Techknow Thursday!

According to the wonderful people over at Gizmodo, apparently NASA has been able to create a small anti-gravity field, giving them the ability to levitate mice and other small rodents.



So far, they haven't been able to create anything larger in size, but that is a hopeful eventuality. The true technological amazingness about this entire system is that it relies on supermagnets to push on the water in the body of the rats, allowing them to rise. That' s awesome, but what's even more amazing is that they were able to do this at room temperature instead of needing an extremely cold environment for this to function.

Additionally, the rats apparently began trying to move after being lifted which caused the rat's to spin. Without friction, they would just spin faster and faster causing the rodents to become disoriented. In order to counter this, the second batch of rats were sedated, so NASA has now successfully levitated and drugged mice...all in the name of science! I personally agree with Gizmodo: I want to see some hoverboards, and soon!

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WTF Fridays!

Well, it's a bit late in the day, but I've still made it with less than four hours until midnight (CST). As for today's entry, well, I had to read it a couple of times to let it sink in, but I'm still in a bit of shock. That being said, here is the link to the story. I just really can't believe this really happened...wow.

Anyway, a couple in Westwego, LA (just outside of New Orleans) lost their three-month-old child yesterday to rats. Apparently the police report hundreds of bites all over the infant's body and rat tracks on the baby's bed sheets in blood. Scary and horrifying, but I'm not sure that the rats actually were the killing culprit because the parents reported to not hear any screams which should have been heard had the baby been alive. Additionally, having dealt with animals and quite a few rodents, they don't usually act like this unless there is nothing else to eat or the baby were already dead. Either way, this is definitely a sad time for this family. The hospital has not yet officially released a cause of death, but I'll be keeping tabs on this story.

Rat-bitten baby's mother tells her story

I truly hope that the police and city officials can get to the bottom of this to protect the neighborhood and prevent something else like this from happening. Additionally, Child Services has taken the couple's other child from them for the duration of the investigation, but I really can't imagine a parent willingly allowing this to happen. Hopefully not.

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