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View Full Version : Time Magazine Names Top Inventions of 2002

Jason Dunn
11-23-2002, 10:30 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/toc.html' target='_blank'>http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/toc.html</a><br /><br /></div>I find inventions to be utterly fascinating, and this list that Time has drawn up is no exception: a Braille glove, a dog translator, and the stunningly brilliant <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/tra_hywire.html">Hy-wire car.</a> Check this list out - it will blow you away!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/rob_aerogel_pic.jpg" /> <br /><br />"A new substance called aerogel, invented in the 1930s but recently refined by NASA, has been certified as the lightest solid in the world — yes, it's in the Guinness Book of World Records. Weighing in at a mere .00011 lbs. per cu. in. (thin air weighs about .00004 lbs. per cu. in.), aerogel resembles smoke that has been frozen into place — it's cloudy, translucent and virtually weightless. It's also surprisingly tough. Chemically similar to glass, aerogel is used on the space shuttle to trap tiny spaceborne particles traveling at high speed so they can be brought back to Earth for analysis."
klinux
11-23-2002, 01:32 PM
I remember reading about aerogel back in college (chemistry degree) in the mid-90's. Took them that long to make it to Times 2002 invention of the year!?! :lol:
Busdriver
11-23-2002, 02:09 PM
What a great time to be alive! :D
shawnc
11-23-2002, 02:40 PM
Fascinating stuff. My favorites, next to the car of course, virtual keyboard and dog translator. Interesting times we live in.
jizmo
11-23-2002, 02:53 PM
Yup, it's sci-fi, really. We're living in the future :wink:

About living in the future, I was a bit disappointed when they invented this new currency for european union and named it "euro".

It's year 2002 after all. Naturally they should've named it to "credit"

/jizmo
mpriley
11-23-2002, 03:53 PM
The NASA site says that a future application of this aerogel stuff could be in windows that are really, really well insulated.

If the material is that hard, is anyone else thinking that this material would make the perfect PDA casing? Very light, and with a built-in cool translucent effect.

mpr
Ed Hansberry
11-23-2002, 04:12 PM
I think I have some of that stuff under the screen of my iPAQ 3630. :lol:
ECOslin
11-23-2002, 06:02 PM
It's easy to invent stuff, the hard thing is to put it to practical use.

Edward
st63z
11-23-2002, 06:29 PM
It's easy to invent stuff, the hard thing is to put it to practical use.

Just ask Dean Kamen. Sorry, couldn't resist :D

Hey I think I saw that Dyson vacuum (listed under "Spin Vacuum") sold at Best Buy? Is that the best? I'm clueless about vacuums. But I don't like bagless since I'm lazy. How about that timeless Oreck in every mail order catalog (now in XL2 model)?? How about those original cyclonic bagless.. from Fantom I think. I'd also had an in-house demo in the past of this Kirby(?) vacuum, SOO expensive (in the thousands $$$ IIRC), but the guy said absolute bestest on the market? Anyways I'd recently bought me top-of-line standard-bagged Hoover vac...
fgarcia10
11-23-2002, 06:32 PM
I was reading in a recent article that Toyota has an SUV ready for production in a year or two, using a hydrogen fuel cell. The only emision is water. The picture of the SUV looks like the new 4runners.
Rirath
11-23-2002, 07:08 PM
Dog translator... ha, about time.
vincentsiaw
11-23-2002, 10:49 PM
wow that aerogel is cool......
Steven Cedrone
11-23-2002, 10:51 PM
Dog translator... ha, about time.

I don't think I want to know what my dog thinks about me... :wink:

Steve
LarDude
11-25-2002, 01:00 PM
Been using aerogel for years,... mostly to produce Cerenkov light
...yup...years, I tell you. Matsu****a sells them for ~$55 per litre.
Landis
11-25-2002, 01:27 PM
That Aerogel IS cool, but the Time magazine writers should have at least SOME science aptitude if they're going to write an article involving science!

In the bit about the scramjet "flies at seven times the speed of sound and doesn't carry any fuel"and"A scramjet is a jet engine that is powered by oxygen it scoops out of the air as it flies, so it's not weighed down by a fuel tank" What? 8O Even if the writer is a moron, the editor should have asked how a rocket could be "powered by oxygen". The scramjet is actually powered by hydrogen (from a fuel tank) oxydized by atmospheric oxygen.

Sorry for the rant, but Time often covers science issues important to public policy(drug safety, etc.). Their inept science reporting is read by people who have the power to do real damage with laws inspired by inaccurate information.

I know I'm way off topic here, but if we don't improve the science aptitude of the general public, they'll believe almost anything the press tells them about everything technical :(
Kirkaiya
11-25-2002, 05:46 PM
That Aerogel IS cool, but the Time magazine writers should have at least SOME science aptitude if they're going to write an article involving science!

In the bit about the scramjet "flies at seven times the speed of sound and doesn't carry any fuel"and"A scramjet is a jet engine that is powered by oxygen it scoops out of the air as it flies, so it's not weighed down by a fuel tank" What? 8O Even if the writer is a moron, the editor should have asked how a rocket could be "powered by oxygen". The scramjet is actually powered by hydrogen (from a fuel tank) oxydized by atmospheric oxygen.

*laugh* I didn't read that far in the article, but that's pretty funny. Maybe the author got the scramjet confused with a Bussard Ramjet, which is a theoretical rocket design that scoops interstellar hydrogen as fuel for a fusion reactor, thus negating the need to carry any fuel.

(obviously, I'm kidding - the author was definitely science-illiterate... the day somebody invents a jet that doesn't require any fuel, just let me in on the IPO).