inventions

The universal Turing machine, an imaginary contraption devised in 1936 capable of performing any mathematical operation and the foundation of all modern computers, has been voted the best British invention of the century in a popular vote launched by several British museums, the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom, the British Association for Science and the Royal Society.

It has a very strange name, but most of us have played or built one on occasion. The thaumatrope is an optical toy that is used to produce a sensation of movement in images. It consists of a disk with an image on each of its faces. Two strings or rubber bands are placed at the ends of the disc that twist a lot, so that, when stretched, the disc begins to rotate at full speed. The rapid turn creates in the viewer the optical illusion that both images are together.

David Edwards, a professor at Harvard University, has created in his laboratory Le Whaf, a device in the shape of a fish tank to inhale a lemon cake or any other food without the need to ingest it. The result is what he calls a "flavor cloud": microdroplets that turn into puffs of smoke and breathe in create a complete taste experience without consuming a single calorie.

David Carr, from the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), has developed a smart dispenser that provides a different taste to the toothpaste we use in the morning depending on the weather forecast.

Michael Jones McKean, a professor at Commonwealth University (USA), has created a machine that can make artificial rainbows from "recycled" natural ingredients. The device is powered by solar energy through a series of photovoltaic panels.

Time magazine has just released its selection of the 50 best inventions of 2010. Flying cars, mosquito catcher lasers, an organ bioprinter, a remote-controlled robot-life preserver and the popular iPad are among the chosen ones.

In November 1895, the German physicist Röntgen discovered a "mysterious ray" that had the power to produce an image after passing through meat, clothing, wood or metal, and which he baptized with the unknown "X". Since then the applications of X-rays have multiplied.

Researchers who used a remote-controlled helicopter to collect whale snot, and others who demonstrated that cursing makes you feel better when you hurt your foot, are among the winners of the IgNobel awards given each year by the "Journal of Improbable Research" .