Environment

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Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is among a half-dozen Republicans who have proposed recent legislation to help working families. The legislation, however, is ignored by Democrats. (Sen. Tim Scott)

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This July 1, 2013 file photo smoke rises from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal burning power plant in in Colstrip, Mont. The Supreme Court on Monday placed limits on the sole Obama administration program already in place to deal with power plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming. The justices said that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority in some cases to force companies to evaluate ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This rule applies when a company needs a permit to expand facilities or build new ones that would increase overall pollution. Carbon dioxide is the chief gas linked to global warming. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

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18. SMOKE DETECTOR In the late 1930s, Swiss physicist Walter Jaeger tried to invent a sensor for poison gas. He expected that gas entering the sensor would bind to ionized air molecules and thereby alter an electric current in a circuit in the instrument. His device failed: small concentrations of gas had no effect on the sensor's conductivity. Frustrated, Jaeger lit a cigarette and was soon surprised to notice that a meter on the instrument had registered a drop in current. Smoke particles from his cigarette had apparently done what poison gas could not. Jaeger's experiment was one of the advances that paved the way for the modern smoke detector. The first truly affordable home smoke detector was invented by Duane D. Pearsall and Stanley Bennett Peterson in 1965, featuring an individual battery powered unit that could be easily installed and replaced.[6] These first units, dubbed "SmokeGuard 700," were made from strong fire resistant steel and shaped much like bee hives. The idea for mass production came from Peterson, working at Pearsallâ€™s company, Statitrol Corporation, in Lakewood, Colorado in 1975.

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13. MICROWAVE OVEN In 1945 the specific heating effect of a high-power microwave beam was accidentally discovered by Percy Spencer, an American self-taught engineer from Howland, Maine. Employed by Raytheon at the time he noticed that microwaves from an active radar set he was working on started to melt a candy bar he had in his pocket. The first food deliberately cooked with Spencer's microwave was popcorn, and the second was an egg, which exploded in the face of one of the experimenters. To verify his finding, Spencer created a high density electromagnetic field by feeding microwave power from a magnetron into a metal box from which it had no way to escape. When food was placed in the box with the microwave energy, the temperature of the food rose rapidly. On October 8, 1945, Raytheon filed a United States patent application for Spencer's microwave cooking process, and an oven that heated food using microwave energy from a magnetron was soon placed in a Boston restaurant for testing. The first time the public was able to use a microwave oven was in January 1947, when the Speedy Weeny vending machine was placed in Grand Central Terminal to dispense "sizzling delicious" hot dogs. Among those on the development team was robotics pioneer George Devol, who had spent the last part of the war developing radar countermeasures. A microwave oven is seen in 1977. (AP Photo)

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National Edition Opinion cover for June 20, 2014 - Drilling into Americans’ pockets (Illustration by Greg Groesch for The Washington Times)

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Gina Cavallaro of Alexandria, Va., talks with an insurance agent after a large tree branch damaged her car during last night's storm in the Belle View neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., Thursday, June 19, 2014. The violent midnight storm damaged homes, cars and left thousands without power. (Photo Rod Lamkey Jr.)

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A car remains crushed under pine trees in the aftermath of last night's storm in the Belle View neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., Thursday, June 19, 2014. The violent midnight storm damaged homes, cars and left thousands without power. (Photo Rod Lamkey Jr.)

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Gina Cavallaro of Alexandria, Va., talks with an insurance agent after a large tree branch damaged her car during last night's storm in the Belle View neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., Thursday, June 19, 2014. The violent midnight storm damaged homes, cars and left thousands without power. (Photo Rod Lamkey Jr.)

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Kat Pitsch walks her dog Arlo along Belle View Blvd., from her nearby home which is without power, in the aftermath of last night's storm in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, June 19, 2014. The violent midnight storm damaged homes, cars and left thousands without power. (Photo Rod Lamkey Jr.)

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Matt Marshall of Washington, D.C. and others work to wrap up a photographic art instillation created to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Photographer Michael Bonfigli, top, photographs a photographic art instillation to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Damian Cox of Germantown, Md. helps fold up a huge photograph as part of a photographic art instillation created to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Workers fold up a huge photograph as part of a photographic art instillation created to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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James Minks of Gaithersburg, Md. and others work to wrap up a photographic art instillation to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Matt Marshall of Washington, D.C. and others work to wrap up a photographic art instillation created to bring attention to immigration reform, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 18, 2014. The instillation is part of the Inside Out Project by photographer JR, which is a global participatory art project creating group actions on varied themes such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence, climate change, immigration reform and more. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)