Popular Science has announced its Best of What’s New awards for 2008; they are all brilliant inventions, but some are phenomenal! There were 11 categories of best invention awards ranging across a wide spectrum of technology, from automobile to security technologies. One of the 11 winners was named the Grand Award Winner… see if you can guess which one!
1. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Auto Tech Award: 2009 Nissan GT-R
One of the fastest cars on the road, the Nissan GT-R was rated as the "sports-car value of the year, if not the decade." Popular Science say that the 193 MPH, $77,000 sports car has at least the performance of a $200,000 sports car.
Extremely high performance, the GT-R revs up faster than a Lamborghini, going from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. Twin clutch system, aluminum block engine that heats up fast, adjustable shock absorber, and a control panel that may tell you more than you need to know are just some of the extraordinary features of the 2009 Nissan GT-R. (See runners-up in this category.)
2. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Aviation & Space Award: NASA Mars Lander
Was there life on Mars? Well, we finally have a pretty strong clue that there may indeed have been life there (Martians, you think?), thanks to NASA’s solar-powered Phoenix Mars Lander. The Lockheed Martin-built space craft was equipped with the most sophisticated robotic equipment ever to mount a spaceship, and was able to detect water-formed ice crystals just a few inches from the top of the soil. The robotic laboratory, including microscopes, electro-chemistry analyzers, high-temperature furnaces, and mass spectrometers broke down the materials all while on Mars, and (Beam me down, Scottie) sent the information back to the scientists at the University of Arizona. The Phoenix Mars Lander was also able to take the best photographs ever taken from space. The Martian may shut the spacecraft down for good, as Mars becomes totally dark for several months; however the solar-powered Lander has been outfitted with a "Lazarus mode," to help it survive the winter and bring it back to life in the spring. (See runners-up in this category.)
3. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Computing Award: Maxis Spore
Spore, the growingly popular computer game is the brilliant creation that allows players to create their own characters, one body part at a time, from a selection of body parts offered. Same is true for objects and surroundings. And once you have concocted your characters, Spore animates them for you, very intelligently, even giving your character a personality. Your character then gets to interact with other characters created from Spore’s database of 30 million other creatures. (See runners-up in the Computing category.)
Spore was also named as one of Popular Mechanics10 Most Brilliant Gadgets of 2008. Spore is available for sale here.
4. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Engineering Award: Large Hadron Collider
Image The ‘biggest experiment in the world," the Large Hadron Collider is a 17 mile circular tube that was built 300 feet underground by 10,000 engineers and physicists for $10 billion, by the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Residing on the Swiss-French border, the Hadron Collider’s prime purpose is to prove or disprove the theory of the Higgs boson, the particle that is the basis for our current physical understanding of matter or mass. Though opened in September, the Large Hadron Collider, which contains 1,200 superconductive magnets, had a problem with two of the 35 ton magnets, causing a delay of several months in the re-opening. (See runners-up in the Engineering category.)
5. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Gadget Award: 3M MPro 110
Ushering
in a new wave of digital displays, the 3M MPro (micro-projector) uses
LED technology to bring a projector size down to the size of an iPhone.
Right now the device is an accessory to a computer or other handhelds,
but by next year it is "projected" to be an embedded component of
handheld technologies from cell phones to cameras. The 3M Pro displays
at standard TV quality (640 by 480 pixels) and projects up to a 50 inch
diagonal image in a dark room — a 10 inch diagonal in bright rooms.
Available here. (See runners-up in the Gadget category.)
See related article about the PicoP micro-projector.
6. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Green Award: EcoRock
Finally, there’s a new drywall technology and it’s green! Called EcoRock, the compound is made of 20 different materials that are industrial by-products And
the compound is so green that it congeals without heat, but with water.
Serious Materials tried out 5,000 recipes before finding EcoRock, which
costs about the same as high-end drywall. What is definitely cost saving about EcoRock is that it is impervious to mold and termites!
Drywall,
invented in 1917, is made of ground-up gypsum rock which, heating in
500 degree kilns, producing 20 billion pounds of greenhouse gases per
year. (See runners-up in the green tech category.)
7. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Health Award: Recellularized Heart
Under
the heading Believe It Or Not, a biologist at the University of
Minnesota, Doris Taylor, has discovered a way to make heart transplants
more successful. By removing the cells of the donor heart and replacing
them with the patient’s cells, a "recellularized heart" would reduce
waiting time for donated heart organs and minimize the risk of patient
rejection of the new heart.
Currently,
about half of the patients receiving heart transplants die within five
years, despite current repair procedures and drugs available to
minimize rejection. Ms. Taylor has perfected her procedure in rats and
expects, if all goes well, that the new transplant procedure will be
available for humans in about 10 years. (See runners-up in the Health category.)
8. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Home Entertainment Award: Sony XEL-1 OLED Television
Sony’s
first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV is only 3 millimeters
thin, produces unbeatable color and the highest contrast possible in a
TV. Years in development, Sony was able to produce only an 11 inch
screen in OLED, because a special glass is needed for OLED circuitry,
which is not produced in large sheets. Once retooling is done to
accommodate a larger screen, Popular Science is predicting other TV
manufacturers will jump in and, in the meantime, Sony will be making
OLED TV’s thin enough to stick on your wall. But for right now, Sony is
the pioneer. Available for sale here.
(See Pop-Sci’s runners-up in the Home Entertainment category.)
9. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Home Tech Award: JHRG Storm-A-Rest
Tested to hold up during category 4 hurricanes, Storm-A-Rest turns out to be better
than plywood boards at protecting windows from crashing into your home
and letting the wind and rain destroy the rest. Storm-A-Rest is a shade
that is installed on the outside of your windows. It is made from a
very dense fabric made from Honeywell Spectra fibers and coated for
waterproofing. Available from stormarest.com. (See runners-up in the Home Tech category.)
10. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Recreation Award: Shimano Dura-Ace 7970 Di2
Image
Used
extensively in the 2008 Tour de France, the Shimano electronic gear
shift has made a grand impression on biking enthusiasts. The difference
is that the shifter is actually a switch that sends a message to a CPU
in the front derailleurs of a bike, that send messages to the front and
rear cog motors to move the chain. There are no steel cables to
frustrate shifting in the Di2’s, and Pop Sci predicts that they won’t
be coming back. The Shimano Dura-Ace 7970 Di2 is available on some
high-end bikes (see bike.shimano.com). (Check out the runners-up in the Recreation category.)
11. Popular Science Best of What’s New 2008 Security Award: Thruvision T5000 Security Camera
Security
is not just about what ‘s going on at the airport check-in or the
stadium entry. Today’s security focuses on a greater range of
detection, on what’s outside of the "checkpoints" as well.
British firm Thruvision has created an electromagnetic camera that
picks up T-ray (terahertz wave) signals from persons and objects in its
scope. Called the T5000, the camera detects the unique signals of
objects from a distance of up to 80 feet, while detecting the human
signals as well. The picture that is recorded, however, is a "G" rated
human silhouette, not an X-rated one. Thus, without using x-ray devices
that can be harmful and impinge on personal privacy, the T5000’s can
spot a range of concealed devices that have potential danger, like
weapons, drugs, and liquids. The T5000 cameras are already in several
U.S. airports and are being used by the U.S. Defense Department. (See runners-up in Security category.)
Pretty
awesome array of inventions here, don’t you think? Which one did you
think should win the grand prize, Popular Science’s Innovation of the
Year? Here’s the one that Popular Science picked.
via Popular Science and websites of the award winners.
