Looking for a spot to keep a small flower arrangement that doesn’t block people from having conversations at the dinner table? These ultra-thin ceramic vases are designed to stack amongst the books on your shelf so you can keep a rose next to The Wars of the Roses, a daisy next to Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, or an orchid next to Wild Orchids. It’s available here for $33 in white or blue finishes, and sadly there’s no Kindle Edition. [AssistOn via HomeCrux] More »
An expensive, ornate vase can be as much of a centerpiece as the flowers that are in it. These floating vases designed by the Japanese group oodesign take things in the opposite direction by making them look like water ripples. More »
We see a lot of sleek-looking technology pass through our doors, but it’s rare that the inventions could be called beautiful by those who aren’t immersed in the gadget world. We’d venture that North Carolina State University might have crossed the divide by creating an energy storage technology that’s both practical and genuinely pretty. Its technology vaporizes germanium sulfide and cools it into 20-30 nanometer layers that, as they’re combined, turn into nanoflowers: elegant structures that might look like the carnation on a prom dress or tuxedo, but are really energy storage cells with much more capacity than traditional cells occupying the same area. The floral patterns could lead to longer-lived supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, and the germanium sulfide is both cheap and clean enough that it could lead to very efficient solar cells that are more environmentally responsible. As always, there’s no definite timetable for when (and if) NC State’s technology might be commercialized — so call someone’s bluff if they promise you a nanoflower bouquet.
Filed under: Science
NC State nanoflowers can boost battery and solar cell capacity, make great prom accessories originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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