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Jul

Housing Innovations: The Tiny Mushroom House

by Janine Boylan on July 8, 2013

Mushroom tiny house, showing an example of housing innovations

The house that mushrooms built
© Ecovative Design

The Assignment

Last April, Sam Harrington was given an assignment: grow a house.

Mycelium, used to grow the mushroom tiny house, an example of housing innovations

Mycelium, shown under an electron microscope
© Ecovative Design

Harrington works at Ecovative Design, where they create innovative and environmentally friendly products ranging from packaging to construction materials.

But grow a house?

Yes, like other Ecovative Design products, this house would be built—and grown—with the help of fungus fibers called mycelium.

Ecovative Design has discovered a process that uses mycelium to tightly bond things, like wooden boards, together. They would now apply the process in housing innovations. Read more...

Janine Boylan 2 Comments

Innovations/The World's Entrepreneurs

Jun

Clever Ideas and Happy Accidents Reinvent the Wheel

by Janine Boylan on June 24, 2013

David Patrick whose clever ideas created Shark Wheels

David Patrick
© 4sphere

How Do Shark Wheels Roll?

Shark Wheel vs old wheels, showing the result of clever ideas

David Patrick had a clever idea: he added a twist to the world’s most perfect invention, the wheel.

And he has patented and hopes to begin creating these twisty wheels for skateboards.

Patrick designed a wheel that looks square from its side, has snake-like curves, but goes faster and smoother than a standard wheel.

In his Kickstarter video, Patrick explains, “The inspiration for this wheel came from a cube…I had figured out how to take six simple shapes and assemble them in such a way that it formed a perfect cube.” Read more...

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Clever Ideas/Innovations/The World's Entrepreneurs

Jun

Plastic Alternatives— Yep, They Grow on Trees!

by Janine Boylan on June 17, 2013

pile of Styrofoam outside the Tokyo Fish Market, showing the need for innovative ideas to create plastic alternatives

Innovative Ideas for Biodegradable Plastic

Our world has become dependent on plastic. It’s in my toothbrush, my shoes, my sunglasses, and even the keys I type on.

And it won’t go away.

For decades, plastic has been made from petroleum, and, once formed into a plastic cup, packing material, grocery bag, or toothbrush, the plastic is here to stay.

Lucky bits of plastic may get recycled into new products, but no matter its shape, petroleum-based plastic does not biodegrade. That means, in some form, that plastic will be on this planet long after every single one of us reading this post is gone. Read more...