Magnets and Marbles

Here we have an incredible marble track which incorporate different sized magnets used to repel and attract in order to further the marble track.

This is great for discussions/examples of magnets and force.

Bike While You Wash

Design students at Dalian Nationalities University in China have created a washing machine drum that is integrated into the wheel of a bike. This means you can wash your clothes as you cycle!

The extra electricity generated as you cycle can be used to power the display screen or stored for future rides.

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Making Wearables from E-Waste

Cyrus Kabiru is an artist from Nairobi, Kenya who is turning e-waste into wearables and art.

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Here is a short video interview with Cyrus:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

From ultrafacts.tumblr.com:

William had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village. And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him. The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi’s worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.

Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library. Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill. Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: “I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.

“I thought: ‘That could be a defense against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself’.” When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings. But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.

“Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy,” he recalls. “They had never seen a windmill before.” [x]

In 2014, William Kamkwamba received his 4 year degree at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he was a student.

Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8257153.stm

Towering Cardboard Installation

"The Fallas festival took place in Valencia earlier this year and visitors were treated to an impressive installation called Ekklesia by the socially-minded artist collective Pink Intruder. The towering piece features metallic-colored cardboard tubes that sit atop a mosaic design of 96,000 wooden pieces. The colorful mosaic pieces were based on the designs of Nolla Mosaic, a traditional Valencian ceramic that was lost in the mid-20th century. As for the piece's name (Ekklesia), it dates back to ancient Greece, and refers to a political assembly of its citizens. Like its title, Pink Intruder’s creation represented a temple where citizens could meet, debate, and discuss ideas.

Viewers could easily enter and exit the sculpture, and its columns were screen printed with relevant political messages in an attempt to generate a dialogue among the visitors. This particular version also provided a platform for the giant cardboard structure. Those who walked inside could stand on the stage, look straight up, and see the fantastic, complex structure with an ornately-cut drop ceiling.

Ekklesia was not meant to be a permanent fixture in the city. As is tradition with the Fallas festival, the end was marked by burning the piece and welcoming the arrival of spring." mymodernmet

Solar Panels in NYC Schools

From boredpanda.com:

Solar-panels on NYC public school roofs are giving students the opportunity to get hands on with science.

 Teacher Vicki Sando founded PS 41’s roof garden in 2003; 2 million dollars and 10 years later, they had a solar array installed.

“We made connections between plant study,” Sando told Capital New York. “Plants are little solar cells. I had my fifth graders take apart a solar calculator and show them how it worked. We don’t have a stand-alone curriculum on solar, but we’ll do projects where we’ll fold it into it.”

According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, 23 million dollars will bring solar panels to 24 public schools by the summer of 2016. In the meantime, Sando’s students will continue gardening and learning about the world through their roof-top green-space.

This “allows students to see first hand what cleaner energy looks and feels like, which will be increasingly important as these grade schoolers grow up”.

Hand Tailored

Here is an ad for Brioni Master Tailors with the creative use of a hand as a suit model.

The video is very funny and surreal with prompts for discussion on advertising and surrealism.

Electric Violin

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Beeswax Sculpture

Rotterdam-based designer Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny of Studio Libertiny collaborated with a swarm of bees to create Thousand Years, a beautiful beeswax sculpture shaped like a teapot. Libertíny worked with Dutch beekeeper Johan Beckers and his busy colony of 60,000 bees, who built their intricate honeycomb over a metal scaffold.

The Thousand Years project took two takes to complete: the first attempt was unsuccessful due to a variety of factors including location and local weather conditions; the project was then moved to a less windy location near Rotterdam, where it was completed in August 2014.