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Here's what we looked at this week:The strange story of how lefty abuse led to the formation of a successful mid-century design duo. Microsoft's new AI face animation technology turns a single snapshot into a convincing talking head. "Make anyone say anything."Outside-the-box thinkin

The most common surgical implant is a screw; surgeons insert billions of them in patients each year.Screws need holes, and holes need drills. When wielding these drills, "Surgeons currently use their 'feel' to stop on the far side of the bone," writes McGinley Orthopedic Innovations. Because that "feel" can leave a lot up to chance, company founder Dr. Joseph McGinley conceived of an Intellisense Drill Technology. This would "automatically stop the drill motor upon breach of the desired cortex. This may help ensure that critical structures past the bone are not damaged."To actually develop this technology and get it into a physical produ

Sometimes you nail that one component that makes the whole piece. In the case of this Piloti Alu table, by Portugese industrial designer Hugo Passos, it's the corner connector:The frame is aluminum, and the tops are available in stone or laminate.

The curse of an industrial designer: Slaving over details no one will get to see. It's a pity that this GO streetlight, by Zurich-based industrial designer Jörg Boner, is mounted so high up. From the ground you can't see how attractive the head is.

This Grasp Lamp, by Danish industrial designer Thomas Albertsen, isn't really a lamp in the technical sense: Instead it's a structure to hold lighting. Which is to say, the lamp has no wiring, just a (presumably magnetic) connection point where you pop in a rechargeable LED light.

Space may be infinite, but it has the same problem we do on Earth: Not enough housing. Builders of space habitats are constrained by shipping capacity. While rocket launches have become cheaper and more frequent, there are only so many building materials you can cram into the payload. "For example, the ISS took more than 40 flights," writes Max Space, "and cost more than $100 billion to build. Max Space can provide the equivalent cubic volume of the ISS in space for $200 million—including launch—bringing the cost down by over a hundred-fold."Company founder Maxim de Jong, a pioneer of "soft system space architecture," is the world's premier expert on using expandable materials i

In the UK, where drinking warm beer was a thing, pint glasses were an appropriate vessel for centuries. In 20th century Germany, a new type of beer vessel evolved along with the technology of refrigeration: The stange, which translates to "pole" or "rod," as that's what the narrow-but-tall vessel resembled.Stangen are used to serve Cologne's Kölsch style of beer, which is best imbibed cold; thus the glasses hold just 100-200mL (3.4 – 6.8 oz), allowing you to get it down your gullet before the room warms it up. The narrow design exposes a minimal amount of beer to the ambient air, and also allows a frothy head to form.

This object might baffle Westerners visiting Japan:

At first glance, wearable speakers are a strange bit of kit. When Bose released their Soundwear Companion in 2017, I couldn't see the use case. But as I age it becomes more obvious. I frequently use captions while watching shows or movies, as I have a difficult time making out the dialogue, particularly if it's sci-fi with technical language. There are also times when I'm doing multi-room tasks, would like to listen to a podcast, but cannot wear headphones as I need to keep an ear out for animal care reasons. With full hands, carrying a Bluetooth speaker becomes inconvenient.There must not have been enough old people paying attention; Bose quickly bailed out of the wearable speaker market, quietly axing the Soundwear Companion in 2020. No reason was pro

These stunning furniture pieces are by Australian furniture designer/builder Brodie Neill (who did that ReCoil table we looked at earlier). First off, this Bonsai shelving unit was commissioned by a client. It's made of bronze and hollow: