on the go
JACQUES COUSTEAU, EAT YOUR HEART OUT
With its ballooned-out arms and legs, it looks like moon gear for the Michelin Man, but this 1,100-lb. diving suit is strictly for deep-sea adventures. Unlike standard diving equipment, which can't take you much deeper than 1,000 ft., the Atmospheric Diving System by Oceanworks International stabilizes air pressure around the body so that divers working as deep as 2,000 ft. below sea level feel as if they're still on the beach. Powered by twin thrusters mounted on either side of the oxygen tank, the suit lets you steer in any direction, using built-in foot pedals. But the suits are so heavy that divers have to be lowered in a metal cage before they can step out and look around. The U.S. Navy, which plans to use the suit for submarine rescue and salvage missions, bought the first four units. Eventually, the Michelin Man look may also be available for scientific researchers and deep-sea explorers.
--INVENTOR Hardsuits International --AVAILABILITY Now, for $2.7 million --TO LEARN MORE Call 604-986-5600
ARCHES IN THE SKY
Drawbridges are quaint, but they are so medieval. So when city planners in the industrial town of Gateshead, in northeast England, picked a design for a new pedestrian and bike bridge to connect Gateshead with the historic city of Newcastle across the winding river Tyne, they decided that a break from tradition was in order. For most of the day, a single steel arch vaults high above the water, fixed by 18 harplike suspension cables to a 413-ft.-long, curved pathway below. When a boat approaches, however, the entire bridge pivots to one side. As the lower deck rises into the air, the upper arch descends on the other side until both halves are suspended opposite each other some 90 ft. in the air. Powered by hydraulics, the $25 million Millennium Bridge can tilt back and forth in four minutes. The bridge is the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar urban-renewal plan that will eventually connect a new arts center to hotels and restaurants on either shore.
--INVENTORS Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Gifford and Partners, civil engineers --AVAILABILITY Opened Sept. 2001 --TO LEARN MORE Visit gateshead.gov.uk/bridge
HIT THE BRAKES
In her hit movie Speed, Sandra Bullock drove a bus with a mind of its own, programmed to explode if it went below 50 m.p.h. Now buses on real-life autopilot are coming to Las Vegas. A camera mounted on the dashboard of the electric-powered Civis reads stripes painted on the road. If a bus strays even slightly from the markings, a motor on the steering wheel nudges the bus back in line. Human drivers, who control the brakes and accelerator, play only a bit part in this action flick.
--INVENTOR Irisbus --AVAILABILITY October 2003 --TO LEARN MORE Visit irisbus.com
HYDRO-SHOCK