Science

Radishes May Prove To Be Acne’s Worst Nightmare

Confession: I positively hate acne. While my face only bears the most subtle of scars, in my mind the red pimply warzone that covered it back in high school is still fresh, clear and just begging to be popped.


August 16, 2011
Science

Making Plants Grow In Nappy Membranes Is Gross

As you can see above, scientists at Japanese firm Mebiol have managed to cultivate plants using only micron-thick hydro-membranes known as Imec. The technology has already been demonstrated by NASA to grow space plants. Only… why am I so grossed out?


June 23, 2011
Geek Out

There Are Plants All Up In My Grill!

Living in a city means you often don’t have a lot of space. Put a grill on your deck, and suddenly there’s no room for plants. So this combination planter and grill from Erbe is pretty clever, if way odd.


June 21, 2011
Geek Out

Water Plants With Your Pee

I’ve peed on a ton of bushes before and I’m pretty sure I scarred those bushes forever. But! If I were to use this filtration system that pumps pee from a urinal to water plants… I’d totally be helping the environment.


June 10, 2011
Geek Out

How To Turn A Glass Coke Bottle Into An Adorable Plant Waterer

The narration is husky and the instructions sound: why toss that glass Coke bottle into the trash (or recycling bin!), when you’re a few modifications away from a retro-tastic plant waterer? Beats an Aqua Globe, anyway.


May 15, 2011
Geek Out

Light The Way And Grow A Tree Simultaneously Within This Green Lantern Concept

While the LED’s heat light might actually end up doing more harm than good to the tiny sapling growing within, I have to give a nod to the effort.


April 24, 2011
Science

Atomic Gardens Can Teach Lessons About Future Of Farming

One look at the wedge-shaped rows of plants and anyone could tell the circular garden was not grown under normal conditions. Plants sown in concentric circles displayed wildly different vitality and viability.


March 17, 2011
Science

Behold Pepsi’s 100% Plant-Based Plastic Bottle

Soft drinks are bad for you, but plastics – especially the petroleum-based PET plastics used widely for bottles – are bad for everyone. Thankfully, after millions of dollars and years of research, Pepsi thinks it’s cracked the code on a 100 per cent plant-based PET bottle.


January 27, 2011
Science

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants

The next hydrangea you grow could literally save your life. With the help of the Department of defence, a biologist at the University of Colorado has taught plant proteins how to detect explosives.


December 11, 2010
Science

How A Plant Virus Can Make Lithium Batteries Last 10x Longer

The tobacco mosaic virus is a destructive beast infecting over a hundred different species of plants, including tomatoes. But it may have a weird eco benefit: Incorporated into lithium batteries, it can increase storage capacity 10 times.