The world of green tech presented us with some neat tricks and eco-treats this week from this plan to 3D print new shells for homeless hermit crabs to this handy LeafSnap app that helps you identify all different kinds of fall foliage to an energy-efficient UFO hotel room, which recently “landed” in the forests of Sweden. Speaking of spaceships, we also spotted this Star Trek Enterprise feeding system for babies (you’re never too young to live long and prosper) as well as plans for a massive nuclear-powered airport/airplane that could fly as many as 3,000 passengers through the sky, and Philips showed off its eerie and futuristic bacteria-powered lamps. In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, we rounded up the top six creepiest buildings of all time as well as six spooky churches made of bones. And just in case you missed the craziest Halloween story of the week, check these photos of a trio of ghastly zombies bursting out of the world’s largest pumpkin’s hell, er, shell.

On the green transportation front, we took the Honda CR-V hybrid for a spin and came across news that Tesla will reintroduce its sexy roadster in 2014. We also saw that GM is working on cars that could drop drivers off at their destinations and even park themselves, and the auto giant impressed us even further by joining Ford and Chrysler, who are working closely with engineering students from the University of Michigan Solar Car Team to create viable solar-powered cars for the future. But if you can’t wait that long, this Solarship is a blimp-like solar-powered airship that actually exists today.

In tech news, Facebook announced that they’ll be building a fancy new server farm in the Arctic. And speaking of cold weather, we also spotted where this clever Umbrella coat that has a handy umbrella instead of a hood – perfect for rainy fall days. A new study showing that TV is officially harmful to children under two confirmed some of our suspicions and we also saw news of a judge who ruled that cell phone warnings be blocked in San Francisco.

If you’re planning on dressing up for Halloween, don’t forget to enter our Green Halloween costume contest (or your kids in our Inhabitots costume contest) for some frightfully fabulous prizes. If you need some inspiration, we’ve got a slew of techie costume ideas you could cobble together from things you already own like this delightful iPhone getup or this homemade robot outfit.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: CR-V hybrid, Facebook’s server farm and robot costumes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So Philliebot was a fail, but this chainless bicycle serves as proof that UPenn doesn’t always come up short. The Alpha Bike, designed by a group of engineering students, contains an entirely internal drivetrain that allows riders to switch between fixed-gear and multi-gear setups. The simple switch is enabled by an electronically controlled clutch, part of the Switchable Integrated Free-Fixed Transmission (SWIFT), discreetly hidden in the bike’s frame. Populating the front hub are a drum break and a dynamo, which juices the bike’s electronics — the back hub contains a three-speed gear set, put in motion by a simple push-pull cable. When the front wheel starts rolling, an LED screen mounted in the carbon fiber handlebars is illuminated, displaying time, caddence, and speed, among other things — this data and more is stored on an accessible SD card. As of now, the bike is still a prototype, but if you start saving now, you might actually have enough scratch to buy one when it comes to fruition.

Alpha Bike concept: free-wheeling fixie for flip-floppers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

The name ‘Short Circuit Shelf’ conjured up images of my handful of DVDs and books being held up by a wise-cracking, sentient robot, but this is cool too. Created by Alexandra DiCairano, the Short Circuit Shelf is actually designed to look like a circuit board when mounted on your wall, which, according to Alexandra, “have a beautiful and efficient pattern that perfectly serve their function…” The shelves aren’t available for sale though, which is a shame since they’d probably be more popular in comp sci and electrical engineering students’ dorm rooms than that picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out.

[ Short Circuit Shelf ] VIA [ Freshome ]

What a coup for Sony’s marketing men. The Royal Navy will be handing out PSPs to its sailors so that they can brush up on their maths and whatnot. The PSP was selected because it’ll work wonders in the closed, confined spaces of Navy quarters.

The PSPs will be pre-loaded with specialized coursework (slides and the like… it’s shocking how much of college consists of reading PowerPoint slides projected onto a white wall), so that, instead of knocking about while not actually inside a classroom, sailors can stick to their work.

The program is being trialed (is that a verb? It is now.) with engineering students first, being that they’re a bit rubbish, failing classes and whatnot.

And here’s some silly joke about the men spending their time playing, I don’t know, Tekken 6 on the PSP instead of reading up on functions and Nelson.

via Kotaku

(Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

A group of engineering students has developed a portable, low-cost Braille printer that lets the blind and visually impaired easily label objects that feel similar to the touch, like DVDs.

The 6dot Braille Labelmaker is cheaper and easier to use than other label makers, according …

By Chris Scott Barr

When it comes to passing gas, usually the thing people are most likely to argue about is the source. After all, most people don’t want to admit that they were the one who let it slip. Of course you do have the people that are rather proud of their gas, and will readily claim it. These people are more concerned about who is able to create the loudest and nastiest fart possible. A pair of computer engineering students at Cornell have crafted a device that can essentially measure a fart.

The two students used a sensitive hydrogen sulfide monitor, thermometer and a microphone to rate the quality of one’s flatulence. The results from these tools is combined, and the device beeps and announces the fart rating, from 1 to 9. If it’s a nine, a small fan kicks in to get the air flowing.

If you’ve ever wanted to see a frat guy crap themselves, stick one of these in their frat house. Over the course of a couple of days, they’ll all be competing to see who can rip the nastiest one. Being the competitive guys they are, they’ll look for ways to one-up each other. Someone’s going to eat one too many bean burritos, try to squeeze out a juicy fart only to end up dropping a deuce in their boxers.

VIA [ PopularScience ]