A product called The Swiss Protection Sock appears to extend the principle that was honored by the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in public health. That prize was awarded to Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if […]
Tag: protection
Earthquake-activated house-levitating pneumatic system
The Air Danshin Systems company of Japan says it offers pneumatic technology to protect buildings in the event of an earthquake. The shaking triggers a stream of air that levitates the house. The diagram below, from the company, shows to some extent how the system works, with blue representing the stream of air. (The Spoon & Tamago blog […]
Apostrophe Protection Ig Nobellian Admonishes Bookseller
Ig Nobel Prize winner John Richards swung into action against a bookstore chain this week. (Mr. Richards, founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society, was awarded the 2001 Ig Nobel Prize in literature for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive.) Harry Wallop reports in The Daily Telegraph: Waterstones drops its apostrophe Waterstones, the […]
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.