I read parts of a book my fiancée got for me titled Heaven Is For Real, I read several different sections of the USA Today newspaper that was sprawled about the dealership, I even read a magazine that I probably never would have read had I not been in this very situation, a magazine called Popular Science.
The latter turned out to be one of the cooler things I've read all year, as it contained images and blurbs of the “100 Greatest Innovations of the Year,” some of which I didn't even know had been created and others which made me think how I wished I could get paid to create such things.
The December 2014 edition of that magazine, which was the one I was browsing through that day, really opened my eyes to the fact that scientists have such a cool career. Since I doubt anybody really reads my blog, but yet I still feel inclined to share some of the neat things I learn on my journey through life, here are just a few of those inventions to stimulate your minds.
1. Bionic Arm
Founded by R&D firm Deka and approved by the Food and Drug Administration in May, the Luke Arm is the first prosthesis that allows a person to make multiple movements, such as rotating the wrist and opening the hand, at once. The Star Wars-named product works by using electrodes on the skin near the attachment site to pick up electrical impulses signaling muscle contractions, and then submits those to a computer in the prosthesis. The processor then translates those messages into motion of the integrated elbow, wrist and hand. Users can also coordinate complex movements with a joystick-like sensor on their shoe. Though Deka has yet to announce a price or commercial release date for this product, they did perform a clinical trial, in which 90 percent of the 36 participants were able to do previously impossible tasks, such as unlocking a door or using chopsticks.
Remember when we used to watch The Six Million Dollar Man on television and think Steve Austin's “parts” were so far into the future? Well, Doctor, it looks like it wasn't that far into it, after all, as we humans have now caught up to that technology. What's next: the flying cars from The Jetsons?
Well, sort of...
2. Real-Life Flying Saucer
The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator – or “LDSD,” for short – is a prototype flying saucer that allows NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to test and improve deceleration technologies, such as parachutes and balloons, in order to best determine what kind of drastic braking system works well at hypersonic speeds. After all, we want to be able to land safely when arriving at alien planets, don't we?
I don't know about you, but the one thought I kept having while reading up on this thing is that maybe this is what people report seeing out in the skies every once in a while, as I'm sure they must've already taken it out for a test drive or two, no? Do the people who have to address alleged UFO sightings have to be told about such innovations and when scientists will be out doing test runs on them? I've so many questions on this creation, but very few answers.
3. Bendable Television
Me, personally, I've never understood what the big deal is with having ginormous-sized televisions, but then again, I know squat about T.V., other than I like watching The Walking Dead on mine. Nevertheless, even I can respect the improbability of having a bendable television screen. I grew up in an era where screens were hard as a rock, so even the mere idea of bending a T.V. never, ever crossed my mind until I saw one in this magazine. Apparently, some people love the idea of a curved television, but many hate that it has a smaller sweet spot, so Samsung went ahead and addressed this minor issue by releasing its Samsung 78-inch UN78S9B, allowing viewers to have it both ways by simply adding a button. Push once, the edges of the semi-flexible LCD curve inward about 15 degrees. Push a second time, the panel returns to its original planar state. Voilà, problem solved, you can now watch Daryl Dixon shoot an arrow through a walker's head the way it was meant to be seen!
4. Unhackable Phone
I bet you that Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian, Hope Solo and Gabrielle Union, among others, are now wishing that they'd bought the Silent Circle Blackphone, instead of their respective iPhones. Had they, their nude photos wouldn't now be out there for all the perverts of the world to view. Why? Because the hypersecure Blackphone ensures that all communications remain private when being transmitted to and from the device. The phone, which runs on PrivatOS, a custom version of Android, can also encrypt calls and texts in conjunction with an app suite, as well as enable private web browsing and cloud storage. Messages and calls have unique encryption keys, so only the sender and recipient can decode each one. For $629 (including one year of service), you'll never have to put your faith in the data vulnerabilities of a cellular network again. That known, I'm still not going to be taking photographs of my genitalia anytime soon. You're welcome, world!
5. Perfect Steaks
With it, you'll get a perfect steak every time because it takes the guesswork out of your cookout by answering any questions you might have automatically. The person making the steaks selects the type of meat and the desired cooking level, after which sensors embedded in the top and bottom grill plates detect the thickness of the cut. A processor crunches that data to determine the ideal cooking time.
6. Unbreakable Display
Fun Fact: 1 in every 4 iPhones has a cracked screen.
Fun Fact: Lab-synthesized sapphire is one of the hardest materials on Earth.
Fun [Belief]: We now live in a technologically-dependent society.
Knowing all these things, I'm surprised somebody didn't think of creating a virtually indestructible phone using lab-synthesized sapphire sooner. But hey, as the old adage states, “better late than never,” right? Alas, Kyocera debuted one earlier this year with its Sapphire Shield. Nearly impossible to scratch, its display screen can survive a fall from twice the height of what a regular glass display screen would normally be able to survive.
However, I've seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I really don't want HAL surviving when we toss him to his doom in order to avoid becoming an even more technologically-dependent society, so lets be careful how and when we use this particular innovation. Cell phones: yes. Computers: no.
'Nuff said.
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