Multigym-in-a-Closet Keeps Your Fitness Under Wraps

Gym bunnies amongst you might be interested in the Murphy Gym, a shallow cupboard full of the kind of equipment you need to look like a condom stuffed with walnuts—marbled walnuts if you are either a hunk of Kobe beef, or if you like popping S.T.E.Roids as if they were M&Ms. I’m also guessing that this little gym-in-a-closet might be appealing to pervy modders out there, who could swap the chest expander for something even more black and rubbery. And for those of you who like a nice bit of bedroom farce, this could be the cupboard that the really thin lover, clad in black polo neck and jeans, hides in when his lady friend’s husband returns home from work early. [Apartment Therapy]


May 19, 2008
Gadgets

Do You Want to Know What Muscles Sound Like?

Cameron, a student at Cornell University, built an analogue amp/feedback system, and then wired his muscles up to the thing via electrodes. It’s kind of like a Theramin, but more weird. A doctor in the comments suggests fitting different voltages to each of the twelve muscles in the arm to vary the sound. I suggest shaving your whole body, covering yourself with electrodes, pantsing the analogue amp and then going for a run. Cacophony rules. [Music Thing]


March 21, 2008
Science

Artificial Muscles That Can Heal Themselves (and Power Up Your Gadgets)

Unbelievably enough, researchers in California have developed an artificial muscle that can expand more than 200% when electricity is applied to it. By using carbon nanotubes, they have added a level of durability that can not be matched by current artificial muscle materials. If an area of the nanotube fails, the region around it becomes non conductive which effectively prevents the damage from spreading.