Ian Wright is betting big on electric cars. Not just any electric car: his car can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 3 seconds!

In the first matchup, the X1 crushed the Ferrari in an eighth-mile sprint and then in the quarter-mile, winning by two car lengths. In the second race, against the $440,000 Porsche, the two cars were even after an eighth of a mile. But as the Porsche driver let out the clutch in a final upshift, his tires briefly lost traction. The X1, blazing along in its software-controlled performance mode, beat the Porsche by half a car length.

It never occurred to me that I would lose," says Kim Stuart, the Porsche’s driver. "It was like a light switch. He hit the pedal and was gone."

If the car looks familiar, it’s because Wright builds his car from off-the-shelf parts. The chassis is actually that of British-made Ariel Atom, previously featured in Neatorama a while ago.

Business 2.0 | company website | Photo:Flickr user thomas pix’ photoset.

Magician David Blaine’s latest stunt is to spend 7 days underwater inside a huge sphere at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York.

During the seven-day challenge the water temperature will be maintained at around 36C and he will be able to control his own core body temperature by wearing specially designed wetsuits.

He has also undergone intensive training for the challenge, shedding 50lbs (23kg) in body weight since January to improve the efficiency with which his body uses oxygen.

"I feel pretty good. Though I’ve been sleeping very little and breath-holding non-stop," Blaine said.

"My system is completely empty and I did that so there’s no waste. That way in the sphere I don’t have to use the bathroom."

Link

The German Car Blog has cool photos of an Audi TT pimped to look like the car from Will Smith’s "I Robot" movie. Link (via digg)

Manuel Uribe of Monterey, Mexico, is probably the heaviest person in the world. He probably weighs about 550 kg (1,200 pounds) – probably, because there just isn’t a scale that can weigh him:

Manuel Uribe, bedridden for the past five years, cannot stand on his own and will need a special flight to take him from Monterrey, Mexico to Modena, where a surgical team has offered to perform an intestinal bypass free of charge.

"I can’t walk. I’m can’t leave my bed," the 40-year-old Uribe, who weighs the same as five baby elephants, said in a recent telephone interview.

Link (via NinjaWax)

Update 6/29/06: Manuel Uribe successfully lost 200 lb. on a high protein diet. Doctors are postponing plans for surgery, given that Manuel is responding so well to dieting. Link

What do you get when you vibrate a pot of water mixed with cornstarch? Hit play and find out …

For science-geeks, the cornstarch mixture is a non-Newtonian fluid (like quicksand) – it’s viscosity depends on the force applied to the fluid or how fast an object is moving through it.

YouTube Link: Link