Why not use rubber to render a building invisible to earthquakes? The method will involve surrounding the foundations of buildings in earthquake prone areas with pressurized rubber. It is believed that the rubber can prevent the elastic waves of the tremors from sensing or affecting the building.

The idea is to use waste bins as mobile power sources, able to power household appliances or party starting speakers and amplifier. The bins will consist of a solar panel, car battery, and inverter. They will be lightweight and mobile, and can be adapted to a variety of uses, and could eventually be used to provide cellular charging stations or sell goods in rural areas.

A new line of avalanche airbag integrated clothing will make protection as easy as putting on a vest. The vest will use a nitrogen based airbag system that will be deployed by the wearer to release a pair of brightly colored bags. The bags will increase the wearer's surface area to help reduce sinking as well as will act a visual signs for rescuers. The vest will also include an array of pockets able to secure other gear, allowing the vest to replace a full backpack.

The label popper will make is easy to quickly and completely remove the labels from steel cans, making it easier to recycle every part of the can. When the paper label is left on the can, it is burned away when the metal is melted down, wasting trees. The label popper's narrow, flexible extension will not be sharp, but will be able to slip underneath the label, slicing it and making it easier to remove. Each label popper will be manufactured using renewable energy, and include...

The water resistant nanocoating will protect smartphone from water intrusion without affecting usability or adding bulk. The coating will be applied to the device as a vapor, which will penetrate the entire device and all its nooks and crannies. It will be bonded to the surface at the molecular level, which will create an extremely long life-span.

Why not develop the idea of bouncing information off the ceilings in data centers to increase transmission speed by up to 30 percent. The method will allow the wireless beams to have direct communication between antennas while reducing the chances of interference. The process will involve attaching flat metal plates to the ceiling to reflect the data, while an absorber material on the rack will prevent the signal from bouncing back up.

A solar paint can be made in large enough quantities to be eventually used as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells. The paint is made up of titanium dioxide particles coated with either cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide. The coated TiO2 particles were suspended in an alcohol-water mixture to create a paste that created electricity when it was applied to a transparent conducting material and exposed to light.

The idea is to develop an invisibility cloak that will trap sound waves, preventing the sound from leaving the material. The proof of concept 'cloak' will be a small, thin plate made up of rings of micro-structured polymer material that will resonate at different frequencies. Sound wave vibrations will follow a circular path around the plate, unable to leave the material. The cloak will differ from conventional noise protection devices in that the sound waves will be neither...

The idea is to use silk to develop a new form of microneedle, which will deliver medication painlessly, more regularly, and will be manufactured without harsh chemicals. The microneedles will be created by casting a drug-filled silk protein over a negative mold. The process will be completed at room temperature and normal pressure, and the resulting needle will be bio-compatible. The application of tetracycline to the silk protein will help control the growth of the staph...

The portable gamma camera will be able to create radiation heat maps in real time, making it much easier to find hotspots. The gamma camera will use a regular camera to record image information along with integrated semiconductor detection elements to gather the radiation data. A signal processor will combine the images and superimpose the radiation information as a color code on the camera's visual display.