Inventions You Had No Idea Bill Nye Came Up With

His work for the Mars Rovers utilizes a sundial which, as sundials tend to do, tracks time, but which also includes color panels that help the Rover calibrate its cameras. He also holds a patent for an educational tool, a magnifying glass created by filling a plastic bag with water. And while Nye doesn't look particularly athletic (despite competing on Dancing with the Stars), he holds another patent on a device that helps train athletes to throw a ball better. His digital abacus is actually a design patent, awarded in 1996.

As he told Fast Company magazine, his life has been like the lines on a parachute. "You see parachutes. Any one of those shroud lines is not enough, it just wouldn't do it. But somehow, if you have enough of them, they'll hold you up." He's benefitted. And so have the rest of us. Everybody say it, all together now: Science rules.

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