SA Rocks

Can you hack it? South Africans really are everywhere and are movers and shakers.

I know this isn’t necessarily the most conventional or referenced source in the world, but Reader’s Digest recently published an article featuring inventions from around the world. South Africa actually featured. Think about it, there are alot of countries out there and many of them are far more “westernised” or “progressive” than South Africa, yet we feature fairly well.

Firstly – multi-layered multi-disk tablets (MLMDT) were invented by a South African. What they do is assist people who struggle to ingest medicine. You pop the tablet into your mouth and it will release the required dosage of medicine at the appropriate time and then “switch off”. When your next dose is required it will kick back on and release the medicine directly into your bloodstream via your mouth/cheek.

The Once-daily multi-unit system (ODMUS) is the other major product stemming from the same concept. Let’s have a bit of say from the Wits geniuses that invented the system:

The ODMUS has the potential to be used as a once-daily, multi-unit drug delivery product, incorporating multiple drugs, with the ability to deliver these drugs simultaneously. It may be formulated as a tablet matrix, capsules or wafer for site-specific delivery of more than one drug to the stomach and small intestine. For example, two anti-TB drugs can be combined with ease into one tablet or capsule which normally would interact deleteriously to reduce their bioavailabilities. This technology is also able to reduce the risk of side-effects and thereby encouraging patient compliance.

Secondly - The Mzanzi Keyboard allows you to pick your language when typing. Many users that are bi-lingual have the problem of locating letters or characters that don’t appear on English keyboards. This problem is solved with the Mzanzi Keyboard.

It offers you the option of Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Tswana and Venda all on one keyboard. Incredible stuff.

Third and last – The Whisper Boat produces no pollution with its hybrid electric motor and it is virtually silent. Who thinks this stuff up? I think that 2008 is the year to go green so this invention is right up my street I think.

The Whisper 580 was awarded the South African Boating award for 2007 and that’s really not surprising at all.
From the website:

The Whisper 580 is an extremely stable and very safe boat to enjoy our natural surroundings. The Whisper 580 is a NEW way to enjoy water lifestyle in South Africa -relaxation and serenity with the nature. Created as a nature friendly boat, the Whisper 580 can be propelled by a diesel engine, an electrical motor or even better a combined hybrid diesel/ electrical engine.

Watch the video:

Visit the site: http://www.whisperboats.co.za/

With a bit of research (and by that I mean googling) I discovere the WBBA – Whisper Boat Building Academy. Seems like a great initiative built (no pun intended) to help the community. Lovely.

Hopefully I can stumble across more great inventions like the ones above. I am sure they are out there, I just need to find them!

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