A new self-healing plastic can go beyond healing small cracks by regenerating itself to seal even large holes. The plastic is based on a technology called 'vascular delivery,' that has been under development for some time. The technology is built upon using a series of vein-like channels to circulate two chemicals that can flow into the gaps caused by damage. When the two chemicals mix, they form a gel that fills the space and then hardens into a strong polymer--repairing the...

The Seatower turbine platform could help encourage offshore wind farming by providing a cheaper and easier to install alternative. While offshore wind farms have many benefits, their platforms are expensive to install and require huge, specialized equipment for set-up. The Seatower foundations, in contrast, can be mass-produced on land and easily transported. They are hollow, and so will float easily--allowing them to be towed to their installation site with a reasonably small...

By isolating the chitin in shrimps' exoskeleton it is possible to create an alternative to plastic that can break down in two weeks to provide nutrients for plants. The approach will include mimicking the molecular structure of the chitin as closely as possible and then adding silk derivatives and wood flour. These additions will help to ensure the material will not crack or shrink while it is being used for injection molding. The new material can be altered for use in water or dyed...

The pocket molecular sensor can identify the chemical makeup of an item in two seconds - from the nutritional content of food to whether or not a plant needs water. The spectrometer gathers information about an item's chemical makeup in the same way as the larger, professional models: by shining near-infrared light on the object and then analyzing the light that is reflected off the excited molecules. The data is sent via an iOS or Android app to the cloud, where advanced...

The Rain house will be made of a special bio-concrete that will allow it to filter rain water. The concrete will be both PH neutral and bio-compatible with water, which will enable it produce sun-distilled water naturally. Rain water is believed to be the purest source of freshwater, and bio-concrete technology could democratize fresh water supplies by providing access to affordable clean water for small and big scale users, from families to big companies, leaving the...

The idea is to investigate ways to make objects 'invisible' to earthquakes by applying some of the same principles involved in the light-bending cloaking technique used to render objects invisible. The cloaking technique works by bending light of specific frequencies around the object meant to be hidden. I propose the idea of drilling a precisely tuned system of boreholes around an earthquake-prone city (or vital building like a power plant or hospital). In theory, the boreholes...

The idea is to create a microturbine able to harness the rainwater runoff from roofs to generate electricity. The system will feature a microturbine measuring about 2 inches wide by 10 inches high designed to be placed in half-inch pipe. As the turbine is spun by the flowing water from rooftop gutters, it will generate enough energy to charge 12-volt batteries that can be used to power small household devices. As an added benefit, the water flowing through the turbine will...

Using some perforated sheets of plastic stacked in the shape of a pyramid, it is possible to develop a device able to hide an object from sound waves. The device will rely on the use of metamaterials--arranging natural materials in repeating patterns to create new and unique properties. When the sound wave-cloaking pyramid is placed around an object, the sound waves will behave like there is nothing more than a flat surface in their path. The sound-cloaking technology could have...

A new blood test for Alzheimer's will be able to predict the disease three years in advance, and with 96 percent accuracy. The test will work by identifying the ten chemicals in the blood that serve as markers for the disease. These chemicals are released as the nerve cell membranes break down, and can be detected in the blood plasma. The ability to diagnose Alzheimer's early could allow for the devolvement of new treatments that could be implemented before the disease...

The new system will identify the Salmonella bacteria on food within 24 hours--a significant reduction in time from the previous requirement of several days--which could help prevent tainted food from reaching consumers. The technology will detect the bacterial colonies grown on agar plates by scanning them with a red diode laser. Penetrating a bacterial colony will cause the red light to form a unique scatter pattern, which will then be compared to a library of images to identify...