Now that you’ve gotten your fill of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic Fallout 3, why not take the action out of the living room and into your local park. Wander the playground with this homemade steampunk raygun. It shoots radiation shots of some sort and may or may not give you throat cancer. If you want to make your own, it’ll take awhile due to the lack of instructions but with a little handiwork, you’ll be gunning down aliens in no time. Space aliens, that is.
Researchers at UCLA have constructed a machine that takes X-ray images using a roll of Scotch tape. When pulled apart, tape generates electromagnetic waves through simple friction. The researchers discovered in a vacuum, sticky tape also sends out strong enough X-rays to image your finger.
Pretty neat, considering getting your hands on some Scotch tape isn’t too hard. Imagine if giving yourself an X-ray were as easy as purchasing Scotch tape. It’d be X-rays for everyone! Unfortunately, it only works in a vacuum which crushes any hopes we have of DIYing our own X-rays. What a drag.
In this crazy world we live in, anything can be considered art. Even something as simple as an X-ray photograph has the potential of becoming the next Mona Lisa. Wait, now that I’ve browsed through Nick Veasey’s work, I’ve got to say this is way cooler than the Mona Lisa. I mean c’mon, she’s just an unattractively fat woman with creepy eyes.
I’m not sure how Nick makes these. I’m hoping he’s not actually taking X-rays of everything he sees, otherwise he’d be one irradiated person. Either way, his work is impressive. I only wish his site were a little more eye-pleasing. Regardless, the link below will lead you to his website where you can check out his portfolio.
Ever seen one of those shows on the Discovery channel when they go into hotels or other grungy places and put on a UV light to illuminate all of the bodily made spittle? Yeah, ew. The UV Disinfectant Wand projects intense UV rays that kill 99.9% of all germs in less then 10 seconds. Since this is radiation we’re talking about here, you don’t want to use this thing consistently on any parts of your body or your potential to reproduce will most definitely be reduced.
At least the Wand is kind of cool looking. It opens in a clamshell flip phone like way so even the clean geek can still hold up his geekish cred. It’s been tested by laboratories nationwide so appears to do the job it says it does, and only runs on 2 AAA batteries. And definitely comes in handy when you have various nerds sneezing crap onto your keyboard everyday. — Andrew Dobrow
Product Page [ThinkGeek]
French cosmetic conglomerate Clarins has recently introduced a new patented beauty product dubbed Expertise 3P. Supposedly this solution will protect your skin from aging due to Electromagnetic waves as well as air-pollution. The secret lies in the active ingredients Thermus Thermophillus and Rhodiola Rosea which are extracted from plants. We have no idea if this thing really works, neither do we know if EM waves themselves (UV we know) can really harm our skin. If you are up for a try, the 3.5oz bottle is selling for $40 online now. Do let us know. — Sam Chan
