"The Finnish invention would use long, positively-charged tethers to ride the solar wind, without the need for any sort of fuel or propellant."

"Two solar panels would power an electron gun that keeps the spacecraft tethers charged, creating propulsion from the similarly charged solar wind pushing against the sail. Researchers are looking into aluminum or copper alloy wires for the tethers."

The current plan is to test this rig using 5 mile long tethers in high Earth Orbit. The test will determine the force of the solar wind. The plan for this Finnish solar sail is to use a 'turbo' mechanism that increases the thrust of the sails. The turbo will use radio frequency electron heating to heat the solar wind particles. This is a theoretical idea at the moment.

If successful, the solar sail idea would provide a less expensive alternative for moving material around the solar system.

I found this video on Educated Earth. It is from an Australian TV show. They present two different ideas for air driven engines. The first is a V4 engine modified to run on compressed air. The second air engine is worth seeing. It'

Alfie Carrington, from Michigan, has built a flying machine in his garage (he hopes). The machine has a rotary engine that will stimulate two discs for a magnetic levitation system. Somehow those discs power propeller blades. It seems more like a cool hovercraft to me, but I don't know very much about things like this. Alfie hopes to get this thing off the ground in 8 months or so. Aeronautical engineers claim that the centrifugal force of the discs are more likely to tear the thing apart than create lift.

I read this interesting piece about the physics of the movie, Buckaroo Bonzai. Carl Sneider of Berkley speaks authoritatively about the subject of the Theoretical Physics involved in the movie, and how such things may actually be possible. Namely the physics involved in faster than light travel in Buckaroo Bonzai are an Oscilation-Overthruster and the 8th dimension. The article provides more information about both ideas and is well worth reading.