For 45 years, the prestigious R&D 100 Awards have been helping companies
provide the important initial push a new product needs to compete successfully
in the marketplace. The winning of an R&D 100 Award provides a mark
of excellence known to industry, government, and academia as proof that
the product is one of the most innovative ideas of the year.
The winners of the 2008 R&D 100 Awards have been chosen! Check back here soon for an in-depth look at all 100 innovations. As we get closer to the awards show in October, we’ll be featuring more details about what qualified the winners for this recognition.
NOTICE TO WINNERS. The 2008 R&D 100 Awards Exhibition and Banquet registration page is now active. Please go to www.regonline.com/rdawards for more details about the event and to register you and your group.
2008 R&D 100 Awards Winners
The editors of R&D Magazine have officially announced the 2008 R&D 100 Awards Winners. The winners are not listed in any particular order. For details, photos and more on each of these winners, please visit us again in the weeks leading up to the annual R&D 100 Awards Banquet.
As the astronauts offload the cargo from the Shuttle Endeavour to the ISS today to facilitate growing the crew from three to six astronauts, one item in particular is getting a lot of press: the new toilet. This is not just any toilet: this is a $250 million loo that will recycle the astronauts’ urine, sweat, and other wastewater back into drinkable water. This is a great application of technology and could cut the annual delivery water costs for the station by about 743 gallons, according to NASA officials. Besides which, this filtering process is just an accelerated version of what happens here on Earth to produce our drinking water. In fact, the water from this system is up to some of the highest standards of water in the U.S.
With all of that said, I’m not sure I’d be able to stomach the recycled water, especially after reading Endeavour’s mission specialist Don Pettit’s description of the system as a high-tech coffee maker: "It turns yesterday's coffee into today's coffee and, in turn, it makes today's coffee into tomorrow's coffee. It's one of these great, circle of life things." Maybe for the astronauts, but not for me. I’ll take my morning coffee without thinking about what it was yesterday, thank you.
