Public Safety & OSHA
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Background: A type of fish called the clownfish can live within the stinging tentacles of an anemone (Figure 1). Thanks to an ancient non-aggression pact, the tentacles don’t sting the clownfish. However, they do sting other animals! This is perhaps nature’s first multi-species automated home security system. Proposal: This all-natural system can be adapted to…
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The Issue: Climbing the world’s tallest mountain peaks can be hazardous for several reasons: a person could be blown off the mountain by gale-force winds, get frozen, or die due to insufficient oxygen in the low-atmospheric-pressure “death zone”—and this is before even considering the danger from disease, avalanches, other humans, and high-altitude cryptids such as…
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Background: Architects normally design homes and offices primarily to suit the needs of their occupants. The issue: Unfortunately, an easy-to-navigate floor plan is also easy for burglars to navigate! Proposal: Luckily, we don’t have to make any architectural changes to fix this problem—by adding a few strategic (and cheap!) furnishings, a house can become MUCH…
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Background: When sleeping outdoors, humans often enjoy sleeping inside an insulated sleeping bag (Figure 1), rather than directly on the ground. Fig. 1: A basic sleeping bag—now obsolete, thanks to advances in science! The issue: The problem here is that, to a gigantic man-eating carnivorous animal, the sleeping bag is just an inedible wrapping surrounding…
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Background: Residential homes are often protected from burglary by locked doors and locked windows (Figure 1), and occasionally by more substantial measures such as barred windows (Figure 2). The issue: However, none of that helps once an intruder breaches the perimeter of the home: once they’re inside, they are free to loot at their leisure—an…
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Background: Most kitchens contain a countertop and overhead cabinets. The doors on these cabinets generally swing open. The issue: An unlucky individual may stand up underneath one of these open cabinet doors and injure themselves on the edge. Although this situation may seem unlikely, it can arise when a person bends over to pick up…
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Background: There are many phone apps that provide neighborhood-focused local news updates in real time (e.g. “Nextdoor” and “Citizen”). This can make a person aware of every single burglary, car accident, “suspicious dog,” and other strange happening that may occur in their general vicinity. The issue: While this information can be useful, it often leads…
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Background: During the times of the COVID-plague, it has been recommended that people maintain “social distancing”—keeping apart by approximately six feet. The issue: Unfortunately, this advice is difficult to follow in many situations, for example, on public transit, in an elevator, etc. Proposal: This snake-based “sssssssssocial distancing” plan involves training a territorial species of snake…
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Background: It is well known that washing hands for a surprisingly long time (30 seconds!) substantially reduces microbial contamination (Figure W1). The issue: Unfortunately, people generally feel, psychologically speaking, that their hands are clean immediately upon rinsing them with even the slightest hint of water. The challenge, therefore, is to encourage people to wash…
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The issue: In large cities, there are many perils for pedestrians: cars, bicycles, motorcycles, horses, etc. Even the sidewalk is not a safe zone from scooters and bicycles! At night, the problems are even worse, since pedestrians are generally un-illuminated and are frequently wearing all-black coats in the winter months. Proposal: Since many commuters carry…
WorstPlans: updated every Monday since July 2014! 