
Vaccines to protect against the spread of COVID-19 are here, heralding in the rise of health tracking and record-keeping apps.

The Shape of Self-Driving Cars
Are self-driving cars that look strikingly similar to toaster ovens in our future?
Designers Turn to Resilient Design to Reshape the Built Environment

As the pandemic continues to place new demands on the built environment, designers are tasked with creating spaces that protect the physical, as well as mental and emotional, health and wellbeing of those within them. But adaptability also is key. When considering return-to-workplace plans, designers must do more than keep people safe—they must also foster new and evolving human behaviors. The question that remains top of mind is: How, exactly?

While wellness remains top of mind given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some flooring manufacturers also are combatting another health concern—the mounting consequences of our warming planet. Action to reduce carpet waste, four billion pounds of which end up in landfills each year, is imperative as product demand rises, especially on the heels of the Carpet & Rug Institute’s recent announcement to suspend a $4 million voluntary product stewardship program.

The Ultimate Quarantine Project
Filmmaker Fernando Livschitz created a stop-motion video while isolating at home in Buenos Aires using over 800 pieces of wood that depicts a silhouette seamlessly break dancing. The filmmaker used a real break dancer to develop the stop-motion video frame by frame.
This Fragrance is out of this World

A new fragrance by natural flavors company Omega Ingredients reportedly replicates the odor of outer space. What does space smell like? According to astronauts, it has a sweet, metallic scent.

Architectural firm CannonDesign has developed a new product that can protect healthcare workers while testing people for COVID-19. Known as the COVID Shield and resembling a telephone booth, the apparatus is a three-sided box with nitrate glove extensions that healthcare workers can step into and test patients, without being exposed to droplets.

Stackable Homes are Here
Startup company Module has developed affordable modular homes that can expand by stacking additional floors. What’s more? They’re energy efficient too.
Chocolate Just Got Even Better

A Swiss research team has found a way to create iridescent chocolate with shimmering rainbow hues.

LEDs have become the gold standard of energy efficient lighting, but lighting researchers estimate that manufacturing them actually releases more than double the amount of carbon dioxide than manufacturing more conventional lighting.

Get Crafty To Protect Your Health
Design professors share tips and tricks for creating your own face mask at home.
How Will Driverless Cars Change City Streets?

There's no shortage of speculative plans that reimagine the future screetscape. But is it a road to nowhere?

Mercedes-Benz unveiled a futuristic concept car inspired by the film "Avatar" at CES, and it's as groundbreaking as the movie.

Is Your Dog Stressed?
Dog days aren't all fun and games. One company is creating a wearable device that generates data on your dog's emotional state. It works by taking into account a dog's heart rate, which spikes when they're stressed or anxious—just like ours.
Make Way for 3D-Printed Neighborhoods

The world's first 3D-printed neighborhood is in the works in a rural part of Mexico, offering impoverished families an opportunity to live in sturdier homes than those constructed themselves from materials on hand.