What Happened..? Writer business. Business Overview What happened in your city or community 10, 20, or even 100 years ago? Was bread selling for five cents a loaf, or the first house with indoor plumbing being constructed? Community-minded people love to read about how their community functioned in the past and what the news headline stories of the day were. News and information that happened in the past can generally be uncovered with a little bit of research. Hit the library,...

The idea is to create polymers that could be used to make paint that can heal its own scratches when exposed to UV light. The new polymers are to be using a method known as supramolecular assembly. Polymers made of small molecules will be formed into chains bound by metal ions. When these molecules are exposed to UV light, they will become temporarily unattached, forming a liquid that will fill in the scratches in under a minute. The molecules will reassemble and resolidify once...

Why not develop lightweight and translucent curtains able to absorb sound more effectively than conventional curtains, while also allowing the sun to shine through?

Why not create a dressing that will help reduce the formation of scar tissue? The dressing will be made of a thin, flexible sheet of silicon and will be applied to wounds after the removal of the stitches. It will contract evenly and pull the two sides of the incision together - this will reduce the stress on the skin and significantly reduce scarring.

The idea is to create a smart bandage able to change color based on temperature, allowing the state of the wound to be easily monitored. The bandage will be made of a derivative of cholesterol that changes color as it heats up, moving from red through green to blue. Changes in wound temperature will indicate infection, inflammation, or a reduction in blood supply to the tissue as well as other potentially dangerous problems. Enabling both doctors and patients to more easily...

A new technique of using ultrasound to monitor blood pressure will allow doctors to monitor blood flow in areas besides the arm, which will aid in the diagnosis of vascular diseases. Ultrasound method can non-invasively measure the blood pressure at any point in the body. The ultrasound system uses complex signal processing techniques and a mathematical model to visualize the flow of blood and motion of the vessel walls and determine the blood pressure at a precise location. ...

The idea is to develop a pair of glasses able to decipher facial expressions and transmit the meaning to the wearer. This might help people suffering from Autism to better relate to others. The glasses will be made up of a tiny camera which will interface with a computer the size of a deck of playing cards. The camera will be able to track and transmit information about 24 points on the face, then send the information to the computer for comparison with a set of well-defined...

The smart pedometer is able to detect when the wearer is moving through a variety of physical actions, and can also be set to measure the distance traveled against famous landmarks. The device can also detect the difference between climbing stairs and walking. It can re-interpret the data into personal goals such as climbing the Eiffel Tower. The pedometer is supposed to allow the user to link up to their friends through the social networking feature.

The idea is to create little stickers that will be stuck to each grocery store item and will then dissolve into an organic soap. The sticker will dissolve with water into a natural soap that will help to wash away pesticides, wax, bacteria, and dirt. The labels will still display the same PLU codes and other information as their less soapy contemporaries.

The idea is to develop a 'camera pill' which will deliver HD videos of the digestive tract in real time. The endoscopic camera will include an HD video camera, light source, radio transmitter, battery, and microprocessor to record and transmit images of the patient's digestive tract. It will also transmit its location within the person's body through the same ultra-wideband waves it will use to transmit the image data.