New Atlas

Children Audio available

Lego makes learning Braille fun and engaging

Paul Ridden April 24, 2019

Though sets of colorful building bricks made of plastic can usually keep the kids entertained for hours at home, Lego is also used in the classroom. The Lego Foundation and the Lego Group have now unveiled some special bricks aimed at helping blind kids to learn braille through play.

The Lego Braille Bricks project was launched today at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris, France

Children

Lego gives middle schoolers coding confidence

Paul Ridden April 3, 2019

Lego Education has launched a new STEAM learning package designed to give kids of all abilities more coding confidence. The Spike Prime set includes hundreds of Lego bricks, sensors and motors, a programmable multi-port Hub, and a companion app featuring a block-based coding environment.

Students will be able to program their Spike Prime creations using a farg-and-drop coding platform based ...

Science Audio available

Lego contraption spins up starchy supports for lab-grown steaks

Michael Irving March 27, 2019

Growing meat in the lab from cultured cells is a promising technology, and now a team of food scientists has developed a new method for spinning starchy structures that could hold a steak together. Stranger still, this device is made of Lego.

Researchers have used Lego to build a device that spins starch fibers as supports for lab-grown ...

Automotive

The Lego McLaren Senna is somehow 500 kg heavier than the real one

Loz Blain March 26, 2019

After 5,000 hours of work, Lego and McLaren have unveiled one heck of a collaboration: a full-size, 1:1 Lego replica of the Senna supercar. Using half a million bricks, the replica has working lights, doors and infotainment system, and somehow weighs 500 kg more than the real thing.

Automotive

Classic Volkswagen Bulli pop-top camper van built up to life size from Legos

C.C. Weiss February 18, 2019

One of the world's most beloved and iconic vehicles has gotten a modern refresh, of sorts. An all-new VW T2 camper van debuts this week in Germany, with a bit of a twist: it's made from 400,000 little Lego bricks.

400,000 Lego pieces went into the construction of this impressive project

Children

Robots, drones and AR: The best tech toys of 2018

Michael Irving December 13, 2018

Toys today include robots, drones and AR, and if you’re lucky you can trick the kids into learning some useful skills along the way. New Atlas rounds up the best tech toys of 2018, which could make for some great last-minute gift ideas for the young’un in your life.

New Atlas rounds up the best tech toys of 2018

Computers Audio available

A Commodore 64 made of Lego is surely the answer to all our prayers

James Holloway November 30, 2018

To those of a certain age, the Commodore 64 is synonymous with 80s gaming. Lego, on the other hand, is a little-known children's toy from the southern reaches of Scandinavia. Perhaps inevitably, someone has thought to marry the two, resulting in The Brixty Four.

The Brixty Four: Any color you like, so long as it's Lego

Games

Magnetic blocks let users build pixelated creations

Michael Irving October 29, 2018

Antsy Labs has introduced its own spin on classic DIY building toys with Pixl, a set of blocks with tiny embedded magnets to keep them stacked in 3D models or lined up in pixelated 2D artworks.

Pixl is a set of building blocks with tiny embedded magnets

Materials

Lego's motorized wind turbine set features its first plastic made from plants

Nick Lavars October 1, 2018

After announcing an eco-friendly form of its plastic bricks earlier in the year, Lego has now introduced the first complete set to feature the new sustainable material in a kit featuring a fully motorized wind turbine.

Automotive Audio available

Life-size Bugatti Chiron made from a million Lego pieces ... and it actually drives

Aaron Turpen August 30, 2018

A bit too late to order a coveted Bugatti Chiron? More of a do-it-yourselfer? Why not make one from Lego Technic parts? That’s what Lego has done, building a full-sized, functioning Chiron almost entirely from Legos, right down to the powerplant. It may not be fast, but it’s really dang cool.

The test drive of the Lego Chiron took place at the Ehra Lessien proving grounds in ...