A fellow called George Stevenson has invented a moving kettle... wants someone to help with the marketing.
- Edmund Blackadder, Blackadder III, by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton.

Inventions! Man just can't help fiddling round with even the most basic technologies in order to make them better. Neolithic man took flints and sharpened them to make cutting implements. Archimedes had his screw and George Stephenson took water and turned it into a mobile power source.

This week, we are asking you to look back into the past and forward into the future. Stretch your imagination and think about inventions and discoveries that inspire you. What would you like to have invented? What would you like to invent now? It doesn't have to be scientifically possible, just let your mind run riot!

• If you could go back in time and invent anything, what would you lay claim to?

• What is the greatest invention ever? Who is the greatest inventor?

• If you could invent anything, now what would it be?

• How about a gadget that would benefit a few and make your fortune?

• Or perhaps it would benefit the whole of mankind?

• Would you choose something to make life more fun?