inventions

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Solution to Our Wasteful Ways: 60-Day Bread?

New microwave technique can keep mold away for 2 months

(Newser) - The average family of four trashes $2,275 worth of food each year, and a third of the bread purchased in the UK ends up in the rubbish bin—but a newly developed technique could help whittle down those depressing figures. As the BBC explains, an American company called Microzap...

Introducing: A $20 Bike Made of Cardboard

 Introducing: 
 A $20 Bike 
 Made of 
 Cardboard 
in case you missed it
Oct 20, 2012 8:21 AM CDT

Introducing: A $20 Bike Made of Cardboard

Inventor hopes to have it in mass production soon

(Newser) - It's a pretty nifty idea assuming it all comes together: An Israeli inventor has made a bicycle almost entirely out of cardboard and hopes to have it in mass production in months, reports Reuters . Izhar Gafni swears his $20 bike is uber-durable, thanks to a treatment of organic materials...

New Wind Turbine Makes Drinking Water

Inventor Marc Parent seeks solution to world water shortage

(Newser) - A French inventor may have an answer for the millions of people who scramble to find fresh drinking water each day: a wind turbine that literally pulls H2O from the air. Marc Parent, head of Eoie Water, designed the turbine while living in the Caribbean and enduring water shortages. His...

Need Cheap Drugs? One Man Says You Can Print Them

Lee Cronin wants to revolutionize the drug market with new device

(Newser) - If you're tired of paying out the nose for prescriptions, Lee Cronin of Glasgow University may have a solution: a 3-D printer that makes whatever medicine you need, the Daily Mail reports. His $1,800 prototype is humming along these days, injecting molecules into micro-tubes and causing "chemical...

Singapore Scientists Invent Remarkable Toilet

It uses 90% less water and turns your, ahem, No. 2 into electricity

(Newser) - Imagine if every time you went the bathroom you did a little good for the planet. That green dream could soon be entirely possible, thanks to a new invention out of Singapore: a toilet system that transforms human droppings into electricity and fertilizer and uses 90% less water per flush...

Scientists Try to 'Hack' Stephen Hawking's Mind

Stanford team wants to get around his motor neurone disease

(Newser) - Imagine looking directly into Stephen Hawking's mind as he contemplates the universe. That's exactly what scientists are attempting with a tool called the iBrain, which detects electrical brain waves and conveys them to a computer, the Telegraph reports. "We'd like to find a way to bypass...

7 Celebs Who Invented Terrific Things

Neil Young, Hedy Lamarr among stars behind fine inventions

(Newser) - Who says celebrities aren't the brightest bulbs in the box? Here are a few who came up with memorable inventions, as reported by Cracked :
  • Neil Young: The legendary singer/songwriter invented a new remote control system for model trains called the Trainmaster Command Control. He first designed it so his
...

Pick Up Your Phone; Your Tattoo Is Vibrating
Pick Up Your Phone,
Your Tattoo Is Vibrating
nokia files patent
Mar 21, 2012 6:03 AM CDT

Pick Up Your Phone, Your Tattoo Is Vibrating

Nokia eyes tattoo that vibrates as call alert

(Newser) - Hello, brave new world. Nokia may be working on an invention that would cause a tattoo to vibrate every time you get a call on your cell. The Finnish firm's filing with the US Patent Office describes tattooing, stamping, or spraying "ferromagnetic" material onto skin—or a fingernail—...

Futurist: We'll Accept Computers as Human

Maybe even partners

(Newser) - Computers could get all our transistors going in the very near future when we finally accept them as "human," predicts a well-known futurist. Inventor and author Ray Kurzweil believes that humans and technology are blurring—he points to the bionic smartphones attached to nearly every human's hand—...

Star Trek-esque Device May Let Blind 'See'

Uses sound to activate visual cortex

(Newser) - Remember the iconic Star Trek visor that allowed a blind engineer to see? A team of scientists in Israel has developed something like a real-life version of the gadget, the Daily Mail reports. The Sensory Substitution Device turns visual information into sound that blind people can interpret after a little...

The Ability to Fly: Yours for $100K
 The Ability to Fly: 
 Yours for $100K 
in case you missed it
Dec 3, 2011 6:50 PM CST

The Ability to Fly: Yours for $100K

JetLev R200 can fly as high as 30 feet above water

(Newser) - Traveling by boat is just so ... pedestrian. For those looking for a more luxurious—and unusual—way to travel by sea, Florida's JetLev Technologies has just the thing: a $99,500 water-powered jet pack (pay another $3,500 for a premium color). The company tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel...

For the Ultimate Lazy Man, an Adult Onesie

Snuggies are for amateurs...

(Newser) - In a news story that sounds more Wayne's World than our world, two Wisconsin men have developed and are selling the "adult onesie." The fleece, footless onesie, developed in Dave Hibler's parents' basement (along with the genius aid of friend Tyler Galganski), is said to be an evolutionary...

Google Plans Self-Driving Car, But These Other Futuristic Predictions Have Yet to Pan Out
 10 Futuristic Inventions 
 We're Still Waiting For 
no. 1: jet packs
Oct 17, 2010 4:32 PM CDT

10 Futuristic Inventions We're Still Waiting For

Sorry, but no flying car for you

(Newser) - We may soon be getting self-driving cars , but—much to the chagrin of Back to the Future fans everywhere— still no hoverboards . Time lists 10 more futuristic predictions that haven’t exactly panned out:
  • Jet packs: OK, so these exist, but you probably can’t buy one. Popularized in a
...

Kid Makes Spiderman Machine, Scales Wall

Hibiki Kono's gadget relies on two $22 vacuum cleaners

(Newser) - The 2002 installment of Spider-Man cost $140 million to film—but one intrepid 13-year-old has figured out how to scale buildings for a whole lot less. Hibiki Kono devised a wall-climbing machine out of two $22.50 vacuums, reports the Sun . The British boy spent five months toiling away at...

Gizmo Lets Caffeine Freaks Inhale Their Coffee

Inhalable 3-course meal is next, say Harvard inventors

(Newser) - A Harvard biomedical engineering professor and his students have come up with the perfect solution for coffee lovers short on time—or cups. His company, Le Whif, has created a range of inhalable coffees, delivered via lipstick-sized tubes. The inventors say each tube holds as much caffeine as a shot...

The Quest for the Better Bagel Slicer

Plague of bagel-related injuries spawns new approach

(Newser) - You probably thought the dangers of bagel cutting were conquered 15 years ago with the invention of the Bagel Guillotine, the self contained slicer that offers no chance of injury. Tut, tut, grasshopper. In fact, bagel-related injury—BRI—is still rampant, resulting in almost 2,000 trips to the ER...

Human Blood Fuels New Light Source
Human Blood Fuels New
Light Source
Oct 2, 2009 10:18 AM CDT

Human Blood Fuels New Light Source

Gruesome lamp intended to make point about energy usage

(Newser) - Figuring that people would use less electricity if they had to cut themselves to turn on the light, a British designer has cooked up the “blood lamp.” The ingenious bulb is full of luminol, a chemical forensic scientists use to check crime scenes for blood, LiveScience explains. Just...

Gadget Translates 'Woof' into Words

Japanese toymaker debuts dog translator next month

(Newser) - Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? The “Bowlingual Voice” from Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy claims to be able to tell you just that, the Telegraph reports. The device is made up of a microphone and transmitter on the collar that categorizes the dog’s utterances into one of...

Jackson's Legendary Lean: It's Patented

(Newser) - When Michael Jackson and his dancers leaned over at a gravity-defying angle for the “Smooth Criminal” music video, it was pretty cool. When he replicated the stunt for his live show, fans were flabbergasted. And MJ apparently thought the trick was worth protecting, ABC News reports: In 1992, he...

'Hardware Hackers' Get Handy

Programmers leave screens for soldering irons

(Newser) - Seeking an escape from the confined world of their computer screens, programmers are applying their technological know-how to the physical world, building and tweaking an array of devices with their hands, the Boston Globe reports. “My normal job is way up in the clouds,” said a programmer at...

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