Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Good to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

Submissions: Design Another Use for an Everyday Object

Check out the submissions from our latest project. The winning idea will receive two tickets to Compostmodern.

Alissa Walker
By Alissa WalkerJan 01, 2011
Alissa Walker
See Full Bio

Earlier this month, we asked you combine design thinking with sustainable thinking by repurposing an everyday object. We were blown away by the innovative and quite original submissions, which reused everything from rubber bands to Venetian blinds in a visually-compelling way. Here are our favorites, as well as the stories behind them, courtesy of the designers. Take a look at these examples of intelligent upcycling while our judges peruse the submissions.

The creator of the winning idea receives two tickets to Compostmodern, the design and sustainability conference taking place January 22 and 23 in San Francisco. We'll announce the winner tomorrow.

projectsenvironmentsustainabilityrecyclingreusecompostmoderndesign a new use for an everyday object

The Latest

young boy, serious young boy, seven year old, brown hair, healthy kid
Life hacks

A single data point taken at 7 could accurately predict an early death

cat names, cats, pet names, animal names, popular cat names
Animals

Sorry, Milo. You just missed being the number one cat name again.

mars, space, nasa, life, discovery, life on mars,
Science

NASA can't find 'another explanation' for unusual Mars rock formations than ancient life

balding, bald people, hair styles, self-confidence, shaving your head
Culture

'Coping' with going bald, they shaved their head and self-esteem surged. The Internet was amazed.

More For You

veterinarian, dog owners, sleep study, dog sleep with owners, pet care tips

Should your dog sleep in your bed?

Photo credit: Canva

Should you sleep with your dog? Vets share the one thing you must do to keep everyone healthy.

If you’re a dog owner, you know how much impact your furry friend has on your life. While caring for pets adds more responsibility to your life and, let’s be honest, some frustrations at times, they turn into valued companions and family members. Many owners grapple over the question of whether or not it’s good for their dog to sleep with them in bed. Several veterinarians have settled that debate once and for all.

Veterinarian Dr. Sandra Mitchell and several other professionals say that it’s a matter of choice and that, in general, it's okay for dogs to co-sleep with their owners in most circumstances. There have been studies that support the idea that sleeping with your dog can make it easier for you to sleep, but there’s also a chance that it could worsen a sleeping disorder or not have an impact on stress at all in humans. However, if you want to co-sleep with your dog there is one thing that needs to be done to ensure that both the pet and the owner remain healthy: learn to sleep alone first.

Keep ReadingShow less
technology, inventions, media cycle, genius ideas, consumer market, science, application, innovation

Futuristic photo and bored young man.

Image via Canva

5 genius ideas from the past decade that were supposed to 'change everything' and flopped

Now and then, an invention or idea comes along that dazzles humanity. The media gets wind, and suddenly everyone is talking about it. We're excited to incorporate this new tech into our own lives.

Unfortunately or perhaps even fortunately, some of these groundbreaking creations amount to nothing. They slowly disappear from the media cycle, never to be heard of again. Well, until now, because I'm going to tell you about five genius ideas that hit the market and totally flopped.

Keep ReadingShow less
parkour, viral video, physics, martial arts, Baguazhang, human potential, extreme sports, science explained, inspirational

A man attempts to get out of a deep pit

Zhang Yije

This video of a man defying gravity isn't a camera trick. It's ancient martial arts and physics.

A viral video from the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu has left millions speechless, showing a man seemingly defying the laws of gravity. In the clip, he stands at the bottom of a 20-foot-deep circular pit with smooth, vertical walls. With no ladder or rope, he starts running in a circle, gaining speed until he’s sprinting horizontally along the wall, climbing higher with each rotation until he gracefully exits at the top.

The man behind the incredible feat is Zhang Yije, a Beijing-based parkour athlete and two-time Guinness World Record holder. The stunt, he explains, isn't a magic trick, but a combination of intense physical skill, modern physics, and ancient martial arts philosophy.

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting, high school, education, humor, viral stories, funny texts, teenagers, life lessons

A young girl holds baby doll in a photo overlayed on image of high school class

Canva

Fake baby assignment in school leads to hilarious student meltdowns

Every so often, high school teacher Andrea Lefebvre unleashes a weekend of hilarious chaos on her students. For a parenting class assignment that first went viral back in 2019, the Chippewa Secondary School educator sends her Grade 11 "Raising Healthy Children" class home with notoriously demanding “Real Care” robot babies.

The goal, she explained, was for students to “apply their learning for the caring for a newborn unit.” These advanced dolls are designed to mimic real infants, crying when they need to be fed, changed, burped, or rocked. They don't have a pause button. The result was a weekend of pure panic for the teens—and a series of desperate texts to their teacher that she later shared online.

Keep ReadingShow less
family reunion, kidnapping survivor, viral stories, social media for good, human memory, China, heartwarming, inspirational stories

Man looks at map

Canva

He was kidnapped at 4. At 37, a map he drew from memory led him back to his mother.

After being kidnapped from his village at just four years old, Li Jingwei grew up with only fragmented memories of his home. He couldn't remember his parents' names or where he came from, but the images of a bamboo grove, a small pond, and a nearby school were etched into his mind.

For 33 years, that was all he had. But in late 2021, inspired by other high-profile family reunions in China, Li decided to take a chance. He sat down and meticulously drew a map of his village entirely from memory. He then posted a video of the map to Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), hoping someone, somewhere, would recognize it.

Keep ReadingShow less
robotaxi, driverless vehicle, Las Vegas, Zoox, Amazon

Amazon's entry into the robotaxi market, Zoox, has just launched in Las Vegas and the driverless vehicle promises to shake up the industry with its boxy car that looks a bit like a toaster

Zoox

Zoox Robotaxis just launched and the cute, boxy cars are driving us into the future

Amazon's entry into the robotaxi market, Zoox, has just launched in Las Vegas and the driverless vehicle promises to shake up the industry with its boxy model that looks a bit like a toaster. The vehicle features two rows of seats that face each other with expansive windows on each side.

For now the Zoox robotaxis are free, but they can only drop passengers off at one of five Las Vegas Strip locations with plans to expand to many more locations in the near future. And as for the free rides, they will be in place until Zoox obtains regulatory approval.

Keep ReadingShow less
school bus, child safety, a.i. cameras, controversy, public concern

Do A.I. cameras actually prevent children from getting hit by other cars?

Photo credit: Canva

Maryland is putting A.I. cameras on school buses. Critics call them a blatant cash grab.

When a person becomes a parent, their child's safety is always at the forefront of their mind. This includes when they get picked up and dropped off from school each day on the bus. There has been a concerning trend of drivers whizzing past stopped school buses when children hop on or get dropped off even though the bus driver activated the flashing stop sign. In order to catch speeding drivers threatening the children’s safety and to curb such behavior, several states have been implementing A.I.-enabled cameras to watch and report violations. But the questions remain: does this actually protect children and at what cost?

Many schools such as Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, Pennsylvania are using BusPatrol, a company that implements A.I.-enabled stop-arm cameras that monitor any vehicles that pass by when the school bus is parked and the stop sign is activated by the driver. If any drivers pass by, the company sends the video and data to the local police to issue any citations. It’s with this hope that not only will more perpetrators be caught, but it would also deter any impatient drivers from speeding past the bus in the first place. This A.I. technology isn’t too different from pilot programs done in New York and Michigan to catch drivers who don’t stop for kids.

Keep ReadingShow less
happiest states, u.s. happiness, happiness levels, best places to live, surveys

Wallethub's new report ranks the happiest states in the U.S.

Photo credit: Canva, Thomas Dutour (left, cropped) / videodet from Getty Images (right, cropped)

New report ranks the happiest states in America

Even if you’re desperate for a fresh start, it’s not easy for many Americans to pack up and move to a new state. You might have a stable in-person job that you don’t want to lose. You might have close friends and family that you don’t want to lose touch with. You might not be able to afford to haul your entire life across the country (plus, even if you do find that elusive and affordable beach spot, the cost of living may be way higher in that area). Still, for those with the freedom to pick their next landing spot, it’s worth considering how much happiness you might gain—and specifically how you’d gain it.

Each year, personal finance company Wallethub crunches the numbers to rank all 50 U.S. states by happiness. And there are numerous factors to consider here, all broken down into three core areas ("emotional and physical well-being," "work environment," and "community and environment") using 30 metrics of data from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025