Inspired By Nature

Many invention ideas are inspired by nature. Studying nature in order to create new inventions is the science known as biomimicry.

David Soane, a former polymer chemist with the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, together with other scientists, studied nature to create a fabric that would mimic the properties found in plant surfaces and animal coats.

Their research resulted in a revolutionary new invention idea for creating textile fabrics.

Nano-Tex® uses nanotechnology to transform fibers on a molecular level to create fabrics with unsurpassed comfort and performance.

With the comfort of 100% cotton these fabrics repel liquids, lint, dirt and pet hair, release stains, wicks moisture away from skin, isolates and neutralizes odors, and balances body temperature.

The fabric does all this while breathing naturally and remaining soft.

Gap, Old Navy, Lee. Eddie Bauer, Nike, Nordstrom, Brooks Brothers,Champion, Levi, L.L. Bean, Simmons and Serta are some of the leading brands that are investing in Nano-tex products.

Source: nano-tex.com

Body Interfacing

One of the newest invention ideas in interface devices is Skinput.

This invention allows the sufaces of your body to be used as a touchscreen.

This is how it works.

An armband projects the image of a menu or keyboard onto your hand or forearm. This armband also contains an bio-acoustic sensor that can detect and analyze sound frequencies.

Because of bone density, joints, and soft tissue, different locations on the body have different acoustic properties.

When you tap your finger on different parts of your body it creates a unique frequency based on the specific area.

Skinput can detect what part of a projected image you are touching and in turn can transmit a wireless signal to a computer, smart phone or other device.

Skinput was created by the project team of Desney Tan, a senior researcher in the Visulization and Interaction Area at Microsoft Research; Dan Morris, a researcher in the Computational User Experiences at Microsoft Research; and Chris Harrison, a third year Ph.D student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy.

Source: research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/cue/skinput/