It seems like scientists are all about immortality these days. It’s not just plants and people that are getting the treatment, though. A team of Harvard engineers are developing a way of producing color that could produce paint that never fades, and displays that never go dark.
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In the days before Home Depot paint departments, people slathered color onto their walls the old fashioned way: using a mixture of pigment, lime, and milk. Now, one Northern California farm is reviving this ancient tradition with the help of its resident goat herds.
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Utility buildings are boring. You, like I, have seen many of them. They suck and could use a new look. Well, this one in Illinois is much better.
This building was painted to look like level graphics from Super Mario Bros. and I bet they now call the town their own personal Mushroom Kingdom. This is exactly what it would look like if the Mario Brothers had a brick and mortar business.
Now everybody go paint other boring buildings like this and then show us what you did. We can make this world a geekier place, one building at a time.
Awesome job people.
[via Nerd Approved]
Everything I own, everything I will buy, every fiber of my body, everything in this world should be dipped into water paint. The hydrocoating process is popular in weapons and helmets but really deserves to be shmeared all over the world. We might have to come up with better designs but I never want to use a paint brush to paint again.
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No, you’re not dreaming. The pavement is actually twinkling like the stars in the sky, and it’s all thanks to Starpath. It’s a spray-on paint that transforms regular pathways into glow-in-the-dark ones.
Aside from the novel aspect of it, Starpath might also some day serve as a low-cost alternate means for outdoor lighting. Starpath can be sprayed onto a variety of surfaces, like concrete, tarmac, and wood. It absorbs UV energy during the day and releases this energy by “lighting up” at night.
The technology behind it was developed by UK-based company Pro-Teq Surfacing. Hamish Scott, owner of Pro-Teq, explains: “This product adjusts to the natural light, so if it is pitch black outside the luminous natural earth enhances, and if the sky is lighter, it won’t release as much luminosity. It adjusts accordingly, its almost like it has a mind of its own. Further, the surface is environmentally-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.”
Starpath is currently being tested on the footpath in Christ’s Pieces, which is a well-known park in Cambridge, England.
[via C|NET]
A couple of weeks ago we saw a car that changes color when it’s wet, thanks to a coating of thermochromic paint. Icelandic designer Thorunn Arnadottir used the same kind of paint to make a radiator that, together with its twisting tubes, makes it appear organic. She calls it Blush, and it’s easy to see why.
Blush clearly mimics the appearance of a capillary, the smallest type of blood vessels. They facilitate the exchange of nutrients as well as waste materials and are often depicted in illustrations as having blue and red halves. Thorunn said, “Blush is a very important organ of the house. Regulates the temperature and keeps it warm and alive.”
I’d love to see more appliances that change color depending on their state. Perhaps a fridge that turns gray when there’s spoiled food inside. Or a bathroom door that turns brown to tell you that someone just dropped bombs inside.
[via Street Anatomy via Laughing Squid]
A dirty car not only looks bad, it can also lead to reduced fuel efficiency if it affects your car’s aerodynamics. But who wants to spend every weekend washing their vehicle, or ponying up for car washes? No one, especially when 3M has created the perfect alternative: a spray-on invisible film that can be easily peeled off when your car gets too mucked up.
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Having been burned when it used Photoshop
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Music is an experience, they say. A great song can serve as a time machine to send you to a particular moment, a specific feeling, a certain memory. You might hear music but you can also see it, feel it and touch it. Touch it? Well, yeah, if you’re filling a speaker with paint to make music dance in breathtaking slow motion.
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As a kid, my favorite Hot Wheels toy cars were the ones that changed color in cold or hot water. Tons of fun in the bathtub! But eventually, we all grow up and accept the fact that real cars don’t change colors (or jump through waterfalls). Or, you could hang on to those childhood dreams and paint your real car in thermochromic paint—like these crazy gearheads from the UK. Now to find a bathtub it’ll fit in.
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