InventorSpot

If beauty fades but stupid is forever, what can anyone say about US patent # 4202456? Toy building blocks made from bottle caps might seem thrifty and practical, but how could they be so when it cost thousands of dollars to patent such an idea? A bit contradictory, no? Read on for some details and a bit more ambivalence.

The specialists at NASA have spent 19 million dollars on what surely must qualify as the most expensive toilet in the world. What makes this flusher so extraordinary? It turns urine into drinking water. For that price it would seem a little more alchemy should be included; you know, the kind that transforms common metals into gold, silver, platinum and uranium! Read on for the astounding details.

If anyone could make a work of art out of a measuring spoon, it would be industrial design master Guilio Iachetti... and he has! Iachetti creates art out of the ordinary tools we use every day. Best known for his ultra-modern table and kitchen ware, Iachetti's designs are captivating and practical. And so is his new departure into fashion eyeglass frames: 4Occhi!

The tiny attachments basically increase the surface area at the bottom of the heel, preventing the wearer's weight from being concentrated on a tiny area, ensuring the heel doesn't drive into the ground or get stuck easily

Are you concerned about having a baby with asthma? Well, you may want to hold off on when to conceive. A new study has shown that children born about four months before the height of the cold and flu season are at a higher risk of developing asthma.

Advent calendars are a part of many people's fondest holiday memories. Now, Charles & Marie offers an advent calendar gone secret Santa service that delivers 24 unique, designer gifts right to your door.

Social Networking - is there anything it can't do? Mixi, Japan's largest social networking site, and cup noodle maker Acecook have combined for a tasty collaboration that is cranking out new instant ramen flavors and cool slogans to advertising them.

Paper cutting is an an ancient Chinese art, and a very intricate art form. Prolific artist, designer, and architect, Yu Jordy Fu, may have the gene for mastering this art, because her talent is hard to beat. In her new Cloud Lamps, she creates lovely, peaceful dreams from paper, and she even makes them accessible to us.

Do you regularly attend religious services? If so, you are reducing your risk of death, according to a new study.

Who out there does not remember those old light-bulb jokes? You, know, the ones that went, ‘how many whatevers does it take to change a light bulb?’ Answers were precursors to Polish and other bad ethnic jokes, but the patent for the light bulb changer, (#6826983 to be exact) is neither. It is, however, quite ridiculous, and as such, belongs here now. Read on and realize you simply haven’t seen it all.

Dorm2Dorm is a smart business that solves a common problem, by providing storage, moving, cleaning and packing services for students during scheduled hiatuses from college.

Guess what? We don't have to worry about growing old alone. We will have robots to take care of us... the kind that can become any person you authorize it to be, kind of like a medium to communicate with the living.

If there were two favorite gadgets loved by product designers this past two years, it was the USB port and the iPod. Don't get me wrong, I love my port (preferably not too sweet) and don't remember life without my iPod, but jeez, do I really need a farting plastic dog or a bookcase holder for my iPod?

A unique technology for growing profiled sapphire crystals has been recently developed by Russian scientists. Read all about the amazing medical advances these crystals provide for medicine in general and oncology in particular.

When I was little and had a cold, my mother would always take my temperature by putting a glass stick thermometer in my mouth. I never understood these, because not only did I have to close my mouth to get a reading on it, my nose was stuffed up so I couldn’t breathe out of that either! Well, now there is a simpler solution.

When you consider visiting or moving to a place, wouldn't it be great to know where the environmentally-friendly places are? The revolutionary Green Map System allows just that with its ecomaps. 

Miss having the companionship of a furry friend, but don't have the life circumstances that allow you to have one of your own? Businesses like FLEXPETS and major hotel chains like Fairmont and the Ritz-Carlton have established a unique time sharing concept.

Many of us had our hopes that one day we'd be able to buy a fast, sleek sports car, one that would make every guy, chick, and child's jaw drop. We'd be sooo cool.

Researchers have found that eating broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may reduce a smoker’s risk of developing lung cancer.

Scientists in Chicago have created a slurry that can be injected into the veins, arteries and lungs of critically ill patients.