Rollhaus eventually scrapped the cumbersome water bumper -- which only worked for collisions up to 20mph -- in favor of cushioning stationary objects like lane dividers.

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After graduating he worked briefly for the North Wales water authority and from 1985 to 1986 he worked as a sub-sea engineer and diver for British Underwater Engineering based in London, spending a lot of time off-shore.

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He trained as a civil engineer and worked at the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water-resource management.

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Cosgrove and his team worked on altering the stickiness of regular gum by changing its water-repellent qualities, encouraging water to form a layer around the substance so that it could be more easily removed from most surfaces.

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He has also worked on wave-powered dynamo which he claimed could produce enough energy to pump and collect water for hydroelectric turbine.

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By some accounts, the session on water anchored by Rohini Nilekani, wife of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, whose non-profit has worked in that area, was among the more interesting.

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