Paul Bracq was the design director for both Mercedes-Benz (1957-1967) and rival BMW (1970-1974.) During his time at Mercedes he designed multiple classics, with the 230/250/280 SL perhaps being his best-known.

But for me Bracq's socks-knocker was the E25 Turbo concept car he designed for BMW.

As it's the latter brand that commissioned the video below, you won't hear a peep about those SL's, but you will get to hear Bracq discuss the E25, the 5-Series and others. It's also awesome to see he's still sketching into his 80s, and I like a designer who proudly states that he spent more time in the shop than the studio.

Join the conversation about Bracq and vintage cars in the Core77 discussion forums. H/T mo-i

Business in the front...

...party in the back

Sadly, there are no Vines of industrial design studios from seventy years ago. But we're lucky indeed that ID'er C. Stowe Myers was toting a film camera around inside Walter Dorwin Teague's office in the 1940s, giving us some rare (and of course unnarrated) glimpses at what it was like in there.

Seed is seeking a Design Technologist to join its Design team in New York. As a member of Seed Scientific's design team, you will be joining an interdisciplinary group of scientists, mathematicians, designers, and engineers that work with commercial, public and social sector clients to help them solve their most challenging problems and get the most out of their data.

You will apply your design and technical skills to design, build and deploy custom visualizations and data-driven tools. Recent work has included visualizing large amounts of data to surface new insights, designing state-of-the-art network visualizations, enabling real-time analysis of complex phenomena, and the Visualizing.org community platform. Apply Now.

In and around New Year's holidays the Japanese public traditionally make their way through vast quantities of Mochi—sticky and sweet cakes of pounded rice, eaten usually in soup, or toasted and served with sweet soy sauce and wrapped in dried seaweed. Unfortunately, this yearly customary celebration is all too often marred with tragedy—glutinous patties have been known to take the lives of people (often elderly) who choke on the sticky substance. This year has seen a particularly high casualty rate with 9 people reported to have died and a further 13 left in a critical condition.

Whilst in recent years Mochi manufacturers have adjusted their recipes to reduce casualties—the addition of an enzyme making the cakes less sticky, whilst maintaining the starchy flavour—Japanese industrialist have (somewhat predictably) also been taking on the challenge with interesting results. Tokyo-based medical equipment manufacturer Shin-Ei Industries is marketing a simple accessory for household vacuum cleaners with the premise that any rice cake incidents can be averted by sucking the offending mush from the victims throat.

As an avid documenter, collector and all around object enthusiast, my accumulation of 'stuff' from design school and beyond would rival designers much older than myself. In notebooks alone I have managed to fill many a bookshelf. Even a recent downsize upon relocating to Germany has done little to stymie the flow of sketchbooks, notepads, drawings etc.

Perhaps because of this, I immediately felt a kindred spirit in Jay Cousins, industrial designer and inventor of the 'Betabook' a current campaign on Kickstarter. Betabook was developed out of Cousins' experiments in living simply and with minimal objects—an interest he discussed as ranging from purging lesser-used objects to an anecdote about attempting to live in only 3 square meters of his Berlin apartment.

The Betabook is a direct result of Cousin's effort to take stock of his notebooks and sketchbooks nearly two years ago, only to find that the majority of their contents no longer retained enough value to warrant keeping. He began to experiment with alternatives, eventually removing the pages and recovering the bindings with a reusable whiteboard surface and documenting the important pages through digital photos. Cousins was later joined by co-founders of the creative studio KS12, Patrizia Kommerell and Gabriel Shalom to design and produce the final iteration of the Betabook as a consumer product.

You've undoubtedly heard that cheetahs can do 75 miles per hour. But maybe you don't realize how quickly they can get there: A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in an absurd three seconds flat, making it faster than a Ferrari Enzo, a McLaren F1 and a Lamborghini Gallardo. What's even more amazing is that, according to the Smithsonian Channel , they can get up to 60 m.p.h. in just three strides.

So how is a 125-pound collection of fur and bones able to reach these speeds? In a word, design.

Everything from the cheetah's shoulder blades, rib cage shape, tail, and even the consistency of its footpads are all seemingly designed with one goal in mind: Blistering speed. This video explains how the cheetah's various "design features" all work together to produce their results:

Two years ago, The Gates Foundation's Reinventing the Toilet Challenge sought to design basic sanitation for those who don't have it—a staggering 40% of Earth's population. Now Bill Gates is taking it a step further, backing a machine that can solve two pressing problems at once. The Omniprocessor, as it's called, not only gets rid of feces, but turns them into clean water.

I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin. They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water.

The water tasted as good as any I've had out of a bottle. And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It's that safe.

Developed by Seattle-based engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, the machine cleanly burns feces at a temperature so hot that "there's no nasty smell," according to Gates. "In fact it meets all the emissions standards set by the U.S. government." And while producing drinking water is impressive enough, that's not even the kicker: The machine also generates electricity--enough to power itself and have juice to spare.

The method they've created to power the machine is pretty ingenious. Check it out:

They don't look like this yet

After seeing the "design features" that enable the cheetah to run so fast, I wanted to circle back to Boston Dynamics' robo-cheetah, which we looked at a few years ago. Their creation isn't faster than a Ferrari, but with a top speed of 28 miles per hour, it's faster than Usain Bolt.

The concept rendering is a good deal more optimistic-looking than the actually built version, which is headless, tailless and needs to be connected to an external power supply:

However, more recently another Boston-based team has been working on a cheetah-bot of their own, and this one runs under its own power. MIT has harnessed the talent from several of their departments to create their robotic cheetah, which uses a high-torque-density electric motor designed by one of their Electrical Engineering professors and motor controllers designed by another engineer in their Research Laboratory of Electronics.

In light of the recent horrific events in Paris, it's worth re-visiting a particular press campaign. Last year the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression launched "Information is Ammunition," a trio of images defending freedom of the press.

Created by Toronto-based communications agency Juniper Park, the work also appears in the portfolio of copywriter Matt Hubbard. (Unfortunately we were not able to determine whom the photographer and art director were on the project, thus we can't credit them.) However, the photo series inspired others to produce similar pieces, and they're a bit easier to credit. The France-based photographer behind KOE produced this image:

There's sometimes an uncomfortable paradox in the condition of the industrial designer—whilst making a living with the imagineering of consumable products, we're also often amongst the most aware and troubled by the many problems associated with rampant consumerism.

London-based designer Chris Thomas—"educated in the depths of the recession" at Goldsmiths—has penned a short book(let) YOU HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT, part self-help book, part propaganda pamphlet, unapologetically rallying against our excessive consumerist lifestyles, apparently "the culmination of quite a few years of inner raging".

Available for download free in iBook, ePUB or PDF—and also available to buy physically if you can handle the irony— Chris's book offers a range of practical anti-consumerism advice from first defining "shit" to then outlining lists of "shit" you probably don't need in your life to the final chapter on "Now You Know You Have Too Much Shit, Here's How To Get Rid of It".

Industrial designer Bruce Thomson is a man "[obsessed] with the visual archiving of automobilia through sketching, illustration and painting." He's also on an epic quest to buy a sweet vintage car—make and model TBD—and has created the Kicking Vintage Tyres blog to combine these two things.

In a word, the site is awesome. As Thomson chases down one lead after another, showing up at car dealerships and people's driveways, he sketches the car in question.

Yakima Products, the innovation leader in vehicle racks and cargo solutions, is seeking an Industrial Designer. Yakima employees have a passion for what they do, and pride in knowing that they're on the team that makes the best rack around. The Yakima Industrial Designer creates relevant, emotionally-charged designs fueled by their proven consumer insights process.

The successful candidate for this role has outstanding product design skills and solid knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes. They're also prepared to develop innovative products that enhance the strength of Yakima's brand and collaborate cross-functionally to meet or exceed the business goals. This is the perfect opportunity for an accomplished designer who loves the outdoors, so don't wait - Apply Now.

Photo by Zan van Alderwegen

With a new year, it's time to clear out the digital clutter and make way for some new lines for inspiration. First on the list: Architecture in Development. After nurturing a passionate online community for a number of years, the founders of the site hope that Architecture in Development (AiD) can do more than just share information about sustainable development and architecture. The members behind the site are now developing workshops and launching pilot cases as a way of gathering and challenging like-minded people in a real world environment to develop new solutions for specific challenges. Core77 spoke with founding members Changfang Luo and Rob Breed about the newest phase for AiD.

What is Architecture In Development?

Rob Breed and Changfang Luo: Architecture In Development (AiD) is a global platform that aims to bring together the demand and supply in the practice of community design that emphasizes people rather than icons. AiD exists to support this new generation of architects by means of an online platform for knowledge and network resources, offline workshops and events to connect and, in the future, pilot cases to incubate real projects.

What is the backstory for why you founded Architecture In Development?

After we finished studying architecture, we started working in architecture studios. During that time we noticed the growing distance between our profession and the people using the spaces. In media, architecture was glamorized into a fashion industry with seductive images to capture attention (mainly from peer architects). And we noticed that in the world of architecture little attention was spent on the people and their relationship with architecture; everyone was busy with 'the final selling image' rather than the contexts, the culture and the tradition that give shape to architecture. There is hardly a voice from the people who participated in the process of making architecture; there is hardly any critique or evaluation on architecture after it's inhabited.

We were confronting these ideas while the architecture industry was devastated by the recession. Most of our friends and colleagues lost their jobs and the future was looking bleak. We asked ourselves: How can we help our colleagues think and act differently in our daily practice?

LaCie's got a long history of tapping designers and design brands to create memory devices that needn't be hidden behind your monitor. (See Sam Hecht, Neil Poulton and Christofle, to name a few.) Now they've turned to Paris-based ID'er Pauline Deltour—whose client list boasts Alessi, Bree and Muji, to name a few—to design their latest: The elegant LaCie Mirror.

Done up in Corning Gorilla Glass that's been polished to a mirror shine, and sitting in its own included ebony wood stand, the Mirror looks less like a storage device and more like a desktop vanity:

As with high-end cosmetics, beauty doesn't come cheap: The 1-terabyte, USB 3.0 device will set you back US $280.

Valet stands are useful for airing out just-worn clothes, for gathering together those to be worn the next day (along with any accoutrements), or for stashing those clothes that have been worn but aren't dirty enough to need cleaning. The traditional valet stand has the features you see on the Sir Bis from Porada, designed by Marconato & Zappa: a place to hang a suit jacket, shirt and pants, along with a tray for things like glasses, a watch, cufflinks, a wallet, etc.

Hans Wegner designed the Valet Chair back in 1953. The back rail holds the jacket, the seat come up to hold the pants, and the tray is replaced by the base of the seat. This has the added advantage of providing a place for the users to sit down while putting on their shoes.

The Clip from Porada, designed by E. Mapelli and P. Passarino, is a simplified valet stand that would work for those not needing the jacket support or the tray. The less bulky design will allow it to fit into spaces where other stands might look out of place. However, it seems less stable than some other designs; it could easily be tipped over by a child or a rambunctious pet.

Since its launch in 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope has found a lot of "exoplanets," or planets that are orbiting a star, just as the Earth orbits the sun. The total number is said to be 1,000-plus. However, last year one exoplanet was discovered that has unusual properties—it is within the "habitable zone," i.e. the right distance from the right-sized star to potentially support water, and thus, life.

Following that discovery, more "habitable zone" exoplanets have popped up, bringing the total to eight. To commemorate these, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology picked the three most promising—the dual-star-havin' "Kepler 16b," the heavy-gravity "HD 40307g" and the red-sky-boasting "Kepler 186f," and commissioned a series of WPA-like posters for each. Supposedly created by the "Exoplanet Travel Bureau," the posters are reminiscent of the ones urging Americans to travel to the Grand Canyon in the '30s and '40s.

"So, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about . . ."

It's likely that at some point in your life you've employed the awkward smelling-your-own-breath maneuver, to see if that garlicky lunch left you unfit for human interaction. Maybe you found yourself thinking, "There must be a better way!" Well, now there is. Breathometer, the same company that invented the Bluetooth-connected breathalyzer Breeze, has now developed a small device called Mint that measures both breath quality and hydration—all in one discreet suck.

You may have heard of the Silicon Valley startup when its founder and CEO Charles Michael Yim took to the screen to pitch his idea for the first smartphone breathalyzer on Shark Tank back in September 2013. With the success of that original version and its Bluetooth-enabled brother, Breeze, Yim and his team felt ready to take on the worlds of halitosis and hydration. "Mint was a part of the original roadmap when I founded the company," Yim explains. "Alcohol and breath quality were the two markets that were well understood and low-hanging fruit in terms of building a solid business. The plan was to build a platform-based model first and then repurpose the sensors for different applications. Breath quality is only one of many."

Seeing oral hygiene as directly linked to breath quality and overall body wellness, Yim envisioned Mint as a product naturally poised to monitor both. "Mint is the first portable and connected breath analysis device for consumers that is medical grade," he says. "When Mint is placed inside your lips, it'll suck air from your mouth and within a few seconds provide a numeric measurement and visual display of your current condition." That vacuum-like suck is one of the big differentiators between Mint and Breeze (aside from their function), as each device's air sampling is different based on the biomarkers they are trying to detect.

This week history nerds, metallurgists and conspiracy theorists all got some fun news. Divers discovered a cache of ingots made from the previously mysterious metal Orichalcum in an ancient shipwreck just 1,000 feet off the coast of Sicily. The ship, dated at 2,600 years old, was destined to make port at the city of Gela before being caught in a storm and wrecked just feet from the harbor. It likely came from Greece or South Asia and carried a load of precious metal to be used by Sicilian craftspeople. The story was shared with Discovery News by Sebastiano Tusa, Sicily's Superintendent of the Sea Office. This is particularly noteworthy because the idea of having a state Sea Office is about as awesome as learning that Marco Polo was real.

Before now, orichalcum was primarily known from ancient Greek texts about its mythological creator and uses. Orichalcum was supposedly second only to gold in preciousness, and Plato himself described it being mined in Atlantis and used to cover the god Neptune's gleaming temples. The way the Lost City shone with the "red light of orichalcum" has stumped historians and metal scientists who have had very few remaining examples to work with. It has also excited the curiosity and creativity of authors from Indiana Jones to Skyrim.

Amazon Lab126 is an inventive research and development company that designs and engineers high-profile consumer electronics. Lab126 began in 2004 as a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., originally creating the best-selling Kindle family of products. Since then, they have produced groundbreaking devices like Fire tablets, Fire TV, Fire phone, and Amazon Echo. What will you help them create?

Amazon Lab126 is looking for a Senior Packaging Designer who will apply strategic thinking to deliver universally recognized packaging solutions. They will also have the creativity and judgment to translate vision into concepts and designs that illustrate simplicity despite underlying complexity or constraints. Why wait? Work hard. Have fun. Make history. Apply Now.

Apparently, everyone's favorite familial relationship testing board-game Monopoly was first conceived in 1903 as an educational tool by American Elizabeth Magie— the game-play intended to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. Over a century on, the brand has lost much of its satirical sting—indeed, now something of an icon of good ol' fashioned business to hard-nosed capitalists and presumably an educational tool of a different sorts for their offspring—but the intended message of the original has only increased in pertinence with real estate crisis hitting a large amount of modern cities in recent years.

One of the key failures of Ms. Magie's anti-monolopy propaganda was, of course, starting her players on an even setting with the board's market an untouched open playing field. Creators of Austerity!—journalists at London based blog UsVsTh3m—have remedied this naivety in their satirical reimagining of Monopoly in a cruel post-financial crisis era, splitting players into "bosses" and "plebs" (UK slang for 'ordinary guy') from the get go—the bosses skipping around the fast-track outer-ring of the board and the lower mortals resigned to the slow-progress of the many hurdled inner-ring with only £57 at their disposal (the number being the typical amount received per week as social security payment in the UK).