It’s a car that’s propelled by compressed air. Scheduled for U.S. release in early 2010, it’s estimated that the car will reach over 90 mph with a range of over 800 miles and get in excess of 100 mpg. It can be “refueled” in a matter of minutes at gas stations equipped with customized air compressor units at a cost of as little as $2. A video of how the engine works is included below.
The parent company, MDI, plans to introduce a 6-seat, 4-door family-size version of the compressed air …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s the light bulb that we hoped to get to: incredibly efficient, without mercury, totally dimmable and it gives off the most accurate color and tones that light’s supposed to give.

The Story: Vu1 is continuing development of its revolutionary Electron Stimulated Luminescence (ESL)™ technology in order to bring consumers a highly energy-efficient light bulb, without the environmental hazards of mercury, limited features, price concerns and poor light quality associated with other lighting sources such as Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) or Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). More than 30 …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a coating that goes both on paper and packaging materials that not only enhances chemical and water resistance, but also contains no solvents, hazardous chemicals and are fully reclaimable.

The Story: The myth is that cats have nine lives. Ecology Coatings, Inc. gives their EcoQuick UV-Cured Coated paper and packaging materials many more lives. And it does so safely and for a lower cost.
Besides creating a coating that offers increased water and chemical resistance, these coated materials provide solutions to important application and environmental issues, such as lower …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a machine that wirelessly transmits neural signals to a speech synthesizer using implanted electrodes on the user’s brain. The “thought-to-speech” process takes approximately the same amount of time a non-paralyzed, neurologically intact person would take to take a thought and convert it into dialogue.

The Story: 50 milliseconds. That’s the benchmark.
In fifty milliseconds a healthy, non-paralyzed, neurologically intact person can process a thought and convert that thought into speech. And in the past, when someone suffering from an inability to communicate with others wanted to communicate, …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a technology developed at Oxford University that could offer a replacement to checks, allowing people a secure way to pay in practically any situation.

The Story: The announcement on December 16th by the board of the UK Payments Council has heightened the need for secure replacement payment systems that checks are to be phased out by 2018.
New security technology developed at Oxford University by Professor Bill Roscoe and his team that allows people to make payments via mobile phones, offers a solution. The technology is designed to work in almost all …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a handheld laser target locator that enables soldiers to identify target locations while on foot, in daylight or at night, and in obscured-visibility conditions such as fog and smoke.

The Story: “These modules will enable soldiers to determine target coordinates quickly, safely, and accurately,” said Dan Murray, Laser Target Locator Modules (LTLM) program director for BAE Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire. “The system provides a much-needed capability in a single, lightweight package. Removing weight from soldiers’ packs makes their jobs easier and enables them to complete missions faster …