More Inventions We Would Like to See

Who knows what the future will bring. But here are a few more inventions that I wouldn’t mind seeing.

Grow Your Own Home
Archer Daniels Midland is getting into the housing market. Utilizing expertise gained from genetic engineering in the farming industry, they’ve come up with fully organic homes. Fruits and vegetables grow inside on the walls. And in a pinch, yes, the walls are edible too.

organic-house

The house feeds on sunlight, compost, your waste and CO2. The roof grows over time to maximize solar intake and rain water capture. It even heals when cracked or broken. The electricity captured by the modified chlorophyll gets converted to usable voltage via cells grown from electric eel DNA.  Plumbing is taken care of by a series of “bladders” and “stomachs”. The bladders hold water and the stomachs purify used water and waste into pure H20 which is then pumped back into a bladder. Housing extensions or extra rooms will be grown on farms, made to order. Attachment is easy because the organic walls grow together when in contact with one another

All you will need is a plot of land, some water, and a seed. A typical seed takes 5 years to grow into a standard 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. If you want to spend extra, you can purchase fertilizer that quadruples the growth rate.

 

The Google Presidential B.S. Meter
With the presidential election in full swing, it is only fitting that Google would release its latest breakthrough. It’s called the Fact Finding Heuristic Algorithm. Also known as, the Presidential B.S Meter.

_89592907_composite

Here is how it works: It scans every instance of a candidate speaking, their posted writings and what other people say about the candidate. The algorithm then determines how many times the candidate had conflicting statements and gives you details. Utilizing facial microexpression technology, the system also gives you extensive statistics on every speech and interview telling you how many times it detected the candidate lying.

 

Tuneable Magnets
Scientists have figured out a way to make magnets that they can tune to attract/repel nearly any substance. Most people are familiar with magnets attracting metal. But now, magnets can be tuned to attract or repel plastic, glass, air and organic materials. The number of applications are astounding.

Tuneable Magnet Repels Ground

Tuneable Magnet Repels Ground

Those long sought after hovercrafts could soon be a reality. Attaching magnets to the bottom of any vehicle and setting them to repel the ground provides lift. Or imagine you need to hang something on your wall. No need to make a hole, no need for adhesive that will eventually fail. Simply tune the magnet to bind to your wall and you are done. Companies such as Waste Management will be able to integrate these magnets into their sorting facilities. Thereby, eliminating the need for recyclable materials to be separated by consumers before disposal. A magnet that attracts plastic could also be helpful in removing the large amounts of plastic in our oceans.

 

25 thoughts on “More Inventions We Would Like to See

  1. Azelma

    I simply don’t understand why we don’t have self-sustainable buildings or vertical farming already. We’re gonna really need them soon, as we’re running out of arable land. And rooftop gardens, what a great, underutilized, idea. They cool the house in the summer and warm it in the winter. Oh and they bind CO2, iirc.

    I’m not gonna even start on the US presidential election, as that is currently a freak show the like the world has not seen in ages xD

    1. rz3300

      I have yet to understand why we do not have vertical farming yet, at least in any significant form. It just makes all the sense in the world, but now that I think about it I am sure there is much more to it than what I am thinking of. That said, then, I just really hope that the right people are out there trying to make it happen and make it a reality in my lifetime. Should be interesting, and thanks for sharing.

    2. cafwen

      What I would really like to see would be the utilization of the vast sterile rooftops of our skyscrapers for gardens and food production. With some ingenuity it should even be possible to convert the roof spaces o f existing buildings into greener spaces that would offer balm to eye and spirit. New buildings should be built with the facility of a roof garden as an integral part of their design. And just imagine how it would alter the look of our cities if the current bare and arid acreage on top of our huge buildings was employed for growing plants. It would be a wonderful food-source for birds, insects, and our threatened bees as well. Now which forward-looking politicians and activists are going to start promoting this?!

  2. cyclistbabe

    “The house feeds on sunlight, compost, your waste and CO2. The roof grows over time to maximize solar intake and rainwater capture. It even heals when cracked or broken.” Made my jaw drop. This is so crazy efficient it’s blowing my mind. You literally just have to live in the house and a lot of the general issues you deal with in a standard one would deal with themselves? Where can I get my own?

    1. Wheezybz

      The “healing cracks” doesn’t sound right to me. How long would it take to heal a crack? IF these homes are organic, then what happens if there’s some infestation of, say, termites or some organic-feeding bug?

      1. kate

        I was thinking something similar about the cracks. The other issue I can see with adoption is how long these buildings take to create: 5 years for a house, when traditional builds take less than 5 months is going to make it unlikely large scale construction companies will adopt it. With the current “rush it up, tear it down,” attitude to houses it is likely to have problems getting off the ground. My cynical view is that this would not be good for anyone with hay fever!

        Wattle and daub with planted walls would be a faster way of building an ecofriendly home, and it is getting some adoption, but many people are understandably be reluctant to go back to stone age houses.

        1. Wheezybz

          These homes would definitely murder anyone with allergies. The growth time makes these less homes and more long-term investments since you would have to wait so long, unless a company buys and grows a large batch before putting them on the market.

      2. Azrile

        Termites only usually attack dead or unhealthy trees. They would rather fight against something without an immune system.

        I am not sure these natural homes sound very good. Yes, it is nice that cracks heal over time, and in the meantime your roof leaks 🙂

        There is a ton of progress we could make with recycleable plastic that could be used instead of lumber that would make more sense rather than trying to grow a home. Heck what happens if you don´t have a green thumb, you are homeless? 🙂

  3. 17emilyhalko

    There are actually buildings out there that are made out of recycled water bottles! You should check into it! The houses are naturally insulated, and are astonishingly fire-proof, earthquake-proof, and bullet-proof. They’re also generally cheaper to build than regular houses! Imagine all of the houses that could be built with all of those batter bottles that end up in the landfills every year. It’s absolutely deplorable that these eco buildings are not used more frequently.

    1. Wheezybz

      If I remember correctly, there was a man who created a beer bottle that could double as a brick due to its rectangle shape. They were used in a Caribbean region (Haiti, I think) to build homes but never caught on.

  4. jennywren

    Do you have any pictures of what this house looks like on the inside? That would be cool to see. I have often thought of getting into tiny houses but this is way more than that. This is tiny houses, plus. Talk about erasing your carbon footprint.

  5. Exodus26

    Wow! These inventions would be great, especially the house and magnets. Researches are even using magnets right now to cure diseases and in my opinion, the houses would be great as they could be completely unique.

  6. sorrowscall

    A tuneable magnet that could potentially create a hovercraft? I’m game for that but I’m worried it would mess with the rider’s polarity wouldn’t it? As for the B.S Meter, I’m quite happy this exists but it’s unfortunate that it is being used during this particular campaign year. That technology is likely getting a proper workout. As for the tree grown homes, I can’t help but be a little skeptical. It sounds like it would work as a shed, but there aren’t any electrical outlets or fire alarms being grown. There’s also the worry of rot and how it handles weather.

  7. afatosum

    This is amazing. Technology is changing our lives for the better in truly amazing ways. I cannot imagine how life will be 100 years to come. People will have the best quality of life ever!

  8. cardinals27

    With the magnets it would be so easy to make hovercraft a work. It would definitely be a great way to get around and it would be very reliable and possible cheap. I would definitely want to get those out quick and I think they would be worth it to use. As far as houses made out of recycled water bottles, they may not be very pleasing to the eye but it would be an affordable way to build a house and if people don’t mind the fact that their house was a water bottle, which I wouldn’t, this is a very good way to build an affordable house!

  9. bms00

    I feel like the “The Google Presidential B.S. Meter” would break during the first hour of the first debate. “Grow Your Own House” might be a bit ambitious, but I like the idea of planting on the roofs of regular buildings in order to cut down on impervious cover.

  10. abonnen

    I think that the grow your own house concept would be amazing, I am sure many people live in recycled and natural housed all ready but it would be cool if we could do it at an larger scale. They should just hook up the presidential candidates to a lie detector test during the debates. But I guess the b.s. meter would be better because you can cheat on a lie detector.

  11. Clair02

    The best concept as far as I’m concerned would be the ‘grow your own house’ idea. That would be phenomenal! The BS meter is also one that I would personally love to see in action. I think we really do need that one especially this year.

  12. bigman

    Growing your own home really appeals to me. Because it is a living and breathing structure, I would assume that the inside would generate a consistent temperature in order for everything in it to thrive. This would really fit in the tropics, if not for the occasional typhoons and dry spells. I wonder how much it would cost to build and maintain.

    1. Wheezybz

      But you could face the decay of the organic material if it is not preserved in some way. The temperature would not be consistent throughout the house due to its position and even then it is likely that it wouldn’t generate a large amount of heat like the kind that you would need in winter.

  13. Honeycomb913

    The self sustaining building sounds pretty great I know I would DEFINITELY use it myself being someone who loves Nature very much this is definitely a house I would love to live in

  14. Humphrey247

    As a programmer, the one that grabbed most of my attention was the Presidential BS meter. I haven’t estimated the amount of work that would be needed to create this but the payoff would be worth it considering the amount of backtracking candidates do these days. I don’t know why no one has tried it yet, maybe it’s because of the large periods of time it would remain used. To solve this, it could be used on all politicians since they’re guilty of backtracking as well.

  15. Peachdejour

    I am totally fascinated by the growing houses, but I have so many questions about how it works. Do they have to be shaped like Bonsai? Is the electricity from natural processes stored in batteries? What type of organic plants are these? Tree? Hardy vegetable? I do think we can start implementing some of this vertical farming in our architecture and use our space more wisely to grow food at home.

    This current election is going to bread that new BS meter. Google better have a full time staff on that bad boy.

    Lastly, I’m surprised it has taken this long to tune magnets. I mean, really guys? What are we doing with ourselves?

Leave a Reply