Young Minds Build Up Impressive Inventory of Ideas

--The children of invention have a very practical outlook on the world, as shown by the 45 devices built by elementary and middle-school students on display in the nation’s capital. Consider Maurice Scales, 7, one of the finalists in the nationwide “Invent America” contest. “My sister’s fingers always got smashed in the door,” he said. So, the suburban Suitland, Md., boy developed a Plexiglas device that hangs on a door and ensures that it remains open a few inches. And then there’s Oliver Miao, 12, from Del Mar, Calif. “At night, I always see my mom fumble with her keys,” he said. Oliver’s invention, dubbed “Door Detector,” automatically turns on outdoor and inside lights when a door mat is stepped on. The lights remain on for one minute. The invention has another benefit. “A burglar will think there’s someone home, so he’ll just go away,” Oliver said. “Ideas are the engines of human history,” said Raymond Damadian, chairman of Fonar Corp., and one of 19 judges for the competition. “I can tell you that the young engines are stoked with fire.” The nine first-place inventions--one for each grade, kindergarten through eighth, will be on display throughout the summer at the Smithsonian Museum of National History. About 10,000 schools took part in this year’s inaugural contest, administered by the United States Patent Model Foundation in Washington.

--A Monaco palace official denied a report that Prince Rainier plans to remarry, nearly five years after his first wife, Princess Grace, was killed in a car crash. German-born society figure Princess Ira von Furstenberg will “absolutely not” wed the 64-year-old ruler of the tiny Mediterranean principality, a press spokeswoman said. A British newspaper Sunday quoted Furstenberg’s son, Christoff Hohenlohe, as saying the couple would marry. The princess also denied the report. “I reject the irresponsible declarations made by my son, Christoff von Hohenlohe, with whom I have for several years been forced painfully to sever all links,” the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Furstenberg as saying.

--A Kewanee, Ill., woman left her $12,000 estate to a favorite uncle--Uncle Sam--by way of the U.S. Treasury. Martha Workheiser, a neighbor for 27 years, said she believes she understands the bequest of Mary Kaufmann, 83, who died last Nov. 17. “She got supplemental Social Security and she said that’s the only people that ever helped her out, and why she was leaving everything to them,” Workheiser said.