6 futuristic appliances from the house of tomorrow

Gel-cooled bio-fridge needs no energy

A Russian designer dreamed up this goo-based cooling unit and made it to the finals in the Electrolux Design Lab. The Bio Robot Refrigerator doesn't look like any fridge you've seen before. Instead, it looks like a sci-fi movie prop. The face of this wall-mounted appliance is filled with the bright green biopolymer gel that uses science, and perhaps a little magic, to cool your foods. To pop something in the fridge, you merely push it into the gel, where it's suspended.

The neatest thing about this fridge is that it doesn't need a power source, so it could save up to 8 percent of a household's energy costs -- that is, if the concept one day becomes a real product.