Aluminum Cans, Lightweight Heavyweights

In Bill Hammack’s Youtube video, the ingenious design of the aluminum beverage can is revealed. It’s amazing how many Inventive Principles are applied in such a humble, everyday object. The can The aluminum can begins life as a round disc which is repeatedly pressed into a successively narrower cylindrical cup shape. This cup is deliberately made…

Belted Alternator Starter

Belted alternator starter (BAS) hybrid systems first appeared on GM’s 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line. BAS systems combine the roles of starts and alternators into a single motor like conventional hybrid systems, but instead of linking directly to the crankshaft, they are linked to the engine by a belt. This makes it possible to integrate…

Seeing Sound

In this TEDx talk, Michael Rubenstein, a research scientist, introduces the “motion microscope,” a video-processing tool that amplifies changes in motion and colour. This technique makes subtle motions visible such as the change of colour of a person’s skin as blood is pumped by the heart. Using a high speed camera, the technique can even…