Nice Use of Materials

Materials in Design:

Lenticular lens, those plastic things that show you one image if you tilt them to the right and another if you tilt them to the left, have been used in a new way by some folks at Tokyo University.  They have built a prototype lenticular lens sidewalk, which they hope will encourage people to stay on their side of the sidewalk or other walkways by subtlety guiding them to the right no matter which way they are walking.  Skip to 0:50 on this video to see the prototype in action:

I have a tendency to follow bright and shinny things, so I think this would work for me.

My plan is more forceful.  I envision a world in which the GPS functionality of a cell phone is combined with a mild electric shock.  If you want your cellphone to keep its battery charged up for talking and browsing the internet instead of discharging 25,000 volts through the skin next to your pockets or through your hand, don't walk along the wrong side, the left side, of any walkway.  We drive down the right side of the street, we should all walk that way too.