Self healing teeth

So instead of that wining drill, your trip to the dentist could just involve a dab of gel on your infected tooth.

The gel contains the peptide known as MSH (melanocyte-stimulating hormone), that encourages bone regeneration.

http://www.ideaconnection.com/
filed under: chemistry, healthcare, materials

Property spectrum: Activity
Materials increasingly evolve from passive to fully adaptive materials. E.g. shape memory alloys and thermo chromic materials. The reactivity of this gel helps stimulate bone to grow.

Emily the lifeguard robot

Imagine being out near the edge of the ocean, and you suddenly encounter a Portuguese man of war. It's stinging tentacles paralyze the whole right side of your body, and you are unable to swim.

Suddenly, you see this red thing approaching you. Don't worry, it isn't a shark, but Emily, the Emergency Integrate Lifesaving Lanyard. You could call Emily your own personal lifeguard robot.

Emily is made to be tossed into troublesome waters from the beach, from a ship, or even from the air. It then swims away by remote control to rescue swimmers in peril at speeds of 28 miles per hour, and it has a battery life capable of 80 miles on a single charge. It even has speakers for two-way communication with a real lifeguard.

Emily measures at about 54 inches long by 16 inches wide by 8 inches tall, and weighs 25 pounds. It was developed by Hydronalix, a maker of maritime robots, based on a robotic boat they were developing for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for health checks on sea life.

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/
filed under: safety,  sport,  technologies

Property spectrum: Automation
This property describes a system’s decreasing reliance and burden on humans as it evolves. Systems tend to become increasingly automated. This automated robot is much quicker at getting to the victim.

Invisible Mouse

How do you show a picture of an invisible mouse? You don't. Instead of a physical mouse, an infrared laser beam and camera track your hand movements from the side of your laptop.

"Mouseless" was developed by MIT research assistant Pranav Mistry, and it doesn't need a special glove or markings. The laser beam is positioned to create a plane on the table where your computer sits. The plane lights up your fingers as they make contact with the table, and the camera tracks the contact points.

When your fingers "click" on the table, the camera registers the movement and the corresponding action is performed by the computer.

Since the prototype cost only $20 we could be seeing this technology in computers very shortly.

http://www.ideaconnection.com/
filed under: computers & accessories, electronics, technologies

Property spectrum: State
Products evolve from being a solid matter to a liquid, gas and finally a fields. A laser beam can be used to track the position and movements of your hand on the desk and register these as mouse movements.

Streamlined hull surfaces

The objective is to reduce flow resistance by means of new types of coatings so as to lower the fuel consumption of ships significantly and diminish emissions of greenhouse gases. Major side effects are a possible increase in the speed of the vessels and minimisation of noise emissions.

In this context Beluga Shipping (maker of the SkySails) makes one of its ships available for test coating purposes. This coating shall also contain antifouling products that minimise growth of algae and mussels on the hulls of vessels since they impair flow characteristics as well.

The results of the research project will enable application of high technologies, such as coating systems hardened by UV radiation, flow simulation and nanotechnology, in the maritime sector. This is also aimed at generally improving the competitiveness of German shipbuilding.

http://www.beluga-group.com/
filed under: animals, automotive, technologies

Property spectrum: Surface
This property describes the evolution of surface texture. Surfaces tend to evolve from flat, smooth surfaces towards bumpy surfaces. The sharkskin like structure reduces flow resistance.

Self folding paper

Hopefully you've had the pleasure of paper folding with origami, and you might want to check out this project from Harvard's Robert Wood and team.

Wood has somehow managed to put tiny actuators onto pieces of origami paper, which will allow it to fold itself into many shapes.

The team that developed this technology said that they wanted to use this for personal applications, such as resizing a cup of coffee for the amount of hot beverage it will hold. So if you wanted a small coffee, the large size cup would fold down to adjust for it.

Watch the video to see the paper in action.

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/
filed under: machines&engines, nanotechnology, paper

Property spectrum: Automation
Automation can vary from human operated to being human aided. Systems tend to become increasingly automated. With the addition of tiny actuators, paper cups can automatically fold to the correct size.

Bicycle shopping cart

The transforming Ville concept folding bicycle is no mere bike: it is a bike-slash-shopping cart hybrid vehicle for the 21st century eco-friendly consumer. It is bicycle and grocery containment in one convenient form factor.

But the Ville is not solely about clever multi-purpose design and ingenious hinge placement. The bike's shopper-friendliness ensures you can take it with you inside the store, so you don't have to take the risk of coming out to find it's been stolen

http://gizmodo.com/
filed under: gadgets, retail, transport

Property spectrum: Flexibility
Increasing flexibility is one of the most applied properties. Many products evolve from rigid to completely flexible. Adding more joints can help add a new function to a folding bicycle.