Alternative energy sources are becoming more amazing every year, and Mercedes Benz has just revealed a surprising new power boost for its future generations of vehicles: paint. The high-tech “multi-voltaic silver” paint uses two methods to generate power. First, it acts as an all-over solar panel to capture the power of the sun that’s almost always hitting your car.

Second, the paint harnesses the wind moving across the body of the car. The movement of the wind creates power through electrostatic charging. The car is powered by more conventional methods, as well. It features an internal combustion engine that powers the front wheels while the rear wheels boast an electric engine.

The Mercedes Benz Vision G-Code SUV is purely a concept – an exploration of the types of power that will power tomorrow’s vehicles. As if the high-tech paint weren’t fascinating enough, the G-Code is also designed with two electric scooters included in the back compartment so you can scoot that last mile or two to your destination instead of circling for 20 minutes looking for a parking spot.

The post Future Mercedes SUV Could Be Powered By its Own Paint first appeared on Gajitz.

The reindeer in Finland might not be able to guide Santa on his sleigh, but they will soon be visible even in the dead of night. Finland’s huge reindeer population leads to an alarming number of traffic accidents: an estimated 3,000-5,000 every year. The country’s Reindeer Herders’ Association is turning to a rather unorthodox method to keep those pesky animals from playing their reindeer games that end in injury: they’re painting their antlers.

The painted antlers idea actually evolved from former attempts at keeping reindeer and motorists safe. The RHA tried applying reflective tape to the antlers and reflectors to the animals’ bodies before coming up with the truly brilliant idea to spray the reindeers’ antlers with glow-in-the-dark paint.

The association has also tried to paint the reindeers’ bodies with the glow-in-the-dark paint, but decided that the antler painting is a much more effective method since the antlers can be seen no matter which way the animal is facing. A limited trial involving 20 reindeer got the project started in Lapland, located in northern Finland. Further trials will be carried out to test the effectiveness of the permanent glowing paint, but it seems that the association is so far pleased with the results.

The post Hiding in the Dark: No Longer a Reindeer Game in Finland first appeared on Gajitz.