Jordan Kushins

Which Superfoods Aren’t Actually Super At All?

It’s way more fun to finish off a big ol’ bar of dark choco when you can convince yourself it’s good for you. Because c’mon, science says so… in all those random studies you’ve seen floating around the internet… right? Well, surprise surprise, it turns out there are a bunch of false facts out there…

This London Tube Map Is Designed For Colorblind Travelers

Harry Beck’s topological Tube Map is an instantly recognizable design icon, even for those who have never navigated the London Underground. Sure, the clean geometry makes it easy to figure out the best route, but it’s the variety of Pantone hues assigned to each line that gives it true at-a-glance readability. That is, if you’re…

This Surprisingly Strong Bentwood Chair Looks Like It Would Snap In Two

Tadao Ando is like the concrete-whisperer: the Japanese architect has an unmatched talent for manipulating the everyday material to do pretty magical things. Dream Chair is one of his latest projects—a collaboration with Danish manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son—that switches up his usual scale and medium. The result is a seat that seems too precarious…

Mmmm, Beer: Watch 12,400 Gallons of Barleywine Wort Ferment, Get Wild

What you are about to watch is beer getting weird. Before California-based brewery Sierra Nevada bottles Bigfoot, its classic barleywine-style ale, the wort goes through a six-day fermentation process that sees a whopping 24,000 gallons of liquid appear to bake like bread, roil like a contaminated foam party in Ibiza, and overflow like a sentient…

Weird Bowls Made Using Balloons Filled With Rice, Marbles, and Pasta

If you’re ranking fun things to put in a balloon, helium probably tops the list, followed probably by water and then plain old human huffin’ and puffin’. But a fascinating thing happens when dry rice is poured into a balloon and all the air is sucked out: welcome to your new favorite filler. Che-Wei Wang…

Scientists Unearth The Truth Behind Ultra-Creepy Earthquake Lights

Have you ever heard of “earthquake lights”? I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in shake-happy coastal California and this phenomenon is news to me—but, for centuries, people have reported seeing a wide variety of illuminations just slightly before and during major tremblers. The origin of these glows have consistently baffled scientists—and no doubt…

All Together Now: Chris Ware Nails It With This New Yorker Cover

“All Together Now” is Chris Ware’s latest cover for The New Yorker and it offers, yet again, a pretty pitch-perfect perspective on our collective obsession with handheld tech; four years on, and we’re still seeing the world through our screens. You can read more from Ware about the latest cover here. [The New Yorker]

This Animatronic Wall Of Books Moves In Time With Library Visitors

One of the great joys offered by an old library is stepping through the doors and being greeted by an overwhelming sense of stillness. Endless stories exist between the covers resting on the shelves but, until you crack open a title and start to read, it’s blissfully oh so quiet. England’s Bristol Central Library is…

Track The Exact Location Where These Wood Fixtures Were Felled

Ninebyfour is a limited edition of 79 light fixtures, each made from a single piece of Stadshout, or “city wood”: timber felled around Amsterdam’s public spaces and destined for the chipper, but saved here to be transformed into something new. The Waarmakers design duo crafted every one by hand, then outfitted them with a sleek…

The 38 Most Interesting Designs of 2013

Welcome to the end of another year, people! We made it, and not without a ton of brand new stuff to carry us into 2014 and beyond. We saw lots of beautiful, interesting, and just plain weird things, but here we’ve rounded up the items that stuck with us; not just because of what they…

These Dinner Plates Were Decorated With A Paint-Filled Pendulum

The best aesthetic for pretty much any dish is a pile of delicious food. If you’re a proud member of the clean plate club, however, revealing a purdy pattern beneath your meal is a nice touch at the end of dinner. Dutch designer David Derksen used an acrylic paint-filled pendulum to give his Oscillation series…

A Band Called Death: Preemininent Punk Rockers, Forgotten Then Found

Discovering music is a way different game in the digital age, when new artists and tunes are a mere mouse click away. Before algorithms were responsible for instantly introducing new faves into the mix, recording demos and hustling for radio play was a key factor in building buzz and gaining new fans. A Band Called…

These Neon Lights Show The Growth Of Shanghai’s Urban DNA

Shanghai is, unfortunately, seeing record levels of smog lately, but there’s no sign of dull toxic haze in this neon display by artist Lu Xinjian. “City Light” is a glowing part of I Love Shanghai, an exhibition at the local Art Labor gallery; here, pop stylings and primary colors actually show the real-life urban grid—with…

This Alpine House Looks Like It Was Beamed Down From Outer Space

Sure, the larch-wood cladding gives Ufogel a kind of rustic charm, but I’ll be damned if this Austrian guest house doesn’t really look like it just beamed down from a quaint corner of outer space. Architect Peter Jungmann designed the cozy 484-square-feet pod with a massive, angular window on one side—perfect to take in the…

Read to Win the War: 13 Vintage Posters Promoting American Libraries

Ever since the internet came along, our relationship to libraries has changed dramatically. But recent studies show that these institutions—pillars of the OG sharing economy—are still viewed as essential to American communities. So it’s fascinating to take a look through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign‘s collection of posters and propaganda from the American Library…

Using a pinhole camera she fashioned from an Assam tea tin, Heather Champ recorded the sun’s path over the past year—from Winter Solstice to Winter Solstice—in what just might be the ultimate form of delayed gratification. The San Francisco-based photographer placed the makeshift device outside her home for the duration, and the resulting ultra-long-exposure solargraph…

Hail The Machines: An Electronic Tribute To Carol Of The Bells

It’s a lovely thing when a chorus of voices comes together to perform that Christmas classic, Carol of the Bells. But hey, who needs humans? This season’s audio-visual holiday card from the Glasgow School of Art is an electronic masterpiece, bringing together a selection of vintage Mac computers, a Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum + 1,…

Listen To Seasonal Songs From Across This Globe On This Interactive Map

Christmas is upon us—finally, huzzah!—but that just might mean that even the most avowedly pro-holiday people out there are tired of hearing the same old festive standards again (and again and again…). If you’re looking to mix up the playlist, this interactive “singing map” lets you to explore seasonal tunes from around the world. https://gizmodo.com/heres-your-christmas-eve-spotify-playlist-5971102…

Beautiful Light Fixtures Folded From A Single Sheet Of Tyvek

So you can fashion a piece of loose leaf into a paper crane? Snore. Behold the skills of Jiangmei Wu, who turns single sheets of Tyvek into incredibly intricate sculptures that glow from within. Wu’s Folded Light Art is the result of an impressive mix of old and new techniques; she designs patterns using Illustrator…

Watch This Mistletoe Drone Launch Surprise Kiss Attacks

Nothing says holiday cheer like an unmanned aerial vehicle! In San Francisco’s Union Square, a drone decked out in tinsel and armed with mistletoe did some low-flying rounds over the heads of jolly folks, who were positively delighted at the excuse to engage in a little festive PDA. Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s tough not to…