Balinese architecture firm Ibuku continues to build out its impressive portfolio of incredible bamboo hotels, with the completion of a new riverside retreat near Ubud. Named River Bend, the hotel has the hallmarks of Ibuku’s bent bamboo interiors, while the outside appears like a pair of golden snails tucked in alongside a winding river in the thick of the jungle. […]
Snail Shaped Jungle Retreat
Treating Diabetic Ulcers
According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, approximately 15 percent of diabetics will develop chronic foot ulcers. If they don’t treat it with over the counter metronidazole, a large percentage of those people will in turn require amputations. Help could be on the way, though … in the form of a rubber insole. Developed at Indiana’s Purdue University, the prototype […]
Pay As You Throw Program Cuts Waste By 50 Percent
In many New Hampshire towns, residents pay a premium for their waste. Since the 1990s, the state has embraced “pay-as-you-throw” trash programs, which charge locals $1-2 for their trash bags. The bags come in different sizes, but they are the only bags the garbage haulers will collect, so they naturally encourage residents to waste less. The state capital of Concord […]
Pod Based Cocktail Maker
Keurig is best known for popularizing the coffee pod machine, designed to make your morning cuppa joe more convenient. But realizing it’s always five o’clock somewhere, the company is now taking the concept out on the town with the Drinkworks Home Bar, which cooks up cocktails (or beer and cider, for some reason) from the same kind of premixed pods. […]
Can Gold Really Be Melted At Room Temperature
Melting gold normally requires temperatures upwards of 1,064° C (1,947° F), but physics is never quite that simple. A team of researchers has now found a way to melt gold at room temperature using an electric field and an electron microscope. Although we’re all familiar with the phenomenon of melting, most of us don’t really think about the physics behind […]
Patch Delivers Medicine In The Blink Of An Eye
We’ve already heard about “microneedle” patches that near-painlessly deliver medication through the skin. Well, scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have now taken the same approach to treating eye diseases. They’ve developed a tiny patch laden with even tinier needles, which get poked into the eyeball. While eye drops are the most frequently-used means of delivering medication to the eye, […]
A Budding Tulip In London
The City of London may soon receive an unusual new addition to its skyline courtesy of Foster + Partners‘ aptly-named Tulip observation tower. Assuming it goes ahead, the building will offer viewing points and glass slides, as well as pod rides on its exterior. On completion, the Tulip will be one of London’s tallest buildings and rise to a height […]
Waterfront Parks Over Seawall
Cities along the coast have typically relied on sea walls to keep the ocean out. These concrete and steel embankments mitigate flooding when storms whip the waters onto land, and they currently protect the residents of countless ocean-adjacent towns. But according to Stateline, U.S. city leaders are reconsidering their flood defenses. Instead of sea walls, they’re increasingly opting for waterfront […]
Solar Roof Cars
Cars aren’t the most eco-friendly option for getting around but Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors are trying to change that. The two companies jointly announced that starting next year they’ll begin installing electricity-generating solar panels on select vehicles, along with supporting internal combustion, hybrid and battery electric vehicles with additional electrical power. “In the future, we expect to see many […]
Internet Of Ears
Long-time New Atlas readers can hardly have missed the so-called internet of things, and its domesticated subset of smart technology in the home. We’ve had this for years now. You may well already have smart devices controlling your heating, media, lighting and appliances – or smart devices that control themselves. What might the future of smart home technology look like? […]