Project Runway is over, but thank goodness for Project MOMA.

An extraordinary new show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art shows how scientists are designers too. The show is called “Design and the Elastic Mind,” and it is 3 parts technology, 1 part fashion, and 17 parts crazy.

If you can’t make it to New York for the show’s run (through May 12), here’s a sample of what you’ll be missing, and a “status report” on the products.

NON-STOP SHOES. They’re sneakers, finished in red horse hair and reflective plastic film. I really don’t want to use the “f” word but I can’t help myself – they’re totally fierce. But the fiercest thing of all is the technology these shoes are said to possess. They contain some kind of device that will capture and store the energy you put out all day long. You know, when you leave your desk to walk to the bathroom or run out to buy a mid-afternoon Red Bull. At the end of the day you can hook up the shoes to a special device that will harvest the stored energy and use it to power your home electronica. Status report: The MOMA exhibit did not explain exactly how these shoes work or when they will be on the shelf at Payless.

VICTIMLESS LEATHER. Dilemma: You love the look of leather but don’t want animals to give up their lives so you can have a hot new coat. Solution: Victimless leather! Here’s the theory: A “living layer” of animal tissue, grown in vitro and fed by a nutrient bath, could grow into a leather garment! No animals will be harmed. Status report: There is a prototype featuring a wee leather coat, from the so-called “Tissue and Art Project” at an Australian laboratory.

BEE VASE.  We appreciate all the honey, but why can’t bees work harder for us? A scientist created a scaffold that enabled bees to build a honeycomb in the shape of a lovely vase. What comes from flowers ends up creating a vessel for flowers! Status report: Totally real. The vase is on display. I’d pay $19.99 for it in a heartbeat.

PERSONAL IRRIGATOR. This cool white network of PVC pipes blow out “marine mineral concentrates” that will allegedly improve your immune system (don’t ask me how) and “the body’s elimination functions.” Plus, I bet you’ll always feel like you’re at the seashore from those salty minerals. Sweet! Status report: A French designer is working with biologists and others to produce a variety of devices that improve your “personal environment.”

DOG COMMUNICATOR. What does your dog really mean when it wags its tail? An LED light, calibrated to the connection between wpm (that’s wags per minute) and canine desires will spell out in red lights what a dog wants: 55 wpm means “WALKIES!” And 90wpm: “I REALLY LOVE YOU.” Awww, Fido! You’re the best. Status report: Two British designers created a prototype as part of the “Augmented Animals project.” No word on how they determined the meaning of wags per minute.

The museum shares this amazing stuff online, too.

P.S. Dear Project Runway designer Chris March: There’s a “Cotton thread and human hair” necklace created in Spain in 1996. So you’re not so weird after all!

-Marc Silver

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