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1930: Ellen Church becomes the world's first airline stewardess, working a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California, to Chicago. The flight takes 20 hours and involves 13 stops along the way.

Church, a registered nurse from Iowa, was so enamored of flying that she became a certified pilot. She approached BAT (the forerunner of United Airlines) looking for a pilot's job, a futile hope for women in those days. But the BAT exec did like Church's other suggestion: that commercial airliners carry nurses on board.

Smelling a publicity coup, and figuring that on-board nurses would help quell the public's fear -- very real at the time -- of flying, he sold her proposal to the boys at the top. BAT hired eight nurses, including Church, for what it thought would be a three-month experiment.

Even then, there were strict physical requirements for what BAT referred to as "sky girls." In addition to being a registered nurse, the successful candidate had to be single, under 25, no taller than 5-feet-4, and she could weigh no more than 115 pounds. And although it wasn't written down anywhere, the prospective stewardess had to be attractive, at least to the guy doing the hiring.

So they were trim and petite, which did not necessarily suit the rigors of the job. That's because the first stewardesses did a lot more than merely serve passengers, pass out airsick bags or take a pulse now and then. They were expected to haul luggage, screw down loose seats, help with fueling the plane and finally, at day's end, help the pilots push the plane into the hangar.

Like a lot of other service jobs, working conditions for stewardesses -- flight attendants in today's parlance -- only improved with their determination to organize and use the power of the union to obtain better pay and benefits.

As for Church, she worked as a stew for 18 months before being grounded as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She returned to nursing, but her flying days weren't over yet: During World War II, she served as a captain in the Army Nurses Corps, receiving the Air Medal for distinguished service in the European Theater.

After the war, Church continued her nursing career in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was killed in a horseback riding accident in 1965.

Electric and alternative-fuel bikes are the future of individual transportation not because of their fuel efficiency but because they are extremely cool. That's right. Creators of eco-friendly motorcycles are pushing the limits of their designs to make them desirable to a biking community that sees little difference between their (relatively) efficient gas engines and the new-fuel wave of alternatives. Riding bikes is all about the cool factor, so the crazier and more technologically advanced they get, the more people will want to ride them, clean fuel or not.

Gaze upon the alt-fuel bikes most likely to break the mold of motorcycle design in the near future.

Intelligent Energy's ENV Bike is on track to become the first available hydrogen-powered motorcycle when it's released next year. The zero-cylinder ENV runs on a removable fuel cell (stored where a conventional gas tank would be) and runs peacefully quiet. The fuel cell uses a proton-exchange membrane that pushes a full 6 kilowatts of peak-load power, resulting in a nice high torque. And one hydrogen tank will last about four hours without a charge, or about 100 miles.

The ENV is also supposed to offer a fairly gentle ride, since power is distributed evenly through a single gear, avoiding the regular gear-induced kickback of a gas bike. But the best part is that instead of CO2, the bike emits water. Not so pure that you could bend backwards for a little midride drink, but better than adding to the global carbon load.

Technically, a tesseract is a four-dimensional analogue of a cube. To us, it's a bike design that looks just a like a Praying Mantis Predacon Transformer come to life.

Yamaha's Tesseract is a four-wheeled motorcycle powered with a liquid-cooled V-twin engine and an electric motor. It's designed with a dual-scythe suspension for slick turns, allowing the wheels to adapt individually to uneven, rocky terrain independently of one another.

Similarly to other new-wave, multiwheeled green bikes, the body is built up instead of out, so that the body width is more equivalent to regular-size bikes. That leads to above-average handling and stability. Add the thin-but-durable body frame and expect to ride this one fast. Just don't wait up for it -- it won't come out until after 2010.

This is a superhero's bike. Suzuki's slick Crosscage prototype uses a fuel-cell block developed by Intelligent Energy, which creates power from hydrogen gas. According to IE, its fuel designs are based on thin metallic bipolar plates and make the fuel block small, compact and cheaper to produce. To the lay reader, this means that it's more likely to come out sooner rather than later. With blue neon V-shaped flares on its rims -- and a look that the Silver Surfer would envy -- PEM fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries are just icing on the cake.

If you drain your wallet every week at the pump, the relief promised by Yamaha's FC-Dii fuel-cell prototype bike will be as refreshing as the water it runs on. Well, partially.

The FC-Dii, available for ogling at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, runs on a methanol-fuel-and-water build, with a new type of cell stack that promises the "highest levels of power density in the 1-kilowatt class." It also features a detachable lithium-ion battery for recharging, and a model 30 percent efficiency standard for a direct-methanol-fuel-cell system. Plus, you can look into the insides of the bike's cellblock, and that's just too future-cool for us.

The design of the Enertia electric motorcycle from Brammo smartly resembles the classic lines of the 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy Bird from the movie The Great Escape. And what's more fantastic than the thrill of Steve McQueen racing away from the Nazis? Nothing.

The Enertia uses lithium-ion phosphate batteries with power settings that let the user trade off performance for range. At 12 to 25 horsepower (19 kilowatts) in its "performance" mode, it's on the same power level as the Kawasaki Ninja 250 gas bike (though its speed tops out at 50 mph).

Better still, the carbon-fiber chassis enables lightweight maneuverability, and its six lithium-phosphate batteries reduce its emissions footprint to close to zero. If you live in a small city, you won't find a more viable commuting vehicle. McQueen would have plugged it in himself.

The Killacycle is the fastest electric drag bike in the world. Unfortunately, its name almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy at Wired's NextFest conference last September. During the conference, owner Bill Dube crashed into a minivan while attempting a burnout on a narrow sidewalk.

The inventor had barely ridden the beast before but knew the massive stats: 0-to-60 in 0.97 seconds, 400 horsepower, and a top speed of 158 mph. The bike's 619 pounds (100 pounds more than regular bikes) make it difficult for a rookie rider to maneuver safely. Dube ended up in the hospital with a few body nicks. Afterwards, he came out with his head high and -- believe it -- promised to push his machine to even greater speeds. Currently, his team is working on a 1,000-horsepower drag bike that will attempt to break the land speed record on salt.

The VentureOne looks like a car and is legally classified as a three-wheel motorcycle, but -- copy Blue Leader! It looks just like a Tron Light Cycle come to life. Carver Europe's VentureOne superbike features an automatic balancing system that stabilizes the body and allows it to tilt into a turn like a motorcycle without fear of wipeout.

The bike is scheduled to come out in hybrid build (with a 350-mile range) and two all-electric propulsion models (up to 125 miles). It'll cost between $20,000 and $30,000 and will include GPS navigation and an entertainment system to provide as much distraction as possible.

We think this car-bike mashup could push out its identity crisis and make a name for itself, and we can't wait to (legally) race our Venture Ones out on the grid.

The Piaggio Vespa scooter is as intrinsically connected to the Italian experience as cannoli from Mozzicato's. Now, the Vespas are growing with the times by introducing the lithium-ion-battery-powered Vespa M3 Hybrid. With a 125-cc engine, the M3 will ride just like any other Vespa but will latch on tighter to the pavement with the addition of the third wheel. The added rubber won't extend the width of the scooter -- in fact, the wheelbase at the front is still narrow enough to maneuver tightly, just like the classic.

The M3 has four different performance modes at the flip of a switch: all-electric, low-charge hybrid, high-charge hybrid and standard hybrid. In its all-electric mode, the hybrid turns off the combustion and becomes beautifully silent. But this is sadly lame: At electric-only power, it's supposed to last only 12 miles. The other options push the scooter to a more city-friendly range of 25 to 50 miles on a full charge.

A hybrid motorcycle can't promise the same raw power and performance as a V-Twin Harley, can it? That would be like the Hell Angels going green and Al Gore becoming cool. Well, it's about to happen.

The Gen-Ryu Hybrid bike is the future eco-friendly Harley, with a lightweight 600-cc engine and a high-output, high-efficiency electric motor. And it has awesome features you will not find in a regular hog: noise-canceling system to reduce wind noise, voice-navigation function and hands-free music player and cellphone. Plus, it'll have our favorite feature from recent smart cars -- the rear-view monitoring camera to make sure you can fit in those ridiculously tight urban parking spots.

The prototype includes a cornering light system that makes it easy to see around curves at night. The balance will prevent you from popping a wheelie in the street, but the wide-ish tires will give you a comfortable, smooth ride -- perfect for the trip from the dusty fields into the nanotech-laced asphalt of the future San Angeles.

The Silence PT2 is another car-bike tweener. The electric-powered PT2 has a range of 125 to 250 miles and a high speed of 125 mph due to its smallish size at only 13 feet long, 6 feet wide and 900 pounds. That's about one-third of the 2008 Mini Cooper Clubman S, and 400 pounds lighter than the minimum weight of an F1.

As the wild child from the unholy union of a Go Kart-making company and another that built high-speed three-wheelers, there's a childlike sense of fun in this design. With a wide-open top frame, large front wheels sticking close to the ground, and an aerodynamic front screen to cut the wind, you could easily place it on the track next to Racer X, and it would feel at home. Just wear a helmet.

The Silence PT2 is scheduled to be available in early 2009 for close to $50,000.

Industrial designer Sam Jilbert hit upon a great concept while creating his final-year project at Britain's Northumbria University: Take a past success, tweak it for the present, and fill it with technology from the near future. Voilà! A new design for us to drool over.

The Honda Cub Concept updates the 50-year-old (and 50 million-selling) Honda Super Cub by adding a hydrogen-fuel-cell case. The resulting design resembles a giant LifeSaver mixed with a collapsible bike. Though Honda hasn't endorsed it, its concept has sparked many consumers' imaginations, which could eventually land it on city streets. Like other fuel cell-based bikes, expect to sacrifice a high torque for a slim riding range -- probably close to 50 miles at first.

The Vectrix is the first commercially available electric bike on the market designed like a mullet in reverse: all business in the back and party on the front. The nickel-metal hydrate, battery-charged engine sits in the back of the bike for controlled, efficient acceleration, and the front resembles the angular shape of a ravenous one-eyed wasp. That's hot.

It's expensive at $13,000, but it'll save you money on the back end: It takes three hours to charge the bike fully (at about 1 cent per mile), and has a 40-to-50-mile range at 25 mph. There's also no clutch and no transmission, forcing down the maintenance fees. But it's the ingenious regenerative breaking system that rounds it out: Twist the throttle in a radial backwards motion and the bike will slow down, while cooling and charging the engine at the same time.

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It's happening again: A new technology and breakthrough discoveries are equipping entrepreneurs with the tools to rattle the status quo.

It occurred 10 years ago when the internet introduced radical new ways to communicate, be subversive, and sell things. Now it's the turn of gene-techs — the fledgling industry that's setting out to mine the DNA inside us.

Their goal: To help us determine who we are, and maybe to provide clues to everything from our ability to taste bitter foods to our proclivity for depression and our chances of having a heart attack.

In just the past year, dozens of genetic markers associated with traits have been coming out of labs at a furious pace as genetic knowledge, technology and computing power has hit a critical mass one decade after the race to sequence the human genome was raging.

The question is: As new, direct-to-consumer genetic testing sites begin delivering this fresh and sometimes incomplete DNA news to customers online, how will Big Medicine and government regulators react? And how will they shape what DNA testing sites look like?

Consumer reaction is crucial, too. But with testing companies charging $1,000 to $2,500 for genetic information that is sometimes incomplete, I suspect that most people who aren't both well-heeled and DNA-curious will wait until prices drop and physicians and regulators catch up.

"The recent explosion of genetic testing has blown the door off the old model of researchers testing one gene at a time and then taking it to the clinic," says W. Gregory Feero, senior adviser to the director of genomic medicine at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

"We now have to move much faster to make this information relevant and useful," he continues, adding that more effective oversight is required because the results of genetic tests are being interpreted "all over the map."

Feero was the lead author of a commentary in March issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association about the current state of genetic testing. The article's evocative title: "The Genome Gets Personal — Almost."

The catch up has begun. In just the past month, the effect of these new sites has been felt in two arenas that have been caught off-guard by the advent of commercial genetic tests for healthy individuals: Big Medicine (researchers and health-care providers) and the government.

The new wave of online sites has been led by 23andMe.com in California and DeCode Genetics' DeCodeMe.com in Iceland; both opened for business late last year. For $1,000, either will take your spit in a mail-in container, isolate your DNA, and through a secure website will tell you about attributes ranging from restless-leg syndrome to lactose intolerance. A third major company, Navigenics, began offering its more medically oriented service for $2,500 last month.

Days after Navigenics opened for business, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that protects Americans from having insurers and employers use their genetic information against them. The legislation had languished for more than a decade.

My sources on Capitol Hill say that the arrival of direct-to-consumer testing was one of the deciding factors in pushing forward the vote. (President Bush is expected to sign the legislation in the next few days.)

Regulators are also stirring. Last week, an advisory committee at the Department of Health and Human Services called for tighter regulation of consumer genetic tests, warning that they were often marketed with little scientific evidence of their usefulness to individuals.

The panel called for the Food and Drug Administration to require tough evaluation standards to prove the usefulness and validity of these tests, and for a mandatory registry of all laboratory tests.

"There are plenty of tests out on the market now that have essentially had no scrutiny of any type," Marc Williams, a member of the panel and the director of the Clinical Genetics Institute at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, told the Wall Street Journal.

Previous attempts by the F.D.A. and others to require more oversight have stalled. It's unlikely that much will be done in the waning days of the Bush administration, though Congress is considering two bills — one co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat running for president, and the other by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts).

In recent weeks, New York State health officials have written to at least six online genetic testing companies, warning them that it is illegal in their state to offer DNA tests without a physician’s approval. Violations could lead to fines and jail time.

No one has been charged with any violation. California officials are also investigating consumer complaints about online testing companies violating a similar law there.

"We welcome responsible regulation," said David Agus, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the cofounder of Navigenics. "There needs to be medical standards and a system for validating this information."

Feero agrees. "We have relatively little oversight for this information, which you're seeing for yourself with your heart attack results."

(He is referring to my conflicting results for heart attack risk from the three websites. One rated me as high risk, one as low risk, and the other as medium risk. "You should not be getting contradictory results like that," says Feero.)

Universities and medical groups are also taking steps to move into the new age of genomics, with initiatives to improve education for doctors and a flurry of articles and letters in medical and research journals.

Several major medical centers are developing their own tests vetted by scientists and physicians.

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, for instance, is developing a custom gene-testing array focused on about 10,000 genetic markers associated with diseases. This is different from "off the shelf" arrays used by retail testing services that do not cover many genetic markers associated with disease.

In New Jersey, meanwhile, the nonprofit Coriell Institute for Medical Research is developing a service that will test for a slate of validated genetic markers, and provide free — yes, free — information and analysis for common diseases. The institute plans to sign up 10,000 people in the next two years, and eventually enlist 100,000 people.

The big medical testing companies are also finding a market for offering traditional physician-ordered tests for genetic markers. Quest Diagnostics, for instance, earns $1 billion a year from molecular diagnostic testing, which includes dozens of DNA tests.

DNA Direct has another model, combining some aspects of traditional medical testing with an online service and products ordered over the internet. DNA Direct offers a range of individual, doctor-approved tests that are ordered one at a time, usually when one's family history suggests a test is needed.

Over the next year or two, we are likely to see a mini-version of the dot-com shakeout occur in genetic testing. This is a moment when experimentation with business models will be as varied and edgy as the science itself, which also will continue to rapidly improve the quality of DNA testing and analysis.

But make no mistake: The long-anticipated age of personalized genomics has arrived — perhaps in fits and starts, but it's here. And it will change not only the practice of medicine and how we take care of ourselves, but also may change how we view our health and who we are.

Some of this material for this series is taken from Experimental Man: What One Man's Body Tells Us about His Destiny, Our Health, and Our Toxic World, by David Ewing Duncan, due out in Oct. 2008.

The Pentagon has quietly been working on a new arsenal of advanced weaponry that replaces metal casings with "reactive materials," normally harmless matter that combines to release explosive amounts of energy on impact, tearing targets apart with violent fury.

In development for more than 30 years, the research is beginning to bear fruit, and may soon spawn more powerful bombs, warheads that tear apart stone and concrete, mines that can be set to stun or kill, and grenades that can swat rockets or mortar rounds out of the sky like flies.

"You can get effects that are more precisely tailored to a particular target," says John Pike, director of Washington military research group GlobalSecurity.org. "And you're able to get a greater effect out of a smaller munition."

Reactive materials are combinations of materials that are normally stable, but, when subjected to sudden shock -- such as striking a target -- release a large amount of energy. Depending on the composition and warhead design, the energy can be released as heat, a blast or a combination of the two. Unlike conventional explosives, RMs cannot be set off by fuses. Technically, they are classified as flammable solids, and they are less hazardous to transport and store than explosives.

While they're more energetic than explosives, RMs are not intended to be a substitute. Instead, they will replace warhead components normally made of metal.

An analysis of U.S. military procurement papers and defense contractor presentations, as well as interviews with companies working on the technology, suggests that a wave of munitions using reactive materials may be headed for a battlefield near you.

The material can dramatically magnify the yield of conventional bombs, and do away with the waste embodied by a bomb's inert metal skin. The U.S. Air Force's 5,000 BLU-122 bunker buster, for example, contains just 780 pounds of explosives; the other 80 percent is the bomb's thick steel casing. DARPA's Reactive Munition program (.doc) aims to replace that steel with RMs, to create a bomb with a blast four times as powerful. Alternatively, a new bomb could be half the size of existing weapons but twice as powerful.

Conventional warheads could also benefit from an RM makeover. For centuries, shells have blasted out steel shrapnel, small pieces of metal that cause damage with their high speed. Defense contractor Alliant Techsystems is developing a warhead called BattleAxe for the Air Force that uses fragments made of RM instead of metal. Those fragments will explode on impact, making the warhead far more effective against soft targets like trucks.

A radar-guided defense pod can automatically engage incoming rockets or other threats using RM-based grenades. Weapons designers suggest that RMs can be five to ten times as effective as the existing inert shrapnel for this task. Moreover, RM shrapnel can be engineered to burn out at a set distance, so there is no hazard to nearby friendly forces.

Bullets can even be made of RM. The Navy's new electromagnetic railgun has been criticized because it can only fire solid slugs, not the usual explosive shells. However, documents reveal that tungsten-based RM rounds are being developed for the weapon. These will explode on impact, making the railgun effective against buildings, ships and vehicles.

Shaped charges are another application where RMs can increase the effectiveness of existing designs. In a shaped charge, a hollow metal cone is surrounded by explosive material, which is then detonated, forcing the blast through the small end of the cone.

"The action is analogous to stamping on an open toothpaste tube, ejecting the liquid contents," says Douglas Millard of British defense contractors QinetiQ.

Replace the metal liner with RM, and the explosive power of that jet will increase dramatically.

"Such reactions are highly exothermic and therefore lead to the release of large amounts of energy, which is in addition to the kinetic energy within the jet," Millard says. "An increase in the energy coupled into the target occurs and this results in the creation of greater damage to the target."

QinetiQ is marketing an RM-based shaped charge called Connex for oil-well perforation in the civil market. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army is developing a demolition charge called Bam Bam that blasts a jet of RM deep into stone or concrete, producing massive damage

One version of the Bam Bam charge is intended for demolishing bridges and other structures. An alternative version blasts broader, shallower craters in roads or runways, making them useless.

RMs will also transform another mutation called the Explosively Formed Penetrator, a modified version of the shaped charge. Instead of producing a narrow, short-range jet, the Penetrator fires an aerodynamic slug of metal over a long distance. It's best known as a favored weapon of insurgents in Iraq. Again, replacing the metal with RM makes a much deadlier weapon -- after punching through armor, the slug releases energy like a grenade going off.

If you're a weapons designer, RMs also offer amazing flexibility. Alliant Techsystems is building a variable landmine (.pps) -- a so-called "dial-a-yield" weapon that can produce a range of different effects.

At the lowest setting, most of the output would be light -- a dazzling warning that would be impossible to miss. A higher setting would produce intense heat, creating a "discomfort zone" to drive off intruders. The third setting produces a nonlethal blast, like the concussion stun grenades used by Special Forces. If lethal force is called for, the mine could be set to produce either inert shrapnel or reactive shrapnel that explodes on impact.

RM munitions may face legal challenges. Under the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868, the use of explosive projectiles with a weight of less than 400 grams is forbidden, as is using incendiary ammunition, like napalm, against personnel. But RMs are not technically explosive or incendiary, and although the effect on human targets might cause protests from some groups, they are likely to be accepted, human rights experts say.

"Like any weapon, it would have to go through a lengthy effectiveness and then legal review, " says Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. "If used in the open against military targets, it does not seem to have any obvious problems at first blush."

However, there may be technology issues too. Although the developers sound very upbeat in all their descriptions of RM munitions, producing material that will reliably release energy only when required is extremely challenging.

"The fact that they've been working on it so long and don't seem to have fielded anything yet suggests that there may be a problem with the technology," GlobalSecurity's Pike says.

Normally new weapons are fielded rapidly if there is a military demand -- assuming they work. So far, RMs have not made it into the field, and the technology may not be as mature as developers suggest.

But Pike also notes that there has been an unprecedented surge in munitions development over the last few years, with "all kinds of weird stuff" being developed.

So after decades of being kept very quiet, reactive materials may soon be making a lot of noise.

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For one of its latest advertising campaigns, T-Mobile enlisted a creative team that it believed would best reach its young, peer-influenced customers — its users.

"With so many ways for companies to reach them, they're almost overloaded," said Melinda McCrocklin, T-Mobile's advertising manager. "We want to make sure our message breaks through."

So McCrocklin and her team in Bellevue, Washington, created a contest that invites customers to build 30-second spots using graphics, music, and footage of basketball stars Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade that T-Mobile provided on its site. The lure? A promise to broadcast the winning short during the current N.B.A. playoffs.

"We look at this as getting another creative idea," McCrocklin said. "And if something's there, we'll explore."

While the holy grail of advertising has long been thought to be data targeting—finding the right ad for the right viewer—some brands are literally handing the reins to customers, letting viewers create their own ad messages, or even pick the spots they want to watch.

Not surprisingly, two emerging TV networks, one on cable and one on the Web, are pioneering this ad trend.

Current TV, Al Gore's youth-oriented cable network launched viewer-created advertising messages, or VCAMs, as soon as the channel went live in August 2005. They give viewers the opportunity to help create the ad message served to them.

Then NBC Universal and News Corp. joined forces to build Hulu.com, which streams top shows like Heroes and Medium, as well as more shelf-worn movies like Mulholland Drive, to viewers for free. It went live last month and soon plans to let viewers pick the ads they watch from a pool offered by a single brand: say, a car company or cosmetics giant.

Jean-Paul Colaco, senior vice president of advertising with Hulu.com, said that a major car company will be the first to test the waters. He declined to name the sponsor.

"Users will define the advertising experience they want," Colaco said. "If you increase the amount of choice, [brands] can get direct feedback on the ads and know within the first two days if it's successful."

Hulu declined to elaborate on what it charges its clients for this new service. But it seems safe to assume that advertisers are being asked to pay a premium for this kind of targeted result — particularly since it can take 12 to 16 weeks to create the user-driven contest and get it on the air.

Current TV marketing executive Joshua Katz said that clients who want to run a VCAM on his channel "have to bring a certain amount of money to us."

Since YouTube's skyrocketing success, it's easy to find young, Web-savvy users willing to make short clips they hope their peers will laud. The difference with VCAMs is that the shorts are ads that brands usually have to pay a lot to create.

As technology advances in practically every other aspect of human life, the tools for surviving nature and its disasters remain relatively primitive. Is a Leatherman the best we can do? The problem is that good gear needs to be practical, safe and portable which doesn't leave much room for robotic mountain-climbing exoskeletons.

We've compiled the most promising and innovative solutions we could find to common survival problems. Some are just concepts and others are already available. We might not trust our lives with all of these designs, but at least they're a step in the right direction.

Left: The Cocoon is a short-term shelter made of durable insulating material that hangs off a tree (or any stable structure). In theory, getting the user off the ground seems safer, but it's still pretty vulnerable. Sure, you wouldn't be prey to wild animals, but the wind could swing you against the holding structure like a piñata and making a hasty exit from the cocoon seems unlikely.

Plus, the fact that it resembles a bear punching bag, Satan's distended testicle or an alien rejuvenation pod doesn't inspire much confidence.

The Adamant is an earthquake-resistant bed with an extra-strong carbon-fiber roof that can be pulled closed like the top of a convertible. It features two fluorescent lamps, an emergency beacon and a storage area for radios and food.

We like the fact that it uses the bed as a primary safeguard since most people spend close to 40 percent of their time there. Also, the slope of the roof conducts debris downwards. But we're worried that the cave-like housing could become a trap. And, if it's flipped over, the door latch or wooden side panels could pop.

Designers: Erdem Batirbek, Gonca Onusluel and Yigit Karatoka (Izmir University of Economics, Turkey)

The Bedu Emergency Rapid Response Kit is a keg-sized drum full of durable life-saving gear. It's built to support eight adults for up to five years and it includes a water-filtration system, medicine and tool kits, a multi-fuel stove, a radio and a hand-crank generator with a photovoltaic battery pack and a strip-cell blanket. Not only that, but the skeleton of the barrel can be used to create a shelter.

We see a few potential problems. If you need to change locations, how do you put it back together quickly? And there are also too many small parts to keep track of in the middle of a crisis: "Here comes a little wind and … it's gone. Thanks a lot Dad. Look at it roll over there. We could have gotten one of those weird cocoon testicles. Now we're dead."

The Urban Skiff looks like a body bag until you unfold it into your own personal get-out-of-dodge transport. While the unprepared (read: suckers) are hiking through arduous undergrowth, you're clocking miles down the river.

The boat assembles easily and includes an inflatable hub with a base skeleton made out of carbonite. At first glance, it seems that the backside of the boat is missing, but the hull is designed so that the back lifts out of the water.

The only problems we can see are that it's likely heavy and cumbersome out of the water and that it's probably too flimsy for prolonged sailing.

Use some elbow grease to crank this baby's power up and watch it last forever. The Grundig Eton Radio includes AM/FM and weather-band frequencies, a two-way walkie-talkie channel, a flashlight, a siren, a beacon light and a cellphone charger. It's also incredibly tough -- no need to worry if it gets banged around in the chaos of an emergency. It's also fairly cheap at only $150. Just make sure you can find it when you need it -- don't let it become a relic in the back of the garage.

If you and your buddies like to travel long distances on icy terrain, there's a good chance someone will end up hurt. This inflatable sled functions as a gurney or a rest buggy, allowing you to transport anyone injured to safety. Perhaps the best thing about the Firun is that you can carry it on your back and it's lighter than a baby's conscience.

Traveling to developing nations and disaster zones just got a lot easier. The remarkable Life Saver bottle has an affordable, portable carbon filter that can block any virus larger than 15 nanometers. What's more, it can go through more than 1,500 gallons of water before the filter needs to be replaced. The bacteria and virus retention rate is 99.99 percent effective -- it's so thorough that it's even supposed to clean up (gulp) fecal matter.

The bottle was inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when visiting businessman Michael Pritchard found that thousands of survivors couldn't access clean water. The only drawback seems to be that it doesn't work in freezing temperatures.

Industrial designer Brad Knewstubb drew on his experience with the harsh winters of his native New Zealand to create the Hydran Turbine. The device melts snow to produce up to 750 milliliters of drinking water per hour -- more than enough for a long expedition. It works by drawing snow up a steel pole speared into the ice and uses the electricity generated to thaw the ice.

Built with the flood-damaged communities of sub-Saharan Africa in mind, the water shelter is basically a high-tech tent that configures in ingenious ways to adapt to a wide range of conditions. It can connect with other shelters to form an impromptu community and can be expanded with locally available materials, like grass and sticks. It can even grow into a permanent shelter with the benefit of a water-collection-filtration system on top of the canopy.

The shelters are designed to be airdropped and open like umbrellas while drifting down. Unfortunately their design while airborne is a bit ominous.

With this solar cooker, you no longer have to burn your fingers pretending to be a caveman. The BCK resembles a Thermos but includes a solar shield that reflects the sun's rays into its center, which can build heat up to 90 degrees Celsius. Foods cook at a constant temperature and about as fast as on a conventional stove. Of course, you can also sterilize water in the cooker.

The disadvantage is that the conical shield must be focused often to follow the sun. Plus it can cause burns and potentially blind you if not used correctly. Oh, and if it's cloudy, you might actually have to build a fire.

The Microfix 406 is a small and light personal locator beacon that also works as an internal GPS. With a 406-MHz transmission that signals satellites in outer space when the ACR is triggered, the beacon will accurately identify a user within a mile of his or her location, as well as match the person’s name, address and medical info. From there, a homing signal will direct a rescue crew to the exact location of the hopefully still-living user.

The ACR is oil-, water- and UV-resistant, and should only be used as a last-resort, grave-danger gadget. Some people have a very minimal threshold for danger and might send out a distress call prematurely. An exhaustive overuse by would-be adventurers could lead to a Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario where rescue crews are hesitant to answer distress signals.

This all-you-can-use disaster-reconnaissance kit is all about flexibility. Campa USA will customize their impressive steel trailers for your Mad Max vehicle with every survival tool you need.

Water purification system, propane bottle and a Honda portable generator? Check. Full ammo boxes, one satellite communication system and a beautifully tapered oak kitchen? Check, check, check.

Swedish City Gears Up For Virgin Galactic Spaceport One of Richard Branson's spaceports is to be planted 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The Swedish city that lands the port aspires to become the hottest destination in space travel.

Deal With Your Mild Autism Asperger's syndrome has become the affliction du jour for geeks of all stripes. Known more commonly as mild autism, here are some tips for dealing with its symptoms, should you find yourself so stricken.

State Dept. Apologizes to Obama for Passport Snooping Calling it an unauthorized breach of his privacy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls Barack Obama and apologizes after three State Department contractors are caught looking through the Democratic presidential candidate's passport file.

Sony Home Theater PC Swaps Substance For Style The Sony VGX-TP25E home theater PC is gorgeous, expensive and overblown. The obvious splurges in some aspects only highlighted other shortcomings.


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