Incredible Innovations

Tasty Dutch Cuisine: The Insect Cookbook

Would you like to try a Maggot Muffin? You can learn how to bake your own soon, if you buy the Dutch Insect Cookbook that’s about to hit the stores. According to a group of Dutch insect munchers, the creepy crawling snacks are considered to be very rich in proteins and make an excellent source of nourishment.
Marcel Dicke, a professor at Wageningen University, says the world population is expected to hit 9 billion by 2050, and there may not be enough land to raise livestock that meets everybody’s needs. He thinks turning to bugs is a good protein alternative. The university also said the nutritional value of insects is actually similar to that of meat, and it is more environmentally friendly to raise insects instead of cattle and pigs. “I see this as the next step towards the introduction of insects on restaurant menus in the Netherlands. I also expect people to buy the book and start cooking with insects at home,” says Dicke.

Prosthetic Legs With A Personal Touch

Scott Summit from San Francisco makes customized prosthetic legs with individual, beautiful designs. Whether a customer wants chrome-pleated, leather-covered or laser-etched – Summit can make it happen.

In the past people have only focused on functionality when it came to prosthetic limbs. But much like smart phones and other personal items, synthetic legs have become a platform of modern self-expression for many people. They should “represent personality as well as physicality,” says Summit.

Summit’s customers tend to be young and image-conscious. Many of them are wounded military personnel or motorcyclists. In order to promote his work, Summit is collaborating with prominent amputees such as Paralympics athlete Aimee Mullins. “What Scott’s onto is taking something that was … at best functional and elevating it to something that is coveted by people who have legs of flesh and bone,” says Mullins, who had both legs amputated as an infant.

Clean, Cheap, And Fun: Bike Sharing Around The World!

This genius idea of impromptu bike renting provides locals as well as tourists with a green, cheap and healthy method of transportation. Currently, over 300 cities worldwide participate in the program – and the number is growing!

So how does it work? It’s very simple: In most cities, you can purchase a short-term subscription at the bike station itself. Just swipe your credit card at the station’s electronic kiosk, and you will receive a code that unlocks a bike. When you arrive at your destination you can return the bike at another nearby station.

Long-term subscriptions can usually be purchased online. During the time of your subscription, you can rent as many bikes as you want.

Bike renting is already in place in cities such as Washington, D.C., Paris, London, and Dublin. Many hope the bike rental stations will become permanent fixtures of public transportation systems around the world!

Stanford Graduates Design Life-Saving Infant Warming Wrap

In India, more than five million children under the age of five die every year. The most common cause of death of these newborns is hypothermia, which sets in when babies' body temperature is too low–newborns often don’t have enough body fat to keep them warm.

Stanford MBA student Jane Chen and three other Stanford graduates decided to help the babies in India: “A personal passion of mine is to try and bridge the disparity in health care between developed and developing countries,” Chen said. She founded Embrace, a non-profit organization that created a baby wrap that can save babies from dying of hypothermia.

Two years ago, Chen and the Embrace team traveled to India where they learned that 80% of newborns needed incubators to keep them warm after birth. However, most families in rural India don’t have access to hospitals.

The Embrace baby wrap looks like a sleeping bag and simulates a warm womb. It can be heated up to 98-degree body temperature, using packets of special paraffin wax and water. The wrap is easy to sterilize and can be used over and over again, even for multiple babies.

Doctors in third-world countries are now eager to order this simple yet life-saving product. After reaching out to India, Embrace plans to expand to other countries such as Uganda and Haiti.

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: Run Jessy Run! 9-Year-Old Double Amputee Can Run Marathons

Jessy Hatch was just a few months old when she was found by a police SWAT team in a meth lab with her addict mother. Her eyes were glued shut. She reeked of smoke and her skin was grey. Her rescuers realized as they took her from the building that this tiny baby's legs were malformed – they faced backward, held stiffly in a crossed position. Each foot had just one toe. Her hands had only four digits each.

The police contacted Dawn and Aaron Hatch, a Phoenix couple who has fostered dozens of children suffering from early abuse or drug exposure. The Hatches gladly took baby Jessy in. "When my husband came home," Dawn describes, "he picked her up, looked at her and then kissed her on the belly. She gave out the biggest belly laugh we'd ever heard. We fell in love with her right then. I think it was the moment that she knew she was safe."

At only 11 months old, Jessy underwent a procedure in which her legs were amputated above the knee, thus making it possible for the child to eventually learn how to walk using a succession of prosthetic limbs as she grew older. Her newest pair of carbon fiber, custom-designed prosthetics has now made it possible for her to run for the first time. After only a couple months of training to build up her leg strength, Jessy took part in her first marathon run at the P.F. Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon Series event in Tempe, Arizona on January 19th.

Jessie refuses to sit on the sidelines in life; she has now set her sights on drawing awareness to the impact of drug use on children. She particularly takes joy in bouncing and hopping on her new lighter, more flexible legs, something she could not do with her weightier everyday pair.

12-Year-Old Girl Catches Thief on Webcam

A thief tried to use the Pritchard family’s open house as an opportunity to step away from the tour and run off with loot. But thanks to Hallie Pritchard’s hidden webcam, he didn’t make it very far.

Hallie had set up a webcam underneath some pillows to catch her sisters sneaking through her room, because they often take her things without asking. But instead, the 12-year-old California girl caught something else on camera: a burglar!

The footage of Hallie’s camera shows a man coming into her room and looking through her drawers. When Hallie watched the video and saw the man, she immediately told her parents. Her parents called the police who identified the thief as 46-year-old Douglas Calandrella, a former real estate agent who had been arrested for burglary before. The thief was on probation for his previous offense and is now being held without bail.

Miniatur Wunderland Display Wows Millions a Year

Miniatur Wunderland, an amazingly detailed, 1,300-square-meter miniature civilization built by a pair of German brothers, now boasts the world’s largest model railway and airport.

The miniature Wunderland has been under construction for the past six years, and includes eight different sections that give visitors a glimpse of mini-versions of Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, America, and more. With over 900 trains, 250 computer-controlled vehicles, and even airplanes and working miniature boats actively traveling across the teeny landscapes, the recreation is perhaps the most life-like model anywhere in the world.

Over one million visitors a year travel to Hamburg to awe at the bustling, ever-expanding world of tiny humans, animals, and scenery. Upon close inspection, one can spot carefully-constructed scenes such as a mini-Las Vegas strip, a group of archaeologists exploring a cave, a crime scene crawling with police figurines, a group of fitness gurus exercising in a pint-size gym, a UFO landing, and churchgoers entering a cathedral.

The number of hours it’s taken to build the incredible display (500,000 so far!) is constantly increasing as construction continues. The model’s creators, Frederick and Gerrit Braun, both 41, plan to add a mini-England, France, and Africa to the Miniatur Wunderland by 2020.

Watch a video tour of the Miniatur Wunderland and see the sights for yourself!

Who Says Man Can’t Fly?

Swiss aerial daredevil Yves Rossy, 52, also known as the “Jetman”, has completed another incredible flying feat! With his new Delta Wing pack strapped to his back, Rossy flew for over six minutes at speeds of up to 142mph, in formation with two Breitling Wingwalkers at the Breitling Flying days event in Buochs, Switzerland.

Rossy is the first human to achieve sustained human flight. He has spent years developing his fixed wing jetpack. His latest jetpack, the Delta Pack, is a carbon fiber craft that allows take off from the ground. The pack has no controls or instruments, is steered by slight movements of the head and/or body and deploys a parachute for safe landings.

This is not Rossy’s first incredible flying feat. On September 27, 2008 made a solo flight across the English Channel, starting in France and landing on the White Cliffs of Dover. Last year, Rossy succeeded in completing hi first flight in the US by flying across the Grand Canyon.

Currently Rossy is working on a new parachute opening system that will deploy it’s parachute at lightning speed and provide a bigger spectacle for his audience.

Scientists Successfully Conduct World’s First Synthetic Organ Transplant

Swedish surgeons have successfully carried out the world’s first synthetic organ transplant–a new procedure that does not rely on donors and that reduces the risk of the body rejecting the new organ. Scientists in London created a synthetic windpipe for a 36-year-old cancer patient and then infused it with stem cells from the patient so that his body would accept the replacement organ as its own.

The successful transplant marks a breakthrough in the world of medicine. “This is a synthetic windpipe. The beauty of this is you can have it immediately. There is no delay. This technique does not rely on a human donation,” explained Professor Paolo Macchiarini, who led the surgery. Macchiarini says this procedure can be used to repair or replace many other organs in the future. He plans to perform another windpipe transplant on a nine-month-old Korean baby born with a malformed windpipe next.

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: New Jetpack Makes Walking on Water and Learning to Fly a Reality

Jetlev Southwest, an extreme water sports company specializing in jetpack production, has made some serious waves with the new Jetlev R200, a personal jet vehicle that uses water propulsion to shoot flyers up to 30 feet into the air.

Daring adventure-seekers looking to try out this flying machine must first watch a training video before strapping in to the powerful jetpack. During the introductory lap around the harbor, flyers focus on steering, while a certified trainer controls the jetpack’s throttle via remote control from shore. Then, flyers are free to control the jetpack unaided and can attempt to master advanced techniques such as figure-eight turns, walking on water, and hands-free flight.

“It’s surprisingly easy, once you get the hang of it,” says Dean O’Malley, a certified Jetlev trainer at the Newport Beach harbor location, where Incredible Features conducted the exclusive photo shoot. “Amazingly, it’s actually a very sort learning curve. You can get up very quickly. A hundred percent of the people we take out are flying within their first class.”

The Jetlev R200 consists of a harness that straps the user into the jetpack’s frame, two handles for steering and stability, a throttle for speed control, and two water jets that forcefully propel out streams of water, which is pumped into the pack through a hose. The pack itself costs a whopping $100,000, but Jetlev Southwest offers lessons and rentals for as little as $250 a day

Find out more about the Jetlev R200 here.

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Tasty Dutch Cuisine: The Insect Cookbook

Prosthetic Legs With A Personal Touch

Stanford Graduates Design Life-Saving Infant Warming Wrap

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: Run Jessy Run! 9-Year-Old Double Amputee Can Run Marathons

12-Year-Old Girl Catches Thief on Webcam

Miniatur Wunderland Display Wows Millions a Year

Who Says Man Can’t Fly?

Scientists Successfully Conduct World’s First Synthetic Organ Transplant

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: New Jetpack Makes Walking on Water and Learning to Fly a Reality

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