Graphene is amazing. Or at least, it could be. Made from a layer of carbon one-atom thick, it's the strongest material in the world, it's completely flexible, and it's more conductive than copper. Discovered just under a decade ago, the supermaterial potentially has some unbelievable applications for us in the not so distant future.

All of these are just hypothetical at this point, but could be real before we know it. And they're all flippin incredible.

Mega-fast uploads. We're talking a whole terabit in just one second.

Plug your phone in for five seconds and it would be all charged up. The downside here is that you won't be able to use a dead phone as an excuse anymore.

What if we actually had a clear solution for cleaning up the tainted water near Fukushima? Scientists at Rice say graphene could potentially clump together radioactive waste, making disposal is a breeze.

It could improve your tennis game, thanks to special racquets from HEAD that aim to put the weight where it's more useful: in the head and the grip.

Water, water everywhere and EVERY drop drinkable. MIT minds have a plan for a graphene filter covered in tiny holes just big enough to let water through and small enough to keep salt out, making salt water safe for consumption.

Touchscreens that use graphene as their conductor could be slapped onto plastic rather than glass. That would mean super thin, unbreakable touchscreens and never worrying about shattering your phone ever again.

Just a single sheet of graphene could produce headphones that have a frequency response comparable to a pair of Sennheisers, as some scientists at UC Berkeley recently showed us.

High-power graphene supercapacitors would make batteries obselete.

Graphene could pave the way for bionic devices in living tissues that could be connected directly to your neurons. So people with spinal injuries, for example, could re-learn how to use their limbs.

NASA recently released a few photos of the Expedition 34 crew aboard the International Space Station. Sitting inconspicuously in the corner of one of the pictures was Gort, the Earth-murdering robot from the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. So we decided to sift through the vast archives of space exploration looking for other toys we took with us to the heavens.

Following is a collection of the playthings that were launched to infinity and beyond. As if space weren't fun enough already.

Just spotted: Gort is clearly visible in this fresh photo showing the Expedition 34 crew (from left are NASA astronaut and commander Kevin Ford, with Roscosmos Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin.)

Photo: NASA

Dec. 7 2012: Expedition 34 Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko (center) holds a toy "talisman" that his nine-year old daughter, Anastasia, gave him to hang over his seat in the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft as a zero-G indicator during launch with his crewmates, Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA (left) and Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (right).

Photo: Victor Zelentsov/NASA

The Expedition 33 crew pose for pictures on Oct. 10, 2012 in front of their Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft. Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy (center) is showing a toy hippopotamus that served as a zero-G indicator over his head. On his left is NASA Flight Engineer Kevin Ford and on his right Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin.

Photo: Victor Zelentsov/NASA

A Roo in space: Expedition 31 crew members inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft attached to the International Space Station (May 29, 2012).

Photo: NASA

Smokey Bear, a recognized symbol for wildland fire prevention floats freely near a hatchway on the International Space Station. On May 15, 2012, Smokey traveled aboard the Soyuz spacecraft with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin to the space station.

Photo: NASA

When Rovio launched "Angry Birds Space" last March (2012), NASA astronaut Don Pettit brought Red Bird with him to the ISS to explain the space-related physics of the game.

Image: NASA

A display case in a NASA exhibit featured a bag of LEGO pieces that were flown to the ISS during Discovery's last mission (STS-133, February 24, 2011).

Photo: Maria Werries/NASA

US astronaut Andrew Feustel (on the last mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 2011) took the Czech cartoon character "Little Mole" or Krtek onto the ISS. Two toy moles were actually taken aboard: a larger 19-centimeter puppet, and a smaller one that was presented later to his creator, the Czech animator Zdeněk Miler, who drew the first Krtek cartoon in 1956.

Photo: A. Feustel/NASA

And beyond Earth's orbit to the planet Jupiter: NASA's Juno spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 5, 2011, with these three LEGO figurines aboard representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei. These figures were made of aluminum to endure the extreme conditions of space flight.

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC

Satoshi Furukawa completed a scale model of the International Space Station aboard the ISS in November 2011. How meta.

Photo: NASA

Traditional Japanese toys - a tiger among them - in space. In this photo, taken on Jan. 7, 2010, is Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, an Expedition 22 flight engineer in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station.

Photo: NASA

Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear with astronaut Patrick G. Forrester. The 12-inch plastic action figure spent six months on the International Space Station in 2008 as part of an educational partnership between NASA and the Walt Disney Company.

Photo: Air And Space/NASA

NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, Expedition 17 flight engineer, ponders his next move as he plays a game of chess in the Harmony node of the International Space Station (July 19, 2008).

Photo: NASA

Astronaut Robert L. Curbeam, Jr., STS-116 mission specialist, floats with his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station (Dec. 12, 2006). Just to the left of Bob Curbeam's head floats a toy Orion Command Module, which was brought to the ISS during Expedition 13 when Orion was officially announced.

Photo: NASA

Expedition 14 commander and NASA space station science officer Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (right), and Thomas Reiter, flight engineer representing the European Space Agency (ESA), share a meal in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station (Oct. 15, 2006). Velcroed onto the wall: a toy model of Russia's proposed shuttlecraft, Kliper.

Photo: NASA

Expedition 5 crew members cosmonaut Sergi Treschev and astronaut Peggy Whitson investigate how a climbing bear performs in a microgravity environment (aboard ISS) in 2002.

Source: NASA

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson demonstrates how pecking hens, a traditional Russian toy, performs in a microgravity environment (2002, ISS).

Source: NASA

Peggy Whitson sure loves her toys. Here she demonstrates how yo-yos work in a microgravity environment (2002, ISS).

Source: NASA

Cosmonaut Vladimir N. Dezhurov, Expedition Three flight engineer, takes a break from his duties, as he plays with a miniature basketball and net in the Unity node aboard the ISS (October 2001).

Photo: NASA

Expedition Three crew members, from left: a rather big stuffed mouse, flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, Mission Commander Frank L. Culbertson and Flight Engineer Vladimir Dezhurov, in the Zvezda module of the International Space Station in August 2001.

Photo: NASA

February 2001: The Expedition One crew enjoys a snack in the Zvezda service module aboard, you guessed it, the ISS. On the wall is a toy model that shows the configuration of the ISS at the start of Expedition 1. From top to bottom, the three modules are: Unity, Zarya and Zvezda.

Photo: NASA

A toy car floats off the table in a microgravity environment aboard the Mir space station during the Euromir 94 mission in 1994.

Source: ESA

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov tests the Ikar, the Soviet's Manned Maneuvering Unit, with the mascot of The International Garden and Greenery Exposition (February 1, 1990).

Photo: Roskosmos via spacefacts.de

Strictly for educational purposes: NASA astronauts Jeff A. Hoffman and David Griggs with toys for use in Toys in Space Project, in 1985.

Photo: NASA

This rather ugly plastic housefly flew with Mission Commander Jack Lousma aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-3) for 130 orbits from March 22-30 in 1982. It later sold for $567.63 at auction.

Photo: Heritage Auctions

Do we miss something from this list? Post it in comments!

Let's clear this up right now: drugs are bad, smuggling is a crime, drug lords and their traffickers are black-hearted, vicious, malignant persons. But you have to admit: they're pretty damn creative. And the means they've used to get their product to their customers through the years are nothing short of extraordinary.

Here are 13 barely believable methods that have gotten drugs from here to there. They may not be legal, but they sure are creative.

This improvised cannon was confiscated in Mexicali, Mexico, on Feb. 26 of this year Police in the border city say the cannon was used to hurl packets of marijuana across a border fence into California. The truck-mounted device is made of PVC piping attached to an air compressor and driven by an automobile engine. It could launch up to 13kg of drugs at a time.

Photo: Mexicali Public Safety Department/AP

A sailor walks past this homemade semi-submersible vessel, seized on land by Colombian authorities from drug traffickers at the Bahia Malaga Navy base, on Colombia's Pacific coast in 2009.

Photo: Christian Escobar Mora/AP

This powerboat was carrying a large haul of marijuana when the Danish police busted the armed smugglers on January 7th, 2013.

Photo: Soren Schnoor/POLFOTO/AP

A woman was arrested by airport police carrying almost three pounds of cocaine in her breasts. You can see the drug implants—and the fresh surgical wound—in the image below.

Photo: La Policia Nacional

Suspected smugglers attempt to drive a silver Jeep Cherokee over the 14 feet high U.S.-Mexico border fence in Yuma, Arizona with the help of a makeshift ramp in Oct. 31, 2012.

Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection/AP

The entrance to an illegal cross-border tunnel found underneath a bathroom sink inside a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico, July 12, 2012. The 220-yard tunnel, presumably designed to smuggle drugs into the United States, was lit and ventilated.

Photo: Alejandro Cossio/AP//ICE/AP

National Guard troops have seized a surprising number of weed-firing catapults over the years.

Photo: dossierpolitico.com/National Guard

This ultra-light aircraft was carrying 253lbs of marijuana when it was captured in December, 2008 in the Tucson, Arizona area. According to U.S. government statistics, there were 228 known aircraft incursion along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010 alone.

Photo: Immmigration Customs Enforcement/AP

What to do with that old Wiipad you haven't touched in years? Stuff it with marijuana, of course.

Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection/AP

Drug smugglers used t-shirt Cannons to shoot canisters filled with marijuana 500ft over the border.

Photo: CBP Arizona/Colin Ybarra

A 19-year-old man pretending to be disabled was caught with at the U.S.-Mexico border with this weed-stocked wheelchair in 2011.

Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection/AP

This helicopter was transporting 760kg of cocaine when it crashed in Totonicapan, 200km northwest of Guatemala City, in 2003.

Photo: Edgar Vasquez/El Nuevo Quetzalteco/AP

This plane crashed police blockade after pilots had unloaded drugs into several cars, in San Esteban, 160 kilometers east of Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2003).

Photo: Honduran Security Minister/AP

Top photo of seized marijuana found packed in coffee cans at Tijuana's international airport: Guillermo Arias/AP
Do you miss anything from the list above? Post it in the comments!

Abandoned places are creepy. Abandoned places are even creepier when you give them eyes and mouths and teeth so they look like they have a sinister personality and want to eat you alive. That's exactly the treatment street artist Nomerz gives the dilapidated buildings around Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Here are some of our favorite of his whimsical living walls.

This one is called Glutton, presumably because it looks like it will swallow you whole.

This is Tower Man. I mean, what else would you call it?

The faces on this tank look so realistic, you might expect them to start talking to you.

If you go through this bridge, you might never come out.

This building is haunted. Has to be.

The City Sentinel looks like he has binoculars.

Toothyman here could use a little dental work.

This building is like that lurking mouth-breather that you always avoid on the train.

Someone please feed this wall. He looks very hungry.

If this wall face had a wall body, it would be wearing a trench coat with no wall clothes underneath.

The lack of eyes only makes this face creepier.

[Nomerz via Environmental Graffiti via Digg]

The Architectural Digest Show—running from Friday through Sunday in NYC—will make you wish you had a huge house and unlimited funds with which to decorate it. From crazy range hoods to beautiful woodworking to outdoor showers, the show floor has just about everything you could imagine adorning your home with. Here are some of the best things we saw.

This venus fly trap sculpture is actually a venus fly trap urinal created by San Francisco Artist Clark Sorensen.

These flowers are urinals, too!

John Liston's ring lamp is made from glass light tubes from an old building. He has enough material to make seven of them.

Liston also designed these funky, skeletal seats.

There are probably a hundred or so blown glass eyes on this open sign from Thomas Long.

How bad do you want an outdoor shower? You probably need a pool first. This one—from a Dutch company called Jee-O—has Swarovski crystals in the head.

Speaking of an outdoor shower, you definitely want a living plant wall to go next to it. Not pictured is a wine fridge that connects to it.

The 3D paintings from Toronto artist Heather Kocsis deceive you. When you gaze at them head on, they look like real landscapes.

But when you peer from another angle, you realize they're made of wood and paint and they're literally jumping off the canvas.

Look closely. Though it looks abstract, this piece is actually a mixed-media map of New York City.

Gorgeously crafted woodwork is timeless. This bench is from David Stine, who also showcased equally lovely tables and chairs.

Here's a wood and concrete turntable that's neat enough to make you want to take up DJing. Not that you should.

Imagine one of those wooden personal massagers, but for your butt. That's this stool.

And the interesting table it goes with.

Smeg's eye-popping fridges somehow have an aesthetic that's both retro and classic at the same time.

Would you have guessed that this is a range hood? You could pretty much ask that about every one of the hoods from Italian company Best.

If you lived in NYC, you'd want one of these ventless fireplaces. They're the only ones officially approved by the New York City Fire Department and the city's Department of Buildings, and they run on packs of sterno-type alcohol fuel cartridges.

Aren't you amazed by this dramatic glass and iron spiral staircase?

You don't have to be young enough to hang around a schoolyard playground to appreciate these giant jax.

The combination of materials on the chandelier you're looking at is pretty great. And they're exactly what you'd guess—plumbing pipes and crystal.

Carpet samples? Yawn. But have you ever seen such enticing slices of shag?

Photos by Nick Stango

Bonhams auction house is hosting a space history sale tomorrow. They've done similar things in the past, but this one is more fun because it's now and Buzz Aldrin is opposed to it. Controversy and memorabilia!

He told collectSPACE.com:

I am not offering any items for sale from my current collection of Apollo 11 articles in the Bonhams auction...The Apollo 11 items being auctioned on Monday are being resold from auctions that took place in 2007 or earlier at the instigation of my ex-wife and her daughter.

Okay, Buzz, duly noted. Let's move ahead, shall we?

The Original Mercury Seven

Photograph of all seven mercury astronauts and signed by three of them, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Wally Schirra.
$2,000 - $3,000

Aldrin's Spacewalk

James Lovell photographed the man himself, Buzz Aldrin during his Gemini 12 spacewalk. Signed and inscribed: "Buzz Aldrin, GT - 12."
$500 - $700

Astronauts At Lunch

Getting some earth food in while they can. Signed by James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin.
$400 - $600

Large Gemini Spacecraft Master Mold Model

1/8 scale solid acrylic model of the Gemini spacecraft made by Atkins and Merrill's Engineering Model and Mock-Up Division in 1964 for $50,000.
$7,000 - $9,000

Wally Schirra's Pilot Sunglasses

Standard-issue military sunglasses by General Optical. Comes with a typed letter on Wally Schirra's personal Rancho Santa Fe, CA letterhead.
$2,500 - $3,500

American Flag Carried on Gemini 10

Flown United States silk flag. Signed and inscribed on the lower 3 white stripes by Michael Collins, "Carried aboard Gemini X to a World Altitude Record, July 1966."
$5,000 - $7,000

Fred Haise's Potato Soup Carried on Apollo 13

It's signed soup mix that went to space and came back. What more do you people want?
$6,000 - $8,000

[Bonhams via space.com]

The Design Museum of London has just announced the contenders for its sixth annual Designs of the Year. And their shortlist for architecture showcases 17 structures that transcend buildings to become works of art.

A Room For London, (Southbank Centre), UK: Perched above Queen Elizabeth Hall at London's Southbank Centre, the boat-shaped, one-bedroom installation offers guests refuge and reflection amidst the surrounding flow of traffic. Designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with artist Fiona Banner.

Photo: Michael Day

Astley Castle, Warwickshire, UK: A sensitive renewal of this dilapidated castle in rural Warwickshire, the ancient shell forms a container for a dynamic series of interior contemporary spaces. Designed by Witherford Watson Mann.

Photo: Witherford Watson Mann

Book Mountain, Spijkenisse, Holland: This mountain of bookshelves is contained by a glass-enclosed structure and a pyramid roof with a total surface area of 9,300 sq m. A continuous 480m route culminates at the peak's reading room and cafe with panoramic views through the transparent roof. Designed by MVRDV.

Photo: Bart

Clapham Library, London, UK: This 19,000 sq ft public library is located in the heart of Clapham. It has room to accommodate more than 20,000 books, a new performance venue for local community groups, 136 private apartments, and 44 affordable homes. Designed by Studio Egret West.

Photo: The New Clapham/Facebook

Four Freedoms Park, New York, USA: In the late 1960s, during a period of national urban renewal, New York City Mayor John Lindsay proposed to reinvent Roosevelt Island (then called Welfare Island) into a vibrant, residential area. On March 29, 2010, 38 years after its announcement, construction of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park began. Designed by Louis Kahn.

Photo: FDR Four Freedoms Park LLC, Steve Amiaga/Paul Warchol/AP

Galaxy Soho, Bejing: Five continuous, flowing volumes coalesce to create an internal world of continuous open spaces within the Galaxy Soho building—a new office, retail, and entertainment complex devoid of corners to create an immersive, enveloping experience in the heart of Beijing. Designed by Zaha Hadid.

Photo: Ningbo Ningbo

Home For All: Presented at the Venice 2012 Architecture Biennale, Home for All is a proposal to offer housing solutions for all the people who lost their homes in the Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake. Designed by Akihisa Hirata, Sou Fujimoto, Kumiko Inui, Toyo Ito and Naoya Hatakeyama.

Photo: The Japan Architect

Ikea Disobedients, (Performed at MoMA PS1), New York: Disobedients, an architectural performance by Madrid-based Andrés Jaque Arquitectos, was premiered at MoMA PS1, part of the 9+1 Ways of Being Political exhibition. It reveals how recent architectural practices use performance to engage audiences with architecture in a non-traditional way. Designed by Andrés Jaque Arquitectos IKEA.

Photo: Andrés Jaque Arquitectos

Kukje Art Centre, Seoul: This single-story building is draped in a stainless steel mesh blanket that fits precisely over its structure and merges with the district's historic urban fabric of low-rise courtyard houses and dense network of small alleyways. Designed by SO - IL.

Photo: Iwan Baan/SO-ILg

La Tour Bois-Le-Prêtre, Paris: The striking transformation of a run-down tower in northern Paris created an alternative approach to the physical and social redevelopment of decaying post-war housing. Designed by Druot, Lacaton and Vassal.

Photo: Frederic Druot Architecture

Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast: Wedged between two existing buildings, on a hemmed-in corner plot that sits beside the city cathedral, sits the Metropolitan Arts Center. The glazed tower sits atop the volcanic stone facade of this performing arts centre to create a beacon above the surrounding rooftops. Designed by Hackett Hall McKnight.

Photo: Christian Richters/Rory Hyde

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Cleveland. The 34,000 sq ft structure, which is 44 percent larger than MOCA's former rented space, is both environmentally and fiscally sustainable. Designed by Farshid Moussavi Architecture.

Photo: Erik Daniel Drost

Museum of Innocence, Istanbul: The Museum of Innocence is a book by Orhan Pamuk, telling the story of a young man named Kemal in 1950s and 1960s Istanbul. Pamuk established an actual Museum of Innocence, based on the museum described in the book, exhibiting everyday life and culture in Istanbul during the period in which the novel is set. Designed by Orhan Pamuk with Ihsan Bilgin, Cem Yucel and Gregor Sunder Plassmann.

Photo: brent granby

Superkilen, Nørrebro, Denmark: Superkilen is a kilometer-long park situated through an area just north of Copenhagen's city centre, considered one of the most ethnically diverse and socially challenged neighborhoods in the Danish capital. The large-scale project creates an urban space with a strong identity on a local and global scale. Designed by BIG, TOPOTEK1 and Superflex.

Photo: DAC

Thalia Theatre, Lisbon: Built in the 1840s, the Thalia Theatre has been in ruins almost ever since. This project converts it into a multipurpose space for conferences, exhibitions and events. In order to retain the old walls, the exterior was covered in concrete, while the interior remains in its original condition. Designed by Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos & Barbas Lopes Arquitectos.

Photo: DMF/onçalo Byrne Arquitectos

The Shard, London, UK: The tallest building in Western Europe, the Shard transforms the London skyline. The multi-use 310m vertical structure consists of offices, world-renowned restaurants, the 5-star Shangri-La hotel, exclusive residential apartments, and the capital's highest viewing gallery. Designed by Renzo Piano.

Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

T-Site, Tokyo: A campus-like complex for Tsutaya, a giant in Japan's book, music, and movie retail market. Located in Daikanyama, an upmarket but relaxed Tokyo shopping district, the project's ambition is to define a new vision for the future of retailing. Designed by Klein Dytham.

Photo: choo chin nian

"Mustang Wanted" is a crazy Ukrainian guy who loves having his photo taken as he dangles from buildings at preposterous heights. The resulting images will stop your heart.

At first you wonder what compels somebody to want climb to these high places without any safety restraints. Just to show off? Is this just bizarre exhibitionism?

In fairness, some of these photos are breathtaking.

But you want to reach out and grab this guy and pull him to safety before he falls. Or before somebody crushes his grip.

"Snap out of it man! You cannot do this. These glorious photos are not worth it. You are going to die!"

Then you think to yourself, "these photos must be 'shopped."

"Nobody is this crazy. This can't possibly be real."

It is so, so real.

[Mustang Wanted via PetaPixel]

These sand sculptures were prepared as part of this year's Hollywood-themed Weston-Super-Mare Sand Sculpture festival on March 26, 2013 in Weston-Super-Mare, England. All week, 20 award-winning sand sculptors from across the globe are working to create sand sculptures that include odes to Harry Potter, Marilyn Monroe and characters from the Star Wars films as part of the town's very own movie themed festival on the beach.

Sure, it's too cold to go the beach. But that doesn't mean you can't admire it from afar.

Sand sculptor Radavan Zivny works on a sand sculpture of Gollum from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

A scene from Jurassic Park.

Helena Bangert (center), from Holland works on a sand sculpture of King Kong.

A sand sculptor works on a Toy Story-themed sand sculpture.

Detail of the Toy Story.

E.T. phones home.

Scene from a Harry Potter movie.

Detail of a Harry Potter sand sculpture.

Batman and The Incredible Hulk, because why not?

A Clint Eastwood sculpture of when Clint Eastwood made good movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean.

Detail of the Pirates of the Caribbean sculpture.

Alfred Hitchcock and a murderous bird.

Yoda, this is.

Photos by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

Now that the Bonhams' controversial space memorabilia auction finished a few days ago, we can focus on the next big gig: the 2013 April 18 Space Exploration Signature Auction by Heritage Auctions. This is an amazingly huge pile of 549 lots, full of highly desirable must-have items for the space enthusiast.

Following are our 13 favorite up-for-grabs artifacts, including Buzz Aldrin's Moon toothbrush and Neil Armstrong's very first image of the planet Earth.

Shenzhou 5 Flown Cover Signed by Yang Liwei. This flight, October 15, 2003, was the first manned space mission from any country other than the United States or Russia (Soviet Union). Only approximately 100 of these philatelic covers were flown and signed by the mission commander, China's first astronaut (taikonaut) Yang Liwei. Very few have made it into the U.S. market.

Neil Armstrong Early Orange Flight Suit. A pair of flight coveralls tagged on the front "ARMSTRONG" and "VA-145" (a Naval attack squadron) from his days as a test pilot and Experimental Aircraft enthusiast. In the early 1960s, these were given by Armstrong to his close friend John Dyke, the developer of the famous Dyke Delta utility aircraft.

Gemini 12 Flown EVA-Used Flashlight Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Pilot Buzz Aldrin. A 5.5" long brass flashlight wrapped mostly in Velcro with a distorted lens, quite different than the ones used later on the Apollo missions. Aldrin attributes the distortion of the lens to the vacuum of space.

Apollo 11 Lunar Module Flown Toothbrush and Sleeve Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. A light blue Lactona S-19 model "Tooth Tip" toothbrush, 6.5" long. Included also is the original 8" x 1.5" plastic pouch in which it flew, with a piece of Velcro on the back for ease of storage. Used throughout the mission, including in the Lunar Module Eagle while on the moon. Signs of use, otherwise very fine condition.

Apollo 12 Flown Aluminum Hair Comb Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon. A 5" x 1" comb manufactured by Goody USA that flew to the moon on the second lunar landing mission with crewmembers Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon. This is only one of three Apollo-flown combs in private hands, and one of only two that made it to the moon.

Apollo 17 Flown "Peaches" Space Food Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Commander Gene Cernan. A sealed flexible pouch, 6.5" x 6.5" x 0.75" overall, with a label on one side: "PEACHES/ 3 oz. cold water/ 15-20 minutes/ 1341" as well as a piece of Velcro for attachment to the spacecraft. First used on Apollo 10, the spoon bowl allowed water to be introduced through a valve, hydrating the enclosed food. These are quite rare, as most are held in institutions or private collections.

Apollo 17 Flown "Brownies" Space Food Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Commander Gene Cernan. A sealed flexible pouch, 5" x 3" x 0.75" overall, with a label on one side: "BROWNIES/ [1]333" and a "Serial No. FAY967" sticker on the other as well as two pieces of blue (Ron Evans) Velcro for attachment to the spacecraft. These were made to be eaten as is.

Wally Schirra Signed Large Color Sigma 7 Control Panel Photo. A detailed 34" x 20" photo (30" x 10" image size) of the control panel in the Mercury space capsule. Schirra has boldly signed: "Wally Schirra Σ7".

Gemini 4 Training-Used GT-4 Mission Rules Revision 2 Manual signed by Mission Command Pilot Jim McDivitt. Gemini 4 was the second American two-man mission during which Ed White II performed a landmark EVA. This five-hole-punched soft cover book, dated May 18, 1965, contains 100+ 8" x 10.5" pages (printed one side only) and is bound with a single staple. It was used by McDivitt in preparation for the flight and contains his handwritten notes.

Apollo Command Module Reaction Control System Rocketdyne SE-8 Rocket Engine. SE-8s were integrated on the CM in two systems of six engines and provided it with rotation control, rate damping, and attitude control after its separation from the Service Module and during reentry. Appears to have been test fired but is not flown.

Soyuz 4 & 5 Original Space-Transmitted Docking Photos Signed by Soviet Officials. These photos show a "time-lapse" view of the docking of the two spacecraft on January 15, 1969. This was not only the first docking of two manned spacecraft but also the first transfer of crewmembers from one to the other. Soyuz 4 launched with one occupant, Soyuz 5 with three. Two of the Soyuz 5 cosmonauts transferred to Soyuz 4 for return to earth while the Soyuz 5 commander landed alone.

Neil Armstrong's Childhood Toy Airplane and Signed Photo of his Family Home at 601 W. Benton Street in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Neil Armstrong's family moved to a house at the above address in 1944 and stayed there until 1964 when they sold the home to the Miller family. This family found some interesting items in the attic that the Armstrongs had left behind including this very cool red metal toy airplane. By testimony of Neil's mother Viola, it was one that Neil and his little brother Dean played with as a child.

Neil Armstrong's Childhood Homework. A hand-colored map of the earth showing the temperature zones, with handwritten captions—one of the earliest pieces of written and drawn material from the first man to walk on the moon. (On the right: an iconic Earthrise sequence from the Apollo 11 photographic archives.)

With North Korea's missiles at the ready—pointless though that may be—we may not be far from another mini-Cold War. With the potential end of civilization at the hands of a pudgy, late-20s Dennis Rodman fan looming, there's only one thing that can protect the American public: bunkers!

Here are two dozen of the best designs from the last time we had to fret about a nuclear apocalypse.

Top photo: Michael Pereckas

A US Department of Defense publication from 1961 depicts a family building a fallout shelter using sand-filled concrete blocks for roof shielding

Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A double dome shelter design recommended by the US Civil Defense Office. Special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Adam Yarmolinsky, demonstrates how the steel igloos are assembled at his Virginia home in April 1962.

Photo: Keystone/Getty Images

Geez, this this swanky illustrated backyard bomb shelter is nicer than my apartment.

Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Geez, so is this backyard plywood shelter.

Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

For those without the means of building out a full-on bunker, the US DoD recommended a sand-covered lean-to shelter.

Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A government official sits in a domestic shelter in York, UK, 1981. On his left, a hand-cranked intake air pump. On his right, enough food to last two weeks.

Photo: Central Press/Getty Images

This photo of Phyllis Millet and her daughters was taken in 1980 while the trio sat down to breakfast during a five-day trial of their new bunker.

Photo: Graham Turner/Keystone/Getty Images

Marcel Barbier and his wife Nicole inspect their Herdon Va home's bunker in 2001. Interest in shelters fell off after the Soviet Union collapsed but was rekindled after 9/11.

Photo: Jacqueline Roggenbrodt/AP

Apparently, even the fallout shelters were made of polyester in the 1970s.

Photo: Haditechnika 1973, Zrínyi Katonai Kiadó, Budapest, 1972

Beverly Wysocki and Marie Graskamp check out a shelter with Super Mario Bros-style entrances in 1958.

Photo: AP

This massive steel tube, known as the Goblin (reassuring!), was designed by Takaaki Hashida Kashiwa, Japan in 1996. The cylinder measures 13.5-meter long and 3.6-meter in diameter. It is reportedly capable of supporting 15 people for 30 days.

Photo: Katsumi Kasahara/AP

A free-standing, double-hulled steel shelter located under a Ft. Wayne, Indiana front yard.

Photo: National Museum of American History

A US DoD pamphlet regarding how to build your own underground concrete fallout shelter.

Image: jen-the-librarian

A 1960 fallout shelter entrance replete with sirens.

Photo: x-ray delta one/James Vaughan

A backyard entrance to a fallout shelter.

Photo: x-ray delta one/James Vaughan

A nuclear family enjoying their 1950s prefab shelter.

Photo: x-ray delta one/James Vaughan

The Kelsey-Hayes Fallout Shelter.

Photo: SyndProd/LIFE, 15 Sep 1961

Bunkers could also be constructed in basements using cinder block.

Illustration: LIFE, 15 Sep 1961

Instructions for building your own Hobbit home/apacalypse shelter.

Illustration: LIFE, 15 Sep 1961

Shelters could even be built above ground provided that they employ a double-wall design.

Illustration: LIFE, 15 Sep 1961

An illustration of Adam Yarmolinsky's steel igloo shelter.

Illustration: Department Of Defense/Mike Haeg

A subterranean shelter constructed of corrugated steel.

Illustration: Department Of Defense/Mike Haeg

With enough soil packed around it, even a wooden box makes a wonderful radiation shelter. You hear that, corpses?

Illustration: Department Of Defense/Mike Haeg

So why does this fallout shelter have a patio? For Soviet nuclear mutant zombies?

Illustration: Popular Mechanics, Oct 1951

Image research by Attila Nagy

It's almost Easter, a day of ham, nice outfits, obligatory church trips, and borderline abuse of baby rabbits. But most importantly, it's the time of year when there are Peeps on the shelves of your local drugstore.

Sure, you could eat the little marshmallow chicks. But wouldn't you rather use them to make beautiful pastel dioramas, sculptures, and really crazy Peep art? These brilliant boffins have. And the results are spectacular.

This Peep dress—spotted in NYC's West Village—might not be mom-appropriate, but who cares? It's awesome, and you can eat it instead of laundering it.

The Carroll County Arts Center has a crazy annual Peeps creations competition. Big Bird, appropriately enough, is one of this year's entries.

Peeps are are great. Dinosaurs are great. A Peeposaurs Rex? Even better.

I am the Lorax. I Peep for the trees.

Change you can believe in (and also eat).

Did you know Keith Haring also worked in Peeps?

Image credit: Flickr

A little strange to shout-out Christmas on Easter, but this 20-foot Peepenbaum spotted in National Harbor, Maryland is pretty special.

A Peep kimono is what you might wear to Easter services in Japan.

And while we're on that train, what about some Peeps sushi to go with the outfit?

Peep Jesus! It's the son of God, resurrected as a giant Peep mosaic.

This Peep car was made for an art car contest in Houston, Texas, which seems like a hostile environment for Peeps what with the sun and the heat.

You may not remember the movie Despicable Me making your mouth water before.

Image credit: Peeps Facebook

Warhol's Marilyn in Peep form.

Peeps mourning a dead Twinkie won this year's Washington Post Peeps diorama contest.

And here we have the Peep-al conclave.

By now you may think that North Korea is only good for nuclear bluster and general insanity. But! Beneath that strange veneer lies actual technology, architecture, and design.

Some of it's just a little more polished than others.

North Koreans look at a new homegrown tablet at a trade fair at the Three Revolution Exhibition Hall in Pyongyang Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012.

Photo: Vincent Yu/AP

A North Korean woman uses a mobile phone on a sidewalk in Pyongyang. About one million people in North Korea own cellphones, although they're not allowed to make international calls or go online.

Photo: Kim Kwang Hyon/AP

A Korean People's Army artillery unit participates in a live fire drill in North Korea. Image released on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013.

Photo: KCNA/KNS/AP

A televised shot of North Korean workers operating equipment at North Korea's main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, Feb. 22, 2008.

Photo: APTN/AP

A North Korean student works at a computer terminal inside a computer lab at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

Scientists and technicians at the General Satellite Control and Command Center on the outskirts of Pyongyang watch the launch of the Unha-3 rocket from a launch site on the west coast, in the village of Tongchang-ri, about 35 miles from the Chinese border city of Dandong, North Korea on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012.

Photo: AP

Scientists and technicians work on their computers to control the launch of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket at the General Satellite Control and Command Center.

Photo: AP

A large Toshiba TV screen shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the Supreme People's Assembly's yearly meeting at a hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012.

Photo: Vincent Yu/AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2012, reacting on a ride as he attends the completion ceremony of the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in Pyongyang.

Photo: KCNA/KNS/AP

A North Korean vehicle carrying what appears to be a new missile passes by during a mass military parade in the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung on Sunday, April 15, 2012.

Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP

A little girl take photos during a soccer match between women's grassroots teams at Kim Il Sung Stadium on April 3, 2011 in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

The local trolley buses in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

A North Korean woman crosses the street near the semi-completed 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, April 26, 2012.

Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP

North Korean military jets take part in an air drill while North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, not seen in the photo, inspects an undisclosed airbase in North Korea, in 2012.

Photo: KCNA/KNS/AP

Puhung Subway station in Pyongyang is situated more than 100 meters below the surface. It is also a nuclear shelter.

Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

A woman swipes a North Korean debit card at the cash register of a hotel restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea. A new culture of commerce has arisen, with China as its inspiration and source. The new consumerism is part of a campaign to build up the economy, and with it the image of new leader Kim Jong Un.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

North Korean music cassette tapes are displayed for sale at Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 in downtown Pyongyang.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

A shop employee waits for customers at Pothongmun Street meat and fish shop in downtown Pyongyang.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

Pyongyang's May Day stadium is the world's largest, with capacity of 150,000.

Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

North Korean children learn to use the computer in a primary school.

Photo: Feng Li/Getty Images

A man records video of the scenery as he and fellow hikers climb to a peak of Mount Kumgang, North Korea.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

Not e-book, pop-up book. A North Korean teacher holds open a children's book, which depicts a U.S. soldier killing a Korean woman with a hatchet, in a library room at Kaeson Kindergarten.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

Rocket science in every day life: a 2013 calendar, showing a picture of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket, hangs inside a hair salon in Pyongyang.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

Two North Korean men have their digital photo taken by a relative after finishing games of bowling at a Pyongyang bowling alley, 2012.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

A North Korean drone (probably a mockup) passes by during the mass military parade to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. Note the old camera on the left.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

A North Korean librarian monitors the usage of computers at an electronic library at the Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. Hardware: HP. Software: North Korean original.

Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP

North Korean guide Kim Won Ho shows journalists a model depicting a North Korean satellite over planet earth at the Three Revolutions exhibition hall. According to North Korea's official version of things, the country's first venture into space was 14 years ago, when the "Bright Shining Star 1" satellite roared into orbit and began broadcasting marching music praising Kim Il Sung.

Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP

These two Instagram photos were taken by AP photo reporters early winter in 2013, when foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. Now the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP//Jean H. Lee/AP

Top photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

So we used to have these things called landlines, which were phones that you didn't take with you everywhere and that you actually used to talk to people. Some of them didn't even look like phones.

Here are some of our favorite incognito novelty handsets of yore. Warning: will cause extreme nostalgia.

Garfield: Hates Mondays, loves lasagna and *69.

The Duck phone had a minor resurgence thanks to Jersey Shore.

A Lips phone made more sense when people actually used the things for talking.

The legendary Hamburger phone was arguably the best thing about Juno.

And let's not forget the burger's fast food and/or telecom cousin, the Hot Dog phone.

All the cool bros at your high school definitely got the official NFL Football dialer as part of their Sports Illustrated subscription.

Clear phones were also popular among the 90s cool tween crowd.

The talking Homer Simpson phone, perfect for pranking Moe's Tavern

Is it possible to take someone seriously knowing they're chatting on a rhinestone-studded high heel?

Yes, the Double Bubble phone is a working gum ball machine.

Which is why it's extra sad that the Budweiser phone is not a working beer.

Image credit: Novelty Phones

It's not easy being a Kermit phone.

Although there are many, many M&M-themed phones, this one is the best because it comes with a candy dish.

And what list of novelty products is complete without some Star Wars paraphernalia?

The Design Museum has announced the contenders for the sixth annual Designs of the Year. And their shortlist for transport showcases some of the most forward-thinking ways to get around you've ever seen.

Air Access Seat: Air Access comprises two components; a detachable wheelchair that transports passengers from the gate to the plane, and a fixed-frame aisle seat into which the wheelchair can seamlessly slide to form a regular airline seat. Designed by Priestmangoode.

Photo: Priestmangoode

Donky Bicycle: The steel beam running through this compact bicycle by British industrial designer Ben Wilson means it can carry heavy loads on its front and rear platforms. Designed by Ben Wilson.

Photo: Ben Wilson Design

Exhibition Road: This $42 million development project improved the infrastructure of, access to, and facilities within London's famed Exhibition Road area, and was completed just in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Designed by Dixon Jones/The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Photo: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images for the Cass Sculpture Foundation

i3 Concept Car: This BMW coupe not only generates zero emissions, it also provides a calm, virtually silent driving experience for up to 100 miles before requiring charging. And through its optional fast charging, the battery can be replenished to 80% charge in less than 30 minutes. Designed by BMW.

Photo: BMW/Facebook

Mando Footloose Chainless Bicycle: Unlike similar bicycles that combine manual and electric power, the Footloose totally eliminates the chain and transforms the cyclist's efforts directly into electricity. This energy is then stored in a lithium-ion battery inside the bike frame, before it is converted back into kinetic energy by the electric motor that powers the rear wheel. Designed by Mark Sanders.

Photo: Mando Footloose

Morph Folding Wheel. For the first time the wheels on a wheelchair are able to fold flat and fit in the storage compartments of airplanes and small cars. When folded, the wheel takes up less than half a cubic foot, compared with nearly twice that when in use. Designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc.

Photo: morphwheels.com

N-ONE: Featuring a naturally aspirated 1.3L DOHC engine, this hatchback delivers a fuel economy of 64 mpg. Designed by Honda.

Photo: Honda/Facebook

Olympics Wayfinding: It was easy to find your way around London last year with these eye-catching signs that cropped up everywhere from the Tube, to the Torch Relay, to the Olympic venues themselves. Designed by TfL/JEDCO/LOCOG.

Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Touch & Travel: A new traveling system in Germany that uses a smartphone app to scan your tickets and generates a monthly bill that can be taken from your direct debit. Designed by DB Mobility Logistics AG.

Source: Touch & Travel

As you scroll through these 34 exquisite hyperrealistic paintings, something strange will happen. You'll start doubting your eyes, then your brain, then these images. You'll become convinced that at least a few of them are photographs and not acrylic paint. They have to be.

But you know what? You'll be wrong.

Click on the images in order to take a closer look at the full paintings!

Denis Peterson: Off the Track. Urethanes on wood panel.

Robert Bechtle: Berkeley Pinto (John De Andrea and his Family next to Bechtles Car). 1976, oil on canvas.

Gérard Gasiorowski: The approach. That's me, who needs to make enormous efforts to keep himself on the surface of things. 1970, oil on canvas.

Don Eddy: Untitled (Volkswagen). 1971, acryl on canvas.

Malcolm Morley: Portrait of Esses in Central Park. 1969-1970, liquitex on canvas.

Tom Blackwell: Gap Outlet, Waterside Shops, Naples, FL. 2004, oil on canvas.

Tjalf Sparnaay: Supersandwich!! 2013, oil on linen

Anthony Brunelli: Monument Square (Troy). 1997, oil on linen.

Peter Maier: 1908 Indian Racer. 2005.

Allan Gorman: Macho Dream. 2013, oil on canvas.

Richard Heisler: Shinjuku Sunset II (100 Views of Tokyo). 2010, oil on linen.

Charles Hartley: Bahama Surf. 2012, oil on Polyester.

Chris Jenkinson: Good Morning America. 2008, oil on board.

Matteo Mezzetta: Dj #2. 2010, oil on canvas.

Jerry Ott: Pretty Picture #1. 2011, acrylic on panel.

Hilo Chen: Beach 125. 1996.

Clive Head: 42nd Street, Sunday Morning. 2001, oil on linen.

Ron Kleemann: Red Bull Sitting. 2011, oil on canvas.

Richard McLean: Lynne's Brymar Shantytown. 1991, oil on linen.

Bertrand Meniel: Breakfast at the Fairmont. 2009, acrylic on linen.

David Parrish: Midway. 2007, oil on canvas.

Richard Estes: The Plaza. 1991, oil on canvas.

Méhes László: Lukewarm water I. 1970, Acrylic on canvas.

John Salt: Blue Mobile Home. 1992-93, oil on linen.

Audrey Flack: Shiva Blue. 1973, oil over acrylic on canvas.

Ben Schonzeit: Hot Peppers. 2011, acrylic on polyester.

Raphaella Spence: Empire State. 2012, oil on canvas.

Robert Gniewek: Rosie's Diner #10. 2011, oil on canvas.

Ralph Goings: Miss Albany Diner. 1993, oil on linen.

Luigi Benedicenti: Autunno 2. 2011 , oil on panel.

Sharon Moody: The Amazon Tricks Me. 2012 , oil on panel.

Hubert De Lartigue: Sushi. 2010 , acrylic on canvas.

Juan Cossio: Fortune's Wheel. 2012, acrylic on panel.

Top image: Marilyn Minter: Bazooka. 2009, enamel on metal.

Do you have your favourite hyperrealistic artwork? Show us in the comments!

Break out your checkbook and get ready to explain to your kids why they're not going to college anymore; Julien's Auction House is currently running its "Hollywood Legends 2013" live auction in Beverly Hills. You've got props and costumery from James Bond, Bruce Lee, and dozens of old-timey Hollywood classics.

Here's a taste of the best stuff you can put on your mantle.

In Alien, after the Xernomorph blows through the guy's chest and runs off, the crew splits up to look for it. Sigourney Weaver walks past this static rover prop just before Harry Dean Stanton gets eaten.

Estimated value: $2,000 - $3,000

Bruce Lee's lightweight (and lightning fast) demonstration nunchucks, as well the infamous "Claw Hand" from Enter the Dragon, are both up for bid.

Estimated value: $3,000 - $5,000 (Nunchucks), $10,000 - $12,000 (Han's Claw Hand)

Remember that brutal scene in Castaway when Tom Hanks knocks out his rotten tooth with an ice skate and makes a necklace out of the resulting carnage?

Estimated Value: $2,000 - $3,000

The Black Beauty, quite literally the only redeeming part of the slow-motion turdfest that was 2011's The Green Hornet, is looking for a good home. Roll-out rockets not included.

Estimated Value: $40,000 - $60,000

For just a grand or two, you can look like the drug-induced hallucinations of a middle aged burnout! The Pin Girl Dress from The Big Lebowski includes the dress, headdress, and shoes.

Estimated Value: $1,000 - $2,000

In Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise receives a vital directive in the form of an airplane movie. Here are the tapes Ethan Hunt was offered; it takes a brave agent indeed to watch Milk Money.

Estimated Value: $300-$500

Just take this Star Wars: Phantom Menace grenade and your favorite Jar-Jar Binks plush doll, and you can create the alternate ending you always dreamed of over and over again.

Estimated Value: $500-$700

Top image: William Shatner's phaser rifle from the Star Trek pilot. Estimated value: $50,000 - $70,000

The Design Museum has announced the contenders for the sixth annual Designs of the Year. And their shortlist for digital showcases some of the most innovative interpretations of technology we've ever seen.

Candles In The Wind. This revolutionary new lighting concept uses modern LED technology to recreate the experience of light from a candle flame. The minimal design is a bare circuit board featuring the latest in micro-processor technology paired with 256 high quality LEDs to evoke the natural flow and flicker that comes from a wick. Designed by Moritz Waldemeyer for Ingo Maurer.

Photo: Ingo Maurer

Light Field Camera. The first consumer camera that records the entire light field, instead of a flat 2D image. By capturing the entire light field, it allows the user to refocus the pictures after they take them. Designed by Lytro.

Photo: Lytro

City Tracking Pt 2. As part of a grant from Knight News Foundation, Stamen released original map designs of the world in three original styles: Toner, Watercolor, and Terrain. Designed by Stamen.

Image: Stamen

Chirp. A new way to share your stuff using sound, Chirp "sings" information from one iPhone to another, enabling you to share photos, webpages, and contacts from your phone's built-in speaker. Designed by Patrick Bergel and Anthony Steed for Animal Systems.

Image: chirp.io

Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of phones from Microsoft and integrates mobile use with excellent Microsoft office functionality. Designed by Microsoft.

Image: Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Dashilar. This smartphone app creates a new and detailed way to look at the Beijing district of Dashilar. Designed by Nippon Design Centre Inc.

Image: dashilar.org

Digital Postcard and Player. Digital Postcards give digital tracks a low-cost physical form. The cards are docked in a Postcard Player, and users can control playback by pressing buttons printed on the postcards. Designed by Uniform.

Photo: Uniform

Wind Map. The Wind Map shows the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US using different shades to signify different speeds and directions. Designed by Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Bertini Viegas.

Image: hint.fm

English Hedgerow Plate. Modern chintz design brought to life with cutting edge augmented reality technology. A free, downloadable English Hedgerow app generates a magical augmented reality experience with naturalistic animation and hedgerow sounds. Designed by Jason Jameson, James Hall and Rhys Griffin of Unanico Group, with Andrew Tanner Design and Royal Winton.

Image: Unanico

Free Universal Construction Kit. The Free Universal Construction Kit is an online matrix of nearly 80 adapter bricks that can be 3D-printed and allows any piece to join to any other, enabling the creation of previously impossible designs, and ultimately, more creative opportunities. Designed by Free Art and Technology Lab and Sy-Lab.

Photo: fffff.at

Gov.UK Website. The new Gov.uk website aims to combine all the UK Government's websites into a single site. Designed by Government Digital Service.

Image: www.gov.uk

Superstitious Fund Project. Created by Shing Tat Chung in February 2012 as a response to research behind superstitions and their effects on the world around us, the Superstitious Fund Project creates a correlation between superstitions from around the world with financial gain or loss. Designed by Shing Tat Chung.

Image: Superstitious Fund

Rain Room, (The Curve, Barbican Art Gallery). A 100 sq m field of falling water for visitors to walk through, experiencing how it might feel to control the rain. On entering visitors hear the sound of water and feel moisture in the air before discovering the thousands of falling droplets that to their presence, moving to keep the visitor dry. Designed by Random International.

Photo: Random International

Raspberry Pi Computer. Affordable and powerful enough to provide excellent multimedia, the design is perfect for kids—and tinkerers—who might not initially be interested in a purely programming-oriented device. Designed by Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Image: Raspberry Pi

Zombies, Run! This interactive fitness app guides you through zombie-apocalypse-themed missions with a variety of audio narrations. The application is capable of recording the distance, time, pace, and amount of calories burned per running mission via GPS. Designed by Six to Start and Naomi Alderman.

Image: Zombies, Run!

You'd think you could do most things in the kitchen with a knife and a good mixing bowl. Apparently not, according to the spate of highly specific single-purpose kitchen gadgets that exist. We showed you a few last month, but it turns out there are so many more horrors that we missed.

Here's another look into the beating heart of culinary insanity.

Apparently some people are above cutting hot dogs with their own hands. Enter the dog dicer.

These hard boiled egg molds will turn your ovum into super creepy edible animals heads. Yum!

Speaking of eggs, why boil a pot of water when you can drop serious cash on an EGG COOKER?

Or hey, if hard boiled's not your thing, here's an incredibly disturbing egg cracker.

Oh, right. The Nana Saver is for when you just can't finish that entire banana and want to have a slightly less fresh but still okay-to-eat banana for later.

Remember, that's just for nanas. For cukes you're going to need this cucumber saver. Totally different animal.

Where to start with the pomegranate deseeder? How many times a year do you eat pomegranate? How does it even work? Why?

A dedicated slicer is the only way to get illogically perfect segments of apple.

Because stacking three ingredients is far too complicated for your average chef, here's a s'mores maker. Not for use over open flame!

Buy this Ebelskiver pan only if you plan to make stuffed Swedish pancakes on the regular. Or even know what they are.

Not technically for cooking, but once your fork starts twirling itself, all bets are off.

You were born with hands but they're too sensitive to heat to handle hot toast on their own. So toast tongs exist.

Oh, and panini tongs, if you're extra fancy.

We really have bigger things to discuss if you need a plastic contraption to get an orange peeled.

This is a brush for mushrooms. Not potatoes. Not carrots. Not any other kind of vegetable. Just mushrooms.

The Design Museum's Designs of the Year awards showcase the most innovative and imaginative designs from around the world, over the past year, spanning seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Transport and Product. Here are the winners for each category, just announced today.

It's like the Oscars, but with no acceptance speeches and more attractive winners.

Architecture: La Tour Bois-Le-Prêtre, Paris. The striking transformation of a rundown tower in northern Paris created an alternative approach to the physical and social redevelopment of decaying post-war housing. Designed by Druot, Lacaton and Vassal.

Photo: Frederic Druot Architecture

Digital: Gov.UK Website. The new Gov.uk website aims to combine all the UK Government's websites into a single site, saving millions of pounds in the process. Designed by Government Digital Service.

Image: www.gov.uk

Fashion: Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel. Called 'the Empress of fashion', Diana Vreeland had a legendary (1903-1989) impact on fashion and style in her time. With 350 illustrations, including many famous photographs by Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and other major fashion photographers, this film shows iconic works as they were being invented. Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland.

Photo: Diana Vreeland

Furniture: Medici Chair. Three types of wood—thermo treated ash, walnut, and douglas—are joined at irregular angles, resulting in a comfortably reclined seat. Designed by Konstantin Grcic for Mattiazzi.

Photo: mattiazzi.eu

Graphics: Venice Architecture Biennale Identity. Spoken in a Venetian dialect, the stencil text is contained in a white plaster panel and roughly framed in black. These signs were made to blend in with the fabric of existing Venetian signage, with stencil text contained in a white plaster panel and roughly framed in black. Designed by John Morgan.

Source: La Biennale di Venezia/Facebook

Products: Kit Yamoyo. ColaLife works in developing countries to bring Coca-Cola, its bottlers and others together to open up Coca-Cola's distribution channels to carry ‘social products' such as oral rehydration salts and zinc supplements to save children's lives. Designed by ColaLife and PI Global.

Image: ColaLife

Transport: Morph Folding Wheel. For the first time the wheels on a wheelchair are able to fold flat and fit in the storage compartments of airplanes and small cars. When folded, the wheel takes up less than half a cubic foot, compared with nearly twice that when in use. Designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc.

Photo: morphwheels.com