Dr. Mohamed Babu of Mysore, India shot these incredible photographs, taken as these unusual ants sipped from colorful piles of sugar water. He says that not only did he end up with red, yellow and blue ants, but some of them drank from multiple drops, creating new colors too.

I love stuff like this. Not only are these photographs incredible, but they capture one of natures incredible creations, and teach us a thing or two about science.

We better not let the guys at ColorWare hear about this, or else they’ll be selling custom-colored ants for $500 each. Although if you send in your own ants, they might provide a small discount.

[DailyMail via NotCot via Colossal Art + Design]

I suspect it involves a super sharp knife. The artist picks the leaf for the project and washes, dries, molds, and then cuts the leaf away to reveal the art within. Just look at how detailed the works are with the little branches of the trees. I would not have the steady hands needed to do this sort of thing.

The artist’s works are based on paper cutting techniques that are used in Japan, China, and other countries.

Check out the artist’s site to see more of his works. If you see one that really grabs your eye, you can purchase the work. Duran doesn’t price anything and prefers to let the buyer set the price.

[via Like Cool]

This crazy looking thing is a remote-controlled eagle, complete with a 9-1/2 foot wingspan and a carbon-fiber skeletal structure. The product description says it’s “powered by a gimbal-mounted engine and propeller that provides nimble, multi-directional vector movement which replicates the bird of prey’s agile turns and dives.” Last I checked, real eagles don’t have engines or propellers, so I’m not sure exactly how faithful its flight really is. Still, it looks pretty cool from this video clip:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In addition to soaring, you should be able to pull off loops once you’ve mastered the controls. The R/C eagle can be operated from up to 100 feet away from the RF transmitter, and flight time is up to 8 minutes on a 20 minute charge.

It’s available over at Hammacher Schlemmer for a pricey $499.95 (USD), so even though the Bald Eagle is no longer on the endangered list, the cash in your wallet may soon be.

[Press Release]

These wooden iPod/iPhone docks let you charge or connect your media player to your computer. Handmade from real cedar and other woods by the guys over at Woodtec, these docks definitely stand out from the typical white plastic jobbers that you see sitting on most desks. Each one features unique lumps, bumps, woodgrain, and that fragrant woody aroma – all courtesy of good old mother nature.

Prices for the wooden docks range from $58 to $82 (USD) and you can check out the complete collection over on Woodtec’s Etsy shop.

Created by Uncle Milton’s (the same guys who made the original ant farm over 50 years ago), this updated version features a brightly illuminated green environment for your 6-legged friends to crawl around in. Instead of sand, the tunnels are loaded with a moist, nutritious green gel (I prefer to call it goo). The see-through colony is designed to be break-proof and escape-proof, so that should keep the ants inside where they belong.

The entire contraption is illuminated LEDs to give you a bright, up-close-and-personal view of your budding ant civilization. You can even connect multiple farms to create a massive above-ground ant city. All you need is a magnifying glass and the power of the sun, and you’ll be all set.

If you don’t have any spare ants lying around, Uncle Milton’s will ship you about 25 to 30 (non-breeding) harvester worker ants to populate your world with (assuming you can wait the requisite 3 to 6 weeks for delivery).

You can grab the Uncle Milton’s LED Gel Ant Farm over at Entertainment Earth for $29.99 (USD).

The reason for this change? According to Vineeta Gupta of the Skynet Oxford University Press, “the decision to remove nature words is due to the reduced presence of nature in children’s lives.” Hmm. So if a student is weak at math, we should stop teaching him math altogether? And why put already popular words in a dictionary? Why would kids refer to a dictionary for things which they’ll probably know about through their daily activities? Mom and Dad, don’t you want your kids to know the names of the animals in Happy Tree Friends?

Read Dan Gould’s article at PFSK for the complete list of words removed and words added. Mrs. Connor are you listening? Teach John to love nature okay? Nature!

The clock is portable and runs on 3 AAA batteries. If you get tired of the same ol’ same ol’ generic calls like robin, mockingbird, rooster, and so forth, you can buy several different bird call cards that go with the clock for $10.50 each.

You can even buy a card with frog calls. Now birds seemed reasonable, but come on people, seriously, frogs? I just can’t picture it. I’m going to stand behind my theory that waking up to guttural ribbiting noises would not be the most auspicious start to your day.

I don’t know about you but in my neighborhood there are a bunch of annoying loud chirpy birds that wake me up with their cacophonous tweeting, without fail, almost every single day. So for me this item would be completely gratuitous as I get the service it provides absolutely free. Still, if you prefer to wake to a chorus of dark-eyed junco calls, or the throaty warble of a spring peeper frog, feel free to purchase the clock for $39.95 at The Nature Store.

[via cribcandy]

Researchers in the UK have devised a new mobile phone body which can simply be tossed into the compost heap, and will disintegrate within weeks. Once the phone’s shell has broken down, an embedded sunflower seed is released into the earth, sprouting life anew from your wayward technological garbage.

A team at the University of Warwick’s Warwick Manufacturing Group, in conjunction with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd. and Motorola used a special biodegradable polymer which is completely functional under normal working conditions, yet starts to rapidly decompose when placed in compost. Now they haven’t solved the problem of what to do with all those nasty toxins in your phone’s electronic components and battery pack, but at least they’ve got a solution for all those cheap plastic cases.

For those of us with iPhones, we’ll just have to melt down our aluminum and glass beauties using conventional recycling techniques when that iPhone 2.0 eventually comes along.

[via Baby Ruthless via Roadside Scholar]

Hang this remote-controlled picture on your wall, and you can swap between eight different scenic vistas from the comfort of your Aeron chair. Working sort of like those motorized image-flipping ad displays you see in shopping centers these days, the panorama can change between a variety of tranquil locales with a simple press of the remote. It even can play sounds of nature or new-agey music to help set your mind adrift. The box measures in at about 39″(w) x 3″(d) x 19″(h) and hangs easily on your wall.

Sure, it won’t actually give you a tan, but you can always run to the strip mall for one of those, right? While you’re there, you can grab a Piña Colada flavored slushie from the Orange Julius. You can get your fake vacation started over at Taylor Gifts for just under $100 bucks.

The Healing Theater Umine projects watery blue and green moving images on your ceiling as it plays back digitally recorded sounds of the islands. In addition to a beach setting, the Umime can transport you deep into the rainforest along with chirping birds and a green, leafy light show, or under the sea, swimming with the fishes and a deep blue visual effect.

In addition to the built-in nature sounds, you can hook up your favorite media player and listen to your music as the images play. It also comes with a removable frosted dome that lets keeps the images from reaching the ceiling, instead creating a brighter, point lighting source.

As is always the case with the LED projectors, the effect requires a totally dark room, and probably won’t be quite as dramatic as the marketing image above. Still, it looks pretty cool. The Umine projector is available for pre-order now (shipping mid-August) from HimeyaShop for $84.

This strange looking device from SEGATOYS produces three-dimensional “healing” sounds which are designed to help you relax. You’re supposed to keep the battery-operated Digital Sound Feeling System with you in times of stress, and the sounds it produces are said to make all your cares slip away.

Personally, I thought the imagery on SEGA’s promotional website made me think they were selling some other sort of battery-operated “toy” for “relaxation.” Maybe my mind is just in the gutter.