For him, the inventing process begins with questions. "We define what we need to do and then brainstorm ways to do it. Maybe there will be 50 or a hundred ways. That's the fun part, and it's good to have people with imaginations there."

Then they compare and evaluate options and begin to build and test.

His advice to kids? "Spend more time with Legos and less time with video games. Make sure you take math classes in school."

His advice to parents? "Find old and broken things and let your kids take them apart. Let them learn how things work."

Thomas Laakso has invented a lot of different things for skiers. His Met5 heated jacket won Time Magazine's Invention of the Year in 2001.

"It involves the whole new area of electronic textiles," he says. "We work with fibers that are washable and wearable yet can work with electronic technologies." With the jacket, you simple push on the logo to turn it on, and you can control the level of heat you need depending on what your body is producing.

Laakso, who works with Black Diamond Equipment based in Park City, has also had "an integral part in developing a backpack version of the Avalung, which can save lives in an avalanche."

Laakso followed his passion into invention. "I have a passion for skiing. Ever since first grade, I've told people I wanted to work for a ski company." His career path took him into plastics engineering, where he started out by making boots and skis.

"You have to like what you do," he advises. "You'll be doing it for a long time."

Rebecca Davidson needed to solve a problem. "I love to do art activities with my kids, and we like to use markers. But I would get so frustrated because it seemed like the caps would get lost or get left off the markers and they would dry out. I thought, there has to be a better way.

She began making clay models of a simple holder. Made of silicone, it comes in a strip with places for four, eight or 10 markers. "You can do them in a loop or string them together. They are portable. We are just starting to bring them to market. But I think they will save a lot of time."

Glen Ernstrom, a post-doc fellow at the University of Utah, is working with neurontransmissions in worms. "We're trying to figure out the basics of learning and behavior at the molecular level."

They work with worms because they have very simple nervous systems. "As we get a handle on how it signals, we hope what we learn will extend to more complex systems like humans."

Ernstrom got interested in genetics in high school. He encourages future scientists to "look around you. See nature. See all the amazing things. Ask questions. Find out how stuff works."

The "Invention at Play" is a great place to start, he says.