Coolest Inventions 2004: Hot & Cold

BOILING POINT

Smokey Bear would love the Jetboil Personal Cooking System, which cuts the risk of forest fires by allowing campers to prepare soup, pasta, rice and beans--any single-pot dish--quickly and safely. How? The flame is contained within the Jetboil's patented Flux Ring, which channels the heat from a butane burner directly into the vessel. (Fuel canisters sold separately.) Bonus: a neoprene cover insulates the food while protecting campers' fingers from the heat.

INVENTORS Dwight Aspinwall, Perry Dowst

AVAILABILITY Now, $79.95

TO LEARN MORE jetboil.com

THE BIG CHILL

When ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's asked a Penn State scientist to build a freezer that won't contribute to global warming, the result was like a frat-house experiment gone right. The apparatus uses sound waves to compress and expand helium, which in turn chills a liquid cooling agent--in this case, vodka. Bizarre, but it works: the stainless-steel canister was used last April to cool pints of Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey at a New York City scoop shop.

INVENTOR Steven Garrett

AVAILABILITY Prototype only

TO LEARN MORE benjerry.com