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aamukherjee A Slice of Entropie -
alchymista Alchymista -
crownedrose Fading Like A Dead Star -
expose-the-light Quarks to Quasars -
ikenbot CWL -
abluegirl A Blue Girl -
perscientiamlibertas A Matter of the Most Pleasant Fraternal Confidence
For Your Consideration: Anti-Drone Hoodie
The anti-drone hoodie which can make its wearer invisible to spies in the sky
Those concerned about the conspiratorial machinations of the state surveillance infrastructure can now swap their tin-foil hats for a more fashion conscious accessory.
A New York-based artist has designed an ‘anti-drone hoodie’ stitched from metallised material used to counter the infra-red cameras that spy drones use to spot people on the ground. It is part of a line of high-tech ‘Stealth Wear’ that can thwart cameras and block tracking signals, which has been unveiled in London this week.
Also on offer is a pouch for carrying mobile phones made from a special ‘attenuating fabric’ which blocks the signal so it can’t be tracked or intercepted by the authorities. And there is also a shirt designed with an x-ray shielding print in the shape of a heart which is intended to protect the wearer’s heart from damaging x-ray radiation.
Artist Adam Harvey, who collaborated with fashion designer Johanna Bloomfield to come up with the range, said the pieces are intended to provoke a debate about the increasing ubiquity of surveillance across society. A landmark Freedom of Information lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation last year forced federal authorities to reveal there are at least 63 active drone sites around the U.S. The unmanned planes – some of which may have been designed to kill terror suspects – are being launched from locations in 20 states and flying spy sorties across American soil.
Most of the active drones are deployed from military installations, enforcement agencies and border patrol teams, according to the Federal Aviation Authority. In the UK police forces including Merseyside Police have trialled the use of remote-controlled drones to replace helicopters to conduct surveillance that would usually be undertaken by helicopters.
It was this increased use of military-style surveillance technologies in civilian environments that inspired the 31-year-old artist to come up with with the clothing line. ‘Military technology is coming home from the war,’ Mr Harvey told Slate. ‘These pieces are designed to live with it, to cope with it — to live in a world where surveillance is happening all the time.’ He came up with the range, which also includes an anti-drone scarf, primarily as an exercise in provocative conceptual art, but the garments will also be manufactured for sale to the public.
However, due to the expensive materials used in the design of the clothing, they are unlikely to go on sale in your local Primark anytime soon. Mr Harvey, who hasn’t yet pinned down the retail prices for his garments, jokes that his target demographic is the ‘fashionably paranoid market’. The counter-surveillance Stealth Wear range is on display from today at the Primitive boutique in Great Portland Street in West London, until January 31.
ikenbotIf you’re fond of science-y subjects and stretchy fabrics, you’ll love Black Milk Clothing
Solar System Bracelets are now available on lilac (pictured) or deep purple chain from Daisy’s Creations!
Who needs cotton? Simply mix together some yeast, a little bacteria and a few cups of sweet green tea, and you can grow your own garments. BioCouture is using microbes to create a textile biomaterial that can actually be molded into clothing. Here’s how it works.
The breathless predictions about 3-D printers — they’ll revolutionize X, Y, and Z industries, they’ll even mop your floors! — can steal the spotlight from the everyday applications already in use. Analysts predict 3-D printing will become a $3.1 billion industry by 2016, driven by manufacturers of everything from shoes to sedans. Here are 10 ways 3-D printing is reshaping industrial design now.
crownedroseCosmonaut Couture: Russian Photo Shoot Makes Space Sexy
Photos like this could pass for a Cold War-era Russian propaganda program, or perhaps shots straight from the set of the movie Moonraker — if not for a stray pair of late-20th century sneakers.
Renowned fashion photographer Arthur Elgort, now 72, actually created these images for the December 1999 issue of Russian Vogue.
In the images, supermodel Natalia Semanova mingles with real-life cosmonauts at Star City, a town northeast of Moscow and home of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where for more than 50 years the Russian Federal Space Agency has trained willing citizens to fly in space. (Recently they’ve also been trained to survive 520 days inside a tin can.)
The photos experienced a recent resurgence in social media circles, so Wired tracked down Elgort to learn more about the timeless photos.
The clothing above is a current biology, nanotechnology and design collaboration by Suzanne Lee and Dr David Hepworth. This new movement in clothing has been dubbed BioCouture. Why? Because the clothes themselves are spun from bacteria.
“To a sugary green tea solution we add a mixed culture of bacterial cellulose, yeasts and other microorganisms to produce a flexible cellulose mat. The bacteria feed on the sugar and spin fine threads of cellulose. As these start to stick together they form a skin on the liquids surface. After two to three weeks, when it is approximately 1.5cm thick, we remove the cellulose skin from the growth bath. We can then either use it wet to mold onto a 3D form, like a dress shape, or dry it flat and then cut and sew it into a garment.” Suzanne Lee
For the Press Release: http://www.biocouture.co.uk/newimages/Biocouture_press.pdf
Doctor Can Turn Brown Eyes to Blue
Ever wished to be born with blue eyes? You soon could be, with Dr Gregg Homer’s Lumineyes technology that can permanently change a person’s eye color in just 20 seconds. The amazing technology uses laser tuned to a specific frequency to remove brown pigment from the top layer of the iris, and then blue color will emerge in two or three weeks’ time. Currently the technology is still experimented and may hit the market in several years with a price of about $5000.
(via ikenbot)
