Purifying Water with a Book’s Pages

A new book, developed by a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Virginia, can bring contaminated water to 99.9% purity using its pages. The “drinkable book,” spearheaded by chemist Teri Dankovich, contains pages peppered with silver and copper nano-particles that neutralize bacteria upon contact. Each book can supply four years of clean drinking water for a single person and comes with …

MIT’s Gooey 3D Glass Printer

The brilliant minds at MIT’s Mediated Matter Group have released a hypnotizing new video of their latest invention: a 3D printer that uses molten glass as its medium. Created in collaboration with MIT’s Glass Lab, the Glass 3D Printer (G3DP) contains a 1900°F “kiln cartridge” that fires the substance into a malleable state. It’s then laid down in gooey, crystal-clear layers, akin to what glue …

CH25: Jonathan Sparks

Reinventing electronic music by inventing multi-disciplinary instruments

As a drummer in hard, loud rock bands over the past decade, Jonathan Sparks indulged his passion for theatrics: “I love those large, swooping gestures, actions people in the back of the crowd could see too.” When he got more into electronic music, he missed that physicality and showmanship. His solution? The Nomis, a loop-based instrument he designed from scratch out of plexiglass while in …