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Catholic nuns wear masks as they pray after attending a mass at Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral - Source: Reuters
A flu-killing face mask, a doorknob that never gets dirty and a
robot with whiskers have all made it into a list of the
100 Best Innovations of 2009 .
The list, compiled by Popular Science magazine, includes the best
products and ideas featured in the magazine over the last 12
months.
The ever-clean doorknob is called the Purleve hygienic handle and
stores thousands of spooled sterile plastic sleeves, which are
dispensed by a motor in the handle after someone uses it.
The rat-like robot has been dubbed the SCRATCHbot by researchers at
Bristol University in the UK.
It uses whiskers instead of cameras to see in the dark, which is
useful in search-and-rescue missions where vision is impaired, such
as in mines or smoky rooms.
Other notable items are a tentacled speed bump capable of lassoing
a getaway car, wallpaper that is strong enough to hold walls
together after a bomb blast, a mammogram with a 99% success rate
and a vibrating flute that cleans sick lungs.
"Our awards for the innovations of the year are judged on what kind
of differences they can make and that they have a positive
influence on how we can live our lives," said Popular Science
editor Kevin Cheung.
Not all of the innovations are currently commercially available but
Cheung believes they all stand a good chance in the market.
"It will depend on how consumers or their relevant industries take
to them, but I think what's important is the ideas they promote,"
he said.
The innovation that takes the top prize this year is the Littmann
Electronic Stethoscope 3200, manufactured by 3M.
The stethoscope has been around for 190 years and is older than
even the ballpoint pen and most other items you'd find lying around
a GP's surgery.
This new smart model, however, works by amplifying the heartbeat
and beaming soundwaves back to a computer program that analyses
them and detects even tiny abnormalities.
"It really sounds like something out of an episode of Star Trek,"
said Cheung.
If the innovation takes off, it could eliminate millions of
cardiologist visits a year and save billions of dollars in
healthcare costs, as well as catching dangerous heart murmurs,
Popular Science said.
Cheung said it was hard to pick a personal favourite but nominated
the Toxin Terminator as a winner for green technology.
The chemical compound, 15 years in development, consists of silica
molecules, which can remove toxic chemicals such as mercury from
waste.
According to the magazine, the product, officially dubbed the
Thiol-SAMMS, has successfully cleaned wastewater in a coal plant
and an offshore oil rig.
It can also recover precious metals such as copper and
gold.
All great innovations share certain qualities, Cheung says.
"As far as I'm concerned, the greatest innovations have always been
the ones which reduced time and space, such as internet, which
makes communication faster, or the MP3 that has made sound and
music portable.
"Those, to me, have been the most exciting elements that have
changed our lives."
