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.
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…
I am thrilled to see that TECHCRUNCH.COM is featuring the innovative company of my friend and partner Zach Kaplan. Zach’s Chicago-based company, Inventables, inspires thousands of designers in their companies (such as Proctor & Gamble, Motorola, and Black & Decker), to be innovative. Check out the artlicle here! So what is Inventables and why are…
“My expectations are generally quite low for such conferences, but this one far exceeded them.” That’s just one of the many comments I’m hearing today from our participants at CoDev ’09 (8th Annual Congress on Open Innovation and Co-Development) last month! The conference is sponsored by Management Roundtable (MRT) and the Product Development and Management…
As facial recognition technology becomes more user friendly for social media and other personal applications, we’re starting to see and hear reaction from those who have concerns and from people who think its great. Facebook just launched a photo tagging application using the technology to help users tag photos faster. If you want to see…
One of my good friends Brian Fried, host of Got Invention Radio, invited me to come on his show for a four-part series, which aired late last week. You can listen online or download it here. Got Invention Radio is a wonderful show where inventors can call into the program and discuss their innovation ideas…
Reuters has released its Reuters Top 100 list of most innovative universities in the world. Based on academic papers and patent filings, and compiled by the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, you may be pleasantly surprised by some on the list. Not surprisingly is the leader of the Top 100: Stanford University,…
