11-23-2002, 10:30 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Time Magazine Names Top Inventions of 2002
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 Hy-wire car. Check this list out - it will blow you away!
"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."
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11-23-2002, 01:32 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 735
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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:
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11-23-2002, 02:09 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 178
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What a great time to be alive! 
__________________
"Success flourishes only in perseverance-ceaseless, restless perseverance." - Baron Manfred von Richtofen
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11-23-2002, 02:40 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,051
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Fascinating stuff. My favorites, next to the car of course, virtual keyboard and dog translator. Interesting times we live in.
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11-23-2002, 02:53 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 383
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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
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11-23-2002, 03:53 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4
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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
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11-23-2002, 04:12 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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I think I have some of that stuff under the screen of my iPAQ 3630. :lol:
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11-23-2002, 06:02 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 416
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It's easy to invent stuff, the hard thing is to put it to practical use.
Edward
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11-23-2002, 06:29 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 513
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ECOslin
It's easy to invent stuff, the hard thing is to put it to practical use.
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Just ask Dean Kamen. Sorry, couldn't resist
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...
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11-23-2002, 06:32 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 130
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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.
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Linear Mode
