Just in time for the summer bug season comes this news about a patch you may one day wear to shield your identity – from mosquitoes! The Kite Patch was developed by Olfactor Laboratories, and works like DEET — blocking mosquitoes’ carbon dioxide receptors. Researchers say the chemicals used are so safe they are considered “food grade flavors” by the Food and Drug Administration.
Mosquito defense may have a new secret weapon.It looks like a nicotine patch, but the little diamond-shaped Kite Patch is laced with a very special sauce that its developers claim can protect whomever wears it from mosquito bites for up to 48 hours.
For many, mosquitoes are merely annoying, but in many parts of the world they spread malaria, a deadly disease that is far more dangerous than many health authorities had previously guessed.
The average mosquito has long-range sensors that can sense the carbon dioxide humans emit through their breath from up to a half-mile away. The mosquito’s sensing organ, the maxillary palp, contains a neuron called the cpA neuron that pings the mosquito’s brain when it senses CO2.
The active ingredient and most effective commercially available mosquito repellent is DEET, which works by confusing these
Via Olfactor Laboratory
sensors. But some research suggests it can be toxic, especially to children. It is also a bit too expensive for everyday use, especially in the poorer countries stricken with mosquito-borne diseases. Oh yeah, and it melts plastic. Yikes.
When we talk about trends for Millennials, it’s because these are the folks who’ve been handed our baton of leadership, technology and innovation. So what drives them and what shapes them? Inc. Magazine reports the top brands that are attracting and influencing the millennial workforce: Lists of Millennials’ top workplaces, top apps, and top athletes offer plenty of insights…
Have you ever stopped to think your next breakthrough product may be right under your nose? Or that ‘local’ could go very global with the right development support and customer-needs tailoring? As a proud resident of Appleton, Wisconsin, I recently took a look at the surprisingly rich history of invention and innovation in my hometown…
One of the most exciting opportunity areas for targeted innovation is in the display of digital information. The information-rich world of the film Minority Report is becoming closer to reality each day, with some practical twists. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to provide smart digital displays in retail…
For many years companies have been focusing their offerings to end users on their products. Today we see companies are realizing they can increase the value they deliver by also adding service innovation to their portfolio. This trend is often associated with business model changes that enable companies to transform their proposition and better compete…
Here’s an interesting article I saw in Business Week some time ago, but the content still poses intriguing questions for innovators today: Does innovation need a parent or two? Or three? Notice that innovation teams are working through three stages of innovation. I would agree that this type of idea parenting needs to be a…
Although we have yet to discover the whole story of the underlying causes of the unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles, I suspect that we may be seeing more of these dangerous types of incidents in the future. A growing culprit will be the complex computer software and hardware systems that run the machines that we…
