Category: Breakthrough Thinking

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Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, New Inventions, Robots

Inflatable Robots: The cheap, lightweight robotic alternative?

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Inflatable robots provide a whole new avenue of exploration.

The 15-foot-long Ant-Roach (pictured above) really demonstrates the carrying capacity and high strength-to-weight ratios of these inflatable structures. It weighs in just under 70 lbs but it can carry up to 1000 lbs, making the payload of a few people no problem at all. The initial concept was more elephant-like but the final product came out like this anteater-cockroach hybrid, hence its name.

This huggable robot was developed by Otherlab’s Pneubotics program; a collaborative effort between the San-Francisco-based research firm, Meka Robotics, Stanford University, and DARPA…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Photos, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Entertainment, Food, Health & Fitness, Human Behavior, Humor

Cherpumple, the Turducken of the holiday dessert table

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Behold the Cherpumple!

For Charles Phoenix, the turducken apparently wasn’t enough. The turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken – an increasingly popular Thanksgiving treat – was in need of a dessert counterpart.
So he came up with one worthy of the holiday, and he called it … thecherpumple. The dessert is a weighty, three-layer cake with an entire pie baked inside each of the layers.
Phoenix, a humorist from Los Angeles, describes his creation on his website this way: “Cherpumple is short for CHERry, PUMpkin and apPLE pie. The apple pie is baked in spice cake, the pumpkin in yellow and the cherry in white.”
Hmm.
He further explained that the inspiration came from the typical dessert table at his family’s holiday celebrations…

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Analysis, Art, Award Winner, Breakthrough Thinking, Current Events, Education, Entertainment, Latest News, New Discoveries, New Inventions, People Making a Difference

Syneseizure, Isodrag Typeface, and other amazing results from Science Hack Day SF 2011

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Syneseizure, the hack that won the “People’s Choice” award

Earlier this month, Science Hack Day SF brought together 150+ scientists, designers, developers, and makers to collaborate on science-related projects. Along with US hackers, the event included participants from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, and South Africa thanks to a grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation toInstitute for the Future. My IFTF colleague Ariel Waldman, the lead on Science Hack Day SF and the grant, posted about the insanely creative and wonderful projects that emerged from the 48 hours of science hacking: a DNA-based cocktail, a globe where the location of the International Space Station is tracked using a laser pointer, the Isodrag Typeface that rescales letters based on their aerodynamic drag, and many others…

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Analysis, Award Winner, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Ecological Products, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries

Print optimization software earns PrintEco Green Start-Up of the Year

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A new way to print…or not.

At the 5th Opportunity Green conference held in Los Angeles November 10-11, new companies presented products and services in one-minute pitches for a chance to win Green Start-Up of the Year.

In a tight race with Kiverdi carbon recyclers, PrintEco Office pulled out in front at the last minute to take the prize with its print optimization software.

Eleven entrepreneurs showcased concepts in super succinct presentations and the approximately 1000 attendees from sustainably-minded businesses voted in real-time texts for the best idea…

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Animals, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough

Mouse fetuses help mother’s hearts

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Cardiomyocytes damaged by a heart attack.

As it turns out, nature has its own method for transplanting stem cells. When a pregnant mouse has a heart attack, her fetus goes to work to help repair the damage! The experiment mated female lab mice with males who had the genes to produce green fluorescent protein (GFP). Around half the embryos produced also had the ability to produce the protein. This way, scientists could track fetal cells separately from maternal cells. Then heart attacks were induced in the pregnant mice…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, New Discoveries, New Inventions

The Desk of The Future

ExoPC has released their video about a amazing product that will tease you in 2012. Its a tabletop computer, maybe you haven’t heard it before. Well, actually its a virtual table with a 40 inches high definition flat space in front of your eyes, Its awesome feature will allow you to manipulate objects by dragging it from one side to the other or by touching it. (It is much more like a tablet). ExoPC has already offered some apps to optimized this its virtual desk…

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Art, Award Winner, Breakthrough Thinking, Green Friendly, Historical Perspectives, New Inventions

Honda’s natural gas civic is named green car of the year

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Award winning green car.

Honda’s natural gas-powered Civic has been named Green Car of the Year. Selected from five nominees, the car took the honors at a kick-off ceremony for the Los Angeles Auto Show (November 18-27).

The Green Car Journal presented the award to Honda for the car’s near-zero emissions, a 200-mile range, and combined average of 31 mpg (highways and streets) with a clean combustion engine…

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Analysis, Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Education, Historical Perspectives, New Inventions, New Viewpoints

Gorgeous 19th century patent models

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A model of an electromagnetic engine.

Inventors today have got it easy. If they want to patent something, all they have to do is file some paperwork. Before 1880, however, if you wanted to patent a better mousetrap, you actually had to build it – or at least a miniature version to help patent inspectors understand why you actually deserve the patent…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, New Inventions

ReCell kit grows spray on skin at home

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Growing skin at home has never been easier.

While skin grafts are an essential tool for treating severe burns, Avita Medical has developed a compact kit that grows replacement skin that can be sprayed on. Which has resulted in faster healing and better cosmetic results in patient testing.

Instead of growing patches of skin that can be draped over severely burned areas, the ReCell kit uses a small sample of the patient’s keratinocytes and melanocytes skin cells that quickly reproduce in a special suspension solution…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Rear-view mirror with built-in GPS, hands-free phone, camera, and video screen

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A whole new way to look at things.

Chinavision’s “Complete Car Bluetooth Rearview Mirror Kit” is a replacement rear-view mirror that can play videos (including a video-feed from a rear-mounted parking camera), display status-messages from your phone, provide turn-by-turn GPS, and otherwise distract and delight drivers in ways ranging from useful to suicidal…

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Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.