This week on TreeHugger, freaky robots that play with our minds, a solar powered wheelchair makes a 200 mile journey, self-healing concrete thanks to self-destructing bacteria, and more.
5 Freaky Robots Show Us the Future is Now (Videos)
From robots controlled by our minds to robots with minds of their own!
Man to Travel 200 Miles in Solar-Powered Wheelchair
On Monday, the disabled 47-year-old from the UAE is set to embark on a record-breaking 200 mile voyage across the desert in a solar-powered wheelchair he designed and built himself.
Turn an Old MP3 Player Into New Flashdrive
As you upgrade your music player, you might find yourself with a very old version of your iPod. You can put the device to good use by hacking it into a flashdrive.
Visible Shower Tank Helps Visualize Water Use
Usually water-saving design concepts for showers are some sort of electronic gadget that makes your water use visible — by showing how much you're using, how much of animpact you're making on the planet with your water footprint, or scoring you on reducing your environmental footprint. However, this shower concept simplifies conservation by showing you your water use in the most literal sense.
PowerHouse Solar Shingle — Your Entire Roof Is a Solar Panel
Dow Chemical decided if you can't beat'em, join'em and has developed the Powerhouse solar shingle, which John showed us last year. It just got UL approval and can now prepare to go to market in early 2011. But is this a good idea?
Lunchbox Heats and Cools Your Meal with Solar Power
For a hot or cold meal on the go, this high-tech lunchbox concept is an interesting solution. Using a giant flower-shaped fan with netting somehow made of solar cells, lunchbox captures energy to heat and cool various compartments storing your different dishes.
Self-Destructing Bacteria Heals Cracked Concrete
Could self-healing concrete be the answer to keeping sidewalks and structures in tip top shape and shrink the carbon footprint of concrete production? There's a new high-tech solution, using bacteria that comes complete with a self-destruct gene.
We Can Use Cell-Phone Towers to Forecast Wind Power
The company says that it now has sensors capable of tracking the wind data near 95 percent of the wind farms in Texas, and that its data is very accurate because it has put its sensors on cell phone towers.
Robot Cars Are on the Horizon!
Yes, that might alternately sound scary and impossible and far off, but it might happen sooner than most think.
TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.