Full color 3D printers not high-tech enough for you? How about one that can work in the anti-gravity conditions of space? Meet Mataerial, designed by Petr Novikov and Saša Jokić. Instead of extruding filament in layers, the machine pushes out polymers from a nozzle, much like a tube of toothpaste. The new technique, which they call “Anti-Gravity Modeling,” allows the polymers to harden in mid-air while also keeping the printer from clogging and adding strength to the printed structure.

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Post tags: 3d printer, anti-gravity modeling, earth, gravity, Iaac, institute for advanced architecture of catalonia, Joris Laarman Studio, mataerial, petr novikov, sasa jokic, space

Recently Inhabitat wrote about the Glowing Plant Project, which uses the science of bioluminescence to light up a room using plants. The Kickstarter campaign, created by the team of bio-engineers behind the technology, has been such a hit that the creators have decided to reward pledgers with the best gift yet: a kit that allows anyone to grow their own glowing plants right at home.

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Post tags: bioluminescence, bioluminescence innovation, bioluminescence technology, Glowing Plant Kickstarter Campaign, Glowing Plant Maker Kit, Glowing Plant Project, green lighting, kickstarter project, Rewards for Kickstarter Pledges, sustainable lighting innovations, sustainable lighting plants

It’s hard to imagine a time when driving cross-country was a challenge, a time when gas stations were infrequent and roads were unreliably paved. But that’s exactly what inspired the people at Moto Electra Racing to attempt to ride their electric motorcycle across the country in a record-breaking three days. With 2,500 miles to cover, that’s an average speed of 70 mph with 20 stops for charging and catnaps — a challenge for any rider.

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Post tags: coast to coast trip on an emotorcycle, coast to coast world record, cross country motorcycle, electric motorcycle, electric motorcycle cross country, electric motorcycle racing, electric motorcycle world record, green motorcycles, green racing, Moto Electra motorcycles, Moto Electra Racing, Moto Electra world record, Thad Wolff cross-country, Thad Wolff racing

Bees have already done a host of great services for the human race – they pollinate flowers, cure diseases, and produce honey. Now scientists in Croatia have found another role for the intrepid insect. The country, which is set to join the European Union this July, contains thousands of unexploded landmines left over from the Balkan wars. Researchers at Zagreb University are working towards training honeybees to sniff out these underground weapons over a 750 square-kilometer area where the devices are believed to remain.

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Post tags: balkan war, croatia, dogs, EU, european union, honeybee, landmine, nikola kezic, rats, sugar, tiramisu, tnt, train, zagreb university

A freeway overpass is not the first place you would think to look for innovative art. But if you happen to be Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock, the freeway overpass is a natural canvas for industrial elegance. The artistic duo has created an art installation underneath a San Antonio overpass called Ballroom Luminoso, which utilizes steel, bicycle parts and LED fixtures to create a brilliant chandelier display right where you would least expect it.

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Post tags: Blessing Hancock, freeway art, I-35 overpass art, industrial art display, JB Public Art, Joe OConnell, LED art, LED Chandelier, LED lights, public art, recycled art, recycled bike part chandelier, recycled bike parts, San Antonio art, Texas pubic art

When it comes to global warming, things may not be quite as bad as we thought. According to a recent study in Nature Geoscience, global warming seems to have leveled off over the past decade, meaning that some of the most dire climate change predictions could be a thing of the past. But while the news is good, it doesn’t mean that we are out of the danger zone. Global warming is still changing life on the planet as we know it.

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Post tags: carbon atmospheric levels, carbon dioxide levels, climate change news, climate change study, CO2 levels, global warming, global warming leveling off, global warming levels, global warming stabilizing, global warming tapering off, global warming temperatures, oceans absorbing heat, understanding climate change

Many great minds at companies like Google and Tesla have been laboring towards creating a self-driving car system. Millions of dollars have gone into the research, resulting in expensive prototypes and costly components. Nineteen-year-old Romanian student Ionut Budisteanu took the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for developing an autonomous system that would only cost $4,000 and safely guide a car through the streets.

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Post tags: artificial intelligence, autonomous driving system, Google, intel international science and engineering fair, ionut budisteanu, radar, romania, safety, self-driving, teenager, tesla, vehicle

Where there are million of animals, there are millions of tons of waste. In a clever solution to a major waste disposal problem, Australian researchers have found a way to convert 1.4 million tons of Chinese pig excrement into fertilizer and a source of alternative energy. The project, which is operated by the Adelaide, Australia Cooperate Research Centre For Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE), has won a national science award for its solution for pig waste in China.

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Post tags: adelaide, australia, biodigester, biogas, china, cooperative research center for contamination assessment and remediation of the environment, CRC CARE, excrement, federal government 2013 star award, fertilizer, hlm asia pl, huazhong university of science and technology, pig, poocare, prof. ravi naidu, Waste

A new global study by Cisco found that half of the world’s consumers would trust a car that that can operate without a human driver. Cisco’s Customer Experience Report surveyed more than 1,500 consumers across 10 countries and focused on the automobile buying and driving experience. The global report examined consumer preferences of technology in the course of these experiences and overall levels of trust in future automotive innovation.

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Post tags: automated driving, autonomous car, car technology, Cisco, driverless car, green car, green transportation, innovative car technology

What has nearly 100,000 LEGO pieces, spans nearly 2.5 miles and can be used to transport a Lilliputian army? The world’s longest LEGO railway, of course! On May 10th and 11th, Lego enthusiast Henrik Ludvigsen and 80 friends got together in Denmark to assemble the longest LEGO track in the world, and for their troubles (which sound like a lot of fun), they received the Guinness World Record.

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Post tags: Guinness World Record railway, Guinness World Record train, Guinness World Record train track, Lego bricks, lego building, LEGO railroad, LEGO railway, LEGO records, lego world record, world's longest LEGO railway, world's longest LEGO train track

Anyone who has ever taken a course in biology or left produce out on the counter for a little too long will recognize the noble fruit fly. Easy to breed, feed and observe, they are the subject of choice for many hoping to study a broad range of scientific inquiries. After hearing her parents debate the benefits of organic over conventionally-raised foods, Texas student Ria Chhabra decided to use the insect to investigate their argument. The 16-year-old looked at the rates of stress, fertility and longevity of the flies and noticed that all fared better on the organic potatoes and bananas that they were fed. She has since published her results, been named as a finalist in the 2011 Broadcom Masters national scientific challenge, and partnered with a research laboratory at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

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Post tags: broadcom masters, brown, Dallas, fruit fly, high school student, johannes bauer, MIT, Organic, Produce, ria chhabra, santharam kolli, southern methodist university, texas, type 2 diabetes, vitamin c

Every once in a while an idea comes along that is so unlike anything before that it defies reference. Take Belatchew Lab Architecture’s Strawscraper, a skyscraper covered in hair that can harness the energy of the wind. The building looks as though it belongs at the bottom of the sea, with its long anemone-like hair, but its technology is planted firmly on the terra firma of the future.

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Post tags: "wind power", Architecture in Stockholm, Belatchew Architecture, Belatchew Labs, hair shell harvests wind, Piezoelectric technology, renewable wind energy, Strawscraper, swedish architecture, urban wind energy

These days, 3D printers can create just about anything – from human organs to deadly weapons. But one innovation we haven’t previously seen in 3D printing? Printer filament made from of planet-friendly materials rather than Earth-damaging plastics. That’s changing however, with design firm Emerging Objects‘ recycled and recyclable 3D printing materials. Using materials like salt, concrete, wood and paper, they are putting the green in 3D printing.

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Post tags: 3d printing advances, 3d printing technology, Emerging Objects, Emerging Objects 3d printing, Emerging Objects printing material, environmentally friendly 3d printing, environmentally friendly printing materials, recyclable 3d printing, recycled 3d printing, renewable 3d printing, renewable printing materials

Japan has hemmed and hawed about closing its nuclear reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. At first there was talk of closing down all reactors, but the motion was whittled down to affect just those that fail rigorous safety testing, and finally none at all. A panel of seismic experts just announced that one of Japan’s oldest reactors sits on a highly earthquake-prone site and should be shuttered permanently – and the government is taking the first steps towards shutting it down.

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Post tags: earthquake nuclear reactors, Fukushima disaster, fukushima japan, fukushima meltdown, fukushima nuclear power plant, fukushima reactor, Japan closing reactors, Japan ending nuclear power, japan nuclear power, Japan nuclear reactors, nuclear power concerns

New research suggests that people with right wing views are less likely to buy light bulbs that are labeled as “pro-environment” due to the politicized nature of the carbon debate in the United States. In a study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dena Gromet of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that consumers’ purchasing decisions are divided along party lines.

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Post tags: carbon emissions, cfl bulb, Climate Change, conservative, consumer, dena gromet, Environmentally Friendly, green, incandescent, jacquelyn ottman, liberal, light bulb, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, protect the planet, the new rules of green marketing, wharton school of the university of pennsylvania

Can technology save the world? In short: No, not by itself. A sweeping set of changes in the way we interact with the planet is needed to stabilize our rapidly deteriorating biosphere and avert a bleak future. Technology is simply a tool to help us achieve these changes. A dangerous argument, however, is when decision-makers and influencers say our impact on the planet is not a concern, and changes in our behavior are not needed in the near future, or ever, because technology will save us. Sounds ridiculous, but various forms of this argument are commonly invoked in government and international forums, particularly when profits and votes come into play.

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Post tags: can tech save the world, drones, eco-innovations, environmental damage, genetic engineering, global issues, life saving inventions, recycling, tech solutions for a changing world, technology and climate change, technology and global warming, water issues

So far we’ve showcased paper artwork, robots and USB drives here on Inhabitat – and now researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm have utilized sheets of paper to create targeted conductive structures. Using an inkjet printer, the team was able to deposit a catalyst on paper and heat it, turning the surface into graphite that is able to conduct electricity. The team, Led by Cristina Giordano, is now pioneering the field of carbon electronics.

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Post tags: carbon, carbon electronics, catalyst, cost effective, cristina giordano, Electricity, graphene, graphite, inkjet printer, lightweight, max planck institute of colloids and interfaces, minerva, origami crane, Paper, potsdam-golm

Many people around the world rely on cash crops to create extra income for their families. During the dry season, shallow wells and drought are challenges that reduce crop yield – and extra income. In order to produce a bountiful harvest during this season, farmers rely on pump irrigation to keep the water flowing. The only problem is that pumps can be costly to buy and to maintain – so the folks at International Development Enterprises (iDE) developed SunWater, an affordable water pump system that uses the power of the sun.

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Post tags: green energy ideas, green power, Indiegogo projects, International Development Enterprises, irrigation for poor areas, irrigation for poor farmers, solar power applications, solar power technology, solar water pump, SunWater, third world irrigation, water pump for irrigation

Forget vinyl – engineer Amanda Ghassaei has developed a technique for cutting records into wood! Using a Epilog 120 Watt Legend EXT laser cutter, she was able to create digital waveform files from MP3s, which she then converted into PDFs. She then used a laser cutter to follow the vector paths and etch about three minutes worth of music on each side of a wooden record. Her first album features tracks from Radiohead and Joy Division – hit the jump to hear them!

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Post tags: 3d printer, amanda ghassaei, cnc cutter, files, instructables, joy division, laser cutter, mp3, music, pdf, radiohead, record, San Francisco, the velvet underground, vector, vinyl, Wood

After three decades of hard work, Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor and Pennsylvania get to retire. They will be replaced by 70 high-efficiency electric Amtrak Cities Sprinters (ACS-64) built by Siemens in Sacramento, California. The ACS-64 units are based on the company’s EuroSprinter, and the trains will take over for the Electro-Motive diesel locomotives made back in 1978 and 1988.

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Post tags: acs-64, amtrak, amtrak cities sprinter, boston, California, electric, electro-motive diesel, eurosprinter, harrisburg, joseph boardman, keystone corridor, northeast corridor, pennsylvania, philadelphia, rail, Sacramento, washington d.c.