• Question: What sort of invension would you like to make? - what would be it\'s purpose?

    Asked by tasfia to Daniel, Derek, Ian, Phil, Upul on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by ingham.
    • Photo: Derek Mann

      Derek Mann answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Time machine would be cool. Purpose to have fun and fiind out what happens to us in the future

    • Photo: Daniel Mietchen

      Daniel Mietchen answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      The purpose is clear – make human life more sustainable for our planet in the long run.

      The way there is less obvious, though finding a renewable replacement for fossil fuels would certainly have highest priority. The best ideas I have seen in this direction so far are to target microorganisms and to manipulate their genome such that they basically convert sunlight into another form of energy that can be easily harvested (sugar, for instance, or hydrogen) under conditions cheap to maintain. All of this has come a step closer with the recent creation of the first organism whose entire genome had been assembled synthetically (FAQ), but we are not there yet, and if I could, I would like to bridge that gap to save us a few years in the race to save our planet from the results of humanity’s catastrophic energy management, especially over the last two centuries.

      In principle, the approach could also be applied to getting rid of much of our waste, or to optimize recycling procedures, but providing energy is probably the commercially most interesting aspect, and so it is worth starting there to get everyone interested in this new technology on the horizon.

    • Photo: Ian Sillett

      Ian Sillett answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      I’d like to invent a teleporter, there is absolutely no doubt in the world that getting from one place to another is a complete bore! My invention would make it instant and would get rid of traffic jams, long haul flights and commuting. Amazing.

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