NASA’s Public Design Challenge For Venus Exploration

Supported by an internal grant, a new creative challenge posed by NASA asks the general public to submit ideas for an “innovative obstacle avoidance  sensor” that will be featured on a future Venus Rover Concept. The planet’s notoriously rough surface will prove quite difficult to maneuver around and weather and pressure conditions are extreme. Officially titled “Exploring Hell: Avoiding Obstacles on a Clockwork Rover,” the …

Marchi Architects’ Woodhouse 2.0 for Long Island

With a radial footprint, Woodhouse 2.0, by Paris-based design studio Marchi Architects, coils into the forested topography of New York’s Long Island. The residential proposal employs timber and texture materials to lend warmth within. The open-concept design, undisturbed circulation and ample window space embrace natural light, a hidden central courtyard and the woods outside, too. See more images at designboom.

The Continued Quest for Pain-Free Microneedles

Produced through a process of 3D printing with polymers—altogether referred to as “4D printing” because of its core of programmable, shape-shifting material—rapidly developing microneedles may replace painful hypodermic needles in the next decade. Professor Howon Lee, who has lead the research from Rutgers University, has filed a patent on this new technology, which produces hollow needles that are barbed, much like the stinger of a …