Made in Japan

Gorgeous little needle-felted skull

Gorgeous little needle-felted skull

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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From Japanese crafter うろね, who is also Flickr user urone317. [via CRAFT]

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Hydrogel is mostly water, but strong as silicone rubber

Hydrogel is mostly water, but strong as silicone rubber

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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You’re looking at a piece of hydrogel. It is 98% water by weight. It’s moldable, transparent, environmentally friendly, easily synthesized and (get this) if it’s cut it will heal itself. Its creator, Takuzo Aida at the University of Tokyo, has compared it to silicone rubber in terms of strength. And to make it, all you have to do is stir three ingredients into a bunch of water at room temperature. These are sodium polyacrylate, clay, and a special dendritic macromolecule Aida and co-workers call “G3 binder.”

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Japanese wooden humidifier has no moving parts

Japanese wooden humidifier has no moving parts

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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I have no idea how well it works, but I’m loving the minimalist zen-garden aesthetics of this Mast Humidifier from Masuza. The wood, supposedly, is naturally rot-resistant and imparts a lemony smell to the air. [via Gizmodo]

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Paper airplane flight time record achieved

Paper airplane flight time record achieved

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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Yesterday, engineer Takuo Toda, president of the Japan origami aeroplane association, set a world flight record for a traditional-origami paper plane of 26.1 seconds. He’s had longer flights, but they involved the use of scissors, tape, or other non-traditional materials. [via Neatorama]

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158-lens camera

By Sean Michael Ragan

Sean Michael Ragan

I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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Built by Associate Professor Yojiro Ishino of the Nagoya Institute of Technology, this giant camera took six months to build and has reportedly been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the camera with the record-holding highest number of lenses. It’s about 3 inches high and 18.5 inches across, and was built to study flames by capturing them simultaneously from as many angles as possible. [via Neatorama]

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