Apr 10
Everyone knows that the seas are salty because, while water evaporates, the salt doesn’t. But why don’t our seas keep getting saltier?
Mar 20
There’s something about looking at these photographs of Australian salt mines that… I don’t know, they’re like a visual chill pill or something. Photographer Emma Phillips snapped these beautiful shots in the Nullarbor Plain of Western Australia, but they look like a landscape from outer space.
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Feb 20
Road salt has been a point
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Feb 17
Believe it or not, salt is an incredibly important tool when you’re trying to keep a ski mountain running during a warm spell. Unfortunately, the organizers of the Sochi Games did not believe this fact, and late last week, that oversight almost ruined the Olympics.
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Feb 05
Road salt is one of those city services that we take for granted, an invisible network infrastructure with a murky provenance. But though you may not know it, the salt on your roads might come from a sprawling, century-old mine right below your feet.
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Dec 12
This solid-looking structure appears to be made out of plastic—or some equally sturdy polymer. But get a little closer, and you’ll find it’s made of… salt?
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Nov 03
Using a robotic mechanism that works sort of like a giant 3D printer, artist Jonathan Schipper has created a device which fills a room with tiny sculptures made from grains of salt.
The robot moves around a room filled with 12 tons of salt on a set of four suspension cables, sort of like those cameras they use at NFL football games. But instead of a camera, there’s a mechanism that can pick up and extrude layers of salt.
The system was constructed for an art exhibit called Detritus, and it gradually creates tiny salt sculptures, as others collapse. The sculptures being built are representative of objects we take for granted in our world, like chairs, toilets, tires, and other everyday items.
…objects are continuously being formed but, due to the fragility of the salt crystals used to make them, they deteriorate at nearly the same rate new ones are being built. this installation is an attempt to create a vantage point that is impossible in the real world. a vantage point that both condenses and speeds up time and provides an objective view of the things we value which, at times, we recognize as merely detritus.
While the exhibit is already highly intriguing, perhaps the most unusual part is that you’re supposed to observe it from the comfort of a hot tub, while the robot does all of its work.
Detritus is currently on exhibit at Pierogi Boiler in New York, until November 24, 2013. No word on whether or not you need to bring a swimsuit.
[via designboom]
Oct 08
They’re staples on every American dining table and the requisite ingredients in virtually every European cuisine, so inseparable that polite society dictates they always be passed together. Salt and pepper are the undisputed champions of condiments—but how did they get so popular?
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Sep 10
If opulent isn’t an adjective you’d immediately associate with the mining profession, then you’ve clearly never had a peek inside Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine. The subterranean marvel (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) has been operational since the first shafts were dug way back in the 13th century, but the decor has come a long, long way in the subsequent years. And now, thanks to Google, we can explore it from afar.
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Aug 31
Missing the beach and the good times that you had with friends and family by the shore? Longing for the good vibes that you get from breathing in the salty ocean breeze? Well, you might one day be able to catch wave after wave of it right in your own home with the SEAbreeze.
This concept design is a pair of air quality devices that look like extremely fancy vases. However, it’s actually a humidifier and dehumidifier combo that can create a mild breeze throughout the room without a sound.
The humidifier requires an input of salt water to produce humid, salty air like that at the ocean, with its byproduct being salt that can be used for cooking or cleaning. On the other hand, the dehumidifier recaptures humid air and has clean, dehumidified air and desalinated drinking water as its output.
The SEAbreeze is definitely an ambitious design but it could be interesting if it’s ever produced. It was designed by Fanni Csernátony and is a 2013 Electrolux Design Lab semifinalist.
[via Yanko Design]
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