Five cool new inventions designed to make your life better

Every year, Time magazine does an annual round up of best inventions from around the world that promise to make us smarter, safer, healthier and, sometimes, a little more fun.

We’ve handpicked five of these inventions that could make your life better in some way, which is your favourite?

1. Doppler Labs Here Active Listening EarBuds

Don’t you hate it when you’re at a party or event and the music, chatter and clanking of dishes makes conversation impossible? These ear-buds could be the answer to “cocktail party syndrome” because they allow the user to choose which sounds to block out and which to amplify. The earbuds are linked to your smartphone, allowing you to “tune in” to what you want to hear and block out the rest. 

2. The Transparent Truck

Being stuck behind a truck on a two-lane highway can be treacherous, especially when you’re trying to overtake. To tackle this, Samsung teamed up with Leo Burnett advertising agency to create the “transparent truck” (pictured above, main image) which relays footage from the front of the truck to the back panels, allowing you to see what’s ahead. Trials are underway to see whether this will improve road safety, and it’s looking promising.

3. The Ocean Cleanup Project

If the thought of an ocean choking with plastic worries you, rest assured that someone is working on foxing the problem. The Ocean Cleanup Project is a floating boom designed to catch plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and other polluted gyres while letting fish swim free.

4. TZOA Environmental Tracker

Do you suffer from hayfever or another respiratory illness? This personal pollution detector can be used to test the air around you to help you avoid pollen, pollution, smoke or whatever else sets you off.

5. Artiphon Instrument

Apparently 70 per cent of adults would like to learn a musical instrument, but only five per cent actually do so. The Artiphon is a musical instrument that anyone can master; it can be tapped like a keyboard or strummed like a guitar, even bowed like a violin – or you can mix and match.

See the full list of Time’s 25 best inventions here.

Which of these could you use? What do you think is the best invention of your time?