Investments – Nuclear Diamond Battery

Darrell Mann

New technology has been developed that uses nuclear waste to generate electricity in a nuclear-powered battery. A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive … Read More

Depression Leverage Points

Darrell Mann

From Matt Haig’s book, ‘Reasons To Stay Alive’ (Reference 1):

We have a project looking at Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the moment. The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans … Read More

Patent of the Month – Fusion Power (Almost)

Darrell Mann

For the most part, the words ‘nuclear’ and ISIS don’t really belong in the same sentence these days. Fortunately, the ISIS in question here is ISIS Innovation Ltd, an offshoot of Oxford University. I’m assuming the company was … Read More

Boeing 737 Max

Darrell Mann

I worked fifteen years in the aerospace industry at the start of my career. Safety was everything, something that united the whole industry. When planes fall out of the sky it is not good news for anyone. Therefore, … Read More

Investments – Prosthetic Voice

Darrell Mann

“In my head, I churn over every sentence ten times, delete a word, add an adjective, and learn my text by heart, paragraph by paragraph,” wrote Jean-Dominique Bauby in his memoir, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” In … Read More

Patent of the Month – Strengthening Member

Darrell Mann

We head to the Motor City for our patent of the month this month, to a trio of inventors at Ford. Their strengthening-member patent, US10,279, 842, was granted on 7 May. Here’s what the trio has to say … Read More

Patent of the Month – Nerve Stimulation Method

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to the New Jersey-based enterprise, Electrocore LLC. US10,252,074 was granted to a trio of inventors at the company on 10 April. The company has been around and offering non-invasive … Read More

Investments – Material Design AI

Darrell Mann

Discovering how atoms – such as a single layer of carbon atoms found in graphene, one of the world’s strongest materials – work to create a solid material is currently a major research topic in the field of … Read More

Investments – Low-Cost Cancer Probe

Darrell Mann

Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is diagnosed in more than 130,000 people globally every year. Now, work is being done on a tool to help in its early detection: a simple, compact laser probe that can … Read More

Patent of the Month – Microbial Fuel Cell

Darrell Mann

Microbial fuel-cells (MFC) have been around for over a century now, but they’ve never quite made the grade in terms of practical, commercially viable applications. Which is perhaps odd given the fact that they offer the potential to … Read More

Kano & Intangibles II – Case Study

Darrell Mann

Back in December of last year we started to explore the connection between the Kano Diagram and TRIZ/SI, with particular attention to the integration possibilities of Kano’s concept of ‘exciter’ and the Outcome Mapping tool. The promise at … Read More

Investments – Rectenna

Darrell Mann

Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi … Read More

Patent of the Month – Fabric Supercapacitor

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month takes us to Austin, and a trio of inventors at the University of Texas. US10,199,180 was granted on February 5. Here’s what the background description has to say about the problem … Read More

Investments – Breath Biopsy

Darrell Mann

A clinical trial has been launched to see if a breath test could detect the presence of cancer. Researchers want to find out if signals of different cancer types can be picked up in patterns of breath molecules. … Read More

Patent of the Month – Hysteresis Bearing-less Motor

Darrell Mann

It was a close-run thing for our Patent of the Month award this month. We nearly gave the honour to US10,177,688 from a joint university/industry foundation in Korea. It offers the world the potential for a really simple, … Read More

Investments – Cheap Nanoparticles

Darrell Mann

An inexpensive way to make products incorporating nanoparticles – such as high-performance energy devices or sophisticated diagnostic tests – has been developed by researchers. The process could speed the commercial development of devices, materials and technologies that exploit … Read More

Patent of the Month – High Refractive Index Nanocomposite

Darrell Mann

A rare trip to Maryland for our patent of the month this month. US10,144,482 was granted to a trio of inventors at Pixelligent Technologies (pixelligent.com) on December 4. Here’s what they have to say about the problem addressed … Read More

Patent of the Month – Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma

Darrell Mann

Our Patent of the Month this month takes us to Taiwan, and a quartet of inventors at the National Chiao Tung University. US 10,121,638 was granted on November 6. In a wonderfully succinct write-up (5 pages of narrative), … Read More

Investments – Reforestation

Darrell Mann

Bruno Rutman Pagnoncelli grew up among the trees in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest, learning how to kayak its whitewater rapids and soaring high above the treetops in paragliders. On one of these paragliding trips, Bruno looked down and saw, … Read More

Patent of the Month – Robotic Bouncing Ball

Darrell Mann

Well, I never expected to be featuring a patent assigned to Disney in this section of the ezine, but here we are. Never say never. I suppose, too, the presence of California Institute of Technology has a bearing … Read More