Synopsis:
Gyro has invented a pair of think boxes that can reveal the thoughts of animals. Donald gets heavily involved...

Comments:
Presumably, since the beginning of humankind man has had a wish of knowing what his opponent was thinking in order to be able to react to it in a suitable way. But the solution to this 'problem' has never been solved - and it probably never will be. It is comforting to know that we can still have our little secrets for ourselves!
The closest man has come to producing a well known thought-reading machine is probably the lie detector (polygraph), which is commonly known to be used as an aid in certain criminal cases in the USA.

Synopsis:
Gyro is breeding worms that drag fish out of the water. Donald is an avid angler. Now for some serious fishing...

Comments:
No matter how brilliant Gyro is, it is against both nature and common sense to expect that fairly brainless animals such as worms would be able to act in an intelligent way! Gyro's super worms are not only trained to act together, link together, lure the fishes, and drag them ashore, but they also perform faultlessly and in uniform throughout the story.

Synopsis:
Gyro invents an imagining machine by which one by force of thought can travel wherever he wants. Donald and the nephews pop up to Jupiter, where everything is much larger than on Earth!

Comments:
A brain-developing machine probably stands high on the list of the world's inventors, but to this day all efforts have been in vain. And, after all, what will be the purpose? Our brain's capacity is already much greater than we can ever use; when we die at old age after a full life of acquired skills and memorable events he have still only used a small percentage of our brain's potential!
Gyro made another brain-developing machine for Donald in FC1184 Brain-Strain from 1961. It was a fairly big gadget which Donald was supposed to wear on top of his head, from where it could give his brain some much needed impulses...

Synopsis:
Scrooge fears losing all his money to the Beagle Boys and he asks Gyro to find a safe hiding place. But how and where?

Comments:
Gyro immediately invents Encyclopedia Water, a liquid consisting of all the letters in a normal encyclopedia mixed with some alphabet soup (an American specialty in which the noodles are all shaped like the letters in the English alphabet). The concoction is then poured onto a piece of paper and the solution to Scrooge's problem magically emerges in writing!

Synopsis:
Gyro is visiting Grandma Duck at her farm in order to relax far away from his inventions. But it is not that easy...

Comments:
Gyro invents a very special machine which can save the old lady from much tedious farm work. In fact, it can produce ready-made food directly from dirt! In the story it has different names depending on the precise purpose in a given situation: Dirt-to-milk machine, Dirt-to-produce machine, and Hay-to-milk machine.
Inventors all over the world have for years played with this intriguing thought of cutting out the middlemen and produce food the way Gyro manages it, but they have never succeeded - and they almost certainly never will...

Synopsis:
Donald does not believe the nephews' science fiction magazines' stories about sending matter through space. But Gyro can send Donald through space!

Comments:
Barks used teleportation as a different means of transport on a few occasions; in this story Donald is physically transported from one place to another using a Nucleonic Linear Emisser, and in U$25 'The Wishing Well' from 1959 Gyro teleported himself to and fro a tropical island using a special wishing well.
Barks later stated that he had got the basic idea of teleportation from the numerous pulp fiction magazines of that time.

Synopsis:
The nephews are roaming the neighbourhood on Gyro's airborne sleds trying to help people. But help is not always welcome...

Comments:
The world of science has never been able to invent a cheap and reliable means of flying transport made for one man. We have experienced small helicopters (but they are not exactly cheap) and rocket belt flyers (but they are neither cheap nor reliable), but Gyro produces all sorts of cheap and reliable flying gadgets. The sleds in this story are highly maneuverable, speedy, and powered by simple air jets!
Other examples: In FC1047 The Stubborn Stork from 1959 Gyro mass-produced his so-called Bike-saucer, in FC1184 Monsterville from 1961 he invented two very different flying cars, and in WDCS254 Jet Witch from the same year he invented a flying broomstick for Donald!

Synopsis:
Following a trip to the movies, Gyro is inspired to create life. Now he waits while his egg is being hatched under Cluckery Cluck...

Comments:
Through the years countless stories and films have carried the intriguing theme of creating intelligent life from lifeless material or inferior life forms. In this story Barks portrays Gyro in the role of a wannabe Frankenstein, the creator of nothing less than life itself. Judging from just the story title there can be little doubt that Barks had the British author Mary Shelley's novel about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster in mind when he dreamed up his comic book version about the impossible task of creating life from dead objects - in this case a doorknob!
Presumably, Barks had the saying Dead as a doornail (i.e. undoubtedly dead) in mind when he chose the round knob...