The Sceptic's Tarot

Here are more examples of creativity at work:

Portrait in glass

Sometimes you need to destroy to create. Simon Berger creates portraits by destroying glass.

Simon starts with a photo of a model, which he outlines on a pane of glass. Then he goes to work with hammer and chisel. He uses glass that doesn’t break immediately on being struck, like a car’s windshield.

This is the result:

You can get more information, and see more images, on the artist's website at drsimon.ch.

Image credit: Simon Berger

Source

Tymulis, D & Laurinavicius, R. (n.d.) Artist creates amazing portrait by smashing glass in certain places. Bored Panda. Retrieved 5 November 2019 from https://www.boredpanda.com/glass-art-simon-berger.

Self-cleaning door handle

Door handles in public places are disgusting, aren’t they?

Fear no more: two students in Hong Kong have created a self-cleaning door handle that uses ultraviolet light to kill germs.

Demonstrating that motivation to solve a problem is the driver of creativity!

The door handle is a glass tube covered by a thin layer of titanium, with an aluminium handle at each end. When the tube is bathed in UV light, it sets off a chemical reaction that destroys germs. The UV light is powered by a small generator that uses the kinetic energy of the opening and closing of the door to produce electricity.

Tests show that the door handle kills 99.8% of microbes.

Image: https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-HK/2019/project/self-sanitizing-door-handle/

Source

Hendricks, S. (2019, October 31). Students develop door handles that kill bacteria. Big Think. Retrieved 5 November 2019 from https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/uv-light-doorhandle.

Bamboo water tower

In regions where water is scarce, people have harvested water from rain, fog, or even dew.

A recent innovation in water-scarce Ethiopia is a bamboo tower that captures water from the air around it.

The invention challenges the assumption that a desert is completely dry.

The WarkaWater tower is 30 feet tall and 13 feet wide. A mesh netting over the tower captures moisture from the air and directs it into a hygienic holding tank.

The tower is easy and cheap to construct, uses no electricity, and is able to produce up to 25 gallons of water a day.

The concept is the brain child of Italian architect, designer, and artist Arturo Vittori.

More information is available from http://www.arturovittori.com/.

Image credit: Arturo Vittori / Architecture and Vision

Source

Goods Home Design—Architecture Blog. (n.d.) A bamboo tower that produces up to 25 gallons of water in a day by capturing condensation. Retrieved 6 November 2019 from http://www.goodshomedesign.com/a-bamboo-tower-that-produces-up-to-25-gallons-of-water-in-a-day-by-capturing-condensation/