Cardboard Creations: 45 Recycled Works of Art
December 19, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Cardboard is just a throwaway material, short-lived and impermanent. But it doesn’t have to be. While cardboard may perform mostly temporary functions in our lives, it can serve as the basis of some absolutely amazing sculptures, furniture, functioning electronics and even entire offices and apartments. These 45 works of recycled and reclaimed art made with corrugated cardboard might just get you to look at the material in a whole new light.
Christmas Trees
(images via: materlialicious, design buzz, cascades, cardboard christmas tree)
What’s the greenest tree of all? Unless you’re simply decorating an evergreen that’s already growing in your yard, a recycled cardboard creation might just be the answer. Cardboard Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes, from intricate handmade versions to flat-pack kits you can purchase online.
Shop Interiors
(images via: psfk, ecofriend, francescasignori, great interior design, kostavoyatzis, dezeen)
Eco-minded retail stores – whether permanent, or just temporary pop-up shops – utilize cardboard in the most amazingly creative ways. Lulamae used post-consumer cardboard to create its entire flat-packed store, and a shop called Low in Lisbon, Portugal utilized molded cardboard for shelves, benches, tables and stools. The store eBarrito features a cool display made of cardboard tubes, and the Athens boutique Yeshop used edge cardboard to sculpt its walls. Australian apothecary Aesop used cardboard for a product stand, and a Hiroshima boutique called Karis has cardboard tubes suspended from the ceiling.
Incredible Art
(images via: mark langan, village of joy, peeta.net, instructables)
Cardboard has been used to create art of all sorts. Would you imagine that lowly toilet paper tubes could turn into fascinating scrunched faces, or that the corrugated material could be arranged to resemble aerial landscapes? It has been the medium for three-dimensional graffiti displayed on gallery walls. You can even take a crack at it yourself with a very ambitious project: Instructables has the instructions to make a 17-foot-tall cardboard Ghandi statue.
Furniture
(images via: inhabitat)
Painted bookshelves and flat-pack chairs. A table set made of cardboard tubes. Fun furniture items in the shape of animals. Surprisingly comfortable lounge chairs. Even a barely-altered cardboard moving box can become a sturdy bench or table. Check out all of the possibilities at Inhabitat.
Offices
(images via: smarterware, freshome)
Offices tend to be pretty unhealthy places, thanks in large part due to the toxins that are off-gassed by cheap pressed-wood-and-vinyl furniture. Maybe next time, your company should follow the lead of ‘Nothing’, a creative agency in Amsterdam that made an entire office out of cardboard including desks, chairs, shelves, cubicles and even steps and a small loft. This effect is achieved on a smaller scale with ‘Pop Up‘, a mobile flat-pack office that transforms from a sheet of cardboard into a platform with a desk and chair within seconds.
Stereos, Cameras and Computers
(images via: technabob 1 + 2, amazon, better living through design, hyperbole studios)
Actual functioning electronics made out of cardboard abound. You can find speakers systems, boom boxes, cameras, computers and more that use cardboard as a biodegradable, recycled, eco-friendly housing rather than plastic or metal. The Recompute PC was an entry into the 2009 Greener Gadgets competition. The handy portable boombox has an iPod dock and is so realistic, it would take you a moment to realize what differentiates it from others that look similar. The i-Ecko speakers are commercially available on Amazon for just ten bucks. Another cardboard radio has an appealing vintage look, and there are many cardboard cameras that look amazingly complex, like these by Kiel Johnson.
Pavilion
(images via: dezeen)
409 cardboard cylinders of varying diameters and thicknesses were connected with ties to create this beautiful dome-shaped pavilion called Packed. The pavilion was created by design students Min-Chieh Chen, Dominik Zausinger and Michele Leidi of the ETH Zurich in Switzerland using CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design) and was exhibited as part of the Shanghai Expo 2010.
Cities Big and Small
(images via: laughing squid, reuben miller, artnet)
You can walk into the temporary communities that make up the Russian collaborative art project Cardboardia, erected November 1-6 every year in the city of Ulyanovsk. Artist Ana Serrano’s Cartonlandia is much tinier but even more complex with little roads, vehicles, trees and people. Another miniature cardboard city was built by director Michel Gondry for his film ‘The Science of Sleep’ and displayed at a New York City exhibition entitled ‘The Science of Sleep: An Exhibition of Sculpture and Pathological Creepy Little Gifts.’
An Entire Cardboard Apartment
(images via: gothamist)
A full-scale apartment was erected in Times Square in November 2010 as part of a fundraising effort for Serving the UnderServed (SUS), an organization that provides housing and additional services to the homeless and disabled. The cardboard apartment featured a bed covered in folded cardboard clothing, framed photos, an alarm clock, a telephone and even slices of bread coming out of a toaster.
Bicycle
(images via: inhabitat)
Does making a bike out of cardboard make it less tempting to thieves? The novelty factor alone may negate that intended effect, but then again, it would only cost you $30 to replace it. That’s the biggest perk of this project by Sheffield Hallam University design student Phil Bridge, which can hold a rider weighing up to 168 pounds. The bike is all cardboard except for the tires, seat, chain, gears and pedals.
Bridge by Shigeru Ban
(images via: inhabitat)
Japanese architect proves the strength and durability of cardboard by erecting a cardboard bridge across the Gardon River in Southern France. Made of 281 cardboard tubes, the bridge is strong enough to carry 20 people to the other side of the river all at the same time. Ban has figured out how to engineer the bridge so that the tubes can stand up to the weight. “It is a very interesting contrast, the Roman stone bridge and the paper bridge. Paper too can be permanent, can be strong and lasting. We need to get rid of these prejudices,” Ban said.
Cars
(images via: design boom, reuben miller)
Can you guess the size of each of these two cardboard vehicles? It’s hard to tell, but the top one is a full-sized cardboard sculpture by artist Chris Gilmour while the second is a miniature made by South African Kasi Custom Rides. The scale of Gilmour’s works doesn’t quite come across until they’re placed in context.
Musical Instruments
(images via: oddity central, tjonglolongo, impactlab)
A musician named Hilary Grist built a full-sized cardboard piano and covered it with a miniature cardboard city to use in one of her music videos, and artist Chris Gilmour is responsible for the piano hanging from the ceiling as well as the guitars.
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Wall-Crawling Robot Mimics the Sticky Feet of Geckos
November 4, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Science & Research & Technology & Gadgets. ]
When engineers turn to nature for inspiration, they rely upon the wisdom of millions of years of evolution to guide the design of modern technology. In a stunning example of this biomimicry, researchers at Simon Fraiser University have developed a robot that can climb vertical surfaces thanks to the biology of a gecko’s foot.
(above image via: sfu; top images via: keith marshall + sfu)
Instead of using wet adhesives, the researchers turned to a dry adhesive method that would not leave behind a sticky trail. Some dry adhesive methods require pumping air for suction or use magnets that are only effective on metal surfaces. But the surface of a gecko’s foot can stick to any surface using the force that holds molecules together.
(image via: furrycrawly)
A gecko’s foot is covered in microscopic hairlike growths called setae, which the researchers mimicked using mushroom cap-shaped artificial hairs. According to SFU, “The mushroom cap shape allows the setae on the treads to release at an angle, so no extra force is require to unstick them from a surface. That’s what allows the tank to roll forward with ease, without dropping off the surface.”
Watch how it works:
SFU explains, “”The research…provides an alternative to using magnets, suction cups or claws which typically fail at climbing smooth surfaces like glass or plastic. It also paves the way for a range of applications, from inspecting pipes, buildings, airplanes and even nuclear power plants to employment in search and rescue operations…”
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Windows On The Past: 7 Amazing Creatures Preserved In Amber
September 13, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series & Animals & Habitats & Science & Research. ]
Amber, or fossil tree sap, can contain perfectly preserved plants, insects and animals many millions of years old. These tiny tinted windows to an ancient past have shown us some surprising things, including finely detailed prehistoric animals as large and complex as crustaceans, frogs and lizards.
Spiders
(images via: Wired, Telegraph UK and Wikipedia)
In some ways, oozing pine sap is a miniaturized version of the La Brea tar pits: once you’re in, there’s no getting out. Of course, oozing pine sap is a semi-transparent golden hue and the La Brea tar pits don’t fall upon their victims unexpectedly from above.
(image via: Wikipedia)
Very little would be known of the evolution of spiders if it were not for specimens found encased in amber. Take the spider above – gently now, you don’t want to drop it. It looks like it was living mere minutes ago when in actuality tens of millions of years have passed. What would one think, locked motionless inside a ball of tree sap for so long? If it were me, I’d be very hungry and VERY angry. Handle with care, indeed.
Wasps
(images via: Discover, Hotfrog and Amberica West)
Wasps of all kinds have buzzed through the air for many millions of years – we know this because some of them had the bad fortune of being engulfed in proto-amber. Fortunately for US, however, the potent preservative qualities of the sap and, later, the amber have conspired to show us the history of these creatures as well as their shapes, forms and even colors.
(images via: Mr Blue Amber)
Now this is sweet… literally. The exceptionally rare amber inclusion above is part of a honeycomb or some cells from a wasp’s nest.
(image via: National Geographic)
Fresh tree sap is sticky to be sure, but it’s often free-flowing enough that engulfed tiny creatures are able to spread their wings one final time. Such is the case of the tiny wasp above, frozen in time for 95 million years. It’s amazing to consider that in its next-to-last wingbeat, the wasp shared the atmosphere with dinosaurs in what is now Ethiopia.
Butterflies and Moths
(images via: BioOne, Crystals and Iskandarman)
What are the odds a butterfly’s wing would survive in a state of near-perfect preservation for millions of years? If said wing (and owner) end up as an amber inclusion, then the odds are excellent indeed!
(image via: Nature)
Fossilization in amber allows details as fine as the color of the scales on a butterfly’s wings to be preserved, in the case above for approximately 20 million years. Beware of butterflies trapped in amber that look too good, by the way. Once stuck, any creature will struggle to break free and “perfect” specimens are likely fakes.
Snails
(images via: AmberInclusions.com and Mr Blue Amber)
From butterflies to snails, from delicate to tough, all creatures great and small (but mostly small) must submit to amber’s cloying embrace. Snails trapped in amber are anything but common, however, and even more so when they’re found embedded in blue amber. Amber can come in a variety of shades other than, well, “amber” but blue is especially beautiful. The color change is caused by the application of heat and sunlight to ordinary amber.
(images via: AmberCompany.com and Mr Blue Amber)
Snails in amber is one thing, SEA snails is another. We’re not sure how sea snails came in contact with sap oozing from a forest conifer. Guess you had to be there… 25 million years ago in what is now the Dominican Republic.
Crabs?
(images via: WonderWorlds.org)
Speaking of “fish out of water”, how to explain crabs or crab-like creatures trapped in amber? Perhaps these ancient creatures aren’t crabs at all, but instead are large mites, pseudo-scorpions or some ancient relative of both.
Frogs
(images via: Shutterstock, Cartage, Softpedia and Thomasina)
The image above, bottom panel, isn’t an actual ancient frog trapped in amber for millions of years – if it were, it’d be worth… millions? Frogs, toads and other amphibians are very rarely found as amber inclusions for several reasons: they’re usually larger than most insects and as such have a greater amount of muscle power available to extract themselves from the primordial goo, their moist skin is less likely to stick to the sap, and their usual habitats aren’t in the trees.
(image via: Galaxy FM)
Except for tree frogs, of course, of which the fingernail-sized specimen above is a prime example. If authenticated, this frog would have met his maker approximately 25 million years ago in the area of today’s Chiapas State, Mexico.
Lizards
(images via: FossilMail)
The inch-long lizard above may have only spent a couple of million years trapped in amber, but it doesn’t look to have been there a day over… a day! The tiny hand reaching out to us over an inconceivable span of time is somehow poignant though for the unfortunate lizard, its last living day was probably much like any other.
(image via: Amberica West)
Lizards locked in amber are both extremely rare and extremely valuable: the piece above is listed at $70,000! For many collectors, however, gazing at a vertebrate trapped in ancient amber is the closest thing to stepping into a time machine. Just be grateful those denizens of the past can’t step out of their golden prison and shake (or something) OUR hands.
(image via: Cryptozoology Online)
Alas, our march of sticky progress ends without hide nor hair of any higher creatures… oh wait, I spoke too soon! An unassuming chunk of amber found at the Font-de-Benon quarry at Archingeay-Les Nouillers in Charente-Maritime, southwest France, has revealed the presence of two mammal hairs. Scientists can’t say with certainty what kind of mammal left its hairs for posterity but suffice to say, most fur-bearin’ varmints 100 million years ago were small and shrew-like. They carried within them the seeds of greatness, however, starting with not getting themselves stuck fast for all eternity.
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A Constructive Concept: Growing Germs to Wire the Desert
August 17, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Science & Research & Technology & Gadgets. ]
The search for sustainable building materials has led us through all kinds of natural and man-made substances, from wood to concrete to hemp and bamboo. But a new kind of proposed building material could beat the green power of all of these, and it may soon help to bring grid electricity to the deserts of the United Arab Emirates.
(all images via: Evolo)
Ginger Krieg Dosier is an assistant professor of architecture at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. Her concept for a new, green building material is not terribly far-removed from existing materials, but it could be a simple way to build transmission towers in the desert without relying on materials that have to be transported for long distances.
The method proposed by Dosier is similar to one that has recently been proposed by other architects and materials scientists: use a naturally-occurring bacteria called Sporosarcina Pastuerii to create a sort of bio-cement. The common soil bacteria bonds with sand to create a strong, sustainable natural concrete material. But Dosier wants to take the concept one step further and incorporate 3D printing.
In Dosier’s method, the bacteria would be grown in a lab and then fed into a 3D printer where it would bind sand together into blocks of bio-cement. The bacteria/sand combination would take the place of the resin/lasers and other methods of joining layer upon layer of material until a desired shape is achieved. The bricks could be made into any desired size, shape and thickness depending on the needs of the specific tower. The bricks would completely harden within two weeks, a process which is sped by the hot, dry desert air. The blocks could be built offsite and inexpensively transported to the building site where they would be used to create load-bearing transmission towers to bring electricity to the remotest desert locations.
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Bio-Engineered Bricks Grown from Urine, Bacteria & Sand
April 27, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Bricks have built much of our modern world, but how often do we consider the origins of these common building blocks? Brick production – involving a coal-fired kiln – causes a staggering amount of pollution. In fact, the 1.23 trillion bricks manufactured every year produce more pollution than all of the world’s airplanes combined. What can be done to reduce harmful emissions while maintaining the usefulness of the ultra-useful brick? According to one architect, the answer is to grow bricks rather than baking them.
(all images via: Metropolis Mag)
The Better Brick was the 2011 winner of Metropolis Magazine’s Next Generation Design Competition. Conceived by 32-year-old assistant architecture professor Ginger Krieg Dosier, the Better Brick exists at a strange intersection of chemistry, architecture and microbiology. Rather than forming clay into rectangles and firing it at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, her method calls for microbial-induced calcite precipitation. Her bricks are made from sand, calcium chloride, bacteria and urea, a compound found in urine.
The method for making Better Bricks is rather simple, but the chemical process that takes place is less so. Using a simple form, sand is packed into a brick shape and doused with bacteria and the urea solution. After leaving the brick to harden for a week at room temperature, you have a building block that required only simple, renewable materials to build. When building a wall or other structure with the Better Bricks, the same binding method is used to hold them together, making mortar unnecessary. Eventually – when the formula is just right – Dosier says she can even program 3D printers to build the bricks layer by layer to her exact specifications, even in funky shapes.
Like many new green technologies, however, there are some slight snags. The process currently takes roughly three times longer to make bricks than the conventional method, which will mean that the entire building process would be significantly slowed down. But even more troubling is the fact that the process releases massive amounts of ammonia, which is eventually converted to nitrates and can poison groundwater. Dosier’s answer to this problem is to look more closely at developing a closed-loop system where the waste products are recycled to be used in the manufacturing process rather than released into the environment.
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Nature’s Schedules: How Animals Really Spend Their Time
April 24, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Delana in Animals & Habitats & Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Animals in the wild lead busy, busy lives. They have so much to do that it is frankly amazing that we see them without little day planners or digital organizers. As a public service, these are the facts that animals can’t tell you themselves: how they really spend their days.
Elephants, as we all know, find it almost impossible to forget anything. But surprisingly, they do not devote much time each day to retaining memories. Most of their days, as it turns out, are spent eating. It takes a lot of time to find enough peanuts to fill up those big tummies.
Contrary to popular belief, jellyfish do not spend all day plotting to ruin your trip to the beach. In fact, the vast majority of their days are spent just lazily floating in the water and waiting for food to come to them.
Spiders aren’t the conniving monsters some people think they are – but nor are they unpaid advertisers of the virtues of farm pigs. Their days are spent mostly resting, though the chart does not differentiate between innocent rest time and rest time used to lure unsuspecting flies into traps.
Of course, not every animal’s schedule hides a surprise. Pandas, quite predictably, spend every moment of every day being adorable. Now that is sound scientific information. (Totally accurate pie charts via Jeff Wysaski and Pleated Jeans)
Deep Cargo: An Ocean Of Lost Shipping Containers
April 19, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in History & Trivia & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Up to 10,000 shipping containers are lost at sea every year, a number that may seem quite high but is actually just a tiny percentage of the approximately 50 million containers sent by sea annually. While most quickly sink out of sight, these containers and their strange & varied cargoes are increasingly on our minds.
Can Overboard!
(images via: KIMO and Perpetro Consulting)
The fate of lost shipping containers depends on a number of factors. Some may float for some time and become shipping hazards in their own right. The majority, though, sink quickly as they are not air-tight and their contents are usually not buoyant.
(images via: Coast Guard News, KIMO and Ed Matthews)
Since most maritime commercial traffic flows along prescribed shipping lanes, one would expect the thousands of shipping containers lost at sea each year for at least several decades to begin marking, as it were, the paths of the world’s cargo ships.
(images via: Cargolaw and Dark Roasted Blend)
The situation can be likened to a messy eater snacking on potato chips as he walks to and from his school day after day. If the fallen chips weren’t biodegradable, they would begin to build up along the eater’s path – and shipping containers do not decay appreciably over the course of human lifetimes.
Lost & Found… In Davy Jones’ Locker
(image via: Contained)
The yellow TEX container above was discovered by a research team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), who were surveying the floor of Monterey Bay using the remote controlled submersible “Ventana”. The container rests upside down, 1,300 m (4,265 ft) below the surface.
(images via: GeoGarage and Planetsave)
Researchers were able to record the serial numbers on the container and traced to the container ship Med Taipei (above), which left San Francisco just 4 months before (in February of 2004). The ship had lost 15 of its containers during a storm off the California coast, including this particular one which holds over 1,100 steel-belted radial tires made in China. Other containers lost from the ship contained wheelchairs, cyclone fencing, clothing, and recycled cardboard.
(images via: SIMON)
The MBARI team returned to the sunken container’s location in March of 2011 and were surprised at what they found. Images sent back by cameras on the ROV “Doc Ricketts” revealed a preponderance of marine life on and around the 40-foot-long metal shipping box. Just 7 years since it sank, the container had become an isolated underwater reef with a functioning ecosystem featuring predators and prey.
(images via: Miguel Angelo and Shippipedia)
While there is much to be said in favor of establishing artificial reefs, the effects of providing so many such environments in places where they’re not found naturally are subject to speculation.
(images via: Cargolaw)
Are we inadvertently setting up underwater “highways” invasive species can use to travel to new locations? And what about the contents of these sunken containers – it’s estimated about 10 percent carry toxic substances as their cargo.
Chips Off The Old Block
(image via: HamptonRoads)
Beachcombers strolling on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA, on November 30th, 2006 were greeted by a strange sight: thousands of bags of Doritos tortilla chips had washed up on the beach, along with the partially open cargo container that they were originally packed into. The chips were dry and edible as they were sealed in bags – a fact that may have allowed the container to float all the way to the beach.
(image via: Shirlaw News Group)
Don’t like chips? How about chocolate chips then? In February of 2008, thousands of packages of McVitie’s chocolate biscuits washed up on the beach at Blackpool, UK, after the cargo ship Riverdance made a bit of a misstep when gale-force winds forced the ship to run aground.
(images via: gCaptain and MNN)
Perhaps the most famous case of lost shipping containers (and found cargo) concerns a consignment of 28,800 bathtub toys called Friendly Floatees. The sealed, air-filled toys began their odyssey in January of 1992 aboard a Chinese cargo ship that saw several 40-foot (13.3 m) intermodal shipping containers slip overboard in rough seas.
(images via: PopSci, Florentijn Hofman and The Plastic Patrol)
Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and James Ingraham saw an opportunity in the shipping company’s loss: it would be possible to construct a detailed model of ocean currents by tracking the progress of the red beavers, green frogs, blue turtles and yellow ducks.
(images via: Daily Mail UK, NY Daily News and Ed Matthews)
Indeed, over the next 15 years the toys began washing up on the world’s seashores. By the summer of 2007 they were being reported from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, which meant that they had been locked into the polar ice pack and carried from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The incident perfectly illustrates how even a single lost shipping container can have a global impact.
Diecast Away
(images via: Roshy, On Kayaks and Velotour)
Now multiply that single lost shipping container by several thousand, and do it again for 10, 20, 30 years or more. Are the world’s best vacation beaches and scenic shorelines destined to be the final destinations for flotillas of floating Fritos bags, shipwrecked Spalding sneakers and various vanquished volleyballs?
(images via: Cargolaw, Yidio, Delvecchio and Creative Article Marketing)
Not only will some future Cast Away Crusoe have hundreds of Wilsons to keep him company, he could use them to build one supremely sporty raft – and this time, we won’t have FedEx to thank (or blame).
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Detox Towers: Architecture that Cleans Urban Air
April 15, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Science & Research. ]
Buildings are among the largest contributors to anthropogenic climate change – but could they be part of the solution instead? One concept for urban architecture doesn’t just cut the structures’ environmental footprint through energy and resource efficiency, but actually uses the buildings to clean the air. Detox Towers, a finalist in the 2011 Evolo Skyscraper Competition, uses bio-filters made of algae and synthetic membranes to strip pollutants from the atmosphere.
Though highly efficient buildings running on renewable energy are a big step up from the wasteful urban infrastructure that is currently in place in most of the world’s largest cities, simply reducing greenhouse gas emissions may not be enough as emerging global economies put an even bigger strain on resources and release ever more toxins into the air.
The creators of the Detox Towers concept, BIOMSgroup and Maria-Paz Gutierrez, envision an innovative dual-layer membrane system on both the outside and inside of a skyscraper. Algae, lichen and synthetic materials utilize nature’s proven filtering techniques to both detoxify the air and control the transmission of light for air quality, natural lighting and temperature regulation.
In addition to the filtering system, Detox Towers offers a novel concept for expanding urban populations without spreading beyond a city’s boundaries or necessitating constant construction. A flexible floor and wall system could allow residents to create their own layouts that change over time through an expansive/contractive composite material made of elastomer and/or thermoplastic. In effect, rather than purchasing acreage of land, residents would purchase a ‘sky lot’ that limits the expansion of their property.
While the technical details have not yet been fully developed, Detox Towers aims to promote discussion and innovation in these technologies as a possible future archetype in urban planning.
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Bark At The Moon: A History Of Soviet Space Dogs
April 5, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats & History & Trivia & Science & Research. ]
Among the many noteworthy achievements of the Soviet Union’s space program was the first launch of an animal – a dog named Laika – into earth orbit on the world’s second successful satellite. “Muttnik” wasn’t the only dog star: over 50 canine cosmonauts helped set the stage for the USSR‘s side of the great Space Race. This is their story.
Cold War, Hot Dogs
(image via: Telstar Logistics)
World War II had ended and the Cold War had just begun – and both the United States and the Soviet Union worked feverishly to establish viable ballistic missile and manned space programs with the help of captured German rocket scientists. While the Americans used captured V2 rockets to launch fruit flies, a monkey and a mouse into suborbital space between 1947 and the summer of 1950, the USSR decided dogs would be the ideal space-pioneering animals.
(images via: Spacebooks, Wikipedia, All Experts and Want It All)
Dogs could be trained to deal with long periods of inactivity required in preparation for a launch and would also tolerate wearing a cumbersome space suit in a small confined space. As well, stray dogs were chosen for their perceived hardiness and females were preferred due to simpler sanitation solutions.
(images via: Alaxanda Hulme and Russian Wikipedia)
In early 1951, two dogs named Tsygan (above, top) and Dezik rode a Soviet-built copy of the V2 rocket 110 km (68.35 miles) into space. The pressurized capsule containing the dogs parachuted back to Earth and both Dezik and Tsygan were none the worse for wear. At least, for the moment: Dezik did not survive his next mission later that year. Both dogs can be seen today, stuffed and mounted, at the Cosmonaut Memorial Museum in Moscow.
Giant Leaps For Mankind
(images via: Aerospace Medical Association and Cali1Socal)
The officially recognized border between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space is 100 km, or about 62 miles, and between 1951 and 1956 the Soviet Union conducted 15 launches with 9 different dogs to at least that altitude. Another 11 launches to 200 km (124 miles) took place between 1957 and 1960. In 1958, three intrepid dog-monauts soared to 450 km (280 miles). Not all the canine crewmen survived these suborbital flights but the vast majority did, paving the way for the manned missions of the 1960s.
(images via: TIME, JWZ and Soviet Space Dogs)
Not only did Soviet space dogs succeed superbly in pushing the envelope of early space exploration by making suborbital space flights in the 1950s, many of them ascended in pairs such as Lisa and Ryzhik, Smelaya and Malyshka, and Bolik and ZIB. That odd last name is an acronym for “Zamena ischeznuvshemu Boliku” or “Substitute for Missing Bolik.” It seems the real Bolik ran away just days before his scheduled flight and a local stray was drafted as an instant replacement.
(image via: Realmagick)
Nearly 30 missions over a 10-year period may seem a lot for the Soviets, whose reputation for risk-taking and less than thorough testing is perhaps overstated. Consider that the United States launched a chimpanzee named Ham into space on January 31, 1961. Ham’s mission was followed a mere 3 months later by the first launch of an American astronaut, Alan Shepard, and both missions were suborbital.
Laika Rock(et)
(images via: NLM, Novareinna and The Siren Sound)
The October 1957 launch into orbit of Sputnik 1 shocked the world in general and the United States in particular – the Space Race was on! It wouldn’t be until January 31 of 1958 that the USA was able to place their first satellite, Explorer 1, into Earth orbit. The success of Explorer 1 was somewhat overshadowed by the startling success of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 2 which launched on November 3, 1957. Not only did the rather large satellite achieve orbit, it carried a passenger: Laika (Russian for “Barker”), a 6 kg (13 lb) female stray with distinctive floppy ears.
(images via: Niki McCretton Presents, Niqqi’s Blog, First Second Books and Libraridan)
The American press had a field day with Laika’s successful launch, dubbing both the dog and capsule “Muttnik”. The embarrassing first attempt by the USA to launch a satellite – the televised launch pad explosion of Vanguard TV3 in December of 1957 – was ridiculed as Flopnik, Oopsnik and Kaputnik to name a few.
(images via: Aaron George Bailey and The Student Room)
Laika’s mission was intended to last 10 days but unfortunately, the heat shielding on Sputnik 2′s exterior was damaged during the launch phase and temperatures inside the capsule soared to 40 °C (104 °F). Though telemetry received at mission control indicated that Laika had calmed down somewhat from the stress of the launch and was eating food, by 5 to 7 hours into the flight life signs were no longer being received.
(images via: Tedstrong, Manoakua and ICA)
Laika’s fate was not fully disclosed until October of 2002, almost 45 years after the mission and over a decade after the USSR itself ceased to exist. At the time, fledgling animal rights groups protested the concept of sending a dog into space with no thought of retrieval. It seems even the scientists who planned Laika’s mission had qualms over it. In 1998 one of these scientists, Oleg Gazenko, expressed his regret by stating “Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it… We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.” Today, Laika’s heroic yet tragic life has made her both a symbol of courage and a figure of sadness.
Dog Stars
(images via: EnglishRussia and Nuclear_Art)
Belka (“Squirrel”) and Strelka (“Arrow”) have also made the leap to pop culture, though their tail, er, tale lacks the tragic component of Laika’s short but vivid life. Belka and Strelka’s adventure began on August 19, 1960, securely seated inside Sputnik 5) along with 1 rabbit, 2 rats, 42 mice, an unknown number of flies, plus some plants and fungi.
(image via: Blog Serius)
The launch was uneventful and the capsule orbited the Earth for one day before safely parachuting down to the welcoming steppes of Soviet Central Asia. Belka, Strelka, and their fellow biota were the first creatures to orbit the Earth and return alive. Preserved for prosperity in Russia are the taxidermised Belka and Strelka along with their dented but undaunted space capsule.
(images via: Foxunk, WN.com and The Beet Goes On)
Belka and Strelka star in not one, but TWO animated feature films. One is titled “The Real Adventures of Belka and Strelka”, a portion of which can be seen here:
The Real Adventures of Belka and Strelka, part1, via Belkaistrelkacom
The other boasts a higher caliber of animation (think Rango) and the wonders of 3D. Touted as “an epic space adventure across the third dimension”, Space Dogs 3D was released in 2010. You can check out the trailer here:
Space Dogs 3D – Movie Trailer, via Epicpicturesgroup
The Ruff Stuff
(images via: KenhSinh Vien and Visualrian)
Though Laika may be the best known of the nearly 60 Soviet space dogs and Belka & Strelka have been immortalized in film, others have also achieved a measure of fame. Last (literally) but certainly not least, are Veterok and Ugolyok. Launched on February 22, 1966, the pair spent 22 days orbiting the Earth orbit before landing safely on March 16: their endurance record would not be surpassed until June of 1973, by human astronauts aboard Skylab 2. Veterok and Ugolyok would be the last of a long line of Soviet space dogs going back over 16 years.
(image via: SFF Audio)
The USSR may have lost the Space Race but it was the fault of their hardware, not their “software”: loyal, hardworking cosmonauts both canine and human. Through their – dare I say it – dogged determination, the Soviet space dogs helped make the airless void above a safer place for their best friends… us.
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Pretty Smart: Great Green Gift & Product Packaging
April 4, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Science & Research. ]
Some people say it’s what’s inside that counts, but the truth is, packaging plays a big role not only in the presentation of a product but in the earth-friendliness of its life cycle. And considering all the plastic that temporarily protects a product and then gets pitched into landfills, we need all the eco-innovation we can get. These 14 sustainable gift wrap ideas & product packages make bulky, wasteful wrappings a thing of the past, choosing reclaimed, recyclable and natural materials for beautiful and efficient results.
360 Paper Bottle
(image via: core77)
60 million plastic bottles are thrown away every day in the United States alone, and it’s not just the waste that’s a problem – plastic is made from petroleum. So what can we do about it? One possible solution is the 360 paper bottle concept, made of fully recyclable food-safe paper. It even has a paper lid!
DIY Gift Wrap by Grey Likes Weddings
(image via: style me pretty)
If you tend to think of DIY gift wrap made of recycled materials as a little too rustic for your tastes, check out these gorgeous examples of creative reuse. Summer Watkins of Grey Likes Weddings created the decorative accents on these gifts using reclaimed items like vintage brooches, thrift store sweaters, book pages, fabric scraps and natural greenery.
Billerud Fiberform Biodegradable Packaging
(images via: below the clouds)
From Swedish packaging designer Billerud comes ‘Fiberform’, biodegradable and recyclable packaging that takes plastic out of the equation for all manner of products from food to cosmetics. This paper-based packaging can be embossed or printed and fits securely around package contents to protect it.
Molded Paperboard for Newton Running Shoes
(image via: sustainable is good)
Simple, green and cost-effective, this molded paperboard box made for Newton Running Shoes eliminates the need for tissue paper padding by creating a tight custom fit around the shoes. You won’t even find disposable packing materials inside the shoes – instead, they include a pair of socks and a reusable bag!
Universal Cardboard Packaging by Patrick Sung
(image via: design milk)
Don’t you hate it when you order a small item that comes in a ridiculously oversized cardboard box? Patrick Sung’s Universal Packaging System (UPACKS) could make that problem a thing of the past. This innovative packaging concept not only bends around objects of virtually any shape for packaging that’s easy to customize, it’s strong and durable, too. One drawback, however, is a lack of stackability, which might require further thinking outside the box (literally).
DIY: CD Spindle for Bagel Transport
(image via: blisstree)
Need to keep a bagel sandwich protected while on the go? One genius Flickr user named piwonka came up with this novel idea using a reclaimed CD spindle. If only this would catch on at the neighborhood deli.
Banana Leaves as Natural Packaging
(image via: inhabitat)
Naturally durable and water-resistant, banana leaves could serve as an eco-friendly packaging option for all kinds of applications. In a series called Packaging the Future, Inhabitat outlines the many virtues of banana leaf packaging, especially for food. These tough leaves can even be folded into cute little bowls.
MoMA TerraSkin Treeless Paper Packaging
(image via: sustainable is good)
Made of 80 percent calcium carbonate mineral powder and 20 percent resin, TerraSkin is tree-free and requires 50 percent less energy to create than regular fiber-based paper. It’s got a bright white color without bleaching, is naturally tear-resistant and repels water, requiring less ink when printing. The Museum of Modern Art began using TerraSkin for its gift boxing and packaging needs in 2006.
EcoTubes Recycled Paper Lip Balm
(image via: phoenix botanicals etsy)
Want plastic-free lip balm that still provides tube-like ease of application? Etsy seller Phoenix Botanicals offers a trio of organic herbal lip balms in biodegradable recycled paper containers that contain 20% more product than plastic tubes with no waste.
Mushroom Packaging
(images via: inhabitat)
Renewable, natural and fire-resistant, packaging made from mushrooms can biodegrade even without oxygen and requires little energy to produce. Created by Ecovative Design, ‘Mycobond’ requires just one eighth the energy and one tenth the carbon dioxide of traditional foam packing material and could eventually make its way into our homes cradling electronics, furniture, décor and countless other items. Because mushrooms can grow practically anywhere, this packaging could be produced locally, saving even more energy.
Yves Behar Box/Bag for Puma
(image via: dezeen)
San Francisco designer Yves Behar of Fuseproject created this cool box/bag combo for footwear brand Puma. Called Clever Little Bag, the packaging consists of a flat-pack cardboard tray that fits inside a reusable recycled heat-woven case with a handle. This design uses 65% less cardboard than the standard shoe box and requires no laminated printing, no tissue paper and no plastic carrying bag. Clever indeed.
Japanese Furoshiki Reusable Gift Cloth
(image via: reuseit.com)
Why use disposable gift wrap at all when you could simply wrap the gift in a beautiful reusable organic cotton cloth? It’s easy to cut wrapping cloth out of any fabric you have on hand, or you could go with an elegant pre-made option like this organic cotton version by Chewing the Cud, inspired by the traditional Japanese Furoshiki cloth and printed with soy inks.
Recycled Paper Envelope from Book Pages
(image via: mistybliss)
A beautiful, one-of-a-kind shipping or gift envelope is as simple as sewing some book pages together. You could also use brown paper bags, as in this tutorial by Natural Kids.
Biodegradable Packaging for McDonald’s
(image via: inhabitat)
McDonalds will likely never truly earn the right to call itself ‘green’, but it would earn a lot of cred if it picked up this concept for biodegradable packaging by University of the Arts grad student Andrew Millar. The bags are made of naturally grease-resistant grass fiber and fold out into compartmentalized trays for tidy, low-waste meals on the go.
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