Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

New MINI teased again ahead of next week’s reveal (video)

The new MINI is being teased again ahead of its debut The all new MINI for 2014 is due to be revealed next week on the anniversary of the birth of its creator, Sir Alec Issigonis, and MINI are squeezing in another tease for their new baby ahead of its official debut. We’ve already had a couple of teases from MINI in the run up to the reveal – including a good look at the new MINI with the MINI Vision Concept – so we’ve got a good ideas of what’s in store for MINI buyers. What we get this time is plenty of moody shots in low light of the new MINI’s features to keep the interest going, although much of the DNA of BMW’s MINI are carried forward from the current MINI.

Hyundai’s hydrogen-powered ix35 turns its hand to growing fish and food

The Hyundai ix35 FCEV Fuel Cell Farm outside the London Design Museum Hyundai PR do like a slightly left-field take on raising awareness of Hyundai’s products (although they usually involve animals, children, fashion or shopping), so a Hyundai ix35 FCEV turned in to a fuel cell farm should come as no surprise, nor that they parked it outside London’s Design Museum for a bit of extra profile. With the help of sustainability creatives (who’d have thought there was such a business?) Something & Son, Hyundai has created a Fuel Cell Farm (well, depending on your definition of how big something growing has to be to be called a farm) that uses the emissions from the ix35 FCEV as its water source. The setup takes the water from the ix35 and feeds it in to the fish tank, the fish do what fish do and the aquaponics gubbins takes that and uses it as food for the plants.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.