Normally, these holes are arranged in a hexagonal pattern, but the algorithm generated a bizarre flower-like pattern of holes that no human would have thought of trying.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

Much work is left to get the proteins producing the kind of silicon or titanium dioxides that could run a computer or power your house, but the dream is to have synthetic creations that organically produce what would normally need a mining expedition -- imagine something akin to the glass-like Venus' Flower Basket sponge (pictured above) sitting in an Intel factory.

ENGADGET: UCSB engineers proteins that make silicon, leads hipsters to insist on organically-grown computers

The past three months haven't been easy for small-business owners like Violet Sanabria, whose flower shop in Hoboken, N.

WSJ: 3 months after Sandy, victims waiting for relief

The Saxon Hotel, Villas and Spa is a garden-like oasis shrouded in tall trees and flower blossoms set on 10 acres in the Sandhurst neighbourhood, 1km west of Sandton.

BBC: Business trip: Johannesburg

In design news, French designer Patrick Jouin unveiled his Bloom Table Lamp, a 3D-printed lamp that opens and closes like petals of a flower.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: go-kart made of Lego bricks, TOTO toilet bike and the launch of 'Willow Glass'

Members of the Atlanta-based band Black Lips describe their music as "flower punk, " which sounds suspiciously like a term made up for the purposes of a press release.

NPR: Black Lips: 'Starting Over,' Against All Logic