The Atlantic ranks "The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel." Was the moldboard plow really more important than cement? Me-ouch! We're not wading into this hornet's nest!

In an effort to simplify your morning routine, the inventors at Colgate-Palmolive have filed a patent for technology for regular toothbrushes containing chemicals that would slowly be released into your mouth as you brushed.

As a shared thoroughfare, the city sidewalk works best when its users maintain an acute awareness of their surroundings. This should involve recognition of fellow flaneurs, nearby vehicles, and the general pace of pedestrian traffic. There is an iffy yielding system. While it seems like organized chaos, there are rules to the side of the road.

Ladies, rejoice: Alexander Farennikov, a Los Angeles engineer and innovator of frivolous whimsies, has invented a bra dryer. "What is a bra dryer?" you ask. Well, it's basically a boob-shaped blow dryer, something you've always wanted.

Scott Adams is the guy who writes Dilbert, a cartoon beloved by suicidal office workers across America. Scott Adams is also, not to brag, the smartest person in America, judging simply by the quantity of thinly-veiled self-regard which drips off of each and every post on Scott Adams' blog, especially the rapey ones. Scott Adams' genius possesses such a breadth and girth that it often crowds everything else off the internet, forcing Scott Adams himself to take on the task of pointing out just how big of a genius Scott Adams is.

As part of Gawker's ongoing effort to keep readers apprised of innovation in the underwear supplement industry (fart-neutralizing undies, penis-enhancing undies, calorie-absorbing undies, sexy period undies) may I now present Camelflage, "the original visual privacy undergarment" for eliminating camel toe with a labia-obscuring insert.

Young Audri succeeds in inventing a "Rube Goldberg" machine to catch monsters. He also succeeds in making the rest of us feel very, very lazy and unaccomplished.

In the 1980s, 88-year-old California dreamer Bob Wallace invented Polar Pure: a plastic bottle that contains crystallized iodine at the bottom to purify water. Flood victims and campers love the things, but so do meth cooks (an outcome that Wallace probably should have anticipated).

Just as the world's fanciest coffee is made from the partially digested coffee beans plucked from a Filipino tree rodent's poop, the world's fanciest tea will soon be created from the dung of panda bears.

Everybody say hi to Qu8k ("quake"): An artisanal rocket made by Derek Deville that zoomed 121,000 feet above the surface of Planet Earth in only 92 seconds. Deville launched Qu8k on September 30 from Nevada's Black Rock Desert (the same spot where the Burning Man Festival of the One Percent takes place). The 14-foot rocket weighs 320 pounds, yet looks so skinny. Must be muscle mass.

Japanese toilet maker Toto has invented the world's first Toilet Bike, which converts human poop "harvested directly from the driver" into biogas, Treehugger reports.* The seat is a toilet, so if you ride it with your pants down, you could theoretically defecate while you ride, thereby fueling it.

Behold, the ne plus ultra of American innovation: Pizzametry, an automated machine capable of making custom pizzas in mere minutes, while you watch TV. Let us marvel at the pneumatic glory of Pizzametry spinning dough, slicing pepperonis, squirting sauce, and sprinkling cheese.

Fruit is so versatile: You can eat it straight from the store, eat it later, eat it baked in a pie or muffin, or not eat it at all—just let it rot away and feel guilty about wasting food (the fruit flies will console you). You can also use it to make your own Resistor Jeltone: an edible, functional toy piano.

Back in 2006, Ignacio Marc Asperas sent the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a 25-page application titled "Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman." Earlier this month the Office finally approved his application, and starting this winter Asperas will begin suing everyone who builds snowmen without his permission.

It's happened to every biker. A flat tire in an inconvenient place on your commute, and the nearest bike shop is a long walk away. Most casual bikers don't carry extra tubes or tools with them; and so any repair work on the road can mean an end to a bike ride, and potentially leaving your bike locked up somewhere slowly rusting as you forget about it in your frustration. That's why the idea of the Bike Fixtation is so brilliant: a place for you to buy new parts and then install them yourself.

A South Korean grocery chain has launched "virtual grocery stores" which let customers buy groceries simply by scanning a code on a poster in the subway. Because what could be a more appetizing place to purchase food than the subway?

Airbus has unveiled a "plane of the future," which will finally fulfill man's ultimate dream: To fly in a translucent bubble while also playing a golf video game and inhaling vitamin-laced air.

Welcome to the future, people. The U.S. Navy has perfected a high-energy laser that can be aimed from a ship and can set another boat's engines on fire. The military thinks it will be perfect to prevent attacks by smaller vessels, so pirates being zapped with lasers won't be something you'll just read about in comic books anymore.

Throughout history there have been countless attempts to discourage new technologies only to protect other people's self-interests. Below are some of the most suppressed inventions ever.

From the invention of the wheel to the rise of nuclear power stations, man has always attempted to harness the power of nature-sometimes resulting in disaster. Here are ten inventors whose own inventions ended up killing them.