Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: invention

invention stories: 15 news summaries

Human Blood Fuels New
Light Source

Gruesome lamp intended to make point about energy usage

Oct 2, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Figuring that people would use less electricity if they had to cut themselves to turn on the light, a British designer has cooked up the “blood lamp.” The ingenious bulb is full of luminol, a chemical forensic scientists use to check crime scenes for blood, LiveScience explains. Just... More »

MORE ABOUT:
invention • energy consumption • Mike Thompson • energy conservation • luminol

 Gadget Translates 
 'Woof' into 
 Words 

Japanese toymaker debuts dog translator next month

Jul 20, 09 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? The “Bowlingual Voice” from Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy claims to be able to tell you just that, the Telegraph reports. The device is made up of a microphone and transmitter on the collar that categorizes the dog’s utterances into one of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
weird • Japan • canine behavior • invention • dog • gadget • canines

(Newser) - When Michael Jackson and his dancers leaned over at a gravity-defying angle for the “Smooth Criminal” music video, it was pretty cool. When he replicated the stunt for his live show, fans were flabbergasted. And MJ apparently thought the trick was worth protecting, ABC News reports: In 1992, he... More »

MORE ABOUT:
dancing • concert • Michael Jackson • Patent and Trademark Office • invention • choreography • patent application • live performance

 'Hardware
 Hackers' 
 Get Handy 

Programmers leave screens for soldering irons

May 19, 09 2:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Seeking an escape from the confined world of their computer screens, programmers are applying their technological know-how to the physical world, building and tweaking an array of devices with their hands, the Boston Globe reports. “My normal job is way up in the clouds,” said a programmer at... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • computer programming • software • programmers • software developers • hacking • invention • gadget

 Invisibility Cloak Takes 
 'Big Step Forward' 

'Carpet' technique bends and flattens light around objects

May 1, 09 7:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two teams of researchers say they're getting close to making a perfect invisibility cloak a reality, the BBC reports. The scientists—using a silicon-based material that eliminates the flaws of earlier, metal-based efforts—successfully made objects invisible at optical wavelengths by bending light around them and producing the illusion of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • invention • invisibility

 Rubik's Cube Gets a Makeover 

Inventor says Rubik 360 will be as maddening as the cube

Feb 4, 09 6:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Hungarian puzzle patriarch Erno Rubik promises his sphere will be as fiendish to tackle as his cube, the Melbourne Herald-Sun reports. The Rubik 360, which goes on sale later this year, features a transparent orb with colored balls that must be moved through spheres. Puzzle fans worldwide say they are... More »

MORE ABOUT:
puzzles • toys • game • invention

OPINION

Slankets and Snuggies:
The Mockable Sells

The pitch ripe for irony, sells more than a blanket

Jan 14, 09 9:17 PM CST
(Newser) - Parodied by YouTube videos and mocked by Jay Leno, the blanket with arms known as the Slanket—or its knockoff the Snuggie—is getting a lot of attention for a useless invention, writes Dara Lind for Culture11. As Leno points out, “It’s like wearing a bathrobe backwards,"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
infomercial • Jay Leno • invention • blankets • 2009 • Snuggie

olympics

 High-Tech
 Gear Floods
 Olympic Games 

Maker of spring-soled shoe challenges the rules

Aug 16, 08 5:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Michael Phelps-endorsed body suit is only one of the high-tech inventions at this year's Olympic Games, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. NASA-designed shoes, 3D motion-capture-designed bicycles, and a Nike PreCool vest have all garnered attention. But the most controversial is a spring-enhanced shoe that track and field athletes... More »

MORE ABOUT:
shoes • 2008 Beijing Olympics • Nike • invention • sports technology

 Prize Philanthropy:
 A Winning Concept 

Donors make innovators compete for cash

Jun 12, 08 12:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - When the X-Prize foundation offered $10 million to anyone who could develop a viable commercial spacecraft, it didn’t just send innovators scurrying, and it didn’t just grab headlines. It also began the next big trend in philanthropy. Donors are in love with prize philanthropy, Portfolio reports, and causes... More »

MORE ABOUT:
philanthropy • contest • innovation • space flight • prize • invention

 10 Who Were
 Blinded
 (or Worse)
 by Science 

Their work lead to big discoveries...and unfortunate death and injury

Jun 12, 08 7:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Knowledge may be power, but finding that knowledge can get you killed. List Universe ranks the top scientists killed or injured by their experiments.
  1. Galileo Galilei: The “father of modern physics” refined the telescope by staring at the sun for hours, resulting in near-blindness.
  2. Michael Faraday: A
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
science • list • death • Galileo • radiation • experiments • invention

 Self-Fixing Plane in the Works 

Self-repairing process mimics the way human body heals

May 28, 08 5:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - British aerospace engineers are working on technology that could create self-repairing aircraft, Gizmag reports. In a technique very much like nature's healing process, resin would "bleed" out of damaged parts of the plane and harden, making a damaged aircraft strong enough to continue to fly until it could be... More »

MORE ABOUT:
aerospace • plastic • Boeing 787 Dreamliner • aviation • aircraft • engineering • airplane • invention

 New Gadget 
 Strikes a Chord 

Tuning electric guitar becomes hands-off job

Apr 7, 08 12:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - One less thing is standing between you and a perfect jam session: tuning your electric guitar. A newly launched battery-powered compact device that mounts on the instrument's body is accurate to within 2% of a note, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's just a dream, being able to pick up... More »

MORE ABOUT:
music • entrepreneurs • guitar • consumer electronics • invention • N-Tune • Zero Crossing

Earliest Recording of Sound Finally Played Back

1860 snippet, made before playback even imagined, 17 years ahead of Edison patent

Mar 27, 08 11:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Edison and associates might've been first to hear recorded sound, but scientists have revealed they weren’t the first to create it, the New York Times reports. A 10-second recording of “Au Clair de la Lune” made in 1860—17 years before Edison patented the phonograph—has finally... More »

MORE ABOUT:
sound • invention • Thomas Edison • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory • phonogram • Au Clair de la Lune • phonautograph • phonograph

 McMuffin Man Dead at 89 

Herb Peterson invented fast-food breakfast in a sandwich

Mar 27, 08 2:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The inventor of the Egg McMuffin has died in his Southern California home at the age of 89,  AP reports. Herb Peterson began working with McDonald's in the advertising department, and later switched to the hands-on side of the business, owning six restaurants in the Santa Barbara area. Peterson,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
McDonald's • obituary • fast food • Santa Barbara • breakfast • invention • breakfast sandwiches

Tough Call: Book Says Bell Ripped Off Rival

Phone inventor likely copied competitor's patent application

Dec 27, 07 3:34 PM CST
(Newser) - Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell ripped off the idea from his rival Elisha Gray, a new book claims. In The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, journalist Seth Shulman uncovers evidence that Bell took a sneak peek at Gray's patent documents with the help of his lawyers and a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
telephone • Alexander Graham Bell • Elisha Gray • invention • patent • 19th century • Thomas Watson

15 Stories


from our news partners