Marvels of science, or maybe not

NECESSITY is the mother of invention, according to the old proverb, and one of the more pleasant aspects of the world's focus on combating climate change and its impacts is the explosion of inventive creativity it has inspired. Of course, not every idea is a good one, and even good ideas have a very slim chance of becoming practical, so just like panning for gold, a huge volume of dirt has to be sifted to find the few rare nuggets of value, the ideas that really do have a chance to change the world.

Failure is an important part of the process, which is why even outlandish ideas are worth taking a look at; they inspire new, better ideas and can help to improve existing ones. And if nothing else, they do make for some entertaining reading. For today's column, I've picked out a couple of examples — among literally hundreds that find their way into my email inbox or news feed — that seem to have some significance, although they may not all be useful in the way their creators envision them.