A wireless system for monitoring bridge integrity will transmit minute-by-minute updates and will cost as much as one-hundredth the amount of wired network. The sensors will be made up of four flexible layers and will be less that 5 millimeters thick. The different layers will measure parameters, store energy, transmit the data, and harvest energy from ambient light and radio waves. The sensors will be strong and self-adhesive and will require no wires or batteries since they will...

Why not provide police officers with facial recognition glasses to help them scan crowds and check the faces against a criminal database. The glasses will scan 400 faces per second at up to 50 yards away by comparing 46,000 biometric facial points. A red light will come on in the frame of the glasses if a match is detected, allowing the police to quickly identify potentially problematic people.

The idea is to use a new technology to create plastic from sewage. The process will transform sewage into a biodegradable plastic by first removing the water and certain solids. A group of bacteria that address different parts of the sewage, such as sugars or fats, then will work together to produce a bioplastic polystyrene that will be similar to the top of a disposable coffee cup. The bioplastic resin will biodegrade within 6 to 12 months.

I want to have a smart fence which can sense the difference between the rustling of leaves or a person skulking around the area. There will be a small low power device to be attached to a fence or other object or just be placed on the ground. It will use seismic sensors to distinguish between different types of movements. An alert will be sent wirelessly to the command center under certain conditions.

Why not create a self-healing polymer able to repair itself repeatedly while also maintaining strength and stability? The polymer will be cross-linked through trithiocarbonate units, which will be able to restructure under UV light. The light will break one carbon-sulfur bond which will produce two very reactive radicals, which will form new carbon-sulfur bonds while breaking others to form new radicals. The chain reaction will be halted when two radicals react with each other. ...

Thanks to their sharp claws cats can freely climb on trees of almost any height. While this doesn't disturb us, such a behavior of cats seems even funny.... But not always. Sometimes there are situations when you need to prohibit cats from behaving in such a way. How can you do this? It's easy. For example, to prevent cats from climbing on trees and killing chicks in the nests bind tin plate on the branch. Such a barrier is the one that cats are not able to overcome...

If puncture happens and you don't have a rubber adhesive, bend a tire tube near the damaged area, bind tightly with a strong thread and then inflate the tire. With such an inner tube you can get home and perform a more thorough repairing. If the puncture is very big, take up the inner tube at all and fill in the tire with hay, grass, leaves, etc. With such a tire you can ride 25-30 miles. As you see, both of these advices are for the extreme cases.

If the skates are not ground down properly, you will not achieve a real speed no matter how hard you try. Skates with a wide blade can be ground down with a thick round file or an emery stone rotating in the machine. Only sharp skates allow you to feel comfortable while skating on the ice and, of course, to develop the maximum possible speed. So do not let yourself go skating with blunt skates! Grind down your skates regularly!

You can now use a bicycle to go to the place which seems to be reached only by a tractor. Downhills and parks in winter are full of cyclists who do not want to stop cycling. Some of them buy snow tires; the others use ski-bikes (special bikes with skis instead of wheels). Unfortunately, in the first case grip of wheels with snow is not so good and in the second case there are no pedals which are the main bicycle attribute. A Canadian innovation company suggested a winter kit...

As soon as the ski season is finished, skis should be put away so as not to be damaged during the summer. First, remove the old grease from the skis. To do this you need a clean rag, gasoline or kerosene. Do not wet the rag a lot as you can spoil the top of the skis. After removing the old grease, let the skis dry. Then tar the skis heating them with a blowlamp. On a hot sunny day it is good to "warm up" skis, placing their work surfaces to the sun. In the sun the...