TIME’s Best Inventions of 2008
From a genetic testing service to an invisibility cloak to an ingenious public bike system to the world’s first moving skyscraper — TIME’s picks for the top innovations of 2008. Yesterday, we looked at a couple of innovations. Today, three more.
Made-in-Transit Packaging
Most fresh food comes with a “best before” date, but Amsterdam-based Canadian designer Agata Jaworska thinks it should be marked “ready by.” Her concept: packaging in which food can keep growing during shipping to the supermarket so that it arrives ready to be harvested, in a state of optimum freshness.Sunscreen for Plants
Sure, crops require sun, but they need some skin protection too. Purshade, a new SPF-45 spray, forms a film of microscopic mirror-like prisms over growing fruits and veggies to reflect harmful UV rays while letting the good light pass through. Result: higher yields and better-quality food.Einstein’s Fridge
That Albert Einstein guy had some pretty good ideas — relativity, the photoelectric effect, the “up” hairdo — but his contributions to the field of refrigerator theory have been sadly neglected.No longer.
Scientists at Oxford University have resurrected an eco-friendly refrigerator design that Einstein and a collaborator patented in 1930. Instead of cooling the interior of the refrigerator with freon — a serious contributor to global warming — Einstein’s design uses ammonia, butane and water. It also requires very little energy.
Though Einstein’s original refrigerator wasn’t all that efficient, the Oxford researchers have tweaked his version and believe it could eventually compete in the marketplace. Then maybe we’ll remember Einstein the way he wanted — as a guy who liked to keep things cool.
Photo by a_cinnamon_stick.
Jaclyn on November 6th, 2008 12:45 pm
The idea behind the “made in transit packaging” is a very cool idea. think about it, right now the food grow’s to it’s fresest and then is harvested and then shipped for however long to it’s destination and then put out on the shelf’s and then bought however long after that…so by time we get around to buying it, it’s got maybe a week left before it starts to go bad. i think this invention is a great idea…this way maybe we’ll get a little more out of our money for certain items.
Brett Tilford on November 6th, 2008 2:24 pm
These are some great ideas. Love the “green” Einstein fridge.
cassy on November 8th, 2008 12:24 am
Really? Sunscreen for plants? I like this idea. Some vegetables my grandmother planted was damaged because of too much heat of the sun. I’ll let her know about this…
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