Word: inventors
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...CHECK INVENTOR: GIVEN IMAGING Innerspace was a lousy movie, but it had a nice idea. If we could see inside the human body, it would be a lot easier to pinpoint exactly what was wrong. The Given Diagnostic Imaging System is a camera tucked inside a tiny capsule that, when swallowed, takes a sci-fi jaunt through the body, beaming detailed color images to a patient-worn belt that are then downloaded onto a computer for analysis. It's cool--and currently being tested overseas--but FDA approval is still years away, and so far doctors have been plagued...
WASHING WATER INVENTOR: SURBEC-ART ENVIRONMENTAL Surfactant Enhanced Subsurface Remediation sounds a tad complicated. It's basically just cleaning dirty water. SESR is a process that begins when surfactants, nontoxic elements used in soap, are pumped into a groundwater supply contaminated with oil. They effectively wash the aquifer clean and are then recovered and reused...
BARK, BUT NO BITE INVENTOR: ROBERT FAIRALL Dogs are great theft deterrents; they also tend to smell bad and demand Richard Simmons levels of affection. The Barking Bone aims to scare away the bad guys while still keeping canine-hating homeowners sane. Fairall implanted a motion sensor inside a giant, apparently gnawed, dog bone made of solid resin. When the sensor is tripped, a sound chip emits a low growl followed by a torrent of ferocious barking...
...come up with unexpected though still appropriate solutions. These and related methods are also used in computer programs that "automatically" create art, music and poetry. The results of emulating nature in this way can be surprisingly effective, often solving difficult engineering and other design problems. However, as a human inventor who routinely uses these techniques, I can report that I continue to feel that I am still in charge of the process; they feel like just another set of yet more powerful tools...
...NEXT QUESTION Which, of course, brings up the issue of how we mere human inventors are going to keep up. As an inventor, I have more than a passing interest in this question. My view, however, is that these developments do not represent an alien invasion of intelligent machines. They are emerging from within our human/machine civilization, and the intelligence we are creating is both derivative of and an extension to our human intelligence. We are already placing today's generation of intelligent machines in our bodies and brains, particularly for those with disabilities (e.g., cochlear implants for the deaf...