Wonderment Blog

Solar Race Car Reaches 93MPH

If you saw this so-called automobile out on the street, you'd probably think a UFO had landed, but sure enough, it's a car - a solar powered race car. Japan's Tokai Challenger solar vehicle won the 2009 Global Green Challenge, with speeds of up to 93MPH, running at only 1.8KW (half the power of standard tea kettle ...more

Customization Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/1/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,466

Human-Scale Soccer Video Game

Replace that flimsy, plastic Guitar Hero axe with a soccer ball. These DIY freestyle-footballers play their full-sized, wall-mounted "Football Hero" with skill, achieving a 76 percent accuracy rating after only 17 games. They kick soccer balls at the control pads (pressure sensitive piezo sensors) on the fretboard ...more

Playstation 3 Wonderment

By tenebrism on 11/1/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,906

DIY Musical Maven Cannot Stop Creating Instruments

Musical instruments are lots of fun but boy, they sure ain't cheap. Dennis Havlena (the internet's true DIY instrument king) demonstrates some dedicated yankee ingenuity with his homemade alternatives (aka poor man's instruments). Dennis has created ...more

Other Instruments Wonderment

By rmansur on 11/1/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,872

Japan's Thomas Edison Sets Patent Guinness Record (Including Super Viagra)

Talk about yankee ingenuity... zany Japanese inventor, Dr. Nakamats, has lead a life propelled by curiosity and inventiveness. Nakamats boasts that he has Thomas Edison beat by a mile (compare Edison's measly 1,093 patents to Nakamats' 3,357). From ...more

Hacks, Mods & Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/31/2009

Comments 2 | Views 1,888

Artist With Waaay Too Much Time and Money, Paints Pointless Optical Illusion

Artist Felice Varini has been playing with the art of illusion since 1979. This piece takes on the incredible scale of an entire Swiss village. From Core77: "In Cercle et suite d'éclats, Varini...superimposes perfect circles on the town of ...more

Drawing Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/31/2009

Comments 0 | Views 3,768

Happy Halloween Brain-Cake!

Scrambling for a last minute disgustingly-yummy Halloween party idea? Looking for a dessert to go with your gruesome meat hands? Try out Instructables member kiffakitty's totally gnarly Brain Cake. Images below, click through for full instructions on how to make it.

Dessert Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/31/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,992

LED Graffiti In a Can

Remember the magical LED graffiti video "paint"? Here's another cool LED graffiti design by Aissa Logerot. "Halo is a handy light-writing tool, preserving the techniques and gestures that graffiti artists use with spray cans. It is possible to change the color and the brightness of the led to change the graffiti’s ...more

Graffiti & Urban Art Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/30/2009

Comments 5 | Views 2,711

Yummy: Mutilated Hands...Edible

Ew. If you can stomach it, if you can even imagine yourself eating it, Not Martha (they really live up to their name with this one... this is definitely not a Martha Stewart project) has posted a tutorial on making a "Meat Hand". Meat Hand = meatloaf with cheese on top, dressed with bloody ketchup, and detailed with ...more

Meat Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/30/2009

Comments 0 | Views 2,530

This Week, Harvard Scientists Have Just Discovered Dirt!

No more alkaline batteries. No more NiCad's. No NiMH's. No Lithium. Forget all of those hazardous chemical reactions in the batteries and think eco-friendly. Professor David Edwards did. Edward's group Lebônê, incubated at Harvard, has developed a ...more

Eco-Friendly Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/30/2009

Comments 1 | Views 2,220

Shoot Lasers Ghostbusters-Style

Send the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man back to the world of s'mores and hot cocoa this Halloween. This complete Ghostbusters costume from Instructables user Depot Devoid is like the real-life movie prop. You can shoot "laser" particle beams at ghosts with the Proton Pack, and capture them with the Muon Ghost Trap. There's ...more

Props & SFX Wonderment

By tenebrism on 10/29/2009

Comments 0 | Views 2,990

Va Voom: Real Life Comic-Book-Girl for Halloween

The subject at hand takes the prize for the best girl-costume of the year. Classy, pretty & comic book related. Check out this Roy Lichtenstein-esque makeup job. Amazing.

Makeup Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/29/2009

Comments 1 | Views 20,185

High as a Kite - Stunning Aerial Photos

Make Magazine presents UC Berkeley's professor of architecture, Cris Benton. From Make, "Cris is a leader in the aerial kite photography community, constantly developing new ways to rig remotely controlled cameras to customized kites for stunning results." Kite aerial photography is the technique of using kites to ...more

Photography Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/29/2009

Comments 0 | Views 906

Ultra Slo-Mo Fire Breathing

Napalm Dragon has an incredible video of super slo-mo fire breathing. "There is no super imposing. This is 'as is' (Low Res) footage captured at 1,000 fps and 2,000 fps The Camera used was the Weisscam HS-2." Whoahhh..... Try-it-yourself: Video: Breathe fire.

Prop Tricks Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/28/2009

Comments 1 | Views 2,530

Hack Together Creepy Arduino Shifty-Eyeballs For Halloween

Todbot offers instructions for making your own Arduino shifty-googly Halloween eyeballs. Perfect to pop inside a pumpkin or skull. All you need is "3 servo motors, some scary eyes, a few Popsicle sticks and an Arduino". Click through for a detailed ...more

Hacks, Mods & Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/28/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,642

On EBAY: Mario Mania + LEGOs = Ultimate Fanboy Idol

To Mario enthusiasts everywhere: Mario mania has been lovingly expressed all over the web for some time now (including How-To). The most recent accomplishment brings together two classic favorites: Mario plus LEGOs. Presenting the ultimate nerd ...more

Construction & Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/28/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,727

1:35,000 Scale: World's Absolute Tiniest Working Model Train

35,000 times smaller than an actual train, David Smith has likely roped in the world record for tiniest model train. Unfortunately the train's motor does operate externally, but very cool nonetheless. More images below the video. Previously, World's ...more

Model Cars, Rockets Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/27/2009

Comments 2 | Views 6,778

Gruesomely-Awesome Star Wars Wedding Cake

Exquisitely detailed Star Wars wedding cake! Amazing sugar art representation of Luke Skywalker lying in dead tauntaun innards, made for Star Wars artist Chris Trevas and his wife Julie. "Julie and I had Courtney Clark from Cake Nouveau of Food Network Challenge (and TLC Ultimate Cake-Off) fame do our wedding cakes ...more

Cake Decorating Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/27/2009

Comments 4 | Views 5,807

Just Released! Freaky Human-Soldier-Bot: PETMAN

Remember Big Dog? Or Big Dog's counterpart, Little Dog? Well, Boston Dynamics has added a new member to their creepily-moving-calvary. Boston Dynamics mission statement: "PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing ...more

Robots Wonderment

By rmansur on 10/27/2009

Comments 4 | Views 4,089

Bloodless Virtual Autopsies Nab Criminals

Virtual autopsies are the wave of the future in forensic medicine, using three-dimensional x-ray techniques instead of hacking through a mess of blood and guts. The Virtual Autopsy Table allows the cause of death to be determined quickly to aid in criminal investigations. Amazing - straight out of Bones or CSI. If you ...more

Science Wonderment

By tenebrism on 10/26/2009

Comments 1 | Views 1,661

Battling Wii Soccer Robots

These soccer playing robots from TU Freiberg Robotics are programmed using Knesthetic Bootstrapping, which control the Bioloid's motions. Players can send commands to the soccer bots via Wii Remotes, and users abroad can control them directly online. If soccer's not your game, robots can play chess, too.

Robots Wonderment

By tenebrism on 10/26/2009

Comments 0 | Views 1,156