As winter comes, hands can easily get cold. Thick gloves might be a good choice. But sometimes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something with their hands. However, cold hands were not a problem for ancient Chinese. They had a lovely tool to keep their hands warm—handwarmers.   

There is no exact written record of this invention, but there are some stories about it. One folk story is about Emperor Yangdi from the Sui Dynasty（朝代）who visited Jiangsu in the winter. Because of the cold weather, the local officer asked workers to make a small warmer for the emperor that could be held in his hands. And the handwarmer was created. By the Song Dynasty, the tool had been widely used in China. Skills for producing the tool were greatly improved in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Many poems or books from the Qing Dynasty recorded people using handwamers. Take the Dream of the Red Chamber the classic novel by Cao Xueqin as an example. It described a maid（女仆）sent a handwarmer to Lin Daiyu in one chapter.

Made of bronze（铜）or ceramics（陶瓷）, ancient handwarmners came in different designs. Round（八角形的）shapes were typical, with some fashioned to look like pumpkins and flowers.

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Are you still worried about how to get your phone charged (充电)? Now, a 19-year-old teenager can help you solve this problem. He has invented a phone charger which uses energy from your own body to charge your phone.

Hand Energy, the wonderful invention by the inventor Michael Vaga, allows you to charge your phone simply by shaking your hand, which starts the charger’s gyroscope (陀螺仪) to produce electricity. And the electricity can then either be stored or used to charge a phone immediately (立即).

He said, “With each rotation (旋转) of your hand, the gyroscope’s speed increases quickly and produces more power. The average (平均的) speed of the gyroscope is about 5,000 rounds per minute. With this small charger, your physical energy can be turned into electrical energy and this means you can charge your phone.”

Hand Energy can help you produce endless electricity. You can use it everywhere you want. It is especially useful to people who have to spend a long time in the wild. What’s more, it’s friendly to the environment and helps you exercise your wrists. It takes between 40 minutes and one hour to fully charge the batteries in Hand Energy.

The invention took Vaga a year to develop. Now, the inventor from Minsk, Belarus is ready to put it into production and send out the creative convenient chargers. It will be available with an expected price of 84 pounds.

Biking keeps you fit. It is a clean and green way to get to work it you live close enough. Also, it’s cheaper than driving a car.

Biking has so many advantages, but why aren’t there more bikers on city roads? According to a survey, the number one reason is the worry about road safety.

Sharing the road with cars can be dangerous. Omar Bakhshi experienced this when a car knocked him down, which had bad effects on his taste and smell for life. Bakhshi realized that what happened to him wasn’t unusual.

Because bikers often experience dangers with cars, Bakhshi set out to make roads safer to share. He started a company, Tether, to improve safety conditions for city bikers.

Tether’s invention is a smart sensor (传感器) that goes on a bike’s handlebars (把手). As the biker rides through the city, the invention makes a “safety zone (地带)” of lights onto the road. These lights will make cars pay attention to the rules of sharing the road. If cars get too close to the biker’s personal spaces, the lights will start flashing.

What makes Bakhshi’s invention different is its smart features (特点). Tether’s tool collects data (数据) from these biking accidents. The data is organized into a central database and can be used to choose which streets are safer for bikers.

Not only can bikers choose a better way to avoid heavy traffic by using the data, but Bakhshi plans to share the data with the government.

Walking, biking, driving and public transportation all have different advantages and disadvantages. When all road users can share the same level of safety knowledge, everyone can get where they need to go quickly and safely.