11 Brilliant Inventions From Popular Science's
Best of What's New 2008
11 Brilliant Inventions From Popular Science's
Best of What's New 2008
Posted November 9th, 2008 by Myra
Per-Lee
Popular Science has
announced its Best of What's New awards for 2008; they are
all brilliant inventions, but some are phenomenal! There
were 11 categories of best invention awards ranging across a
wide spectrum of technology, from automobile to security
technologies. One of the 11 winners was named the Grand
Award Winner... see if you can guess which one!
1. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Auto
Tech Award: 2009 Nissan GT-R
One of the fastest cars on
the road, the Nissan GT-R was rated as the "sports-car value of
the year, if not the decade." Popular Science say that the 193
MPH, $77,000 sports car has at least the performance of a
$200,000 sports car.
Extremely high performance, the GT-R revs up
faster than a Lamborghini, going from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds.
Twin clutch system, aluminum block engine that heats up fast,
adjustable shock absorber, and a control panel that may tell you
more than you need to know are just some of the extraordinary
features of the 2009 Nissan GT-R. (See runners-up in
this category.)
2. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008
Aviation & Space Award: NASA Mars Lander
Was there life on Mars?
Well, we finally have a pretty strong clue that there may indeed
have been life there (Martians, you think?), thanks to NASA's
solar-powered Phoenix Mars
Lander. The Lockheed Martin-built space craft was equipped with
the most sophisticated robotic equipment ever
to mount a spaceship, and was able to detect water-formed ice
crystals just a few inches from the top of the soil. The robotic
laboratory, including microscopes, electro-chemistry analyzers,
high-temperature furnaces, and mass spectrometers broke down the
materials all while on Mars, and (Beam me down, Scottie)
sent the information back to the scientists at the University of
Arizona. The Phoenix Mars Lander was also able to take the best
photographs ever taken from space. The Martian may shut the
spacecraft down for good, as Mars becomes totally dark for
several months; however the solar-powered Lander has been
outfitted with a "Lazarus mode," to help it survive the winter
and bring it back to life in the spring. (See runners-up in
this category.)
3. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008
Computing Award: Maxis Spore
Spore, the growingly popular computer game is the
brilliant creation that allows players to create their own
characters, one body part at a time, from a selection of body
parts offered. Same is true for objects and surroundings. And
once you have concocted your characters, Spore animates them for
you, very intelligently, even giving your character a personality. Your
character then gets to interact with other characters created
from Spore's database of 30 million other creatures. (See runners-up in
the Computing category.)
Spore was also named as one of Popular
Mechanics10 Most Brilliant Gadgets of 2008. Spore is
available for sale here.
4. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008
Engineering Award: Large Hadron Collider
Image
The 'biggest experiment in the world," the Large
Hadron Collider is a 17 mile circular tube that was built 300
feet underground by 10,000 engineers and physicists for $10
billion, by the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
Residing on the Swiss-French border, the Hadron Collider's prime
purpose is to prove or disprove the theory of the Higgs boson,
the particle that is the basis for our current physical
understanding of matter or mass. Though opened in September, the
Large Hadron Collider, which contains 1,200 superconductive
magnets, had a problem with two of the 35 ton magnets, causing a
delay of several months in the re-opening. (See runners-up in
the Engineering category.)
5. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Gadget
Award: 3M MPro 110
Ushering in a new wave of
digital displays, the 3M MPro (micro-projector) uses LED
technology to bring a projector size down to the size of an
iPhone. Right now the device is an accessory to a computer or
other handhelds, but by next year it is "projected" to be an
embedded component of handheld technologies from cell phones to
cameras. The 3M Pro displays at standard TV quality (640 by 480
pixels) and projects up to a 50 inch diagonal image in a dark
room -- a 10 inch diagonal in bright rooms. Available here.
(See runners-up in
the Gadget category.)
See related article about the PicoP
micro-projector.
6. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Green
Award: EcoRock
Finally, there's a new drywall technology and
it's green! Called
EcoRock, the compound is made of 20 different materials that are
industrial by-products And the
compound is so green that it congeals without heat, but with
water. Serious Materials tried out 5,000 recipes before finding
EcoRock, which costs about the same as high-end drywall. What is
definitely cost saving about
EcoRock is that it is impervious to mold and termites!
Drywall, invented in 1917, is made of ground-up
gypsum rock which, heating in 500 degree kilns, producing 20
billion pounds of greenhouse gases per year. (See runners-up in
the green tech category.)
7. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Health
Award: Recellularized Heart
Under the heading Believe It Or Not, a biologist at the
University of Minnesota, Doris Taylor, has discovered a way to
make heart transplants more successful. By removing the cells of
the donor heart and replacing them with the patient's cells, a
"recellularized heart" would reduce waiting time for donated
heart organs and minimize the risk of patient rejection of the
new heart.
Currently, about half of the patients receiving heart
transplants die within five years, despite current repair
procedures and drugs available to minimize rejection. Ms. Taylor
has perfected her procedure in rats and expects, if all goes
well, that the new transplant procedure will be available for
humans in about 10 years. (See runners-up in
the Health category.)
8. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Home
Entertainment Award: Sony XEL-1 OLED Television
Sony's first organic
light-emitting diode (OLED) TV is only 3 millimeters thin,
produces unbeatable color and the highest contrast possible in a
TV. Years in development, Sony was able to produce only an 11
inch screen in OLED, because a specialglass is
needed for OLED circuitry, which is not produced in large
sheets. Once retooling is done to accommodate a larger screen,
Popular Science is predicting other TV manufacturers will jump
in and, in the meantime, Sony will be making OLED TV's thin
enough to stick on your wall. But for right now, Sony is the
pioneer. Available for sale
here.
(See Pop-Sci's runners-up in
the Home Entertainment category.)
9. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008 Home
Tech Award: JHRG Storm-A-Rest
Tested to hold up during category 4 hurricanes, Storm-A-Rest
turns out to be better than
plywood boards at protecting windows from crashing into your
home and letting the wind and rain destroy the rest.
Storm-A-Rest is a shade that is installed on the outside of your
windows. It is made from a very dense fabric made from Honeywell
Spectra fibers and coated for waterproofing. Available from stormarest.com.
(See runners-up in
the Home Tech category.)
10. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008
Recreation Award: Shimano Dura-Ace 7970 Di2
Image
Used extensively in the 2008 Tour de France, the Shimano
electronic gear shift has made a grand impression on biking
enthusiasts. The difference is that the shifter is actually a
switch that sends a message to a CPU in the front derailleurs of
a bike, that send messages to the front and rear cog motors to
move the chain. There are no steel cables to frustrate shifting
in the Di2's, and Pop Sci predicts that they won't be coming
back. The Shimano Dura-Ace 7970 Di2 is available on some
high-end bikes (see bike.shimano.com).
(Check out the runners-up in
the Recreation category.)
11. Popular Science Best of What's New 2008
Security Award: Thruvision T5000 Security Camera
Security is not just about what 's going on at
the airport check-in or the stadium entry. Today's security
focuses on a greater range of detection, on what's outside of
the "checkpoints" as well. British firm Thruvision has created
an electromagnetic camera that picks up T-ray (terahertz wave)
signals from persons and objects in its scope. Called the T5000,
the camera detects the unique signals of objects from a distance
of up to 80 feet, while detecting the human signals as well. The
picture that is recorded, however, is a "G" rated human
silhouette, not an X-rated one. Thus, without using x-ray
devices that can be harmful and impinge on personal privacy, the
T5000's can spot a range of concealed devices that have
potential danger, like weapons, drugs, and liquids. The T5000
cameras are already in several U.S. airports and are being used
by the U.S. Defense Department. (See runners-up in
Security category.)
Pretty awesome array of inventions here, don't you think? Which
one did you think should win the grand prize, Popular Science's
Innovation of the Year? Here's the one that Popular Science
picked.
Source: http://inventorspot.com/articles/pop_sci_19511
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