Solar powered water harvesters: which harnesses a temperature difference within the device to allow an adsorbent material — which collects liquid on its surface — to draw in moisture from the air at night and release it the next day. When the material is heated by sunlight, the difference in temperature between the heated top and the shaded underside makes the water release back out of the adsorbent material. The water then gets condensed on a collection plate. I think its cool because it can potentially be another source of water in places where water is hard to come by.

Portable DNA sequencers: It works by monitoring changes to an electrical current as nucleic acids are passed through a protein nanopore. The resulting signal is decoded to provide the specific DNA or RNA sequence. This opens in a new window. I think it's cool because it allows the sequencing of DNA to be carried out easily anywhere in the world.

Mind controlled prosthetics: It captures the brain signals, interprets them, translates them and transfers them as control signals to the device being used. I think its cool because it is getting closer to fully functionally artificial limbs.