Bone furniture by Joris Laarman

Solar Hangar Recharges Zero-Emission Electric Airplane

http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/26/solar-hangar-recharges-zero-emission-electric-airplane/

Researchers say new material could let cars be powered by their bodywork

It likely won't be ready for your next vehicle purchase, but some researchers from Imperial College London say that this rather modest-looking piece of material could eventually do nothing short of change of the way that cars are powered. The material itself is still a bit of a mystery, as you might expect, but it's apparently able to store and discharge electrical energy, and (here's the real kicker) is strong and light enough to be used for a car's bodywork -- essentially making the car itself one giant battery. That would obviously open up a whole host of possibilities, including being used to complement traditional batteries for even longer runtimes, or being used on its own to make smaller and lighter vehicles. The applications also wouldn't necessarily be limited to cars, and the researchers specifically mention cellphones as another area that could see smaller and lighter (or longer-lasting) devices if the material is used. Let's get on that, shall we? Video demonstration after the break.

 

Aerogel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel

Aerogel is a manufactured material with the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid.^[1] It is derived from a gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is an extremely low-density solid with several remarkable properties, most notably its effectiveness as a thermal insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke,^[2] solid smoke, solid air or blue smoke due to its translucent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like expanded polystyrene (styrofoam) to the touch.
Aerogel was first created by Samuel Stephens Kistler in 1931, as a result of a bet with Charles Learned over who could replace the liquid in 'jellies' with gas without causing shrinkage.^[3][4]
Aerogels are produced by extracting the liquid component of a gel through supercritical drying. This allows the liquid to be slowly drawn off without causing the solid matrix in the gel to collapse from capillary action, as would happen with conventional evaporation. The first aerogels were produced from silica gels. Kistler's later work involved aerogels based on alumina, chromia and tin oxide. Carbon aerogels were first developed in the late 1980s.^[5]

origami sturucture - 2

here's more references!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tactom/

origami sturucture

http://territoiredessens.blogspot.com/2009/03/daniel-piker.html


here's pretty good example that a sheet of paper can be a actual good looking structures :-)