Invenções Premiadas na Popular Science

Uma Maravilha, uma Mão Artificial com controle muito mais natural, e muito mais barato:

2011 Invention Awards: A Better Mechanical Hand

A prosthetic hand that’s as functional as an electronic model—but at a fraction of the cost

By Lauren Aaronson

Prosthetic hands typically come in three varieties: purely cosmetic models; hooks and other low-cost mechanical appendages that provide a limited range of motion; and electronic versions that better mimic natural hand movements yet can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Mark Stark’s prosthetic incorporates the best elements of each. Although its minimalist plastic assembly is nearly as light and inexpensive as a common steel hook, it looks and moves like a high-end electronic hand.

Stark, who makes his living designing valves for dryers and other appliances, got into prosthetics in part to help his friend, Dave Vogt, who was born without a left hand. Stark’s creation is electronics-free, but its fingers each have three knuckles (two on the thumb) that bend separately to conform to anything the wearer grasps, including irregularly shaped objects that a hook can’t hold.

http://www.popsci.com/node/54124/

Algo de muito importante, um reciclador de àgua para Navios, que usa o calor do escape dos motores para vaporizar todo o resíduo, e sai só Dióxido de Carbono, e Vapor de Àgua:

2011 Invention Awards: From Waste To Water

A machine that uses exhaust heat to treat onboard sewage
By Bjorn Carey
When Namon Nassef had to buy a new engine for his boat, he saw an opportunity. He could finally install the invention he had been working on, a machine he calls the Zero Liquid Discharge Sewage Elimination System (ZLD). The device uses engine heat to oxidize and evaporate toilet, shower and galley waste.

A typical combustion engine makes use of only 30 to 35 percent of the energy contained in fuel; the rest escapes as heat through the radiator or the exhaust. The microwave-oven-size ZLD puts that exhaust heat to work.
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-05/2011-invention-awards-waste-water

... E uma Impressora para todo o lado, e quase todas as superfícies!

2011 Invention Awards: A Magic Wand For Printing

A mini inkjet prints on any flat surface with a wave of the hand

By Rena Marie Pacella

In 2000, one of Europe’s largest rubber-stamp companies approached Alex Breton, an engineer from Stockholm, Sweden, for product ideas. Instead of dreaming up a new stamp, he designed the PrintBrush, an 8.8-ounce handheld gadget that uses inkjets, computer-mouse-like optics and navigation software to print uploaded images and text on any flat surface, including paper, plastic, wood and even fabric.

Conventional printers move paper through the machine in large part because it’s the only way to accurately track the position of the page relative to the print head. With such constraints, Breton realized, a printer could never be narrower than its paper—unless the inkjets had an entirely new way to navigate across the page.

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-05/2011-invention-awards-magic-wand-printing