Household chores are no longer boring when you have an inventive dad! …

If you’ve ever carried your groceries home in a paper bag, you can thank Margaret E. Knight. It is a name that you have almost certainly never heard of, associated with an invention that seems too obvious to notice. But the brown paper bag is one of many useful modern conveniences that, trivial in hindsight,…

When the 1893 Columbian Exposition opened on the shores of Lake Michigan, visitors to the fair were treated to a glimpse of the future. Chicago, the great classical “White City” by day, at night became a magically illuminated world of colored lights. President Grover Cleveland opened the exhibition by pushing a button that set the…

A research team led by the University of Adelaide has helped develop a groundbreaking new device that significantly improves the efficiency of the only fertility treatment currently available for men with low sperm counts. Created in partnership with medical tech company Fertilis, this first-of-its-kind device will enable more IVF (in vitro fertilisation) clinics to offer…

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) are developing a new skin microbiopsy device that takes smaller skin tissue samples than current devices in use, bringing possibilities of change to future diagnostics of skin cancers and other skin conditions. “Conventional skin biopsies are usually two to four millimetres in diameter, which means local anaesthetic is…

The U.S. patent law system once rewarded inventors for the telephone, the lightbulb, and the airplane. But some inventors now say the same system has turned against them. According to them, the trouble started with the 2011 America Invents Act (AIA). Under that law, it’s cheaper to file lawsuits in a patent court to declare…

Pause in your reading for just a moment and look around you. I’ll do the same. I’m sitting in what was my daughter’s dining room, but which now serves as my study. To my right is a breakfront, a large antique with a mirror, drawers, and cabinets for storage of dishes and utensils, and lion’s…