When you think supercar, you think carbon-fiber, and other exotic materials. But in our quest for space age materials, perhaps we have overlooked that old renewable wonder — wood.

Behold: The Splinter [via Trendhunter]

The Splinter should be capable of speeds in excess of 240mph:

Creator, Joe Harmon, 27, said: "Wood is a truly amazing material to work with. It has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than aluminium or steel, and it possesses a versatility that makes many different types of construction techniques possible.

"The look, feel, and smell of a natural material like wood are not seen elsewhere and cannot be faked, and the satisfaction involved in making something from a piece of wood …
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Further Portendings

Digital Tattoos Will Alert You to Incoming Calls and Diseases Too

28 Feb 08 Franken-Life | Future-Stuff-That-Goes-Ping | No Strings | Transhuman Horizons

Perhaps you’ve had too much to drink, or maybe you’ve contracted malaria — it’s hard to tell, since the human body has no built in diagnosis system.

But that may change with a bit of help from digital tattoos. Everything from mobile phone calls to blood analysis could be displayed from just under your skin. Think of it as a "Check Engine" light for the human …

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Morphing Nanotech Killers Will Disguise Themselves As Mobile Phones

26 Feb 08 Future-Stuff-That-Goes-Ping | No Strings | Swimming in GreyGoo

Stretchy, flexible future phones will transform from tablets into jewelry. But what if these nano-creatures begin to self-replicate and turn on their masters, gnawing away your DNA at the nanoscale level — mobile phones might truly become hazardous to your health! For now, it’s all just make-believe, but it’s a nice concept [via The Mobile Weblog, and Life As an Artificial Lifeform]:

(…

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Friday Frivolity With Space-Babes

22 Feb 08 Flying Car | Jump the Shark

Celebrating the cosmological curves and stellar eyelashes of some (retro) future ladies [see more at Dark Roast Blend]:

The Popular Future

Mobile Devices Will Help You Lose Weight, Free Music and Save the World

The new titans of mobile sports technology, Nike+, are once again teaming with their cohorts at apple — this time developing wifi and 3G tie-ins for the next-gen iPhone. Lace up your sneakers and tune to your power song — …

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Lover Pods Include Built-in Champagne Holders and Flat-Panel Video

The sleep pods of the future will take romance to a new level. Consider the red velour, the bottle of bubbling chilling, maybe even a virtual fireplace crackling on the 32-inch LCD — who wouldn’t be ready for love.

[via Gizmodo]
It’s also …

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Friday Frivolity With Robotic Breast Massage

Science fiction can’t make up stories this crazy: [via Gizmodo]

Yes, this miracle of modern science is designed for all sorts of women, from “girls who are reaching or having …

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Morphing Nanotech Killers Will Disguise Themselves As Mobile Phones

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News From The Future

Britain Releases Secret Files on UFO Sightings -- SPACE.com 15 May 08
What they saw has never been explained. And they were so worried about losing their jobs that they demanded their names be kept off the official reports.
All You Need to Know About Giant Monsters in 5 Minutes » SlideShare 15 May 08
Thanks to the nice people at Slideshare, you can now get my 5-minute introduction to giant monster appreciation, which I performed live at the Ignite show in San Francisco a couple weeks ago.
Clever Uses: Cure Poison Ivy and Jellyfish Stings with Vodka 14 May 08
In fact, the article offers a total of 10 unusual uses for the popular beverage, from flower preservation and insect repellent to toothache reliever and jellyfish-sting soother.
Meet the Spacecraft That Could Save NASA a Fortune | Wired Science from Wired.com 14 May 08
Reusable spacecraft architecture is a bit of a novelty for NASA, which has traditionally built spacecraft from the ground up for each new mission -- at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. No lo. […]
Megaquake set to strike within a decade | New Scientist Environment 2 May 08
Sometime in the next 10 years we can expect an earthquake of a similar magnitude to the 2004 Sumatra quake that triggered the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.
How To: Build Your Own Iron Man Armor | Danger Room from Wired.com 2 May 08
In fact, complete suits of bullet-proof armor have existed for centuries. It's a popular myth that gunpowder made armor obsolete; armor-makers just improved their product.