bricks
Design
Brick Lights Show Concrete’s Soft Side
11:30PM Mark Wilson | If they weren’t just a concept, you could spruce up that barren concrete wall with glowing stars, hearts, unicorns—pretty much everything awesome. More »
Design
There’s a Brick In Every Lego Collector, And It’s Bigger Than Your Skull
1:00AM Jack Loftus | Jason Freeny, the designer who brought us that amazing-yet-freaky minifig anatomy lesson last October, wants every Lego aficionado to know that there’s a huge red brick inside all of you. More »
Toys
How Lego Bricks Are Made: The 80s Version
12:30AM Jesus Diaz | I wish I knew about this 80s video before I visited Lego to show you how it’s made. But then, I would have missed the secret Lego vault and the cathedral-sized storage buildings. [Thanks Kooberz] More »
Toys
Lego Helps Autistic Children to Develop Social Skills
9:00AM Jesus Diaz | Looks like our favourite bricks can help you do more than building giant spaceships, fly away in planes, or get you married: Researchers have discovered Lego can help autistic children to develop social skills. More »
Toys
Lego Silver Rings Will Brick Your Marriage
11:20AM Jesus Diaz | The only rings I’ve ever liked are nipple rings, The Lord of the Rings, wedding rings–I collect them–and Ringo Starr. I love these silver Lego rings, though. You can customise them putting any brick you want on top. More »
Science
Chinese City Bakes Bad Milk Into Bricks
1:55PM Elaine Chow | As you’ve probably heard by now, China’s been dealing with a massive tainted milk problem. Now that hundreds of tons of milk products have been recalled, precincts are scrambling to figure out what to do with the resulting trash. One city in Southern China has decided that one great way to get rid of all that melamine-laden fluid is to bake them into bricks and cement. More »
Science
Dutch Town to Be Paved With Air Pollution-Sucking Bricks
7:39PM Kit Eaton | The small Dutch town of Hengelo is about to test out a new kind of concrete paving slab that actually grabs onto the car-exhaust pollutant nitrogen oxide (a key smog and acid rain ingredient) sucking it out of the air and rendering it harmless. The special bricks contain a component based on titanium dioxide that acts to “fix” the pollutant with the aid of sunlight. The best bit is that the resulting nitrates just wash away with the next rain. Clever stuff: and if the trial results next summer show improved air quality, I’m sure we’ll see environmentalists dancing along singing “Follow the green concrete road!” Or something. [Physorg] More »
Toys
Exclusive: Inside the Lego Factory
12:30AM Jesus Diaz | This video shows something that very few people have had the opportunity to witness: the inside of the Lego factory, with no barriers or secrets. I filmed every step in the creation of the brick. From the raw granulate stored in massive silos to the molding machines to the gigantic storage cathedrals to the decoration and packaging warehouses, you will be able to see absolutely everything, including the most guarded secret of the company: the brick molds themselves. More »
Gadgets
CIA-Style Hide and Seek: Exploding Notebooks, Suicide Needles, Rectal Tool Kits and More
9:30AM Wilson Rothman | The freakiest thing about reading CIA gadget lore is that it’s all real. The nerds working for the agency’s Office of Technical Services were always devising and building gadgets to get people out of—or into—difficult situations. Here’s a rundown of crazy stuff from the Spytech book, not necessarily stuff you’d carry all at the same time, but stuff that, to paraphrase Dr. Strangelove, would help a fella have a pretty nice weekend in Moscow. Jump for all the pictures and descriptions:
Gadgets
