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Glittering for charity: Pacific Northwest concours benefits kids, celebrates cars

As car shows go, it surely must rank among the most picturesque. Set on Lake Washington with the Olympic Mountain range looming in the background, the Kirkland Concours d'Elegance is quickly becoming a highlight of the summer show circuit. But it's not just a celebration of old and perfect automobiles.

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.

Kia Koup concept

By Liz Turner Motor Shows 20 March 2008 20:58 Kia’s Koup. If you saw this compact coupe concept without its badges and had to guess who made it, there’s no way your first guess would be Kia. Its lines are simple and sporty, not a million miles from a Ford Puma.