With these earbuds, you can do anything from turning down the volume on crying babies, snoring spouses and passing sirens to tuning your own mix of bass, mids and trebles at a live concert in real time. If this description sounds like a bionic hearing device of the distant future, guess again: all of these benefits are being packed by Doppler Labs into a portable pair of well-funded wireless devices already in development.

Starting with the simplest features of Here: users can turn up or down everyday sounds – basically a volume knob for ordinary acoustics all around. But it gets better: using machine learning and customizable inputs tied to your smart device, Here can also filter out specific soundwaves in real time, cancelling out unwanted sounds instead of replacing them with white noise or other filler.

Beyond this baseline feature set, however, things start to get really interesting, with audiophile-oriented features that let you add or subtract everything from treble and bass to reverbs and echoes, letting you personalize all kinds of soundscapes, from background music at bars and elevator Muzak at work to live concert performances. Users can employ presets or customize their experience on the fly then save favorite settings for later, and fans will undoubtedly begin remixing acoustics in unexpected situations, creating custom soundtracks out of walks through parks.

Like many wearables, these “hearables” are controllable from your favorite smart device and thus require little onboard processing power, resulting in more extended battery life – the buds are then recharged in a portable case. Doppler has already raised thousands via Kickstarter and millions more via tech and music company investors. Some of this money will be put toward hardware but much of which will be used to further refine their algorithms and give users ever-more-custom audio control over their everyday auditory experiences.

From their fundraising campaign: “Through two truly wireless, in-ear buds and a smartphone app, Here allows you to instantly control real world audio so you can hear what you want to hear – no matter the situation – and be fully immersed in your audio environment. Here does not stream or play recorded music. Instead, the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) inside Here acts as a studio in your ears by providing you with a volume knob, equalizer and effects to transform real world audio. Use this ‘remote control for your ears’ to have an optimal listening experience every time.”

With 40 test units created and deployed since 2013, IKEA is now ready to begin mass-producing its $1,000-per-unit temporary flat-pack house to destinations in need around the world. Much like IKEA‘s everyday products, these shelters are ready to use right out of the box – some assembly required but all needed tools included along with language-independent visual instructions.

IKEA recognized the need for more robust shelters in refugee camps and disaster areas, where temporary housing often has to hold up to severe weather and longer-than-expected durations.

The foundation developed Better Shelter as a low-cost alternative to conventional equivalents, and made to evolve over time, being adaptable by its occupants who may spend years in between more permanent homes. Earthen walls and corrugated metal roofs can be pushed up against, fastened to and ultimately help reinforce the core buildings, in some cases eventually replacing the need for underlying framework entirely.

At close to 200 square feet per unit, these are perhaps not spacious but some standards but are much larger than most emergency housing solutions, and they are meant to be augmented by exterior space and other customizations and additions.

Panels, pipes, connectors, wires as well as solar power panels for the roof are all packed flat in boxes for easy shipping. While standardized, the modules are also designed to be adapted to regional climate conditions.

Supplied to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) by the Ikea Foundation, these new units will find homes in places they are currently used (like Ethiopia and Iraq) as well as other destinations.

Shaun Scales, UNHCR’s chief of shelter and settlement, said in a press statement: “The refugee housing unit (RHU) is an exciting new development in humanitarian shelter and represents a much needed addition to the palette of sheltering options mobilised to assist those in need. Its deployment will ensure dramatic improvement to the lives of many people affected by crises.”

If any design should be simple and intuitive, surely it would be an emergency medical kit – something you make lack time, treatment expertise or even a clear head to operate well in a disaster situation.

This revamped version of the classic Home First Aid Kit by Gabriele Meldaikyte starts with a system colors assigned to different types of typical injury: yellow for burns and scalds, orange for minor cuts and scratches, and red for deep cuts and bleeding. Intuitively, the darker the color on the spectrum, the more serious the situation.

Anyone who has had to work one-handed (due to an other-hand injury and being alone at the time) to open packages, unscrew containers, unroll gauze and treat a wound knows that most products do not make this easy. Hence the other critical aspect of the design: the box can be opened and its contents deployed and its strips of gauze cut by someone who lacks the normal range of human dexterity.

The idea is that someone who may not have familiarized themselves ahead of time can be walked through the process via clear visual cues and step-by-step instructions: “Every injury is described in steps, guiding the casualty through the treatment process. I have provided special tools to enable this one-handed treatment. These include a bandage applicator, where bandage can be applied much faster and can be cut off with integrated blades (replacing scissors). A plaster and dressing applicator that works like a stamp: where you tear off the top protection layer and then you stamp it on the cut, with the remaining layer working as a protection for the next plaster etc.”