The pair built the devices in the garage while Lucile used the kitchen stove to bake the paint on the surface of sheet-metal casings.

FORBES: Great Garages

These data will provide invaluable information about Antarctic atmospheric dynamics, of the origin of water vapour over the oceans and how it is ultimately deposited as snow on the surface of the ice sheet.

BBC: Viewpoint: The last great polar challenge

Dr Sheridon has come up with a so-called wand an electronic stick that can hold ten full-size books and also transfer text on to a sheet of Gyricon if a user runs the wand over the surface like a handheld scanner.

ECONOMIST: Showing off

Greenland's surface layer vaulted into the news in summer 2012 when higher than normal temperatures caused surface melting across about 97 percent of the ice sheet.

ENGADGET: NASA's GROVER eco-rover to examine Greenland's ice sheet (video)

For instance, when a product's aluminum surface is shrunk or bent, the amount of on-order aluminum sheet metal changes instantly.

FORBES: Easy Designer