Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Weird Inventions by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Page A
Book: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Weird Inventions by Bathroom Readers’ Institute
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Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
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Potties have been sold. They’re offered in three varieties: The “Classic” is sleek, white, and made of recycled wood; the “Ecco” is sturdy enough to be used by a large family; and the “Tao Bamboo” is both handmade and super-classy.
THE WORLD’S LIGHTEST SYNTHETIC MATERIAL
A nswering the impossible question, “Why can’t metal be lighter than a feather?” a quandary previously explored, in another context, by Poison and Skid Row during the 1980s, a team of California scientists created a spongy, ultralight “microlattice” from interlocking, hollow nickel tubes. Each tube is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. When woven together, the substance is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. It floats through the air like a feather and can rest comfortably atop a dandelion. Perhaps just as impressive, considering its metallic origins, the microlattice achieves a 98-percent bounce-back resilience when squished. (Unlike, say, the dandelion.)
A metallic material that can leave a dandelion’s fluff undisturbed? There’s got to be a Horton Hears a Who sequel in there somewhere. Then again, the researchers suggest that their microlattice might make a terrific acoustic-damping material for soundproofing walls. Another potential use? Impact protection for aircraft, from airplanes to spaceships, where lightness is fairly important. Here’s hoping, however, that kids don’t try using the stuff for trampolines or gymnastics mats; those little metal slivers can be murder when they get under the skin.
GENETICALLY-MODIFIED SILK
W e all like to think we’re Earth-friendly types—just maybe not friendly enough to voluntarily give up our dual-car households stuffed with plastic gadgets. Fortunately, while we’ve been sitting around feeling sort of guilty about our non-stop gorging on fossil fuels, scientists at the University of Wyoming have been busy working on a possible alternative.
It involves using cutting-edge science in tandem with a totally old-school tool; in this case, the humble, hard-working silkworm, who’s getting a genetic facelift in order to produce silk that has the tensile strength of a spider’s. As it turns out, scientists have long hoped to “farm” spiders in order to harvest their silk; weight-for-weight, it’s stronger than steel, and presents all sorts of possibilities—medical implants, bionic ligaments, even tough, biodegradable plastic. Problem is, spiders don’t produce much of it, and even if they did, their propensity for eating each other makes them difficult to keep in close quarters.
Silkworms, on the other hand, make plenty of silk (and they aren’t cannibals), but it isn’t as strong as the spidery stuff. Undaunted by their rude refusal to cooperate, the Wyoming University team simply stole spiders’ DNA, and the result seems to be a genetically modified silkworm capable of producing super-strong silk—which is great and all, but also feels like the setup for a spider-based horror movie.
THE LEVITATIONARIUM!
S ince the dawn of humanity, man has dreamed of flying like the birds in the sky (or at least that’s what narrators always intone in aviation documentaries), but once airplanes successfully got off the ground, as it were, man’s thoughts turned from flying to plummeting for some reason.
In order to help skydivers practice their craft a bit before actually leaping out of a plane, Canadian inventor Jean St. Germain honed existing wind tunnel technology to create the so-called Levitationarium in 1979, using propellers to produce an upward airflow within a chamber to effectively levitate those individuals within. St. Germain then sold his concept to the Aerodium Company, which has further perfected the Levitationarium. Sadly, it’s now generally referred to by the far less snazzy name “recreational vertical wind tunnel,” but, as Aerodium proudly notes on its website, one such tunnel could be seen during the closing ceremony of Torino 2006 Olympic Games as
THE WORLD’S LIGHTEST SYNTHETIC MATERIAL
A nswering the impossible question, “Why can’t metal be lighter than a feather?” a quandary previously explored, in another context, by Poison and Skid Row during the 1980s, a team of California scientists created a spongy, ultralight “microlattice” from interlocking, hollow nickel tubes. Each tube is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. When woven together, the substance is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. It floats through the air like a feather and can rest comfortably atop a dandelion. Perhaps just as impressive, considering its metallic origins, the microlattice achieves a 98-percent bounce-back resilience when squished. (Unlike, say, the dandelion.)
A metallic material that can leave a dandelion’s fluff undisturbed? There’s got to be a Horton Hears a Who sequel in there somewhere. Then again, the researchers suggest that their microlattice might make a terrific acoustic-damping material for soundproofing walls. Another potential use? Impact protection for aircraft, from airplanes to spaceships, where lightness is fairly important. Here’s hoping, however, that kids don’t try using the stuff for trampolines or gymnastics mats; those little metal slivers can be murder when they get under the skin.
GENETICALLY-MODIFIED SILK
W e all like to think we’re Earth-friendly types—just maybe not friendly enough to voluntarily give up our dual-car households stuffed with plastic gadgets. Fortunately, while we’ve been sitting around feeling sort of guilty about our non-stop gorging on fossil fuels, scientists at the University of Wyoming have been busy working on a possible alternative.
It involves using cutting-edge science in tandem with a totally old-school tool; in this case, the humble, hard-working silkworm, who’s getting a genetic facelift in order to produce silk that has the tensile strength of a spider’s. As it turns out, scientists have long hoped to “farm” spiders in order to harvest their silk; weight-for-weight, it’s stronger than steel, and presents all sorts of possibilities—medical implants, bionic ligaments, even tough, biodegradable plastic. Problem is, spiders don’t produce much of it, and even if they did, their propensity for eating each other makes them difficult to keep in close quarters.
Silkworms, on the other hand, make plenty of silk (and they aren’t cannibals), but it isn’t as strong as the spidery stuff. Undaunted by their rude refusal to cooperate, the Wyoming University team simply stole spiders’ DNA, and the result seems to be a genetically modified silkworm capable of producing super-strong silk—which is great and all, but also feels like the setup for a spider-based horror movie.
THE LEVITATIONARIUM!
S ince the dawn of humanity, man has dreamed of flying like the birds in the sky (or at least that’s what narrators always intone in aviation documentaries), but once airplanes successfully got off the ground, as it were, man’s thoughts turned from flying to plummeting for some reason.
In order to help skydivers practice their craft a bit before actually leaping out of a plane, Canadian inventor Jean St. Germain honed existing wind tunnel technology to create the so-called Levitationarium in 1979, using propellers to produce an upward airflow within a chamber to effectively levitate those individuals within. St. Germain then sold his concept to the Aerodium Company, which has further perfected the Levitationarium. Sadly, it’s now generally referred to by the far less snazzy name “recreational vertical wind tunnel,” but, as Aerodium proudly notes on its website, one such tunnel could be seen during the closing ceremony of Torino 2006 Olympic Games as
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