The Moke is back, baby!

The past two days have been quite an emotional roller coaster. First, we were crushed to hear that the end of the line is fast approaching for the rugged, beloved Land Rover Defender. Next thing we know, we're reading about the resumption of Moke production in China over at Hemmings and everything is sunshine and rainbows once again.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

Supercar design contest's final three announced

Dutch supercar maker Vencer has announced the top three entries in its design contest, which challenged the global design community to submit ideas for its second model. The competition, launched in May last year, saw around 90,000 voters judging over 350 designs on its website. From these, the three with the most ‘likes' were chosen.