Tokyo's new 2,080-foot Sky Tree, the world's tallest broadcast tower, is projected to draw 32 million visitors a year. But tourists won't see one of its most striking features - a design intended to survive severe earthquakes and catastrophic winds.

Some engineers just can't wait until they graduate to start innovating. Here's one recent example: After watching a man with a speech impairment struggle to make a supermarket cashier understand him, three Ukrainian computer science students designed gloves fitted with 15 sensors that can understand the hand and finger gestures used in sign language.

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