Inventions change the world in which we live, usually for the better. Here are the top patents from the last few months and the inventions to watch out for in the future.

10. Microsoft mind reader

Microsoft's cunning plan to read data straight from people's brains... The patent application refers to a way of using EEG to monitor people's responses to new user interfaces. The problem, says Microsoft, is that asking them what they think of it interrupts the experience and waiting till later allows them to forget.

9. Wide-angled gigapixel satellite surveillance

A wide-angle camera that can photograph a 10-kilometre-square area from an altitude of 7.5 kilometres with a resolution better than 50 centimetres per pixel. Such a camera would be able to survey an entire city in one sweep. Would such a device be able to see female sunbathers?

8. Brain radiator

A thermal pipe implanted into the brain to carry heat away could reduce the chances of severe epileptic fits. This invention was designed for the small number of people who suffer very severe fits.

7. Vibrating Razor 2.0

Vibrating razors could cause less skin irritation if the vibrations move the razor head move back and forth over the skin rather than up and down, says electronics giant Philips.

6. The hibernation diet

Could changing our metabolism from glucose-burning to fat-burning help tackle obesity? The idea was triggered by a researcher's discovery that he could trigger a state of fat-burning hibernation in mice, which don't usually hibernate.