Some garden hoses leach lead and other chemicals into the water. The problem is that they are made of PVC, which uses lead as a stabilizer.

Consumer Reports tested 16 brands of garden hose sold at national chains and on the internet. In some hoses they measured 10 to 100 times more lead than the EPA considers safe coming out of a faucet. The hoses they found to be lead-free are: Swan Marine/Camper Hose, Teknor Apex Boat & Camper Self-Straightening Hose and the Better Homes and Gardens Kink-Free Hose.

We also like the Handi-Hose (pictured above) which is a compact flat hose, approved by the NSF and FDA for drinking water. It’s available from Amazon.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the QX5 digital microscope, costing only $89 and marketed to kids, is being used by scientists, doctors and researchers.

The microscope costs less than one-tenth of its professional-grade counterparts. Created by Digital Blue, the microscope comes with a powerful lens and can be used to send images over the internet. It connects to a computer running Windows using a USB port.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Andrew Westphal, an astrophysicist at the University of California at Berkeley, says he was recently able to examine some microscopic dust from outer space with the help of the RX5′s plastic lens. That is because a conventional microscope’s glass lens would have suffered from the hydrofluoric acid used to separate the particles from other elements. “Had it not been for the toy, we would have been at a loss,” he says.

Available from: Amazon

Microscope Home Page: Digital Blue

This new snow throwing tool, called a “Whovel”, uses your body weight to lift and throw snow and slush.

After suffering repeated back injuries, the company founder began working on snow removal designs that could reduce back injuries, while avoiding the many problems associated with gas-powered snow blowers.

Available from: Whovel.Com ($119 + $35 shipping)