As the mechanical components that make up robotic prosthetics shrink, they’re integrating more easily into the lives of those that need them.

Drummer Jason Barnes built his own crude drumming hand but, after meeting an engineer who felt he could create something much more, Barnes now sports a pretty incredible robo-drumming arm. Using a technique called electromyography, the device responds to electrical signals as Barnes flexes his bicep. A secondary attachment for another drumstick was added that actually listens to what Barnes is playing and responds by playing along with what it’s hearing!

Giving talented people like Jason Barnes the ability to continue doing what they love and what they’re talented at is a fantastic way to get physically challenged people back to what they do best…

n this case it’s also the heralding of a whole new future for band battles.
[New Scientist]

The video pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this awesome kid who’s decided to become a tween man of science instead of chasing skirts or worrying about pimples.

We’re putting this little bit of text down here to let tell you to listen all the way to the end to hear about his NEXT project…

[Gizmodo]

A wireless technology that could change everything. How do you isolate a town from every element of technology? Also, a revolution in reading that could make it easier to read a book on a keychain than paper or a tablet. And of course, genocide.

It’s all part of a new Weird Things podcast.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings030214.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings030214.mp3[/podcast]

Picks:

Andrew:

The Eagle

Brian:

Night Attack

Justin:

Daily Tech News Show

An artist in India has produced over 1,000 paintings. While other ‘fancy’ artists around the world all seem to rely on that simple and outdated tool called the brush, this particular artist is getting back to basics by painting with his tongue.

And before you watch the video, you’ll probably laugh and conjure up images of child-like paintings like a square house, smiling stick figures holding hands and a few upside-down w-birds.

You’d be wrong.

He’s painted an 8-foot image of the Last Supper with his tongue.

The artist in question, Ani K, has also tried painting with his feet, nose and chin before he finally decided on his tongue as his utensil of choice. After completing a painting, he claims to suffer two weeks worth of pain in his jaw, headaches and blurriness of vision.

Ani is also on a mission to paint his way into the Guiness Book of World Records…

By painting four individual paintings at the same time using both hands and both feet.

Should be easy for a guy that once painted while riding a bike.

But still not as creepy as another artist we’ve posted about who used his own blood.

In what’s probably the cheesiest way to show this incredible feat off, HeliGraphix, a company that specializes in aerial photography using RC helicopters, has posted a video of something that we’ve all probably kinda thought, “…if only…”.

Using two appropriately named copters called H.U.L.C.s (Heavy Ultra-Lifter Cranes), Heligraphix took one brightly dressed woman who dances like your mom trying to be sexy in front of your friends and lifted her off the ground like she weighed nothing! Seriously. These are RC helicopters and you wouldn’t think this would even be feasible.

But a lot of things…a lot of things that once lived only in our adolescent, pretend-I’m-a-spy imaginations…just became very, very feasible but it looks effortless!

[Heligraphix YouTube Channel]

Brian and Andrew are abandoned by Justin who has to attend his brother’s wedding. A heated exchange transpires about the future state of Martian politics. Yes, you read that right. Also, is this the most promising year for SpaceX ever? Furthermore, is Tesla on the verge of a battery breakthrough?

It’s all part of a new Weird Things podcast.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings022514.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings022514.mp3[/podcast]

Picks:

Brian:

Bad Science

Andrew:

War Games

Any time you mention the word ‘reindeer’ most people conjure up a fond memories of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials from their childhood, sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or just freak out because you just reminded them they’re only three shopping days left until Christmas.

Unless, of course, you live in Finland….

Where you’ll probably have nightmares about eerily glowing reindeers who wander the forests at night.

Every year in Finland, almost 4,000 potential sleigh-pulling reindeer are struck by motorists. In order to protect these animals and save Christmas, the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association (yep…it’s a thing) has come up with an idea that will probably result in more motorist crashes when drivers try to avoid killing what looks like a ghost-demon reindeer.

By painting the reindeer’s antlers with reflective paint, the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association is hoping to keep the mayhem to a minimum next year. They’re currently just splashing the reflective tape on the animals’ fur to test the theory while Canada, who’s suffering similar issues, simply wants to paint some reflective lines on the road and maybe put up a sign saying, “SLOW DOWN OR YOU’LL PROBABLY KILL A REINDEER!”

We’re looking forward to posting stories about people who do NOT know this is going on in the wilds of Finland and post stories to the internet about “Satan’s Reindeer”, “Reindeer Ghosts of Christmas” or the conspiracy stories that Nikola Tesla once developed a freaky form of reindeer that channels electricity through its eye-holes and antlers.

No…really…look at that picture up there…eight of those, and one with who-knows-what coming out of its nose, will be on your roof in a couple of months.

[Smithsonian.com]

Currently making the rounds is some CCTV camera footage from a bar in Bristol called Ye Olde Man and Scythe. The bar has been around since 1251.

On Valentine’s Day of this year, something showed up on the bar’s security camera. Most are immediately shouting “OMG! GHOST!”

The jury is still out on what this might be. Our bets are that it’s either a couple of seconds of footage dropped from GXSHT’s video for Black Camaro or a tease for Paranormal Activity 7? 8? 9?

What do YOU think is going on here? Is this the spirit of someone from the beyond or just someone doing a wrestler’s stroll into a bar?

[YouTube]

Authorities in a small town in Nigeria responded to tips that a local hotel had added something new to their menu.

After bursting into the restaurant…

“…they arrested four men, six women and the hotel’s owner. In addition, they discovered at least two blood-soaked human heads wrapped in cellophane, two army caps, two AK-47 rifles and a small quantity of ammunition. The heads have yet to be identified.”

Information about how long the hotel’s been serving as Hannibal Lector’s fave Nigerian B&B, how many people have ended up on the menu and how extensive the network supplying the hotel actually is have yet to be determined.

For the morbidly curious among you (yep…we’re aware you’re out there):

Heads went for around $45, hands and legs about $20 and ‘man parts’? Around $6.

We just keep shaking our heads and hearing the last line of the Eagles’ song Hotel California playing over and over…

“You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave.”

[Liberty Voice]

Bats take over a house. A Denmark zoo makes a horrifying display of themselves. Will nanotechnology make us better? Also, life is a hologram? Huh?

It’s all part of a new Weird Things podcast.

Get all the latest details on Andrew’s new show Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, like the official Facebook page.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes

Podcast RSS feed

Episode archive

Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings021714.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings021714.mp3[/podcast]

Picks:

Justin

House of Cards

Andrew:

Time Team “The Drowned World”

Brian:

Hacking the System

WARNING: IF YOU’RE SQUEAMISH ABOUT ANIMALS EATING ANIMALS AND BEING CUT OPEN TO REVEAL EATEN ANIMALS? Netflix has My Little Pony and you should probably play some of those instead of the above video.

While we all worry about robots taking over our planet, snakes are quietly learning to fly, take over large land masses, moving in and nesting in our homes and now?

They’re swallowing man’s best friends…whole.

Locals in Cuiaba, Brazil spotted a ridiculously large snake with with a grotesquely distended stomach…so they investigated….and shot video of the ‘investigation’.

2ND WARNING: This video ain’t for the squeamish.

Everyone else? Hit that play button.
[I09]

In May of 2013 during a geophysics survey along the Coast of Norfolk in England, researchers stumbled across what might be the oldest
evidence of human life in the region…footprints.

While skeptical at first, archaeologists have been doing extensive testing of dozens of foot-like indentations in a sediment layer that’s been
revealed by the tide and erosion in the area (similar to the discovery of a possible pyramid we talk about in the latest episode of the Weird Things podcast).

Scientists took photos of the indentations from every angle in order to create a 3D model that they could use to determine whether these odd
hollows in the sediment were, in fact, footprints or, perhaps, something else.

Almost a year later and with lots of careful analysis, researchers are agreeing that these are footprints left by what appears to be “…at least two
children and one adult male.” Researchers are estimating that these prints date back between 800,000 to 1 million years ago.

[I09]

Elon Musk says SpaceX is going to Mars in 10 years. Wait, really? Can we teleport energy? Does that mean insane space ships? Is faster than light travel possible? And did we just find water vapor somewhere awesome?

It’s all part of a new Weird Things podcast.

Get all the latest details on Andrew’s new show Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, like the official Facebook page.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings020914.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings020914.mp3[/podcast]

Picks:

Brian:

How The Mind Works

Andrew:

Enders Game

Justin:

Sherlock

An exploding shed in Germany leaves Justin and special guest Tom Merrit searching for clues. Meanwhile, Andrew clues us in on a pyramid below sea level that could be the clue to an ancient civilization. Also, could asteroids be affecting the weather more than we think? Are we all on the brink of death?

It’s all part of a new Weird Things podcast.

Get all the latest details on Andrew’s new show Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, like the official Facebook page.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings020314.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings020314.mp3[/podcast]

Picks:

Justin:

The Master

Andrew:

Player of Games

Tom:

Dan Carlin Hardcore History (WWI series)