Google's patented flypaper-like hood aims to protect pedestrians upon crash

Google has lots of patents for products you never imagined. Just on Tuesday, it was granted a patent for an adhesive surface on the front of a car that works just like flypaper. The patent claims that the sticky layer on the hood will prevent pedestrians from bouncing off the cars if hit. It sounds crazy, but it's addressing a serious issue.

The patent was actually filed with Google's self-driving cars in mind, but it also says it could be used on any type of vehicle.

"Ideally, the adhesive coating on the front portion of the vehicle may be activated on contact and will be able to adhere to the pedestrian nearly instantaneously. This instantaneous or nearly-instantaneous action may help to constrain the movement of the pedestrian, who may be carried on the front end of the vehicle until the driver of the vehicle (or the vehicle itself in the case of an autonomous vehicle) reacts to the incident and applies the brakes. As such, both the vehicle and pedestrian may come to a more gradual stop than if the pedestrian bounces off the vehicle."

[h/t: Telegraph]

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Sayaka Ganz creates amazing art menagerie from discarded plastics

I could never get enough of Sayaka Ganz . The Japanese-born artist saves the planet from plastic, at the same time creates brilliant animal sculptures. Raised under the Japanese philosophy of Shintoism, she hopes to bring greater awareness to the condition of our environment through her art. When creating sculptures, Sayaka organizes the reclaimed plastic objects into color groups, constructs a wire frame, and then carefully attaches the fragments of waste until she creates the shape she has envisioned. Her work has been exhibited in many places around the globe, among them Parma, Tokyo, Denver, New York, and San Francisco to name a few. Sayaka's Reclaimed Creations is currently on view at the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University in Maryland. She regularly posts on Facebook, so be sure to like and follow her page for updates.

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I really like these whimsical ceramic creatures by James DeRosso. Yes, they have bulging eyes and toothy grins, but they're not scary at all. The Portland-based artist started making cute monsters while he was a student to jokingly create gargoyle-like guardians for the kiln. After other students kept taking his quirky little figures, he realized there was a market for them. "I'm enjoying the whole monster making niche," James says. "It's amazingly gratifying to be doing ceramics full time and especially to be a teacher introducing kids to the joy of clay." Be sure to visit his website and like his Facebook page for the latest monster news.

What peacock feathers look like under a microscope

Canadian photographer Waldo Nell wondered how peacock feathers look up close. So, he put one under a microscope, took dozens of photos from various focal points, and stacked and blended them together to create high resolution images. Waldo is a software engineer by day in British Columbia, but he's also an "avid photographer interested in the extraordinary." You can see more of his work on Flickr and on 500px . [h/t: PetaPixel ]

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