space. the video documents it well. [via|via|via]

a boy in Germany who is now 4.5 years old was born with a mutated myostatin gene. this gene controls muscle growth so he was born with unusually bigger muscles. researchers have demonstrated in mice that taking out the myostatin gene makes the mouse double its muscles. of course, the body building community has been crazy about this discovery. and of course, crooked pseudo-pharmo companies have tried to market a "supplement" that would "block the activity of myostatin." doctors have been following this boy's growth for years and he seems to be completely normal otherwise. time will tell whether genetically altering the myostatin gene can safely treat muscle diseases like muscular dystrophy (or perhaps be used for vanity purposes?). [via]

Professor Stuart Campbell at the Create Health Clinic in London pioneered a technique that produces 3D ultrasound images and real time foetal movement recordings. thanx to this new imaging technique, it has shown that unborns smile, stretch, kick, open their eyes, scratch, cry, and suck their toes/fingers earlier than previously thought. [via]

i just bought the Wild Divine game that comes with 3 biofeedback sensors as the only game controller, seemingly. stacking stones by just thinking about it sounds pretty fun. i could also use some stress therapy :-) can't wait til it comes in the mail. i will post a review then. here is a review of it by Steven Johnson in How To Hack Your Head. and here's a more extensive review on wired last year.

NEC's Fundamental and Environmental Research Laboratories developed a new vegetable-based (flame resistant) plastic, dubbed bio-plastic, that can "remember" and change shape. this is not to be confused with NiTinol, which is a *metal* that can remember and change shape when heated. plastics naturally have a tendency to return to it's original shape when you heat it. i do that with my tupperware all the time. however, 93% of the bioplastic is made from veggie resin and highly biodegradable so that is something to look forward to. "The company is developing the new plastic for use in computers and hopes to include it in devices that can change shape in accordance with users' wishes, such as computers shaped like rings or even eyeglasses." how fun. [via]

these nano silicon carbide wires about one thousandth the diameter of a human hair were grown from tiny droplets of a liquid metal (Gallium) on a silicon surface. the growth of the structure can be controlled by changing the temperature and pressure of the growth process. see more pictures here. [via]