Tractor-towed Vulcan automatically spots and pulls weeds

Nobody likes the idea of herbicides in their veggies, yet hiring workers to pick weeds by hand can be prohibitively expensive. The Vulcan farm implement offers an alternative, as it automatically spots and yanks weeds while leaving crop plants alone.

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Simple process converts fruit waste into water-purifying material

Solar stills provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it's made from fruit waste which would otherwise be discarded.

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OneButtonPIN app buzzes fingers to help blind users unlock their phone

Entering passcodes on smartphones can be difficult for the blind, as they can't see the screen, nor can they tell if someone else is peeking at it. The OneButtonPIN app is designed to help, by utilizing vibrations instead of visuals.

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Uphold puts a reusable set of cutlery in your pocket

If you grab fast food while out and about, there's a good chance that you use the restaurants' disposable plastic cutlery. Uphold offers a more eco-friendly alternative, as it's a reusable modular cutlery set that packs away into a slim case.

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Egg whites used to produce a cheap, effective, water-purifying filter

As microplastics pollution and potable water scarcity both worsen, it's becoming increasingly important to find efficient ways of filtering and desalinating seawater. A new aerogel definitely holds some promise, and it's made from egg whites.

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Lightweight Unit One gives shipping containers the high-tech treatment

It's easy to think of shipping containers as simple metal boxes, that can't be improved. The Unit One container, however, is claimed to be lighter, stronger and more energy-efficient than others, plus it uses multiple sensors to monitor its cargo.

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Orbitkey’s quick-release keyring aims to save your fingernails

Since taking its first product to Kickstarter eight years ago, Australian startup Orbitkey hasn’t been afraid to float some fresh ideas around how we carry our keys, and its latest offering continues on with this theme.

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Assistive mouthguard lets users control devices by biting down

Ordinarily, we associate mouthguards with sports such as boxing and football. An experimental new one, however, could allow people who lack the use of their hands to control electronic devices – and it would do so by tracking their bite patterns.

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MIT tech could keep items cool without using any electricity

In some of the world's hottest countries, where cooling systems are most needed, the infrastructure required to power such setups is often lacking. A new system could help, as it provides multiple cooling effects but uses no electricity.

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Experimental system uses footsteps to power pneumatic prostheses

Although advances are occurring in the field of powered prosthetics, the devices still require heavy batteries. Scientists at Rice University are trying to change that, by creating a pneumatic "extra limb" that's powered by the wearer's footsteps.

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