Thinking Big

By Maryanne Murray Buechner, Lev Grossman and Anita Hamilton

THE MOD POD

These stylish shelters were a big hit at the Burning Man festival this summer, but they're not just for fun. Fashioned from a single piece of laminated paperboard (plus a floor and a door), they are sturdy, wind resistant, waterproof, well insulated and require no special skills or tools to assemble--perfect, according to their inventor, for use as temporary housing in a war or a natural disaster. The Shade Pod, an open-air version with legs, is just right for lawn parties. INVENTOR Sanford Ponder AVAILABILITY Next summer, starting at $745 TO LEARN MORE icosavillage.net

THE LIGHT STUFF

A new substance called aerogel, invented in the 1930s but recently refined by NASA, has been certified as the lightest solid in the world--yes, it's in the Guinness Book of World Records. Weighing in at a mere .00011 lbs. per cu. in. (thin air weighs about .00004 lbs. per cu. in.), aerogel resembles smoke that has been frozen into place--it's cloudy, translucent and virtually weightless. It's also surprisingly tough. Chemically similar to glass, aerogel is used on the space shuttle to trap tiny spaceborne particles traveling at high speed so they can be brought back to Earth for analysis. INVENTOR NASA AVAILABILITY Now TO LEARN MORE science.nasa.gov/aerogel

TOWER OF POWER

Want cheap, green electricity? The Australians have a simple answer. First, build a 20,000-acre greenhouse to trap and heat air. Then build a colossal tower 1 km (.62 miles) tall in the middle of it. The warm air from the greenhouse will rise through the tower as it would through a chimney, turning turbines and generating enough electricity to power 200,000 Australian homes. It may sound like science fiction, but the project is on track to get approved by the Australian government. If completed, the $800 million solar tower will be the tallest man-made structure in the world. INVENTOR Jorg Schlaich AVAILABILITY 2005 TO LEARN MORE www.enviromission.com.au