Treehugger posted an article about “the most relaxing room in the world” - a space at the University of Herfortshire was created to help people relax - lit in heavy blues and greens, the room featured lavendar scented pillows, soft original music by Tim Blinko, and an artificial blue sky.  From the original article at Alpha Galileo:

“The pace of modern-day life, credit crunch, and financial crisis is making many people feel very stressed and so we have created this space to help them relax”, noted Professor Wiseman.

“Research suggests that the subdued green light enhances the production of dopamine in the brain and provide a calming sensation. In addition, the artificial blue sky helps create a mild form of sensory deprivation that will help them turn their attention inward and distract them away from daily stress.”

The Alpha Galileo article has a bunch of tips on busting stress.  Are you stressed out lately?

No, we’re not all going to be experimenting with illegal amphetamines in this post, we’re talking about Efrain E. Velez’s crank-powered lamp.  Krank, if you notice from the images, looks a heck of a lot like the old crank drills that my father has.  On a few cranks of the Krank crank crankable handle, you can power your Krank light for 40-60 minutes.  It’s also made form all recyclable aluminum parts.  This is truly a “green” fixture.  Krank.  Crank the Krank.

Ok, that’s enough of that.  It appears that we’ll be seeing these for sale in Spring of 2009.

Thanks Yanko Design for the article!

No wait, don’t freak, I’m not talking about that kind of intelligent design…

I’m talking about Chris Natt’s Stimuli 3.0, an environmentally reactive light source.  Three years in the making, this lighting device is designed to react to the surrounding environment, increasing illumination when needed - dusk, early morning, and decreasing when needed - sunrise, midday, etc.  At the heart of Chris’ system is a gear box that allows the device to change shape slightly, giving an additional alteration to the output.

Visit Chris’ site, he’s an innovative guy.