YOUNG science nerds, dreamers and would-be inventors come up with some far-fetched and fanciful ideas to make life better. But so far, they're mostly flights of fancy. Zhang Qian reports.

Young science geeks have come up with a host of curious ideas - using silkworms to test for tainted foods, "safety" cats armed with cameras to patrol communities and cell phones to remotely control all home appliances.

While some of these ideas, like the camera cat and cellphone remote, are realities, others are yet to be realized. Some are far out and strain credulity, but it's all fun.

These young science amateurs are crazy about exchanging creative ideas about ways to make life easier and more interesting. There's nothing dull about the science these young people contemplate. Some have even come up with inventions.

All of them belong to the Wanyou Youth Club, who attend lectures organized by guoke.net since last year and then brainstorm with guests and each other.

"They can pick up on any interesting topics and we encourage all new ideas and creations for sharing," says Ji Shisan, initiator of the Science Squirrels Club and guoke.net, both platforms for popular science.

Lecturers - there have been 70 so far - don't have to be professional scientists or academics; everyone with an interesting or provocative idea is welcome.

Ji says he recently attended a university club event and found that many young people were under tremendous academic pressure and many said they aimed to become well-known leaders in their chosen field. Then there's the pressure of family and daily life.

"Life doesn't have to be that way, just as science doesn't have to be dull and dry," Ji says. "There are a lot of possibilities in the world, as long as you have an eye for discovery."

Most of the lecturers at the Wanyou Youth Club can definitely lift the spirits and inspire discussion.

One of them is A Ke (a pen name), a post-1970s mechanical engineering major, an otaku (specialist nerd), house dad, city observer and amateur painter. He has compiled a world of around 70 new and helpful urban creatures in an "encyclopedia" that he also illustrated himself. He says it will be published soon.

For example, he has created (on paper) a pocket silkworm that changes its tail color when it ingests toxic food additives.

There's also a pair of earthworms, his and hers, each with an identical magnetic charge, so they repel each other. The idea is that couples who have broken up and don't want to get back together will take a pair, each keeping one of them.

When they approach each other, the repelling earthworm effect reminds them that their opposite is for the birds.

He also came up with a huge patrol cat, a Maine Coon breed known for being husky, to wear a strapped-on camera and patrol community rooftops and balconies. The cat's camera feeds into a monitoring center.

And there's a nutritious "bread-carrot" that keeps a human stomach full for a whole day. It's said to have been designed for astronauts but now is a popular food for otakus, who don't want to be bothered with such chores as eating, which take them away from their computer or other focus.

Also from the animal and plant kingdoms is a warning signal to help pedlars evade notorious "urban administrators" (chengguan) who order illegal vendors to move on and have been known to resort to violence, rousing community ire.

In this case, A Ke has come up with a jar of "warning ants" and "warning cactus." The ants are supposed to be sensitive to cactus juice and get very agitated. The idea is for someone to put cactus juice on an inspector's uniform and give ant jars to peddlers.

Whenever one of the guys approach, the ants go crazy and the vendors move on, fast.

Each hand-painted picture of the creature, food or plant carries a "professional introduction."

"Many people would ask me whether they are real," A Ke says. "Of course, most of these creatures live only in my imagination at this time, but who knows?"

According to him, there are some real creatures similar to his own.

For example, he cites a news report about a German vending machine with real hens inside, selling fresh eggs in Germany. A Ke himself has the idea of keeping a cow in a cupboard and selling its milk through a machine. And he says he's seen an online video shot by a real patrol cat, like the one he envisions.

Each of his creatures tackles a particular problem in urban life, though A Ke admits much is fanciful. Still, he wants to point out problems in city life.

"I am a city boy and I know the city well. I want to express what I have observed and decided an encyclopedia is a perform format," A Ke says.

"Science and technology are frequently mentioned nowadays as the most effective weapons to tackle any problems, but what about our nature as humanbeings?" he asks.

Some of the creatures don't have to be realized, or had better not be, he says.

If domestic food and beverages in China could be trusted, if vendors had permits and legal shops, and if obsessed otakus didn't spend all their time at computers, some of his creations wouldn't be needed.

"People are just used to resorting to technology for any problems," A Ke says.

However, Zheng Zemin, a 25-year-old graduate student in "ubiquitous computing," is optimistic about tech's positive role in daily life, freeing people up to do the things that really interest them.

Zheng and his laboratory colleagues have developed a water dispenser that announces on weibo microblog that "water heated" and "out of hot water."

The young people set up a camera to monitor the signal light on the water dispenser and programmed an attached computer to send messages to weibo when the light changes.

Zheng and his group have also programmed a smart phone to control all electrical appliances in a home, using sensors on TVs, air-conditioners, stoves, sound equipment, computers and other appliances.

"Laziness is probably the impulse for many inventions and it's the same for us," Zeng says.

"If life can be easier with a small adaptation, why not do it? And creating something that's never been made before makes us feel very cool," he says.