Seafloor Energy
Making a fuel cell that's powered by ocean sediment and seawater
Fish, Bugs and Robots
Sweating mannequin, microchips in salmon, and caterpillar bug repellent
Cell Phone Driving
Driving while talking on a cell phone may narrow your field of vision -- you have less eye movement
Talking Lights
Fluorescent lights can be used to transmit information wirelessly.
Burying Nuclear Waste
Why can't you bury radioactive waste where the uranium was dug up? (Geology is not right)
Fluorescent Lights
Why aren't fluorescent bulbs used in headlights or spotlights? (Can't focus them as well)
Tiled Tunnels
Why are tunnels always tiled? (easier to clean because soot doesn't penetrate the glazing)
Artificial Nerve Networks
Creating tiny, working networks of rat brain cells on glass.
Yellow Art
By analyzing samples of Naples Yellow, scientists are constructing a chemical history of the pigment, which can be used to date the pigment in any painting for authenticating
Artificial Passenger
A software program that can talk to you, vibrate the steering wheel and roll down the windows when you're driving alone to keep you from falling asleep at the wheel.
Wood Water Filters
Wood removes organic contaminants from polluted runoff.
Inflatable Wings
NASA is building aircraft with inflating wings to save space on probes in our atmosphere... and others.
Robotic Scorpion
A robot modelled after a scorpion that can be used to spy under harsh, desert-like conditions.
Smart Violins
Devices that can manipulate the way a violin vibrates can reproduce the sounds of the masters in cheap violins
Recycling Electricity
Can electricity be recycled or reused by connecting ground wire back to electric company instead of into Earth? (nope- electricity does return to power company, but not enough ÒenergyÓ left to recycle. Housing ground wire for lightning strikes, not same as electrical circuit ground.)
Microbots
Tiny robots that can wheel around on their own, collecting chemical, sound, temp information
Blood Sugar Watch
A watch-like device helps monitor diabetes by measuring blood glucose through the skin.
Wheelchairs
Wheelchair-bound individuals in 3rd world countries make the best practical advances in wheelchair engineering
Exhaust Steam
Why do our cars spit out white steam before they're warmed up? (because when the car is relatively, the steam produced is quickly cooled and condenses when it hits air; a warm car produces steam that's so hot, it doesn't condense well after it leaves the tail pipe).