3d printing

Who says we have to choose between driving to work or riding a bike? The idea of an electric vehicle that would bridge the gap between the two is not new; in fact, it goes farther back than the rise of electric vehicles to prominence. Whether called a carcycle, a car-bike, or car-ebike, this vehicle is best described as the illegitimate child between a small passenger car and an electric bicycle.

Using X-rays, artificial intelligence and 3D printing, two UCL researchers reproduced a “lost” work of art by renowned Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh, 135 years after he painted over it.

PhD researchers Anthony Bourached (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) and George Cann (UCL Space and Climate Physics), working with artist Jesper Eriksson, used cutting edge technology to recreate a long-concealed Van Gogh painting.

Interdisciplinary designer Iris van Herpen has partnered with Magnum ice cream to create the world’s first vegan, haute couture dress made from cocoa beans. Van Herpen is known for her integration of technology into fashion, and Magnum’s entry into haute couture is another step in the brand’s embrace of sustainability.

Waste cocoa bean husks from the production of chocolate were transformed into an organic, vegan biopolymer material. The design was then 3D printed before being finished by hand with upcycled organza, copper coating, and intricate, plant-inspired details.

The lamp can transform data about local air quality into unique lighting patterns

Air pollution has been called an invisible killer – it is everywhere, but often impossible to see. Now, Brussels-based designer Guillaume Slizewicz has devised a way of making air pollution visible by creating a lamp that turns data about local pollution levels into unique light patterns. The idea is to both provide information about pollution and to highlight the need to act on rising air pollution levels.