Concrete is usually 60% to 75% "aggregate," sand, gravel or crushed stone, according to people who should know. What this engineer did was grind up the "landfill-bound" plastic materials, and then mix them with pure concrete. Not only did he save the plastic from environmentally unfriendly alternatives (landfill or heat-related processing), he also avoided the use of mined gravel or sand. Once the bricks were made—allegedly to withstand 3000 to 5000 psi—he built the structures above.

I don't know what the Portland Cement Association will make of it, but if there's any chance these bricks float, I think members of the Concrete Boot Association, aka Cosa Nostra, could be mightily displeased. [Inhabitat]

Early versions of the material have already been used in full-scale building projects as concrete, so I guess that's what we're going with. Li, with others, has been working on this idea for years, designing materials that allow for large concrete structures, like bridges, to expand and contract with temperature changes without cracking and falling apart.

Nearly a decade and a half of research accomplished this goal, and then some: later versions of the composite, as seen above, can be severely bent without losing structural integrity. This resilience comes do to its ability to form a sort of concrete scar tissue out of calcium carbonate, the stuff seashells are made of, which fills the small cracks that form when the material is contorted.

Within five years, Li expects his composite to become a living organism, gain sentience and attack humanity from beneath its feet. Well, OK, he doesn't, but I do. [National Geographic via DVICE]

Although a slab of concrete may seem like a strange choice of material for a humidifier, this concrete has a "unique character of absorbing and evaporating water rapidly." Also, because this humidifier has been equipped with weight sensors, it automatically switches itself off once all the water has been used. Efficient, isn't it? [Yanko]

The In Visible City speakers had better sound amazing. Because when you inform your friends that you've just purchased speakers made of concrete and glass, they will never lend you money again. And besides, we're guessing there's good reason that the New York Philharmonic isn't rocking out with cellos made of industrial building materials. [designboom via scifitech]

In addition, they went and dropped the phone on carpet, tile and the concrete. The iPhone pulled through with barely any scratches thanks to the keys and just a little bit of scuffing on metal edges thanks to the concrete.

We cringed at all the tests, but this should give you a semi-accurate view of how the iPhone does after a couple months abuse.

iPhone Stress Tests [PCWorld via PCWorld]

How will they make televisions out of concrete, you ask? Put on your thinking caps, because here comes the science: magic! You were thinking something more along the lines of optical fibres being embedded in the concrete acting as pixels, but watch that video again—that's magic, folks. If a giant slab of concrete doesn't fit your home d cor (I'm seeing an 'unfinished basement' theme), you'll just have to go anywhere in the outside world with large slabs of concrete and hope advertisers have placed one there for your viewing pleasure. Betting on that proposition begins now. – Karson Thompson

World's First Concrete Screen [Product Web]

Futurists are thinking about this very serious problem. Here's a garage concept, for a time where the rich are even more ridiculously rich, enough so to buy this transparent concrete model for $212,000. Created by architects Neutral, the "Designer Garage" features LCD sandwiched in between the concrete, that can be electronically darkened so the poor people can't bother you with their hunger-stare and "begging for food".– Brian Lam

Designer Garage [Gizmag]

For Royal College of Art design students Chris Glaister, Afshin Mehin and Tomas Rosen, the problem with concrete is once you put it down you can't change it, and people have to just get used to it. So they decided to make concrete that changes color and came up with Chronos Chromos Concrete, a system that uses heat conduction to enable the display of patterns in the concrete. Suitable for outdoor and indoor applications, it takes about five seconds to make a color change. They made a short video demonstrating a change, watch it to get a better idea of how the technology works.

Chronos Chromos Concrete [via Josh Spear]