While nothing short of a nuclear threat would get most claustrophobics into an underground enclosure, they might think twice when they see this particular slate quarry. Bounce Below, one of adrenaline park Zip World’s many attractions across England, brings out a fear of heights and enclosed spaces at the same time. What was once an…

In the history of graphic design, only a few players hold the keys to the golden gates—players responsible for shaping the identities and aesthetic of many of the brands surrounding us today. It would be impossible to have that conversation without bringing up graphic designers Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar of Chermayeff & Geismar (now…

With icebergs melting at an alarming pace, it may only be a matter of time before doomsday prepping becomes less of a crazy idea and more of a necessary one. That said, not everyone can just pack their belongings and move into outer space like Elon Musk. They could, however, move to a floating city…

There’s very little to dislike about Christmas: food, presents, days off work — all for the low price of having to spend the holidays with relatives (some you may not have even knew existed). While it can be fun meeting new family members, some would prefer to have less social interaction during the only time…

Better grab your kids and grab your wife and grab your Buzz Lightyear — Disney’s Hollywood Studios will soon open their newest money-sucking attraction: Toy Story Land! *Record scratch* Wait. Two questions. 1) Why did it take three movies (and 22 years!) to make this happen? And 2) Why are the toys and characters, regular size in…

It’s easy to overlook the cultural significance of the original 2001 Apple iPod these days due to a smorgasbord of mobile devices and streaming music services. Apart from being a design marvel, it allowed millions of music lovers to lug their favorite tunes around without having to carry a clunky Sony Walkman or bulky boombox—not…

From the day we enter primary school, we are taught that apples are round and watermelons are shaped like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s head. But one company is already uprooting that notion. Fruit Shaper was established in 2013 with the purpose of breaking some of those most basic truths. The company sells specialized molds affixed…

From building an insane Rube Goldberg Machine to manipulating time with slow motion and tons of salt, Ok Go has made a subtle art of creating jaw-droppingly awesome music videos. It’s no surprise that each has garnered the indie rock outfit tens of millions of views on YouTube. For their latest stunt, the rockers brought…

File this one under strange but true. The DipClip is—for all you fast food chicken nugget fans out there—a sauce dip holder that clips into just about any type of vehicle AC vent to make your sauce dippin’ culinary delight a hands-free experience. Yes—just like the GPS or mobile phone mounts, BBQ, Ranch, and Honey…

Less than a month ago, developer Astro HQ revealed a clever update to their upcoming Luna Display app that sneakily turned the iPad’s front-facing camera into a contextual button while keeping the UI clear of clutter. “While Apple is taking away buttons, we found a way to add one,” said the company. “Meet the Camera…

Candles are typically manufactured with scents that put people at ease—such as those that invoke Christmas morning or the salty ocean air, among others. And in the year 2017, what could possibly put some people more at ease than the scent of a freshly-opened Apple product? Inspired by Apple’s own signature packaging ‘scent’, candle manufacturer…

It’s been years in development, but the chance to see giant robots fight to the metal-crunching finish is now upon us. Back in the summer of 2015, MegaBots, Inc created a 15-foot tall, 12,000lb piloted mech capable of hurling a 3lb hunk of metal at over 130 mph. The only problem: there was nobody to…

Welp, he’s at it again. Colin Furze, our favorite garage inventor going on about 3 years now, has raised the bar yet again for zany garage invention hijinks. And while he’s previously created death-trap vehicles including ‘The World’s Fastest Pram’ and a fully-working hoverbike, this time he took a different route to create something a…

Have you ever wondered why your best ideas come to at the times that they do? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tap into that ‘magic formula’ a bit more often? Well—you can…kind of. The key to understanding why we have great ideas when we do is to first understand where ideas come…

If you have a habit of eating at your desk—and let’s be honest, we all do—then keeping those peripherals clean is a daily challenge. Well, thanks to The Wype, you may not have to suffer through that pain and agony anymore. Billed as a “personal desktop snack rag,” the Wype is a patent-pending $12 desktop…

You’d have to be pretty deep under a rock to have not heard about the latest iPhones by now. And while early performance tests are calling the iPhone 8 (nevermind about the more advanced, soon to be released iPhone X) the most powerful smartphone ever made (it’s not even close), the continuation of the same…

Augmented reality is already making a splash with consumers, but its real impact could be in commercial applications. When Microsoft first unveiled their HoloLens mixed reality headset on stage in 2015, they presented a living room where everything from watching TV to playing Minecraft could be totally virtual and in an augmented reality environment. But…

Welcome to our new ‘Ask An Engineer’ series, where Dan Slaski addresses questions that have you losing sleep or staring off into space during important meetings. Have a question for Dan? Send it in. Question: Why aren’t there more women in Engineering and what can be done to change that? Dear the Future Is Female, This…

We shouldn’t need to tell you the reasons to not stare directly at a Solar Eclipse. If you did, you likely wouldn’t be reading this right now. As you might expect, camera sensors and delicate lenses aren’t safe, either. In a series of gorgeous—yet slightly sad—shots, Tennessee-based camera lens rental shop LensRentals shares a number…

If you’ve ever needed an excuse to buy a 3D printer, let this be the one. YouTuber Matt Denton recently 3D printed an entire LEGO ‘vintage’ Technic kit (#1972—released in 1985) scaled up to a full-sized go-kart. Yes—we’re talking modeling and printing all 98 pieces including the tires. With nearly 170 hours of printing time…

From cottages in the middle of the forest to hyper-organized New York City studios, no two workshops are alike. But few—if any workshops—are as gonzo as this setup from Spanish furniture designer Fernando Abellanas. The core of the workspace has all of the common knick-knacks— the chair, the desk, the computer, the potted plants. But…

First introduced in 1976, Stretch Armstrong has been pulled, plied, and (sadly) torn by thousands of kids over his lifetime. The short, well-muscled blonde man always returns to his original size though—and has proven to be indestructible no matter how many kids pull on each of his arms. But can this latex and corn syrup-filled…

When he published The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design in 1960 to provide “up-to-date measurements and information for children, teenagers, adult men and women, and the elderly through its detailed text, convenient tabular material, and 200 anthropometric drawings,” industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss likely had no idea how much of an influence…

It’s no secret that LEGO designers have always been drawn to supercars as inspiration for new LEGO sets. Whether it’s an F1 racer or a Porsche 911 designed to be assembled after the true-to-life factory assembly process, you can be sure that somebody at LEGO HQ has considered replicating it with the plastic bricks. But…

The last time we checked in with former NASA engineer Mark Rober, he was demonstrating the World’s Largest Nerf Blaster; a scaled-up version of the $29.95 Nerf N-Strike Maverick that shoots massive foam darts made from pool noodles and toilet plungers at an impressive 40 mph thanks to an onboard 3,000 PSI air tank. For…

Ah, the good old Bic pen. Where would we be without you? As a cheap and disposable tool capable of at least a fair enough amount of line weights, the Bic pen is one of the most indispensable tools that can be found in a designer or engineer’s toolkit. Sure—there are plenty of other great…

Great things seem to happen when you put a video camera in the hands of somebody with fabrication knowledge. We’ve seen this numerous times before with Frank Howarth’s creative woodworking videos—not to mention a slew of other creative types. More recently, engineer Brett Foxwell, who also happens to work as an armature builder on such…

While ‘razor thin’ is a great marketing term for promoting the Macbook Air, you certainly wouldn’t cut fresh fruit and vegetables with it like you would your paring knife. …Unless you’re Japanese artist Shimabuku. Known for his obscure sense of humor that pokes fun at the banalities of human culture and everyday life, the Berlin-based…

Back in 2014, Kickstarter teamed up with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to sell some of the quirkiest and most successful products that come out of the crowdfunding platform through the museum’s lauded retail stores. The result was in many ways a glimpse into what a possible Kickstarter retail store would look like—a powerful…

Jet packs aren’t going to be the only way to get around in the not-too-distant future. While it sounds like pure science fiction, the days of flying cars are soon upon us. And no, it’s not Elon Musk helping to lead the charge on this one. This time around, it’s none other than Google co-founder…

Last August, woodworker John Heisz blew up the internet after demonstrating the cutting power of a single piece of 8×11 paper when cut into a circular disc and mounted it like a 40-tooth wood shredder in an average table saw. Not only was this seemingly harmless piece of paper capable of delivering the mother of…

As the story goes, Leonardo Pisano Bigollo was a young man in his twenties during the year 1202. A member of a prominent local trading family, he spent a lot of time traveling to the Middle East. During his travels to the Arabic countries, he became enamored by the mathematical ideas and formulas used in…

Who doesn’t love falling asleep to the muffled growl of a V8 engine? If you’re the type of car-loving family that has motor oil running through your blood, you may be the ideal candidate for a new crib for your youngest, thanks to Ford Spain (assuming it’s not an April Fools’ joke a few days…

Corn. It’s not just for soaking in butter or rotating on a drill at 2500 RPM. While Nike has made huge strides to minimize their environmental footprint, and Adidas has been introducing shoes made from plastic sourced from ocean waste, Reebok is the latest footwear company to get in on the sustainability action with the…

When it comes to testing out new toy inventions, nobody can beat the opinion of an honest kid. Better yet, a panel of kid judges. In a new spin on the Shark Tank show format, where inventors and budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors including Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran for advice and hopefully,…

It’s been years in the making and one of the last dreams of Steve Jobs before his passing in 2011, but the new Apple heaquarters—Apple Park—is finally set to open next month. As one of the most future-forward buildings in existence, the ring-shaped headquarters is a modern marvel in sustainable architecture and operations, with solar…

It’s no secret that e-waste is on the rise. While socially conscious companies are starting to ramp up design for disassembly or otherwise take a closer look at their supply chains, we’re still not exactly in a desirable place when it comes to a worldwide effort – as outlined in a new report from United…

I admit, I use a planner. There’s simply too much happening during the day, plus I have issues remembering what I need to do and which day is which. Ok, not only do I use a planner, but also a healthy dose of Post-It notes. They’re everywhere, a hodgepodge of mixed notes that make no…

There are two things I never thought I would do. Base jump and wet shave. I’ve not base jumped yet, but for the last two months I’ve lathered up (my face) and used a traditional razor to make me look less like a vagrant and more like a vagrant with the cleanest shave this side…

When it comes to finding new uses for old tech, there’s more than one way to skin the cat. From turning an old tablet into a smart home controller to creating a dedicated home entertainment server with an old laptop, the possibilities for keeping your devices protected against the principles of Moores Law are seemingly…

Despite drastic efforts to increase STEM education across the country, as well as a renewed interest in industrial design thanks to a new crop of product design startups in London, the number of skilled UK engineers is actually on the decline. Enter James Dyson. As the sole owner of Dyson Ltd, James Dyson is no…

Presented by What started in 2008 as one woman’s vision of using design and building projects to transform communities and improve K-12 education is now changing the lives of exponentially more young students every year. Project H, founded by designer and builder-turned-teacher Emily Pilloton, is dedicated to exposing youth – particularly young girls – to…

When it comes to designing toys, it should come as little surprise that sometimes kids themselves are the best designers. After all, who else knows the target user the best? Which is why for their latest collection of stuffed toys, IKEA eschewed hiring a professional (boring adult) toy designer in favor of crowdsourcing designs from…

Honeybees are vanishing, and at an alarming rate. The rise of colony collapse disorder in apis mellifera is concerning, because without honey bees to pollinate our crops, human beings will starve. Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which the worker bees in a hive simply vanish en masse, leaving behind a queen and a…

Our culture’s obsession with the 3D experience permeates our daily news. Do you want to see the latest Marvel film in 3D? How about a flat screen TV that plays your favorite shows in 3D? Virtual Reality is real! The technology isn’t new; it’s been used in movies as early as the 1950s. So why…

While Microsoft has kept their HoloLens under wraps for quite some time now, the tech giant is now opening up preorders to European countries next month with preorders beginning today. Those in the US have already been picking up the HoloLens for $3,000—although it’s primarily been developers and businesses at this point. The augmented reality…

While most of us grew up with LEGO bricks, none of them compare to the LEGO construction kits that exist today; miniaturized infrastructures with thousands of pieces. From the 2,704—piece LEGO Porsche 911 model with build instructions based off of the true-to-life assembly process to the freakin’ 2989—piece LEGO Sydney Opera House, it’s almost as…

As the creator (and as a result, Academy Award winner for Special Effects) of the Xenomorph creature from the Alien movie franchise, Harold R Giger (AKA H.R. Giger) was responsible for not only creating one of the most legendary movie monsters of all time, but also fueling generations of nightmares for legions of filmgoers. While…

Unless you sketch every day or have a brilliant sense of hand–eye coordination, chances are that sketching in proper perspective doesn’t necessarily come naturally. That’s okay. Join the club. For the rest of us, using methods such as Scott Robinson’s “Draw Through” help keep things looking the way they should, be it a sketch of…

While Gallagher might have pioneered the act of destroying things for the amusement of a late night TV audience, YouTube has certainly helped reinvent it. From compressing random objects with a hydraulic press to cutting them in half with a waterjet cutter, the internet has been strangely fascinated with using industrial equipment to destroy things…