Toyota, who's Prius is easy on the environment to drive but horrible on it to make, has engineered a new type of flower to help shoulder some of the damage their factories are spitting out.

The sage derivative's leaves have unique characteristics that absorb harmful gases, while the gardenia's leaves create water vapour in the air, reducing the surface temperature of the factory surrounds and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for cooling, in turn producing less carbon dioxide (CO2).

Well, holy shit. That is pretty insane. [Drive via Treehugger]

It's a sunflower (I had to look that up too). Japanese artist Macoto Murayama creates these beautiful illustrations of flowers, highlighting their geometry. Intriguing, delicate work. [Creators Bank via Pink Tentacle]

But why a flower, and not a juicy pseudo-human arm? Well, fun fact: Mosquitoes love sucking blood, but they love sucking nectar from flowers even more. Hence, this deadly flower and its irresistible siren's song.

From the flower's "petals," which use colors that attract different mosquito species, to the special environmentally friendly Bt pesticide that resides at its center, everything has been engineered by Thomas Kollars, of the Georgia Southern University at Statesboro, to attract and kill those flying six legged devils (Bt specifically targets mosquitoes).

Even the tiny screen at the center of the flower is specially engineered: The tiny holes are only large enough for the mosquito's tube-shaped mouth (the proboscis) to get through, thereby ensuring ants and other creepy crawlies won't get accidentally snared in this trap too.

The Provector is currently being tested in the wilds of Puerto Rico. We'll know if this deadly "flower" was a success next month at the American Mosquito Control Association meeting in New Orleans. [New Scientist]

The USB Tulip Hub is a 4-way port adapter that cleverly hides flexible USB ports into a tulip design. Either plug in your favorite gadget, or rip a flower from its base in a moment of gift-less panic before an impromptu date. You see, a guy with a USB Tulip Hub lives life with a different creed. He's man enough to give a USB port to a girl, as long as it's shaped like a spring flower and shocks him when picked. [fredflare via Nerd Approved]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The Rose USB Drive stores gigabytes of data
(OK, just two). - Mark Wilson

[USBGeek via 7Gadgets]

The data then syncs with EasyBloom's web database, where it digs through 5,000 different plant species to either find plants that would do well in your conditions or diagnose why the plants you have aren't growing better.

Priced at $60, the EasyBloom runs off AAAs, connects to PCs (and Macs soon) and is engineered for unlimited use. And if it works as well as it claims, it seems like a great buy for the heavy gardener who's looking to up their game. [EasyBloom]

This would happen thanks to a "special biodegradable polymer which is completely functional under normal working conditions, yet starts to rapidly decompose when placed in compost." So once you toss the phone into compost, the case would disintegrate after a couple of weeks, and the sunflower seed inside would sprout up, bringing life where before there was none.

Only one problem: the fancy polymer would only be the case itself, all the guts of the phone would be there in the compost heap pollutin' things up like before. So yeah, while it's great that the plastic cases would be able to be composted, there's still a ways to go before you can throw your phone out the window of a speeding car without feeling bad about it. [Warwick via Technabob]

Product Page [Via Uber-review]

The device can speak in 200 languages, and whenever you "flatter" the flower and touch the flower or leaf, the fairy will "translate" and show you what it's thinking. Our brains just imploded from typing that. – Jason Chen

Product Page [e-revolution]

Product Page [Via Gizmodiva]

So your Mom's birthday is approaching, you have $20, and you need a gift, stat. How about making Mom a vase? With this DIY vase kit, you can easily make a beautiful vase to put flowers in for real cheap. Plus she'll love the fact that you made it (sort of) and put effort into it. Fill the vase with warm water and then grip it and mold it into any spectacular shape you wish. Afterwards, fill it with cold water and let the design set. Tah dah. Present made. It uses a thermal-sensitive polymer material to allow you to even flatten it down for storage. A set of two goes for $12.95, so make one for Grandma, too.

DIY Vase [Red Ferret]