Imagine you lived in a rotating house that gathered energy from the sun as it turned. It's what we do as a planet, so it makes sense to do it with our homes too. Architect Rolf Disch has built the Heliotrop (from the Greek for 'turned towards the sun') on this very principle.
Last October at the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda unveiled Puyo. This little bubble car is another futuristic concept that threatens to blow gas guzzlers out of the water - or at least off our streets.
In 1960, director Howard Hawks arrived in Tanganyika, now Tanzania, with actors John Wayne, Red Buttons, Hardy Krüger and Elsa Martinelli in tow. They were there to shoot action scenes for his movie Hatari! (meaning 'danger' in Swahili). They filmed on location at the Arusha and Serengeti national parks, at Mount Meru and in the town of Arusha, and created one of the most visually interesting African movies of all time.
In China these days it seems there is beautiful design springing up all over the place, and not just for the high-profile summer Olympics. If Kayumanis Nanjing is representative of what's going on there, we're impressed.
The picture above is of Pyongyang in North Korea. Look to the top right corner and you'll see a skyscraper not unlike San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid. The Ryugyong Hotel, as it is known, is not quite as prosperous as its American counterpart. In fact, it has been deserted since it was built - way back in 1992.
On the Sunday beaches of the Islas Cíes our trip to Galicia found its playful rhythm. The islands' orchestration of sun, sand and sea carried us through the next few days on the mainland like a smooth, subtle bassline we couldn't shake. Our shoulders relaxed. The skin opened like a flower towards the light. And lungs sifted the salty perfume of the Atlantic.
It's like the Tour de France with a sense of humor. Next time you see a bunch of cyclists drifting past you in inflatable white jackets, remember this article. They're taking part in an Aeolian Ride. A what? 'Aeolian' means being caused by wind, and 'Ride' means, well, ride.
We have a telescope that's never been used. As far as I'm concerned, it's too fiddly, and setting it up just so I can see microscopic dots that are supposed to be planets doesn't seem all that worth it. Let's face it, in this age of satellites and CGI, we're spoilt. That's why Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope sounds really cool.
Talk about a cute concept car. The Nissan Pivo 2 almost makes Wall-E look dull - almost... This environmentally-friendly electric urban commuter vehicle has a built-in robotic interface and rotates 360 degrees on its axis. By getting rid of traditional mechanical linkages like shafts and hydraulic cylinders and using drive by wire electrical technology instead, it's infinitely more flexible than most cars we're used to.
There's something magical about historical hotels - the sense that many people have passed through the same walls as you and even slept in the same beds. In the French quarter (Ville Blanche) of the Indian city of Pondicherry, you'll find Le Dupleix, a converted 18th-century mayoral mansion, a hotel steeped in the region's history.
Ever wondered where the best place on the planet to live is? Well, according to the United Nations, it's this scraggy island - Iceland. A report published at the end of last year suggested that according to life expectancy, education levels, and per capita income, the land of geysers showed us all up. Get ready to move.
It seems everyone is thinking about the prospects for our world post-global warming, but I'm not sure I want to think about the possibility of London being submersed in water. I've spent many hours pounding its pavements, and I never was any good at rowing. Yet, a new exhibition Flooded London by Squint/ Opera doesn't paint an altogether dismal future for the city if the banks of the Thames are breached.
