Plus, Cathi mentions a new wind turbine using biomimetic design to mirror the way a bee flies. (via Gizmag)

Meanwhile, Nora Young brings you Honda’s electric EV-cub mini-motorcycle.  Nora loves it. You? (via Gizmodo)

Meanwhile, Nora gives a quick mention of a quote she found at Caterina Fake’s blog.  How about you, creative types? Does your artistic process seem mysterious to you, or is it more planned out than that?

Oh, and Nora’s colleague, the delightful Dan Misener, thinks thesniffer is getting too self-referential.

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond talks about this unsettling new workplace surveillance tool: The Ekahau T301W!  Designed for keeping an eye on your kids, or for secure institutions, can it be long until this kind of this is used in other workplaces? On the up side of surveillance, Nora wonders whether something like this could be used for productivity, rather than time logged in the office or on the line.  What do you think of this tool?

In a freakier vein, Cathi chats about the Chembot, from the iRobot people (via IEEE Spectrum)  In spite of the creepiness of the ‘jamming skin technology’, Nora thinks about the power of robotics freeing itself from anthropomorphic design constraints.

Meanwhile, Nora Young wonders why Lego seems to be having a ‘cultural moment’.  There’s the adorable kitchen island, made from an IKEA island covered in Lego (via Core77), the forthcoming Lego Rock Band

And there’s always BrickCon, the Lego convention.  Do you love Lego?  Tell us!

Meanwhile, Cathi Bond has found an intriguing–though not entirely clear–story. Google has been running a fleet of hybrid vehicles for some time.  Now it thinks it’s got an idea for how to design ’smart chargers’, thus resolving one of the long-standing issues with electric cars: insuring recharging capacity when it’s needed (via Gizmag)

Meanwhile, Nora points to researchers at the University of Tokyo who have created a paint that blocks wi-fi and other wireless signals (via PSFK) It reminded Nora of this exhibition, Towards the Sentient City, and the possibility that we may want a ‘cloaking device’ in the future, as in this art project.

Cathi Bond is shocked to learn that Eric Braeden aka Victor Newman, from The Young and the Restless, is being written out of the show!! Is the writing on the wall for Soap Operas? Will stunt casting, such as putting James Franco on General Hospital, help?

Meanwhile, Nora Young mentions this thought-provoking article in Business Week about revamping post-secondary education, so there’s a two-tier system.  You’d have online, convenient, good-enough education to satisfy most employment requirements and more expensive, ‘full meal deal’ university experiences.  The gals are intrigued by the application of the principle of ‘versioning’ to education, but have concerns about two tier education. What do you think?