Did you know that at one time - somewhere in the 1800s, I believe it was - the American Patent Office was considering closing because officials thought "everything that can be invented HAS been invented"?
In retrospect now, that is so laughable.
Anyone who writes usually reads a lot and that includes me. Previously I have used this blog column to announce some of the wonders still being invented by industrious, innovational people. I'd like to, in this column, bring a few more of the more outstanding things, both big and small in world import, that maybe haven't gotten enough attention.
1. We read about used plastic materials clogging our oceans, rivers and garbage dumps, but now a company called By Fusion has found a way to make used plastic bricks for construction. (Fast Company Magazine)
2. Millions of couples struggle to have children and fail - poor egg quality, uterus disorder, weak swimming sperm, etc - but now we have "spermbot", a tiny, corkscrew-shaped motor designed to drive lethargic sperm to their targets. It wraps around the sperm's tail, then propels it into the egg. The Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine has tested it on bovine sperm and eggs, but hasn't achieved successful fertilization as yet. (Fast Company Magazine, October 2016)
3, British researchers suggest gum chewing may improve a variety of cognitive functions, including memory, alertness, and attention, as well as enhance performance on intelligence and math tests.(Reader's Digest October 2016).
4. Google Cardboard has come up with a low-cost and trouble-free app teachers should love. It takes students on virtual reality field trips. It's Expedition Tool offers 200 virtual reality trips.
(Lewiston, ID, Tribune).
5. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland have built a robot clam that out-digs any other digging machine on the market tenfold. The prototype is only 4 to 8 inches long, but performed so well the team is now building a larger version.
They studied the razor clam and found it digs so quickly by "fluidizing" the sand it's digging into, making it act like a fluid rather than a solid. It does this by contracting its body and sort of sucking in, creating a vacuum, causing the sand to become unstable and start moving.
It could prove invaluable as low-energy anchors or as an environmentally safe way to lay down more intercontinental undersea fiber optic cable. (Los Angeles Times April 2, 2014)
6. Populations in the 20 most peaceful countries total less than 500 million, whereas 2.3 billion people live in the world's least peaceful countries. So, out of the total world 's population of 7.3 billion, there are nearly three times as many people living in the 20 least peaceful countries than in the 20 most peaceful.
Of the 10 most peaceful countries, all are stable democracies. And, countries surrounded by other peaceful countries are more likely to experience high levels of peace. (Christian Science Monitor Oct. 12, 2015)
7. Dutch researchers discovered wearing sox to bed improves sex! They had 13 couples lay with their heads in a scanner while their partners "excited" them. They found about half the women couldn't climax because their feet were cold. When they doled out sox to increase subjects' body temperatures 80 % reached orgasm. (Reader's Digest Oct. 2016)
