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Graphene coatings used to repel, attract water, could make Rain-X decidedly obsolete
Graphene looks poised to replace our silicon and our touchscreens, even fix our batteries. Now it's due for something perhaps a little less revolutionary: keep our pants clean. Physicist James Dickerson and a team of researchers at Vanderbilt University have created two ways to apply thin graphene sheets that either make them super-hydrophobic or super-hydrophilic. These alternate arrangements, termed "rug" and "brick," make the water bead up and run off or spread out and form incredibly thin sheets. Potential applications are windshields that don't need wipers, pants that cause red wine drops to just bounce off, and goggles that never, ever fog -- no buffing required.
Vaska of Kiev and the 1000-core Oriental rug
Usually when a handsome, chiseled foreigner with a fitted baby-blue tank top tucked into his Levi's offers to take us for a ride on his magic carpet, we smile coyly, mumble an excuse, and keep walking. But something about this man took us by surprise: we can't tell if it was the perfectly-cropped widow's peak or the smell of a 27-year vintage Intel 80286 wafting from underneath his fingernails. Long story short, we followed him home and never looked back.
Panasonic develops electric rug: used for warmth, not zaps
Ok, we can understand the whole heated floors thing, especially in the dead of winter where your hardwood often feels like it's going to give your toes a mild case of frostbite. But level with us here, Panasonic, if you're going to develop an electric blanket, at least have the decency and sense of humor to make the damn thing into the most powerful covert Van De Graff generator the world has ever known. Yeah, we're totally the types to give our guests static shocks bad enough to burn holes in their clothes -- so what? On sale in Japan this September.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Panasonic's furry carpet warms you up, provides companionship
It pains us to see the furry fad still lingering around, but joining the totally hairy Philips display comes the patent-pending "no constraints carpet," which presumably aims to provide warmth and companionship to the lonely house dweller. Reportedly showcased at the Tokyo Fiber convention, Panasonic has developed a electrified faux fur that comes in white, brown, or black / white color schemes to "deliver warmth only to the areas you touch when you cuddle it." Oddly, there was no word on where the internal heating elements get their juice, but considering that the technology isn't quite ready for commercial release, we assume the firm is keeping wraps on the nitty gritty. The fun-lovin' fur should be available in short (five feet) and long (23 feet) iterations, and while we aren't entirely sure if your local home furnishings store will actually have rolls of this stuff to cover your flooring anytime soon, those still living in yesterday can certainly hope for the best.[Via PinkTentacle]
