1 High-tech guitar
A 26-year-old Australian designer has invented a brand-new way to be a rock star. The Misa Digital Guitar’s fret board looks like a traditional six-string’s, but with no strings attached. There’s a touch pad where the sound hole normally is, and instead of plucking or strumming strings, you tap, drag or brush the pad to “play” the instrument electronically. (As a bonus, bursts of funky blue light accompany each touch.) The guitar plugs into a synthesiser, which produces the music – kind of an electronica version of Jimi Hendrix. What remains in question: will Misa go on the road with real musicians or become part of the living room?2 Digital cooking
Three-dimensional computer “printers” may one day cook our meals. The innovation comes from US design students Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran, who are creating a personal “food factory” using the tools of industrial design. By layering ingredients in the same way that a printhead layers drops of ink, the Cornucopia “offers a new way to think about cooking”, says Coelho. How it works: you fill the canisters on top with the ingredients of a recipe, then enter directions digitally. The device draws down the correct combinations of ingredients and attached nozzles that cool, heat and mix the flavours accordingly. If tests succeed, the kitchen aid could be available by 2013 – with the intended audience chefs for whom cooking is always an experiment.3 Sex boost for women
More than a decade after a little blue pill to enhance the male libido became available, women may now get their turn. A German company studied Flibanserin as an antidepressant, but it failed to perform better than a placebo. When tested later on premenopausal women with reduced sex drives and sex-related distress, however, it showed real promise. Flibanserin would be the first treatment for female sexual dysfunction that works on neurotransmitters in the brain, not hormones in the body. “There are no concerns about serious side effects like blood clots or potential risks like cancer, as there are with hormone therapies,” says trial coordinator Dr Anita Clayton.Now, if they could just find a sexier name for it.
4 Safer helmets
Place a finger to your scalp and move it to and fro and you’ll feel the skin slide gently over the skull. Scientists took a tip from this bit of human physiology to develop a more protective motorcycle helmet. The secret is SuperSkin, a thin gelatinous layer covered with a tough plastic coating. When a biker falls and scrapes his or her helmet across the ground, the motion rotates the head, often causing brain and neck damage. With SuperSkin, the helmet behaves as the scalp does – it stretches a bit before breaking. “It took us 14 years to find a plastic that would work,” says Dr Ken Phillips, the helmet’s inventor. “Now we’ve got one that stretches 800%. The helmet’s skin will break if it stretches too far, but you can actually save someone in the meantime.”Currently, only helmets for motorcyclists are available, but other helmets may not be far behind.
5 Four-day working week
You can thank the GFC for kick-starting the conversation about better ways to work, says Rex Facer, a management professor at Brigham Young University. After Utah became the first US state to mandate a four-day week for most of its employees, Facer found that workers who received the same salary either way preferred four longer days to five shorter ones, and called in sick less often. The state also saw some of its bills slashed. Fewer kilometres on state vehicles provided US$1.4 million ($1.6 million) in savings, while less overtime and sick leave cut another US$4.1 million ($4.8 million). Although four days don’t work for everyone, the trend is expected to grow. “It’s a way to attract and retain talented employees,” says Facer.6 Germ-fighting fabrics
The next miracle fabric may truly be a miracle. iFyber cofounder Aaron Strickland has helped develop a technology that allows fabric to repel water and oil, fight germs, detect dangerous chemicals and explosives – and conduct enough energy to power an iPod. The company uses a special process to bind multifunctional nano-particles to natural and synthetic fibres. Expect to see practical applications soon.7 Do-it-yourself glasses
Nearsighted atomic physicist Josh Silver had a vision. If he could design a pair of glasses he could adjust himself, maybe others would want them too. After ten years, the Oxford professor discovered that liquid – specifically silicone oil – was the key. To make the lenses, he filled two flexible membranes with the oil and encased them in hard plastic. Now for the self-adjustment: to make the glasses stronger, you twist a plastic dial on each lens to add more liquid, which changes the shape of the lens. Specs too strong? Twist the other way, removing a bit of oil. There’s a cause greater than one’s own convenience, too. Think of places like sub-Saharan Africa, where there’s one optometrist for every million people. A pair of glasses that lasts forever takes on new meaning there. Now retired, Silver has started a nonprofit company to distribute the glasses.8 A new way to pay
In the near future, you’ll be able to turn your mobile phone into a “mobile wallet” and speed through the checkout line. With a phone app that uses the same technology as “tap and go” cards used on some commuter trains in different parts of the world, you’ll be able to access your financial data fast. Instead of fumbling for your wallet while packing groceries, you’ll select a credit or debit card from the screen, then tap the phone on the checkout console. You’ll also be able to comparison shop by touching your phone to a product to find out more about it, including what other shops are charging.9 Greener packaging
Engineering student Eben Bayer, an avid hiker, noticed how mushroom roots bind everything on the forest floor, from tree roots to soil. Bayer considered the dense network and wondered, could mushroom roots, or mycelia, be used as an eco-friendly alternative to foam packaging? He shared the idea with classmate Gavin McIntyre.After planting mushrooms in Tupperware containers under McIntyre’s bed, they eventually found that mycelia, combined with buckwheat and rice husks, can be shaped into biodegradable blocks. Their product, EcoCradle, will debut soon as protective packaging for computers and furniture; it’s also being tested as home insulation called Greensulate.
Early results show that the fungi-based forms hold heat and resist fire and mould better than petroleum-based synthetic – and require one tenth of the energy to produce.
10 Spray-on solar panels
While solar panels are hot with homeowners for warming the house and saving electricity, they’re often rejected as costly and tricky to install. Now engineers are aiming to make a more consumer-friendly version. One attractive candidate is solar ink. Applied with a spray gun, the ink allows builders and homeowners to turn windows, doors and roofs into power-generating panels. Just spray it on the way you would on a model airplane, says Brian Korgel, the University of Texas at Austin chemical engineering professor who invented the technology. (The ink can also be printed on plastic sheets using an ink-jet–type printer.) He expects the ink to be available in three to five years.11 Smart homes
You’re on holiday and, oops, you realise you forgot to adjust the thermostat and shut down the computer. Soon a device that looks like an oversized iPhone will be able to do it for you. Intel’s Home Dashboard uses Wi-Fi technology to communicate with the appliances in your home, letting you monitor how much electricity you’re using and see which energy suckers are costing the most. The Dashboard stays at home, but you can make adjustments over the internet using a computer or smartphone from anywhere in the world. The system includes several finger-operated apps, so you can also control your security system or leave a video message for your spouse when you’re at home. A prototype debuted in January in the US; pilot programs will launch in homes this year.12 Cool house
Dread air-conditioning bills? There may soon be a cheaper way to cool your home. The inventors of Thermal CORE have created a wall panel using microscopic paraffin wax capsules. During peak temperatures, the wax melts and absorbs heat, keeping the indoors at about 22C. At night, if it gets cold, the wax solidifies, warming the room by releasing heat. Thermal CORE is being tested in California; similar material is already in use in Europe, where savings on air-con have been as much as 20%. And watch for a German mug – made of ceramic and filled with a special wax – that keeps coffee at the perfect-for-drinking 58C.I read this from readers digest its cool and i decided that i should share it with you. It amazing how our world is changing. you should visit readers digest page or buy the magazine.
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