A new cleaning technology could replace or supplement the soap, water, and disinfectants used at hospitals to wash hands. Plasma gas sprayed on hands through machines developed by researchers in Germany can kill bacteria and other biological contaminants:

The technology is being developed in several laboratories. Gregor Morfill, who created several prototypes using the technology at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, says the plasma quickly inactivates not only bacteria but also viruses and fungi.

Dr. Morfill and his colleagues have tested their devices on hands and feet. “It works on athlete’s foot,” he said. “And the nice thing is, you don’t have to take your socks off. They are disinfected, too.”[...]

The first products to reach hospitals, after surface cleaners and instrument disinfectants, will probably be hand sanitizers, said Alexander Fridman, a professor and director of the Drexel Plasma Institute at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Does the photo remind anyone else of the pain box from Dune?

Link via Gizmodo | Photo: Phil Wilson/NYT

(YouTube Link)

Chris Scott is training to be a 911 operator. His wife, at home with their infant son, found the child choking. She called 911, Scott answered the phone, and calmly talked her through the problem. The boy, Jacob, is again healthy and safe.

Link via reddit

Becky Stern makes scarves that match the emission spectra of different elements. The term "emission spectrum" is defined by The Larousse Dictionary of Science and Technology as "wavelength distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a self-luminous source." Pictured above is that distribution for silicon.

Link via Make | Previously on Neatorama: Embroidered Knee MRI

(YouTube Link)

This Russian-language (?) video shows a handy car accessory. Drive up on the treads, remove your wheels, attach the axle to the treads, and you have a functional tracked vehicle.

via DVICE | Previously on Neatorama: Mattracks

Jeff Ondash of Cranfield, Ohio set a world record by giving 7,777 hugs in a 24-hour period on Valentine's Day in front of a casino in Las Vegas:

The previous record of 5000 hugs in one day was set last year by Siobhan O'Connor in Dublin, Ireland, Guinness spokesman Philip Robertson said.

To break O'Connor's mark, Ondash needed more than 208 hugs per hour - or about 3 1/2 hugs per minute. Ondash logged just over 700 hugs during his first hour of embraces on Friday night. [...]

Ondash says he, as McHuggin, is now eyeing both the world's longest single hug - currently 24 hours and 1 second - and breaking his current two records consecutively, which he said was "unheard of."

"I don't even know if I can do that but I'm going to attempt it," Ondash said. "It's like climbing Mount Everest twice - same thing."

Link | Photo: AP

Logorama is an Oscar-nominated short film by François Alaux and Herve de Crecy about a world populated entirely by corporate logos. The peace of daily life in this world is shattered when a deranged, murderous corporate mascot is spotted by the police. Warning: adult language

Video Link via The Presufer | Official Website

This valentine, made out of palladium atoms, is eight nanometers across. It formed spontaneously this week while researchers Zhiwei Wang and David Pearmain of the University of Birmingham’s Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory were working:

Although the palladium Valentine was a nice surprise for the scientists, they actually have other reasons for studying the palladium atoms. Professor Richard Palmer, head of the Laboratory explained:

"Size-selected atomic clusters, of the kind which fused together to assemble the atomic heart, are of practical relevance as model catalysts; the palladium/carbon system is employed as a real industrial catalyst in the fine chemicals sector. Precise control of the atomic architecture of the clusters may lead to enhanced yield and especially selectivity in complex catalytic reactions, as well as reducing the number of metal atoms needed to catalyze the reaction."

Link via Gizmodo | Image: Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory

(YouTube Link)

Hi! We're Neatorama, and we're in the adorable cat video business. Currently at bat is Guitar Kitteh, who used a guitar as a scratching post while one of his servants (YouTube user FlashDams) was playing it.

via Geekologie

(YouTube Link)

"If I Didn't Have You (I'd Have Somebody Else)" is an amusing song by Tim Minchin. It points out that, contrary to the wisdom that there's one perfect romantic parnter out there, if he wasn't with the woman to whom he is presently attached, he would probably be with another woman and having an equally (or possibly more) fulfilling relationship. And moreover, it's unlikely that he's found his soulmate at the age of seventeen.

via reddit

Artist Alexandria Neonakis created Valentines inspired by the TV show Lost. At the link, you'll find her deviantART gallery, which also contains valentines for The Office, Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress 2.

Link via Popped Culture

Revolvers that fire shotgun shells are not a new idea. In fact, Taurus sells one called "The Judge" that fires .410 bore shells. What makes this handmade revolver from Taiwan unique is that it fires the much larger 12-gauge round:

Police said 19-year-old gang brother Zhuangren dimension, usually in the mountains more than 10 hotels Wai things put in charge possession of force, at any time ordered to carry weapons to parts of the scenes; within the lake precinct office yesterday morning to Linsen North Road, Suite A search in 7th floor “gun room” seized wheel and 6 rounds of canister-type shotgun, as well as four pistols, one a standard for the Beretta, and the other three for the transformation of the gun, and 15 bullets, blanks 19 made. The initial inventory, guns from the nickname “God pig” man.

This is the very large wheel shotguns, can be filled with 6 rounds of shotgun, the gun body are all constructed of steel, a short gun, weighing more than 3 kilograms, there is no rifling, can also be fitted sight, external trigger is not Buckle have no insurance, fill out bombs loaded on the mean, believe it or mistakenly pulled the trigger will fire, very dangerous.

Link via Hell in a Handbasket | Photo: Liberty Times

This photograph of a Hello Kitty tattoo inspired by the character Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs was discovered by the man behind Kitty Hell. That blogger writes:

Despite the terrible combo, I can understand why someone might think it is a good idea to place these two characters together. They both possess true evil that is unimaginable to most of us, and obviously the world would be a better place if Hello Kitty was restrained in this fashion. However, trying to equate Hello Kitty to Hannibal Lecter is just plain wrong because, quite frankly, the evil feline is so much worse.

Link via Albotas

Barbie's been everything: a supermodel, a teacher, a nurse, and other careers that often fit a sexist stereotype about what work a woman can do. Departing from this trend, Mattel invited people to vote on Barbie's next career from a number of choices, some of which are very academically challenging. The result is that the newest Barbie doll will be a computer engineer:

The choice of computer engineer — a field in which men far outnumber women and in which women’s participation has been declining — was announced Friday at the New York Toy Fair.

Lynn Langit, a developer evangelist at Microsoft who teaches programming to girls and works on a Microsoft program called DigiGirlz that teaches girls about technology careers, said she was thrilled about Barbie’s next career.

“We can use any sort of positive influence that we have, because the number of girls studying programming is abysmal,” she said.

Link via Wired | Image: Mattel

A Japanese spider crab named Crabzilla, thought to be the biggest ever in the UK, has claws more than five feet long:

The Sea Life Centre will be his home until the end of March when he will be taken to his permanent home in Belgium.

The crabs are commonly found in the Pacific in 1,000 ft (300m) deep waters but have been known to live deeper.

Curator Graham Burrows said: "It is rumoured these crabs can grow as big as four metres, big enough to straddle a car.

Link via reddit | Photo: BBC

Coldcast assembled pictures and information about twenty of the strangest apartment buildings around the world. These include the above "Cube Houses" of Rotterdam. Designed by Piet Blom and built in 1984, they use the space over a pedestrian walkway and are angled to create the impression of a forest:

The cubes are tilted and sit on hexagon-shaped pole structures. The cubes contain the living areas, which are split into three levels. The triangle-shaped lower level contains the living area. The windows on this level open onto the environment below due to the slope of the tilted cube. The middle level contains the sleeping area and a bathroom, while the top level, also in a triangular shape, is used as either an extra bedroom or a living space. The top level provides a great view since the apex of the room is a three sided pyramid with windows all around.

http://blog.koldcast.tv/2010/koldcast-news/20-weirdest-apartments-of-the-world/ via Digg | Information about the Cubic Houses | Photo: Wayfaring.info