I'm not sure if this should be called a set of motorized skates, a motorized unicycle, or something else. At any rate, the FlyRad pulls the user around while wearing roller skates. It can reach speeds of 25 MPH and travel 31 miles on a single charge:

Users can “ride” the vehicle in a number of ways including sitting, standing, squatting or hands free. Riders can even switch positions on the go. In standing mode the device is held much like a jackhammer which tows the rider along, while in sitting mode the rider sits on the saddle with a pair of skates acting as the vehicle’s front wheels.

Since steering is controlled by the skates, the rider can let go of the handle bars altogether to give the sensation of flying that presumably gives the FlyRad its name. When ridden in this way the FlyRad stays in place by transferring the rider’s weight onto a couple of pads attached to the bottom of the handlebars that push down onto the rider’s upper legs.

Video at the link.

Link via DVICE | Official Website | Photo: Gizmag

Polish artist NeSpoon made doilies, left them up on Oak Beach (Poland), and photographed people interacting with them:

The effects of my work aroused great interest. Many people made pictures of the installations, they moved them around from place to place, they were even used for the construction of beach camps. Small children with great joy played around them.

These objects made of lace, though very delicate, survived on the beach over a week.

Content warning: these pictures are from a European beach, so some of the pictures may be NSFW by American standards.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Oak-Beach/599056 via Dude Craft | Artist's Blog | Photo by the artist

Why? Do you really need a reason? Well, in this case, it may a useful activity. There's a new chip available that can be used by mobile devices to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases:

People who suspect they have been infected will be able to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted infection (STI) they have. Seven funders, including the Medical Research Council, have put £4m into developing the technology via a forum called the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.

Link via Gizmodo | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Jacky Cheong used under Creative Commons license

Art students in São Paulo, Brazil, made a sculpture of a monkey out of 10,000 flip-flops. It was created for the recent Pixel Show, a major art and design fair.

Link via Geekologie | Fair Website | Photo: Zeutch.com

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The band OK Go is known for its innovative music videos. The group's latest video for the song "Last Leaf" consists of stop-motion animation on pieces of toast. It was directed by Geoff Mcfetridge and sponsored by Samsung, which provided the camera.

Link via Geekosystem | Director's Website

During the early years of the Cold War, Britain proposed placing nuclear mines along the eastern border of West Germany. These could be detonated when Warsaw Pact armies crossed, destroying them and deterring follow-on forces from invading Western Europe. But there was a problem with the mine design. It tended to freeze during the winter and become useless. So the British military considered nesting live chickens on the bombs. The body heat from the chickens would keep the vulnerable components of the bombs from become disabled:

Scientists working on the project realised that the bomb could fail in winter if vital components become too cold, so they explored ways of keeping the inner workings warm. One proposal put forward consisted of filling the casing of the nuke with live chickens, who would give off sufficient heat, prior to suffocating or starving to death, to keep the delicate explosive mechanism from freezing. Despite the potential importance of chickens to the project, the mine was codenamed 'Blue Peacock'.

The plan was never carried out.

Link via Dan Lewis | Photo by Flickr user MonkeyMyshkin used under Creative Commons license

Researchers at the University of Bonn have found that people with a certain gene are more likely to be altruistic. The researchers took a genetic sample from study participants, and then asked them to participate in a quiz on memory retention. For this, participants were given five Euros, and invited to donate that amount to a charity. Prof. Martin Reuter described what happened:

"Students with the COMT-Val gene donated twice as much money on average as did fellow students with the COMT-Met variant," explains Reuter. This is the first time that researchers have been able to establish a connection between a particular gene and altruistic deeds. However, it was already known from studies on twins that altruistic behavior is also partly influenced by our genes.

Link via Hit & Run | Photo by Flickr user meddygarnet used under Creative Commons license

Artist Kim Rugg specializes in re-arranging shapes and text on paper. We've previously posted about her discovery that Royal Mail stamp reading machines would take any shaped stamp, so as long as they had the correct colors. Rugg responded by making her own usable stamps.

More recently, she rearranged the letters in the lines of text on the front page of a newspaper so that they were in alphabetical order. The linked video is an exploration of that project, as well as Rugg's other experiments.

Gallery Link and Video Link via Boing Boing | Photo: Mark Moore Gallery

As a part of their ongoing efforts to destroy the universe, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva created a small version of the process that may have triggered the Big Bang. The experiment resulted in the highest temperature and densities ever created in a controlled setting. David Evans, one of the researchers, said:

"We are thrilled with the achievement," said Dr Evans.

"This process took place in a safe, controlled environment, generating incredibly hot and dense sub-atomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

"At these temperatures even protons and neutrons, which make up the nuclei of atoms, melt resulting in a hot dense soup of quarks and gluons known as a quark-gluon plasma."

Quarks and gluons are sub-atomic particles - some of the building blocks of matter. In the state known as quark-gluon plasma, they are freed of their attraction to one another. This plasma is believed to have existed just after the Big Bang.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: CERN

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We've previously covered the increasingly daring stunts of jetpack pilot Yves Rossy. Last Friday, he performed loops in the air:

The former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast, 51, described himself as "very happy and satisfied" with the stunt and said he now hopes to fly his custom-made jet pack through the Grand Canyon.

Rossy performed his aerial display at an altitude of 7,874ft (2,400m) after jumping from a replica of the Breitling Orbiter, the first hot air balloon to complete a continuous around-the-world flight.

He said on his website: "The flight went well, despite a little problem when starting my engines. I was able to do my two loopings and I am very happy."

Link via Comics Alliance

Home theater specialists Bowser & Wilkins makes a high-end model of speaker called the Nautilus. They're pricey at about $60,000 for a set. Alfonso de Rojas wanted some, but didn't have the money. So he spent 400 hours building a set on his own. The finished product, which you can view at the link, certainly looks like a Nautilus.

Link via Technabob | Second photo: Kilpsch.com

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This video from 2009 shows an emergency landing of a single-engine plane on a street in Winter Haven, Florida. Kyle Davis, the pilot, and Joe Surowiec, his passenger, were recorded on camera during this frightening experience:

The landing of the dual-seat SkyRanger airplane shortly after 10 a.m. was caught on video by Surowiec, a professional videographer, and was posted on YouTube.[...]

Deputies were called to the scene, but there wasn't much for them to do. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board cleared the incident, Wood said.

Two cameras on the plane captured the drama. One focused on the cockpit, taping their conversation, and the other was facing the plane's engine.

Link via reddit

(Video Link)

It was simple and brilliant play by the football team of Driscoll Middle School from Corpus Christi, Texas. The quarterback took the ball and casually strolled forward, acting as though the play hadn't started. But it had, and he passed the opposing team's defensive line before they realized it.

Link via Wired

This isn't a cake in the traditional sense of the term because it's cooked with ground turkey breast, yams, and mashed potatoes. But Amy Wisniewski's concoction is shaped like a cake, so you might as well serve it for dessert. You can find the recipe at the link.

Link via Geekologie | Photo: Amy Wisniewski

A man was arrested and charged with trying to rob a food store in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was unsuccessful because one customer beat him with a nearby squash:

The market's owner said Cullen came in, displayed a threatening note, and verbally told her, "Give me your money, or you're going to die."

The owner said one of her neighbors walked in and she told him she was being robbed.

He sprung into action, forcing Cullen to the ground, as the store owner called police.

Witnesses said Cullen tried to get away but another man delivering food to the market picked up a large squash and used the fruit to hit Cullen over the head.

Link via Say Uncle | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user La Grande Farmers' Market used under Creative Commons license