New Scientist Tech: Inventions

Exercise bed

Adjustable beds are commonly used in hospitals to help patients change position and get up with minimal help. Now Charles Filipi, a surgeon at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., wants to take them a step further, literally.


So, Filipi suggests building the treadmill into the hospital bed. When not in use, the treadmill sits in a vertical position at the end of the bed.


Read the full hospital bed treadmill patent application.

Satellite image sharpener

Images from spy satellites are often blurred by swirls of atmospheric turbulence. Finding better ways to correct for that could help anyone from CIA spooks to people checking out the neighbour's swimming pool on Google Earth.




This method only determines the distortion in one direction across an image (since edges are straight lines). But Yitzhaky points out that blurring due to atmospheric turbulence is usually the same in all directions this doesn't matter. The result is an automated system for removing the blur from satellite images of the Earth.

Read the full satellite image sharpener patent application.

Human-motion energy harvester





Read the full human-motion energy harvester patent application.

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