InventorSpot

"Wolfing down food" is instinctive to wolves because if they don't eat their prey fast, another animal will. Unfortunately for many domestic dogs, they've inherited that instinct from wolves and wild dogs, but because of the domestic dog's more delicate digestive system, wolfing it down (or "wooffing it down") might end up as dog bulimia.

Do you have a design idea for jewelry or other products but don't know where or how to get started? There is now a solution in Ponoko, the world's largest marketplace for product plans.

We just received this interesting piece of news. Good news for the everyday inventor!:

Pittsburgh Invention Firm Settles With Feds For $10.7 Million Davison & Associates Was Sued By FTC -- 3:08 pm EDT July 14, 2008

Yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of sliced bread. In honor of this momentous occasion, Times Online and News.com.au have launched a contest to find the best thing since sliced bread. Read on for details.

Are you a fast eater? Are you done with what’s on your plate before anyone else even starts eating? Don’t worry; there is a simple solution for you.

If you don't want to blow out your birthday cake candles, don't fear the Birthday Cake Candle Extinguisher (Patent Number 3150831) is here. Although I don't know why you wouldn't want to blow out your candles - it's the greatest thing ever.

A Chinese college student has created an energy-saving lamp that brings in more light the bigger you make the lamp shade. And it has a smiley face!

Wouldn't it be great if clothes could function as an ice-breaker and literally invite a conversation - or better yet - instigate one?

The Butterfly Dress does just that.

Estonia has been benchmarking itself against Finland, Ireland and the Asian Tigers from the point of view of raising the competitiveness of their economy.  Estonia's innovation performance currently ranks it among the "moderate innovators " -alongside the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Cyprus and Spain and improving, over recent years, compared to the EU average.

Military Working Dogs (MWD) are often on the front lines with our troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have saved countless lives by locating explosive-laden vehicles, improvised explosive devices (IED) and weapons caches intended for use on U.S. troups. Chilly Dogs are now helping MWDs protect our troops.

A man who chopped off his finger accidentally reportedly re-grew it using a "magical" substance from a pig's bladder.

I've gradually become aware, over the course of my last 500 or so ideas, that there are several modes of thinking from which ideas for inventions emerge.

The 2008 European Inventors of the Year were awarded yesterday in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Even if you don't recognize the names of the inventors, you will certainly know their inventions and the contributions those inventions have made to the world during the last 10 to 15 years.

This new MRI table and accompanying breast detection software not only take better pictures, but they allow immediate medical intervention, if needed. That's why the Vanguard System inventor, Cameron Piron, President of Sentinelle Medical Inc. just received a Best Innovator 2008 Award from the Ontario Premier.

Time Magazine picked the Lotus® as one of the Best Inventions of 2006, and the inventor, Steve Hengsperger, just won the Ontario Premier's Innovator Of the Year Award, 2008, for his two Lotus inventions. What is a Lotus and why is it used as a verb?

Two wheels may be better than 4, but are 2 wheels side-by-side better than 2 in a row? The Uno, which ironically has 2 wheels, is not your normal electric cycle and if put into production, could change how we get around in the city.

If you have children, you already know: They have boundless amounts of energy. No matter what you do, it cannot be contained, right?

Well, think again.

Zen Design Group, based in Berkley, Mich., is now offering a line of toys that convert children's energy into electricity

Dr. Martin Fisher, inventor of the MoneyMaker irrigation pump has won the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for sustainability for his invention. The pump, available now in three versions, has helped more than 300,000 African farmers become entrepreneurs and rise out of poverty.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is responsible for more deaths every year than AIDS, breast cancer, lung cancer and stroke combined. If the heart is not defibrillated (therapeutically shocked) within a few minutes, the victim dies. Imagine how difficult it is to reach the victims of SCA in time to save their lives.

But, suppose we each carried our own personal defibrillator, say it was a feature of our cell phones?

Smart Goggles can find your keys, connect a name and a face, and remember things you don't even know that you know.