Street Signs into Post-Apocalyptic Weapons

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In a narrative that Kennedy envisions taking place 400 years in the future, invaders have come to Earth, and Brooklyn residents must defend themselves from the attackers with the everyday objects found around them.

Using street signs from historically significant Brooklyn neighborhoods, Kennedy has created machetes, shields, and swords that have meaning, and are remarkable works of art.

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[Coby] Kennedy’s futuristic weapons collection is titled “In The Service Of A Villain”.

“A lot of the street signs are from places in Brooklyn that have history and weight, places that are losing that particular culture”.

Coby Kennedy via psfk.

The Bouncing Bridge Project

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[A]rchitecture firm AZC submitted a proposal to build an inflatable trampoline bridge for pedestrians to cross the Seine.

The structure involves three inflatable doughnut-like rings with mesh trampolines stretched across each one, allowing pedestrians to bounce their way to the other side of the river.

It also provides people two options upon reaching the end of the bridge: to exit by way of a staircase or by way of a slide.

Via Lost At E Minor.

Genetic Anomaly Results in Hermaphroditic Butterflies

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In insects the mechanism is fairly well understood. A fly with XX chromosomes will be a female.

However, an embryo that loses a Y chromosome still develops into what looks like an adult male, although it will be sterile.

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It’s thought that bilateral gynandromorphism occurs when two sperm enter an egg. One of those sperm fuses with the nucleus of the egg and a female insect develops. The other sperm develops without another set of chromosomes within the same egg.

Both a male and a female insect develop within the same body.

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Quoted text by Elise at IFLScience.
Via Colossal.

Möbius Ship

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California-based artist Tim Hawkinson is known for taking everyday materials and altering them in imaginative ways, creating works that address broad issues about the intersection of human consciousness, nature and technology.

Here, he employed a mix of found objects and common household materials—including twist ties, craft wood, staples, and packing material—which he transformed almost alchemically into a complex and awe-inspiring sculpture.

Echoing the working methods of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, Hawkinson created a painstakingly detailed model ship that twists in upon itself, presenting the viewer with a thought-provoking visual conundrum.

Via Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Cancer Researchers Creating Living Tumors…with a 3D Printer

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Drexel’s Wei Sun, PhD, Albert Soffa chair professor in the College of Engineering, has devised a method for 3D printing tumors that could soon be taking cancer research out of the petri dish.

Using a mixture of cervical cancer cells and a hydrogel substance that resembles an ointment balm, Sun can print out a tumor model that can be used for studying their growth and response to treatment.

And here I thought I was getting blasé and ho-hum about the possibilities of 3D printers.

Organs? Whatever. Buildings? Done that. Cancer cells?

Uh…

Via Phys.Org.

Singapore’s Solar Supertrees

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The colossal solar-powered supertrees are found in the Bay South garden. It is part of a 250-acre landscaping project – Gardens by the Bay – that is an initiative from Singapore’s National Parks Board that will see the cultivation of flora and fauna from foreign lands.

The man-made mechanical forest consists of 18 supertrees that act as vertical gardens, generating solar power, acting as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, and collecting rainwater.

To generate electricity, 11 of the supertrees are fitted with solar photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight into energy, which provides lighting and aids water technology within the conservatories below.

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Via CNN.