Gizmodo Australia » flowers

Toyota Creates Flowers To Absorb Prius Manufacturing Emissions

Adam Frucci — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:53:36 +0000

What do you do when the “eco-friendly” car you’re manufacturing is actually horrible for the environment to manufacture? Re-engineer nature, obviously!

Toyota, whose Prius is easy on the environment to drive but horrible on it to make, has engineered a new type of flower to help shoulder some of the damage their factories are spitting out.

The sage derivative’s leaves have unique characteristics that absorb harmful gases, while the gardenia’s leaves create water vapour in the air, reducing the surface temperature of the factory surrounds and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for cooling, in turn producing less carbon dioxide (CO2).

Well, holy shit. That is pretty insane. [Drive via Treehugger]

What Is This?

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Jellyfishes attacking an undersea monster? That would be cool, but the reality is much simpler, and more beautiful: It’s a helianthus annuus.

It’s a sunflower (I had to look that up too). Japanese artist Macoto Murayama creates these beautiful illustrations of flowers, highlighting their geometry. Intriguing, delicate work. [Creators Bank via Pink Tentacle]

Oversized Solar-Powered LED Flowers Make For An Ostentatious Lawn

Jason Chen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Converting things that are out in the sun to run off solar power makes a lot of sense, like lawn ornaments, these flowers or air conditioning units. Zambonis? Less so. [OGE Gallery via Mocoloco via BBG]

Provector ‘Flower’ Is the Pesky Mosquito’s Deadly Siren Song

Jack Loftus — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:00:00 +0000

With warmer weather comes mosquitoes. Mosquitoes suck, no pun intended. In underdeveloped countries mosquitoes also kill by carrying malaria. This is why I love the Provector “flower.” Everything about it is designed to kill.

But why a flower, and not a juicy pseudo-human arm? Well, fun fact: Mosquitoes love sucking blood, but they love sucking nectar from flowers even more. Hence, this deadly flower and its irresistible siren’s song.

From the flower’s “petals,” which use colours that attract different mosquito species, to the special environmentally friendly Bt pesticide that resides at its centre, everything has been engineered by Thomas Kollars, of the Georgia Southern University at Statesboro, to attract and kill those flying six legged devils (Bt specifically targets mosquitoes).

Even the tiny screen at the centre of the flower is specially engineered: The tiny holes are only large enough for the mosquito’s tube-shaped mouth (the proboscis) to get through, thereby ensuring ants and other creepy crawlies won’t get accidentally snared in this trap too.

The Provector is currently being tested in the wilds of Puerto Rico. We’ll know if this deadly “flower” was a success next month at the American Mosquito Control Association meeting in New Orleans. [New Scientist]

Class Up Your Toilet-Room With Some Pretty Flowers In Your Faucet

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Note: This faucet-vase combination will not excuse the rest of your grungy tenement. [Craziest Gadgets]

Tulip USB Hub Is Nothing But Flowers and Sunshine (and USB Ports)

Mark Wilson — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

You big tough IT guy you. Just because you can rip the still-beating RAM from a PC doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the simple beauties of life, like USB ports shaped like tulips.

The USB Tulip Hub is a 4-way port adaptor that cleverly hides flexible USB ports into a tulip design. Either plug in your favourite gadget, or rip a flower from its base in a moment of gift-less panic before an impromptu date. You see, a guy with a USB Tulip Hub lives life with a different creed. He’s man enough to give a USB port to a girl, as long as it’s shaped like a spring flower and shocks him when picked. [fredflare via Nerd Approved]

Rose USB Drive Inspires Romanticism in the Digital Age

Mark Wilson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:40:00 +0000

A flower was offered to me,
Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said ‘I’ve a pretty rose tree,’
And I passed the sweet flower o’er. – William Blake

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The Rose USB Drive stores gigabytes of data
(OK, just two). – Mark Wilson

[USBGeek via 7Gadgets]

Wireless Router Flower Vase Concept Also Doubles As Nuclear Cooling Tower

John Mahoney — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Generally, water and gadgets don’t tend to play nicely together. But I’m a fan of this wireless router/flower vase concept design from Saudi telecom company STC. With it, the router doesn’t have to be shoved away in the corner, its tangle of wires collecting dust bunnies by the pound. Now, how aboud a daffodil–or a cottonball puff simulating the smoke rising out of a sector 7G’s cooling tower. [Dezeen]

Kitchen Oil Fires Have Pretty, Weird Solution: Flower Fire Exinguishers

Kit Eaton — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0000

Fire extinguishers are damn handy, but hard to get excited about—unless they’re cool flying ones—but these flower extinguishers from Japan should be weird enough to pique your interest. They’re magnetic, so you just whack them on a convenient surface, like the front of your fridge. And if you’re unlucky enough to get an oil fire on your cooking range, then you simply grab the flowers and fling them into the fire. You’re probably thinking “Fighting fire with flowers? WTF?” right now. The flowers work by melting to create a film over the surface of the burning oil, cutting off its air supply and extinguishing the fire. See the video of them in action if you don’t believe it.

Neat hey? If not a little bizarre. They come in yellow or pink, disguised to look like silk flowers, last 2 years before you have to replace them (assuming you don’t set fire to your kitchen in that interval) and are available for US$39 for two. [Kilian-Nakamura via Random Good Stuff]

Flowers Grow In Moon Soil Simulation

Mark Wilson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:00 +0000

The moon is a nice place to visit, but you’d never want to live there. Because of the lack of breathable air? Nah. There are no flowers. But now, scientists have successfully grown marigolds in crushed anorthosite, a rocky Earth-based soil that is quite similar to the stuff we see on the moon.

While growing plants in what is essentially rock do not make for optimal green-nurturing conditions, scientists realised that by adding various bacteria to the anorthosite, the plants were able to draw essential nutrients they needed from the rock. Better still, these bacteria are a tough breed of microbe, ready for the tough conditions of the moon.

Obviously the plants still need atmospheric enclosure, planned to include algae.

And though scientists are confident that they can grow a variety of other plants on the moon (like cabbage), they may or may not get to participate in moon visits scheduled for 2015 and after. [telegraph via digg]