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Car Tires Get A Second Life As Shoes

Old car tires are an environmental blight. They're made up of rubber, oil, chemicals, and the spirit of human tragedy, so you can't really toss them in a landfill and wait for nature to take its course. While scientists have been trying to create greener tires and/or flying cars, Ethiopians awash in spare tires came up with a good solution for the meantime: Make shoes. They've been recycling tire rubber into footwear for decades. And before you say, "Screw that, I'm not wearing hobo tire shoes!" know that this is what they look like:

Vlad Karavaev/Adobe StockStill looks more comfortable than a Chuck Taylor.

Looks aside, they're cheap, durable, and easy to make. And as Ethiopia's economy grows, entrepreneurs are taking the concept to more fashionable places. Bethlehem Alemu and her 45-employee company soleRebels added recycled cotton and fabric to the old style for a touch of high fashion ... on tire shoes. They sell online and have physical stores everywhere from Addis Ababa to Silicon Valley, because there's no great idea that California won't eventually make insufferable. Grab a pair for yourself before they become unhip!

SoleRebelsJust remember to rotate them every 5,000 miles.

Related: 5 Ordinary Household Items That Led To Huge Discoveries

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Crime Scene Detectives Can Be Trained With Dollhouses

In the 1940s, detectives weren't exactly crack investigators. Half the episodes of CSI: 1941 would have ended with two confused guys in fedoras and one murderer free to kill again. Improvements came with time, but how were the police supposed to train new and better investigators? Wait for a murder, then shove a bunch of rookies into an active crime scene? That's where Frances Lee, who's been dubbed the mother of forensic science (for her innovative contributions to the field, not her bitchin' cookies and tuck-ins), came into the picture.

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Old Vehicles Are Being Used To Make Artificial Reefs

Generally speaking, giant hunks of metal dumped into the ocean are bad things. And yet everything from decommissioned ships to subway cars, old trucks, and even tanks are being sunk to the bottom of the sea -- not out of callous indifference or spite for Neptune and his pompous ways, but to give them a useful place to spend eternity. See, these metal shells provide hard, reliable surfaces for algae, coral, and invertebrate life to cling to. Then the fish that feed on those invertebrates are attracted to the area, and before you know it, you've got a whole thriving ecosystem based around a light rail car that drunk college students used to pee in.

What makes vehicles ideal are all the nooks and crannies they offer to shelter fish that would otherwise be hunted down and devoured in open waters. You've seen Finding Nemo, you know of this tragedy. Artificial reefs can therefore help restore the populations of struggling species. They're durable and offer great backgrounds for movies about the dramatic reunions of fish parents with their fish children.

Davidevison/Adobe StockAnd it's never too early to let the Mer King know who runs the show.

These reefs are being created all along the Atlantic coast, although they are carefully planned and monitored, so don't get any ideas about helping the planet by driving your old Ford Fiesta into the ocean. No matter how badly you need the insurance money.

Dr. James McVey/NOAA"Yup, that's right, a mile out to sea. It was one hell of a hydroplane. So how much do you pay for water damage?"

Alex Perry is a freelancer trying to get her novel about a time-traveling stalker and a heartwarming kid's tale about a boy and his genetically modified pig/organ donor published. Sometimes she tweets.

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