It's been a long while since anyone invented anything truly revolutionary.
Mobile phones, email, the wheel, sliced bread, have all been assimilated into our everyday consciousness.
Who, for example gives even a precursory glance at footage of the space shuttle taking off these days?Results of experiments in America, however are set to spark debate and excitement throughout the world.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have successfully tested a system to remotely deliver power to devices, and believe that the technology can be translated from laboratory to main stream use in a matter of years, entirely doing away with domestic electrical cables.
We had a strong faith in our theory but experiments are the ultimate test," said Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic.
"So we went ahead and sure enough we were successful, the experiments behave very much like the theory.
"The system comprised two 60cm diameter copper coils, a transmitter attached to a power source and a receiver placed 2m away and attached to a light bulb.
When power was sent through the transmitter the bulb lit up despite there being no physical connection between the two, and was measured as being 40% efficient.
The Science Behind It The system utilized simple physics.
Indeed, Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London claims "There is nothing in this that would have prevented them inventing this ten or even twenty years ago".
It exploits a natural phenomenon called "resonance", in which an object vibrates when energy of a certain frequency interacts with it.
Think of the way objects in your house vibrate only on certain bass notes when you're listening to music.
It is because the physical composition of that object is reacting to the specific frequency of that sound.
When two objects resonate at the same frequency they exchange energy.
This frequency is particular to those two bodies only, and thus has no effect on other surrounding objects.
Instead of using acoustic waves, however, WiTricity, as the team has named it, uses low frequency electromagnetic waves.
The coils used in the experiment were made to resonate at 10Mhz, permitting energy to flow between them.
"With each cycle arriving, more pressure, or voltage in electrical terms, builds up in this coil," explained Professor Pendry.
"Over a number of cycles the voltage gathered until there was enough pressure, or energy, at the surface to flow into the light bulb".
Low frequency electromagnetic waves, which are about 30m long, are thought to be harmless to living creatures.
"Ordinarily if you have a transmitter operating like a mobile phone at 2GHz - a much shorter wavelength - then it radiates a mixture of magnetic and electric fields," explained Professor Pendry.
This is a characteristic of what is known as the "far field": The field which exists at more than one wavelength from the device.
At a distance of less than one wavelength, however, the field is almost entirely magnetic.
"The body really responds strongly to electric fields, which is why you can cook a chicken in a microwave," said Professor Pendry.
"But it doesn't respond to magnetic fields.
As far as we know the body has almost zero response to magnetic fields in terms of the amount of power it absorbs.
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And The Future? The number of ways in which life would change if this technology can be developed into commercial applications is mind boggling.
"The benefit to mankind of eliminating electrical cables goes far beyond the aesthetic and functional gains of the domestic environment" saidspokesman Simon Reid.
"China's booming economy has exacerbated a world copper shortage, seriously impinging both the pricing and production of power cables.
If WiTricity goes on to provide a solution it may prove to be the invention of the century".