[pedonbio]

I would like the nominate something so common most of us don't even realize how amazing it is. The tire.

solvegas, we're both old enough to also appreciate the scores of engineering details about cars generally that have changed. My first car, a 1954 Plymouth, didn't have seat belts until I installed them. I tinkered with the engine until it got up to a spectacular 22 MPG. Of course it didn't have such luxuries as a windshield washer or air bags, because they didn't exist...

[tommyboyddd]

I would like the nominate something so common most of us don't even realize how amazing it is. The tire. Yup, that which we have on our automobiles, buses, trucks, aircraft , etc. I recently went to Discount Tire to replace some original equipment tires on my Chevy with 81,000 miles ( 131,000 km ). They were 4 years, 4 months old and mostly driven in southern Nevada where a cool day is 85 degrees farenheit. In summer we will be routinely above 100 farenheit or about 40+ celsious from now till late September. And that is ambient air heat. The temperature where the road asphalt / concrete is much higher. Yet the set of Bridgestones never gave me any trouble even though sometimes the road was not smooth, paralell parking could be sometimes rough when the tire hit/scraped the curb, car washes, unexpected road debris . etc. etc. The engineering and science involved to make something which is routinely abused in normal situations in ungodly terrain is really quite amazing. I got a new set of Pirellis and after taxes, installation, waste disposal fees, etc, etc it only cost me $520.00 for a set of four. Not bad, says I. They are warranted for 85,000 miles and Discount Tire will repair, replace, rotate and keep inflated for free as long as I own the vehicle. Since I own a car for at least 10 years, it's a pretty good deal. So if you think about it, tires are a Modern Marvel. 

I wonder if it's the tire that's really the marvel, or synthetic rubber.

[rtpoe]

^ Either way, it's a marvel!

[solvegas]

Now I will nominate something that awes me and that is the electron microscope. Invented by IBM back in the 70's ( 78, I believe. on top of my head ) it allowed scientist and engineers to see at the molecular level. Now it is quite common ( if you have bookoo bucks ) and scientists can now manipulate individual atoms. That is staggering to my way of thinking. 

[solvegas]

solvegas, we're both old enough to also appreciate the scores of engineering details about cars generally that have changed. My first car, a 1954 Plymouth, didn't have seat belts until I installed them. I tinkered with the engine until it got up to a spectacular 22 MPG. Of course it didn't have such luxuries as a windshield washer or air bags, because they didn't exist...

REALLY ?! What a small world. When I was very young, the first car I remembered was my dad's 54 Plymouth and the one thing I do remember so well was the hood ornament of a yankee clipper ship which seemed to be going 200 MPH. It was brown and it seemed like such a huge barge when trying to get inside of it. My father replaced it with a 64 Malibu with 3 on the post and a 225 cu/in inline 6. No power steering, brakes or air conditioning ( even though it had great side vents  ) He then traded it for a 68 Dodge Coronet station wagon with real fake wood sides. But this was the first car we had that had power brakes, power steering, AM/FM radio  and .... AIR CONDITIONING !!  . Which is why I think I will also nominate Air Conditioning / Refrigeration for the next Modern Marvel. Without it Nevada would have remained uninhabitable wasteland good only for testing nuclear weapons. 

[tommyboyddd]

Now I will nominate something that awes me and that is the electron microscope. Invented by IBM back in the 70's ( 78, I believe. on top of my head ) it allowed scientist and engineers to see at the molecular level. Now it is quite common ( if you have bookoo bucks ) and scientists can now manipulate individual atoms. That is staggering to my way of thinking. 

A good choice, but the electron microscope was developed in the 1930s:  http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1986/ruska-autobio.html

[solvegas]

Interesting. I stand corrected.

[tommyboyddd]

The scanning tunneling microscope was developed in 1981:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope

That's probably what you were thinking of.

[solvegas]

The scanning tunneling microscope was developed in 1981:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope

That's probably what you were thinking of.

Yes. Thanks for giving me a lifesaver. I sometimes confuse my info and get my own head handed to me. You were gracious when you could have humiliated me.

[Klcarsite]

Some recent inventions I think are nifty:

The Blackest Black: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090630082647.htm (Let us see much farther and more particularly into space, among other things)
Optical Transistor: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110330094149.htm (Optical computing, here we come)
Gene therapies in all their glory.

[tommyboyddd]

Yes. Thanks for giving me a lifesaver. I sometimes confuse my info and get my own head handed to me. You were gracious when you could have humiliated me.

Heh, no worries, man.  I think even if I had tried doing that, it would have come off something like this:

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/pingpong-somehow-elicits-macho-posturing,158/

Except replace "Ping-Pong" with "A bit of knowledge about electron microscopes."

[luvdemwhoppers]

Now I will nominate something that awes me and that is the electron microscope. Invented by IBM back in the 70's ( 78, I believe. on top of my head ) it allowed scientist and engineers to see at the molecular level. Now it is quite common ( if you have bookoo bucks ) and scientists can now manipulate individual atoms. That is staggering to my way of thinking. 

+1 , the detail is well, beYond belief. tks for your contrib.

[pedonbio]

+1 , the detail is well, beYond belief. tks for your contrib.

Indeed! I loved that picture of the carbon nano-tube!

[luvdemwhoppers]

bak to tires, Commercial Aircraft tires are inflated with nitrogen, and depending on how many "cycles" have to be replaced after in general after 100 landings. That being sed, one three or five Hard landing can reduce that # significantly. each 1 3k, 5k depending on 727 or AB 380. dat be some serious jak for rubber.

[prinz]

That I can sit at my computer and download photo's from the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn..   Here's a shot of the polar region of the Moon Enceladus with water geysers!