Through millions of years of evolution, the shape of an egg has evolved to an optimum – at least from a hen’s point of view. For some humans though, this shape is less than ideal – there are those who prefer instead the aesthetic appeal of a cuboid rather than ovoid. For technical (and ethical) […]
Tag: invention
Specifically-picky eaters and their inventions
Shirley S. Wang, writing in the Wall Street Journal, reports on people who are specifically picky about what they want to eat — and about how inventive some of those people become: Everyone has their favorite parts of favorite foods—think the “Seinfeld” episode about muffin tops or people who eat only the middle of an […]
Inventions to shoo livestock from railroad tracks, etc
Mark Frauenfelder writes, on BoingBoing: Why do cows and horses like standing on railroad tracks? Here are three inventions to encourage them to loiter elsewhere. One involves a jet of hot water, another adds a whistle to the water jet, and a third involves a humanoid automaton that waves its hands and strikes a gong. […]
Invention of the day: Collision-protection for motorcyclists
This Vietnamese news report shows a new invention: a system of armor intended to protect a motorcycle rider in the event of a collision. The video appears to demonstrate that the invention works well for collision speeds of less than one mile-per-hour.
Tokyo Press Conference: The Wasabi Alarm
An historically pungent press conference occurred at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on October 26. Several of the co-inventors of the wasabi alarm, joined by several of their business associates, discussed the importance of their work and the import of being awarded the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry. [The prize was awarded, […]
A look at the Wasabi fire alarm (Chemistry Prize)
Here’s a BBC News report about the wasabi fire alarm, whose inventors received the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry. The photo below (by Alexey Eliseev / Improbable Research) shows Makoto Imai (center) and one of his co-inventors (several others also attended the ceremony) at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, receiving their Ig Nobel Prize from Nobel laureate Roy […]
New patent granted for building a “snow man/woman”
On Sept. 6th 2011, Mr. Ignacio Marc Asperas was granted US patent 8,011,991 B2. ‘ Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman.’ The patent document is written in unusually conversational style. “The history of the snow man or snow woman is unknown. But, I have to say this. Whoever the first person was to […]
Punchy dreams of anti-gravity: Underpants
John Ptak found this and other high-spirited drawings in an 1879 Punch satire about the stream of wonders invented by (or at least credited to) Thomas Edison. Depicted here: “anti-gravitation” underwear:
Lie detection via earlobe
This invention promises to detect lies, a task at which virtually all other lie-detectors prove unreliable. The secret lies partially (but only partially!) in the novel use of the earlobe, as shown in this technical drawing from US patent application 11/734,171, “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFICATION OF FALSE STATEMENTS”, filed in April 1997 by John […]
Meat, following vanilla, from dung
Hearing about unexpected things, people used to say, “How do they think up these things? There must be something in the water….” The Digital Trends web site, among others (see video, below), reports that a scientist has devised a way to make meat, of a sort, from feces: Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama […]