A Japanese shipbuilding company named IHI Marine United is developing a ship that can be powered entirely by rechargeable lithium batteries. It will be able to travel 80 km while carrying 800 passengers:

Its Zero Emission Electric Propulsion Ship will use batteries that can be recharged at charging stations in ports it visits. The plug-in ship powered by lithium-ion batteries would run without a diesel engine, thus cutting its carbon dioxide or nitrogen oxide emissions to zero.

The company hopes to have a commercial vehicle available in 2015.

Link via technabob | Photo: Far East Gizmos

Nothing can escape the prying eyes of Google Street View, including Waldo from the Where's Waldo? book series. He was seen at 76 Putney High St, Wandsworth, UK by a Google Street View camera car.

Link via Great White Snark

(YouTube Link)

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot recorded the sounds and images of birds lured to land on and pluck at the strings of an electric guitar left outside:

His installation for The Curve will take the form of a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other instruments and objects. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

His resulting sound installation is on display at the Barbican Art Gallery in London starting on February 27.

via Make

What with hazy images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary appearing on toast, potato chips, and other assorted food items, artist Adam Sheldon felt the inspiration to create a mosaic of the crucifixion out of 153 pieces of burnt toast. It's on display at the Church of St. Peter in Great Limber, Lincolnshire, UK. More (and larger) images at the link.

Link via DudeCraft | Video about the Project | Photo: This Is Grimsby

In reference to the book Cranioklepty by Colin Dickey, Keith Thomson writes at The Huffington Post about the hobby of skull collecting. Among the most famous skulls held in collections might be that of the composer Ludwig Von Beethoven:

The seller is California businessman Paul Kaufmann, who first became aware that his family possessed the item in 1990. While searching among his late mother's possessions, he happened on an ancient, pear-shaped box labeled "Beethoven."

Years of investigation by historians and scientists make a compelling case that the box was labeled accurately. Exhibit A: Kaufmann's great-great uncle was a physician closely involved in the 1863 exhumation of Beethoven (and Franz Schubert) largely for scientific study; according to several accounts, the physician kept Beethoven's skull. Exhibit B: Tests of existing strands of the composer's hair point to a DNA match. For Exhibits C through Z, see Dickey's book.

The owner hopes to earn at least $100,000 for the skull. At the link, you can read about other famous collectible skulls.

Link via Digg | Photo: Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies

Peter Rombough, a biologist at Brandon University in Canada, has conducted a study on the functions of fish gills. He concludes that although gills may allow a fish to breathe, that might not be the original reason why they evolved:

In order to keep from shriveling like your fingers in the bathtub, fish must constantly exchange ions, such as sodium and potassium, with the water. Larval fish can exchange ions through their skin, and early fish likely used rudimentary gill structures known as branchial baskets. But when the salinity of the water changes rapidly--as happened when fish invaded freshwater habitats--fish would have needed a much more efficient way of exchanging ions with their environment. That means large, complex gills.

Link via reddit | Photo: US Department of the Interior

Iberico ham began selling in London for £1,800 for a 15-pound leg joint. It's the world's most expensive pork, raised in western Spain and delivered in luxurious conditions:

The pigs were fed on a diet of acorns and roots to give the ham a distinctive flavour.

After being slaughtered their ham was salted and cured for three years, before going on sale in a hand-made wooden box wrapped in an apron made by a Spanish tailor.

Link via J-Walk Blog | Photo: BBC

(YouTube Link)

YouTube user brusspup is fond of creating optical illusions. We've recently featured one that looks like two lug nuts. His latest is this Pac-Man scene painted on the walls of a house.

via Urlesque

In this infographic, Stephen Von Worley observes that the number of discrete colors in a box of Caryola Crayons doubles about every 28 years. That's an annual growth rate of 2.56%. Von Worley writes:

If the Law holds true, Crayola’s gonna need a bigger box, because by the year 2050, there’ll be 330 different crayons! Shortly thereafter, frazzled packaging designers rejoice, for to the rescue comes a revolution in household appliances: the new-fangled Replicator-Dissociator! Load it with the Crayola plugin, and you’re seconds away from every shade in the rainbow – no boxes required!

Link via Make

Artist Cole Blaq made a display that looks like fire -- except that it's made of LEGOs. It is a larger version of a sculpture that he presented at a LEGO competition in Munich. More pictures at the link.

Link via Geekologie | Artist's Blog

(YouTube Link)

Jim Moyer's hobby is building miniature engines. The one above, which he claims is the smallest V-8 engine in the world, is a 1/6 scale model of the 327 cubic inch motor in a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ

NASA is shutting down the space shuttle program and so is trying to sell off its remaining merchandise at increasingly low prices. It's already slashed the price for a (pre-owned) shuttle from $42 million to $28.8 million:

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in December 2008 put out the call seeking buyers at museums, schools and elsewhere, the agency received about 20 inquiries. An agency spokesman, Mike Curie, said he expected more interest, especially with the discount.

“We’re confident that we’ll get other takers,” Mr. Curie said Friday.

The Discovery is already promised to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The Atlantis and the Endeavour are up for grabs. It is possible that the Enterprise, a shuttle prototype that never made it to space, will also be available. The Enterprise is currently at the Smithsonian.

Link via Instapundit | Photo: NASA

A woman named Lukka Sigurdardottir made this edible wedding dress. Or, alternatively, a wearable wedding cake.

http://gatherandnest.com/?p=3208 via Digg | Image: Gather and Nest

Ukrainian artist Oksana Mas created an enormous mosaic of the Virgin Mary composed of 15,000 wooden Easter eggs at the Santa Sophia cathedral in Kiev. The work was unveiled yesterday.

Elaborate Easter eggs -- "pysanky" -- are a major artistic tradition in the Ukraine. Gallery at the link.

Link via DudeCraft | Artist's Website | Photo: Sergei Supinksy/AFP/Getty

No, Chanel isn't marketing to the ComicCon crowd. This is a work by artist Tetsuya Noguchi in homage to the famous French design house. Pink Tentacle assembled a photogallery of the suit.

Link