Grace is called the world's first E-Bike

Build an aluminum electric bike with euro-fighter and Formula One parts, power its 1300-watt motor with lithium-ion batteries, and you have Grace in motion. The company is calling Grace "the world's first and finest E-Motorbike," and while we beg to differ with that slogan — we've ridden a few profoundly exciting electric bikes ourselves — we have to admire the stylish build and cool power of this conveyance that looks like it came from the next century. And this is beyond just a bicycle — it's almost fast enough to be called a motorcycle.

Because this is all very high-tech and handmade in the company's Hanover, Germany shop, you'll have to plunk down €5877 ($8742) for the privilege of gracing yourself with this electro-bike when it ships in January. But then, the company claims that Grace is somehow 'really cheap compared to a car.' Maybe they have a point. If your commute is moderate, that might be true, with Grace's 18 to 31-mile range (depending on your weight), 40mph top speed, and one-hour battery recharge time. If it just went a bit faster and lasted a little longer, we'd call it amazing.

[DVICE]

New spongy material instantly hardens on exposure to magnetism [Materials]

A new kind of material (of which currently no actual picture exists anywhere) with the consistency of pudding that hardens instantly when exposed to magnetism has been developed by a team of researchers at Japan’s Yamagata University. And once the substance, a mix between high polymer and iron oxide granules, hardens, it can become up to 500 times stiffer than plastic.
The researchers say when the magnetic field is 300 milli-tesla strong, for example, the material hardens 300-fold in under one second. The iron oxide granules are spread randomly throughout the gel-like material, but when magnetized, they align in rows and stiffen the gel, which is made of more than 50% water.
The gel could be used in card and trains one day to dampen vibrations. Furniture makers could adjust the softness of chairs and other furniture.
[CrunchGear via Nikkei]