THE

50 BEST INVENTIONS

OF THE YEAR

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60 CENTIMETERS (THE LENGTH OF A SHIRT)

I

The 28-year-old German biologist and fashion

designer Anke Domaske creates clothes using a material made fiom sour milk, from which she extracts protein fibers that are spun into yarn. The result is a flexible fabric called QMilch that feels similar to silk. Domaske was !nspired to create a material for people with textile allergies after seeing her stepdad, who suffered from a blood cancer, react badly to various

fabrics. qMilch takes about an hour to make,

and its production doesn't require any pesticides or chemicals. A dress or shirt can be made from roughly 6 L of milk. The line ranges from S2OO to $27O, making for green fashion

that's gentle on the environment-and

shoppers'wallets too,

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T'}{E FIREEXTINGUISF{ER
1&/AND
70 CENTIMETERS I Enflama extinguloso.l Though it's been described as a magic wand, the integral part of this device is an electrode designed to weaken and even eliminate flames. "lt does not do magic. says Ludovico Cademaftiri of Harvard's Whitesides Research Group, its developer. lt does, however, create an electric field, which produces a flow of charged particles that can subdue a flame. lt could limit the damage caused not only by a fire but also by the water used to extinguish it.

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Photograph by Yannick Tylle