Can-do attitude is 200 years old

The march of Western civilization and the prosperity of the United States have partly hinged on the quiet little object behind those boxes of pricey whole-grain rotini pasta on the third shelf of your cupboard. The object is cylindrical and silver and wrapped in a paper label. It is dusty. Its expiration date has passed.

Say hello to Bell’s Brantford

The text-messaging craze, cell phones and telemarketers can all be credited to -- or blamed -- on Alexander Graham Bell.

Newbury's invention yields more corn

Amid the 500 acres of corn, a 100-cow and calf herd, peacocks, horses and geese sits a John Deere combine-turned-corn picker. Owner and inventor David Newbury said his idea has led to a higher corn yield. "My cousin, Jim Newbury, had a 1965 model John Deere combine sitting on his property," Newbury said. "He told me if I could get it running I could have it."

Whatever will they think of next?

Throughout the ages there have been never- ending changes in technology, as older technology gives way to newer and as one invention makes another just part of history.

InventHelp Client Patents "Tool Safety Master" - Invention Could Provide a Safe and Hassle-Free Experience for Handymen

Pittsburgh-based InventHelp® attempts to submit clients' inventions to companies for review.

Bill Gates' favorite teacher

Sal Khan, you can count Bill Gates as your newest fan. Gates is a voracious consumer of online education. This past spring a colleague at his small think tank, bgC3, e-mailed him about the nonprofit khanacademy.org, a vast digital trove of free mini-lectures all narrated by Khan, an ebullient, articulate Harvard MBA and former hedge fund manager. Gates replied within minutes. "This guy is ...