You think we're kidding? LONDON — For more than 30 years, crowds have flocked to the small English fishing village of Lyme Regis to watch an annual tradition -- two teams of fishermen standing on wooden platforms as human bowling pins, hurling a dead giant eel at each other. But the ritual was abruptly abandoned after an animal rights activist threatened to draw negative publicity to the latest tournament, organizers said Saturday. There's still plenty of time to enter our contest by inventing a... READ ON

There are a series of fascinating articles in this month's issue of dwell magazine about sustainable homes (Green Goes Mainstream). I'm not sure if it's because my wife is an architect, or because I'm so dedicated to the green movement, but the idea of sustainable living, especially "green building," has long captivated my interest. From building with sustainable materials such as cork (like the arm of a starfish, the bark grows back!), to installing solar... READ ON

In our first weekly installment of "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist," we'd like to introduce you to invisibility expert Dr. Ulf Leonhardt, pictured at left (heh), who is trying to invent a cloaking device of sorts: Leonhardt, a theoretical physicist at St Andrews University in Scotland, believes the most plausible example is the Invisible Woman, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes in the "Fantastic Four." "She guides light around her using a force field in this cartoon. This is what could be done in... READ ON

Since babies seem to be such a popular accessory this season (everyone's got one!), and since getting those creatures to fall asleep seems to be such a difficult task, I figured I'd post about the award-winning Lullabub automatic rocking system. The "system" is made up of 4 stands you place under each leg of your baby's crib, with each one capable of gently raising and lowering the baby's furniture just a hair. When working in unison, the stands can gently rock the... READ ON