What Will They Think of Next?

(4 of 4)

INVENTION: LASERCOMB
INVENTOR: LEXINGTON INTERNATIONAL
Marketing a hair product to bald men makes shooting fish in a barrel look challenging. O.K., the HairMax LaserComb makes the same claims as turn-of-the-century hair tonics--thicker hair, faster follicle regeneration, etc., but it uses a low-level cold-beam laser arrayed like the teeth of a comb to stimulate follicles and increase scalp blood flow. Under FDA guidelines, the LaserComb has been approved for cosmetic use, meaning the company has proved such benefits as shinier, stronger and fuller hair. A submission for FDA medical approval of the LaserComb as a hair-growth product (i.e., the marketing mother lode) is pending.

INVENTION: ALLURION
INVENTOR: FLEX-FOOT INC.
11.42 is a good time in the 100-m dash, especially for an athlete missing one leg below the knee. The accomplishments of disabled athletes at this year's Paralympics helped shine a light on some impressive advances in prosthetics. Allurion, the newest prosthetic foot from Flex-Foot Inc. (maker of many Paralympian limbs), is 100% carbon fiber--strong enough to support 350-lb. amputees. It's outfitted with a unique heel design that not only provides shock absorption but channels heel-strike energy back into the foot to make walking easier, faster and more natural looking.

INVENTION: THE RAPTOR
INVENTOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
The jackhammer is to urban streets what the leaf blower is to the suburbs--a sonic nightmare. The Raptor (rapid cutter of concrete) is a gas-powered gun that slices through concrete with ease. But unlike its diesel-fired cousin, it does the job without waking up the neighborhood. Technicians are still working on the Raptor's silencer, but they hope to make it operational at 82 decibels, cutting jackhammer noise pollution in half.

INVENTION: ACTIVA TREMOR CONTROL THERAPY (DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION)
INVENTOR: MEDTRONIC
The standard treatment for Parkinson's disease--in which the brain's synapses sputter and misfire, causing victims to shudder involuntarily, literally losing control of themselves--is drugs. But they are usually riddled with side effects. Deep brain stimulation, an experimental surgery in which the brain is actually massaged by tiny electrical pulses, shows tremendous promise. Two holes are drilled into a patient's skull, and a pair of hair-thin wires is carefully applied to bundles of nerve cells. Surgery can take 12 hours, and patients must be conscious for portions of it. But the trade-off could be a significant reduction of involuntary shaking. Researchers hope that DBS may one day calm the effects of epilepsy and other neurological illnesses, including brain injuries from accident or stroke.

INVENTION: BUTTKICKER
INVENTOR: GUITAMMER CO. INC.
Of all the inventions on this list, the ButtKicker--a machine designed to isolate low sound frequency and translate it into tactile vibration (a.k.a. oomph)--is the most precisely named. ButtKicker uses a magnetically suspended linear motor piston that also has applications in wave pools and shock absorbers. It's got more than enough power to give high-end home movie theaters a physical jolt.

INVENTION: NOMAD RETINAL SCANNING DISPLAY
INVENTOR: MICROVISION
Beaming 18 million pixels per second directly onto the retina sounds scary. But in this case it's safe--and revolutionary. Using a microminiature projector mounted on a tiny chip, Nomad transforms the human eye into a TV set, eliminating any interference between eye and image. Worn like a visor, a version of Nomad is already being used in various surgical procedures, including orthopedic and urological surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. The retinal scanning display can be hooked up to any video input, so that doctors can superimpose magnetic resonance imaging scans and patient vital signs onto their field of vision.