#humour #invention #photo

It’s not often that I can recommend an initiative from Nesta – the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. I was one of the first trustees of Nesta and it breaks my heart to see how far away from its original aims and objectives it has moved, but that’s another story. In this case, the newly announced Inclusive Technology Prize can’t be sniffed at. Inventing for the disabled poses many challenges. Not least of which is the problem of seeing any sort of com

With only a few weeks to go before the winners are announced, the James Dyson Foundation have released a list of the twenty finalists who will go forward to be judged by Sir James himself. The finalists are an eclectic mix of talented design students from around the world who have produced some really interesting and useful work. Their entries positively "fizz" with ingenuity and inventiveness. Finalists include: MOM, a portable incubator system for refugee camps; Bruise -

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Advertising Standards Authority who were rubbishing the anti-radiation protective claims of Wireless Armour and their underpants - (It's Pants says advertising watchdog - August 15th) - claims so persuasive that even Sir Richard Branson was taken in. Step forward our friends 'across the pond' - the Federal Trade Commission - who have fined two companies for making ludicrous claims about their so-called fat-busting underwear. “The FTC’s compl

Three cheers and congratulations to the inventors of the Blue LED light. Isamu Akasaki (Japan), Hiroshi Amano (USA) and Shuji Nakamura (Japan) have won the coveted prize for physics. Developed in the 1990's, the invention of the Blue LED was absolutely crucial because it is the essential missing-link, between existing Red and Green LED's, to enable low cost and efficient White light. However, this award is not without controversy. Seeing red (if you'll excuse the pun) is P

The Institute of Patentees & Inventors (of which I am a Director) is the UK's oldest inventor organisation - our centenary is only a few years away - and is set to achieve a long held goal. For many years, members have bemoaned the fact that IPI is a bit London-centric. Most of our meetings, and indeed our annual 'bash', are held in the capital. This is all set to change with the opening of a new office in Salford (Nr. Manchester). This new branch of the IPI will ceremonial

Boffins from the University of Southampton (my home city - yay!) have won yet another prestigious award for their invention 'StarStream' - a portable cleaning system that, by using ultrasound and micro-bubble 'smart scrubbers', negates the use of harmful detergents and is effective with just cold water. This latest prestigious award, the S-Lab 'Best New Product of 2014', makes for a hat-trick, having previously won the Brian Mercer Award for Innovation in 2011, and the 2012

I came across the story of five year old Hayley Fraser in the UK press this week. Hayley was born with a congential abnormality, symbrachydactyly, which means she has no fingers on her left hand. Hayley has been fitted with a prosthetic, believed to be the first in the UK, supplied by www.enablingthefuture.org a US charity. You would expect this to be an expensive undertaking. Not a bit of it - the prosthetic hand costs only £50.00! It all started when two strangers, a US