Bat Suit

Have you ever wanted to leave the ground and soar like a bird -- or perhaps a bat? In January 2012, a Connecticut-based inventor was granted a patent for what the application describes as "a completely dynamic human powered flying suit" that is modeled after the bat's style of aviation. The inventor explains in the patent application that bats are fellow mammals and the flying creatures "most closely related to human beings."

The device consists of a pair of strap-on batlike wings with rigid and non-rigid portions that can be manipulated by the wearer once aloft. Initially getting off the ground is a bit trickier: Unlike bats, who simply do what comes naturally, the wearer of the flying suit would have to be towed, or ride on a bicycle, skis or rollerblades down an incline and then assume a leaning-forward flying posture and leap into the air at the appropriate moment.