From wall-scaling belts to stronger, quieter Velcro, meet 10 of our favorite homebuilt inventions and the garage geniuses behind them
Posted 06.06.2007 at 1:00 am
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How do you prevent insurgents from shooting down choppers? How do you keep a cast from itching? How do you reinvent the brick? You sketch. And then you work: nights, weekends-for years, if you have to. You blow all your money, then beg for more. You build prototypes, and when they fail, you build more. Why? Because inventing is about solving problems, and not stopping until your solution becomes real.
Here, we present the 10 winners of the 2007 PopSci Invention Awards. Each is a stunning example of the spirity of ingenuity. You'll also find tips from the world's most successful inventors on how to get your own ideas out there.
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A Chopper Shield Firing massive Kevlar and steel nets at inbound rocket-propelled grenades could save helicopters in combat |
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The New Velcro A stronger, better grip without the incessant ripping sound. Has a long-standing dream finally been realized? |
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A Big Ball of Connectivity An antenna that blows up like a balloon brings satellite communications anywhere, anytime |
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A New Breed of Mouse Control your computer in three dimensions by giving your mouse the finger |
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The Flying Belt Rappel up a wall at an astonishing 10 feet per second with the Atlas Powered Rope Ascender |
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Six Strokes of Genius After a lifetime of making racecars go faster, Bruce Crower's new engine uses steam to squeeze more mileage from gas |
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A Shocking New Weapon A muscle-numbing magic wand protects cops and citizens, Jedi-style |
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A Levitating Arrow Rest A few well-placed magnets eliminates the thwack of an arrow leaving the bow, making archers stealthier and more accurate |
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The Glove That Saves Lives A sensor-packed CPR assistant delivers effective resuscitation every time |
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A Green Brick A new building block made from the pressurized byproducts of coal-power plants saves energy and cuts down on pollutants |
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Tips From the Pros Tips to get your own invention ideas off the ground from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Segway's Dean Kamen, futurist Ray Kurzweil and more |
Want to learn more about breakthroughs in electronics, medicine, nanotech, and more?
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.
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why? when there are so many other choices.......still land will be destroyed to get the coal , people die mining it, water is polluted from mining......land is taken from people to get at it.......wake up people!! we are smarter than this most things we truly need are above ground just a little blessing from the universe and god!!!!!! Why do we feel the need too waste time.lives and money tearing things apart to find our answers....the world was designed perfectly , we have the sun , wind & water to obtain energy we can create hydrogen gas from water and as an added bonus we keep the beautiful mountains to visit with our children. Why do we cling to our destructive ways when we have better cleaner answers- this bs spreads money too thin and holds back real progress- sooner or later there will be no coal for anyone this is already known why not pretend this is so now and move on to better things ?
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