Andrew Liszewski of Gizmodo writes, "There needs to be an adult version of this transforming seesaw bench." I couldn't agree more. Some people like standing desks or walking desks. I want a desk mounted on a seesaw.

Oh, yeah, and my kids would love this, too. But one of the little joys of being a parent is getting to play with toys again without people giving you odd looks.

Link (Google Translate) -via Gizmodo | Designer's Website

Omsk was a fortified border town from the beginning of its history. The passage of time has not altered that character. Even the playgrounds are heavily defended, in this case by a T-34-85. Government officials discarded old Soviet tanks, welded them shut, then left them in the playground as the greatest possible toys that young boys could hope for. View more pictures at the link.

Link (Google Translate) -via io9

Anthony Smith, a 4-year old boy in Salem, New Hampshire, needs to wear his "blue ear" -- his hearing aid. But he stubbornly refused to do so because superheroes don't have hearing aids. So his grandmother, Lou D'Allesandro, emailed Marvel Comics and asked for help.

First, Marvel employees dug through their archives and found a 1984 cover of West Coast Avengers that shows a hearing impaired superhero wearing a hearing aid. Later, they created the above cover image to fit Anthony's needs precisely:

Then another email arrived from Marvel, this one with Anthony as his own superhero, Blue Ear, drawn by Nelson Ribeiro of Marvel.

"Thanks to my listening device, I hear someone in trouble," Blue Ear says.

Then in comic book letters, it says, "When DANGER makes a sound, the Blue Ear answers the call."

No surprise, that went over big - with everyone. [...]

"It's just so captivated Anthony and his little buddies," Christina said. The only downside is that Anthony and his friends want their hearing devices to look like Blue Ear's.

Link -via Fashionably Geek

Italian doctors implanted an artificial heart that weighed only 11 grams, making it the smallest ever used. It kept the child alive long enough to receive a human heart:

"In March, the smallest artificial heart in the world was implanted at the Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome," Antonio Amodeo, a senior hospital official, said in a statement.

"The device, a titanium pump weighing only 11 grams and that can endure a flow of up to 1.5 litres per minute, was used in an emergency case of a 16-month-old infant suffering from dilated myocardiopathy with a serious infection of the ventricular assistance device that had been implanted previously."

Link -via Gizmodo

Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user o5com

He's only 15 years old, but he may soon save thousands of lives. Jack Andraka of Crownsville, Maryland won first place at this year's Intel Science Talent Search. He did so by devising a simple dipstick test that can detect pancreatic cancer cheaper and better than any other currently in use:

Jack created a simple dip-stick sensor to test blood or urine to determine whether or not a patient has early-stage pancreatic cancer. His study resulted in over 90 percent accuracy and showed his patent-pending sensor to be 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests.

News Story and Press Release -via The Agitator

Photo: Intel

Is that....?

Yes. Yes, it is. Mam Amor makes cloth dolls that are anatomically correct in their depictions of childbirth and breastfeeding. The baby doll fits entirely inside the mother doll and is attached by an umbilical cord.

http://www.mamamordolls.com/index2.php (warning: auto sound) -via VA Viper

(Video Link)

Every day, Dylan has to get breathing treatments for his cystic fibrosis. But he doesn't let that get him down. Here is Dylan kicking it to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite."

-via Gizmodo

You can't just throw a pillow fort together. I know because I build at least one per day. I've got limited materials of dubious structural integrity and high demands for enclosed interior space. My clients are quite insistent about what they want, and I've got to keep them happy to remain employed.

This one, designed by Patrick Di Justo, uses Buckminister Fuller's principle of tensional integrity to create a lightweight but sturdy structure. It's built around brooms that push each other apart, but never touch each other.

Link | Image: Joel Kimmel

And you thought that Daddy smelled bad on the outside!

Austin Madison, an animator at Pixar, made this Han-and-tauntaun costume for him and his son to wear.

Link -via Super Punch

Wendy Tsao's ingenious business takes any child's drawing and makes it into a little plush friend. It's wonderful because it helps a child bring her/she imagination into reality. This is Stobbayew, a six-legged rabbit who lays eggs. She was designed by Maya, age 4, who loves her.

Link -via Boing Boing

During the summer of 2010, Mallory Kievman was afflicted with a bad case of the hiccups. She tried many different folk remedies and the hiccups eventually went away. But Mallory figured that there had to be a better way to get rid of the hiccups quickly. So she invented a lollipop that does just that:

She had developed the product in her family’s Manchester, Conn., kitchen, amalgamating her three favorite cures — lollipops, apple cider vinegar and sugar — into a single confection. “It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc,” said Mallory with a matter-of-fact tone. “It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup.”

She submitted her invention, dubbed the Hiccupop, to a kids' invention contest and won. Now she's launching a company to market her invention:

Mallory hopes Hiccupops will become a staple of school nurses’ offices and drugstores. She also wants to explore a medical niche, since hiccups are a common and uncomfortable side effect of chemotherapy. “It always has been really appealing to me to be able to sort of have a product out there that can help people,” she said. “I want to become a doctor and go into medicine.”

News Story and Company Website -via That's Nerdalicious! | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user GoRun26

If you want to go all the way with a kids' backyard playhouse, then you must hire Arthur Millican Jr. He once worked for Disney creating fantasy worlds and now brings that expertise to individual families. This playhouse is, believe it or not, owned by a child. A child of whom I am insanely envious.

http://www.whimsicalfairygarden.com/Custom/garden%20shed%20playhouse.htm -via Boing Boing

(Video Link)

Little Mason is all tuckered out. But rest is for the weak, especially when there's ice cream to be devoured.

-via Blame It on the Voices

The nonprofit organization Burning through the Pages has one mission, and it's a good one:

In a time of overwhelming technology and mindless entertainment, we want to get books into the hands of young adults based on what they love and are passionate about, in the hope that they will become active readers and find sanctuary in the limitless stories and ideas found in literature.

To promote this objective, it hired artist Mike Andereck to create this excellent poster.

Link -via Althouse | Burning through the Pages

The best thing about these kid breakfast crafts, like the Bunny Bottom Pancakes and the Teddy Bear Toast, is that non-crafty people can make them easily. The sunny pancakes by Michele Borboa are a great example.

Link -via Melissa Anderson