A group of companies in Germany has announced plans to produce an electric small family sedan with solar panels providing additional power for accessories such as air conditioning. The companies--including automotive engineering firm IAV and manufacturer IndiKar--plan to introduce a prototype at German auto shows in September. Given recent trends in transportation and design, this move shouldn't seem out of the ordinary. However, this car will be a new, green version of the Trabant, an icon of the Cold War fondly (or dismissively) known as the Trabi.
In order to understand the strange implications of this maneuver, readers have to step back in time a few decades. The Trabi had become a perverse symbol of ...
categorized as design, environment.
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Call for Volunteers
- We're looking for a volunteer community manager to do some pretty fun 'public good from sharing research' projects. Paid in credit, resources and small stipends if needed.
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Please contact us at apply@creativesynthesis.net if you're interested.
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Meet the Collaboratives
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Fallout Cubicle
Sofia-based media artist Petko Dourmana recently exhibited the Post Global Warming Survival Kit at SIGGRAPH 2009. Dourmana's work appeared as part of the BioLogic juried ...
A Rather Fickle Memory Hole
Two recent news stories offer quirky challenges to the conventional wisdom that new technologies--especially the Internet--have made it impossible to forget anything. Raising questions about what we remember and how ...
Visualizing the New York Times
Earlier this year, digital artist Jer Thorp used the New York Times Article Search API to create visual displays exploring the areas of focus and interconnection found in ...
Carnival of the Animals
Our perception of animals has changed dramatically over the last century. The decline of agriculture and the expansion of the middle class have brought a view of animals that ranges ...
Evolving Art
To mark the bicentennial of Darwin's birth and the sesquicentennial of On the Origin of Species, an exhibit opening today at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum explores the effects of his ...
Finding the Rhyme in Education Policy
In its search to bolster the faltering public school system, California has given new life to a quote attributed (with some variations) to Mark Twain: "History doesn't repeat itself, but ...
A Self-Powered Sentinel
Massachusetts-based Voltree Power is currently developing a network of sensor nodes that will monitor forest conditions and immediately alert users to wildfires. The system, the Early Wildfire ...
Memorial Map
Sean Askay, a geospatial content developer for Google Earth Outreach, created Map the Fallen as a tribute to US personnel who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq ...
Aging in Community
A recent article by Christine Schneider explores the ways in which the intentional community Damanhur offers members a model of education and social life that synthesizes the experiences ...
Method of Modern Love
A project developed by Scottish think tank Distance Lab gives partners a tool for exploring art, intimacy, and the body's relation to space. The interactive installation Mutsugoto rigs ...
Machine Shoe
Ten Bhomer’s ‘Rotational Moulded Shoe’ is an anti-craft exploration that seeks to replace the manual ...