So imagine our surprise when we found out how many ridiculous subjects of countless hack comedy routines not only exist but are actually really useful. Like ...

Have you heard the one about the screen door on the submarine? Or nonstick duct tape? Really stupidly pointless or impossible inventions have been a comedy staple since, well, the first time somebody invented something that didn't work.

6 Powdered Water

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What You're Probably Thinking:

"Ha! Powdered water! What do you add to it?" Yes, this hilarious hypothetical invention has been included in classic joke email forwards about "Dumb Blonde Inventions," and the list itself probably predates the Internet by decades. It's right on there alongside the other ludicrous self-contradicting inventions, like the "solar-powered flashlight," "pedal-powered wheel chair" and the "helicopter ejection seat." LOL! Thanks for forwarding, Grandma!

Actually ...

It's totally a real thing. Powdered water is tiny droplets of water encapsulated in what's basically a grain of sand. It looks and feels dry, but it's actually 95 percent liquid.



"Refreshing!"

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Scientists are calling it "dry water" in a futile attempt to make it sound less ridiculous, but then they ruin it by saying something like, "Hopefully, we may see 'dry water' making waves in the future." But what exactly is this good for? We can't see a marathon runner throwing a pile of sand into his mouth in the middle of a race.

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Well, apparently, it's going to help stop global warning.

At least that's what the scientists are hoping, and it looks like they have good reason to: Dry water turns out to be pretty good at soaking up gases, making it the ideal candidate for research into ways to remove stuff like carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, dry water can store three times more CO2 than its separate components.