Researchers at the University of Tokyo created an interface that allows a rat to move a small car around with just his thoughts:

The rats were trained on the car by towing it around an enclosed area with the motors disengaged. A vision system positioned above tracked the rats by following colored markers on their backs and the vehicle. It fed the positions into a "locomotion estimation model" program that correlated the motion of the animals with readings from the electrodes.

Next the rats were suspended more tightly to the car so their limbs touched the floor only slightly. The researchers then switched the system into "neuro-robotic mode," with the neural signals used to help drive the car. Six out of eight rats used in the study adapted well to the car.

The researchers hope that this project will lead to the development of thought-controlled mobility aids for disabled humans.

Link via Popular Science | Photo: IEEE Spectrum

Artist Robert Mathy created "Light Sensitive Fingertips" -- a musical instrument that has light sensitive phototransistors in the tips of the fingers. It's played by moving the sensors over light sources of varying intensity:

Light, emitted by the displays of activated mobile phones, functions as the origin of the sounds. As each mobile phone's display generates a different light frequency, each results in an audio signal with a different pitch. In addition, other electronic devices, such as flashing bicycle lights, can be used to generate rhythmic tones.

In the links, you can find a video of Mathy playing this instrument.

Link via GearFuse | Video | Photo: Robert Mathy

Sadly, there are people who have email accounts, but only a limited grasp of basic computer or social skills. Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal has a new set of comics up illustrating the foibles of such folks.

Link

What email habit do you find most irritating?

Britain's new DEMON unmanned aerial drone doesn't need wing elevators or ailerons to fly:

It is instead manoeuvred by hundreds of tiny jets that blast air in order to influence to change the lift, drag and other features of performance.

The result is a more streamlined, aerodynamic craft that cuts down on edges and gaps - features that can increase radar detection.

The end result is an aircraft with fewer moving parts in need of maintenance and a reduced radar signature.

Link via OhGizmo! | Photo: Cranfield University

Itasha is, reportedly, a Japanese hobby of decorating cars with female anime characters. Photographer Tomoyuki Sakaguchi took 23 pictures of some of the finer examples of this style.

Link via Pink Tentacle

(Video Link)

Flight attendants on board a Cebu Pacific Airlines flight remixed Katy Perry and Lady Gaga in their unique presentation of their jet's safety features:

Candice Iyog, vice President of Marketing at Cebu Pacific Airlines, said: "Cebu Pacific has always been known as a fun airline, we wanted to get the message across to our customers that flight safety doesn't have to be boring.

"This was an experiment that we hope to repeat and also a chance to showcase the talent of some of our cabin crew staff."

The performance took place while the plane was at cruising altitude, with the cabin crew giving a normal safety demonstration before take-off.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ

As a publicity stunt for his upcoming movie Megamind, Will Ferrell gathered 1,580 people dressed as superheroes in order to break a Guinness World Record for that feat:

A total of 1,580 costumed individuals showed up to the event, which was more than enough to break the record of 1,500 set by a New Hampshire children’s hospital way back in… August.[...]

Then Ferrell majestically appeared on a rising stage platform, and Guinness spokesman Stuart Claxton verified the world record, to the sound of cheers. “Everyone in a Spider-Man outfit wins a new car!” joked Ferrell.

Link via Fanboy | Photo: Valerie Macon/Getty Images

The Michael Bayifier takes any photo and makes it look like a still shot from a Michael Bay movie (e.g. Transformers, Armageddon). Pictured above is Alex and his kids on one of their action-packed vacations.

Link via The Presurfer

In the 1960s (of course), psychologist Paul Bindrim, building upon the work of Abraham Maslow, invented a form of psychotherapy that involved everyone getting naked:

Nude therapy was based on the idea of the naked body as a metaphor of the "psychological soul." Uninhibited exhibition of the nude body revealed that which was most fundamental, truthful, and real. In the marathon, Bindrim interrogated this metaphor with a singular determination. Bodies were exposed and scrutinized with a science-like rigor. Particular attention was paid to revealing the most private areas of the body and mind-all with a view to freeing the self from its socially imposed constraints. "This," Bindrim asserted gesturing to a participant's genitalia and anus, "is where it's at. This is where we are so damned negatively conditioned" [...] Determined to squelch the "exaggerated sense of guilt" in the body, Bindrim devised an exercise called "crotch eyeballing" in which participants were instructed to look at each others genitals and disclose the sexual experiences they felt most guilty about while lying naked in a circle with their legs in the air [...] In this position, Bindrim insisted "you soon realize that the head end and the tail end are indispensable parts of the same person, and that one end is about as good as the other.:"

http://people.stu.ca/~nicholson/Ian_Nicholson/Research_files/Baring%20the%20Soul.pdf via io9 | Unrelated photo of Bob Newhart statue via Flickr user Digital Sextant, used under Creative Commons license

The security company ADT wanted to convince apartment and condo owners in Santiago, Chile that it's really easy to break into their homes. So the ad agency DDB made spring-loaded boxes and shoved them under the front doors of prospective customers. At the link, you can see a video from the ad agency showing how they work.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: Copyranter

Flickr user Monica Wagner turned an old computer monitor into a bed for her dog, Zelda. At the link, you can view fourteen images of it. Sometimes the cat takes over.

Link via Gizmodo

Dutch artist Boukje Voet shreds books into elaborate sculptures. Pictured above is the novel Catching Butterflies (according to Google Translate), which Voet shaped accordingly.

Link (in Dutch) via DudeCraft

(Video Link)

To settle a bet, chocolatier Georges Larnicol built and launched a boat made from chocolate. The 3.5 meter craft managed to stay afloat with three people inside for an hour and a half.

It wasn't the 55-year-old's first attempt to set sail in a chocolate boat.

In August his plans were scuppered when his Chocolate boat Mark I broke into pieces.

But Mark II, which took more than 400 hours to construct, met with more success and pleased with the outcome, Larnicol is promising to build a bigger 12-metre boat complete with chocolate mask for 2012.

Link via The Presurfer

A man in Bradenton, Florida was arrested after a police search revealed illegal narcotics hidden in his bottom. When the drugs were discovered, the suspect denied owning them:

Roberts quickly disavowed ownership of the cocaine. “The white stuff is not mine, but the weed is,” he claimed, adding that the crack in his crack was the property of a friend who had previously borrowed the car and left the drug on the passenger seat. Roberts explained that when he was pulled over for speeding, he concealed the second bag of narcotics.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo by Flickr user Valerie Everett used under Creative Commons license

Made By Ammo crafts shotglasses that are shaped like shotgun shells. They're made of stainless steel and weigh about a quarter pound each.

Link -- Thanks, Uncle!