After Stuart Anderson quit his job at Twitter last year, he needed a project to occupy himself. For years, he and sculptor Shaun Slifer, his roommate, had talked about creating a penny crusher—Slifer has collected souvenir pennies since childhood. Anderson decided it was finally time. READ MORE This article was originally published in the December…

Engineers Ryan Sipes and Joshua Montgomery wanted their makerspace in Lawrence, Kansas, to be more intuitive. So they borrowed an artificial intelligence system from other makers and used it to do simple tasks, such as controlling the lights or playing music. Then they realized they could create a better one—and sell it. READ MORE This…

Twenty-five years ago, artist Theo Jansen built a new life-form. Made of PVC pipes and zip ties, his strandbeest (Dutch for “beach beast”) walked along a beach under wind propulsion. Since then, Jansen has created many more beests and inspired a small army of imitators. “The perfect strandbeest is a specimen that lives on its…