LED

Fireflies ... they’ve allowed us to image the bloodstream and they’ve inspired the creation of a light that could run on waste. Now, they’ve helped an international team of scientists get over 50 percent more light out of existing LED bulbs. The secret lies in the insects’ scales.  Read More

Sleep deprivation is no joke. It can cause lower performance, decreased memory, and even sickness. So, if you spend your life orbiting Earth on a $150B spacecraft, you're going to take sleep seriously. NASA, responding to an epidemic of insomnia, is ready to give the International Space Station (ISS) an LED makeover.  Read More

When it comes to riding in the city, you'd be forgiven for thinking that cyclists don a cloak of invisibility before entering a busy traffic stream. According to the latest figures from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 618 cyclists were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes during 2010 and a further 52,000 suffered non-fatal injuries. While this loss of life only represents two percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities, it's still troublingly high. After reading about some well-publicized urban bike/truck battles where the commercial vehicle emerged a good deal better off than the rider, designer Tory Orzeck started to think of ways to give cyclists more presence on the road. The result of his labors is a handlebar-mounted, dual-tone, LED-packing smart bike horn called ORP.  Read More

Fashion designers are increasingly experimenting with new possibilities afforded by 3D printers (take a look at some 3D printed shoes) and ubiquitous electronics like LEDs. Now a group from South Korea has created an illuminated hat that combines these technologies with a tilt sensor, that is sure to turn heads.  Read More

Last year a portable solar LED lamp called the WakaWaka Light – a winner of four Accenture Innovation awards in 2012 – was successfully crowd-funded. Now, its makers are launching a follow-up device that can fully recharge a phone or fuel your tablet for an extra couple of hours on a single day's charge.  Read More

When it comes to a light meal, Victor Vetterlein's "BITE ME" desk lamp has got you covered. The body of the brightly colored creation is made from bio-plastic that can be safely consumed at the end of its useful life. If eating lamps doesn't start your digestive juices flowing, the frame can also be thrown in the compost. Either way, the rather attractive electronics strip can be peeled away from the body and re-used elsewhere.  Read More

With most of us in the developed world more concerned about the flow of electricity to power our computers, TVs and all manner of other wonders of the modern age, it’s easy to forget the massive impact resulting from one of the first widespread public uses of electricity – the humble incandescent light bulb. With a large proportion of the world’s population still lacking reliable access to electricity, the GravityLamp hopes to bring the benefits of environmentally friendly artificial light to the developing world.  Read More

When we first came across Emily Brooke's BLAZE, a bicycle attachment that projects a cycle lane symbol on the road ahead of the cyclist, it was little more than a concept. That was in June of last year. Since then, Brooke's launched her own company, developed working prototypes, and taken to Kickstarter to fund fabrication of the first batch.  Read More

It’s taken a few years, but the LED light glasses developed at Australia’s Flinders University that first attracted our attention back in 2003 are finally seeing a commercial launch. Now called Re-Timer, the wearable device emits a soft green light onto the eyes to reset the body’s internal clock to counter jet lag, improve the alertness of shift workers and make waking up in the morning easier.  Read More