Using sensors and light panels, the Living (an Autodesk Studio in New York) transforms pollution into art that is beyond informative. The panels of the Living Light form a map of Seoul and, by extracting data using the 27 sensors set up around the city, glow individually dependent on the level of pollution in each of the city’s neighborhoods. Read more about the Living Light and their other projects here.
As for my idea, I thought of a switch that’s operated by putting a soda can (or any metal can) on a beverage coaster. There would be an open circuit that would be closed by placing the metal can on it. Ideally, eventually the can would be completing a circuit powering a string of LEDs that spelled out “DO NOT TOUCH” or a LCD displaying those words. For testing purposes, though, the circuit would be powering a single LED.