Bad Hair Day
When Christine Debrecht and her teenage daughter witnessed an explosion that shattered her Honda Civic’s sunroof, they were left shaken, shocked and absolutely baffled as to what caused the blast.
It wasn’t until nearly 15 minutes later when Debrecht’s daughter unearthed a bottle of Equate dry shampoo with the bottom blown off that the pair realized what had happened. The aerosol container, which had been stored in the Civic’s centre console for a full day, had been heated to the point of combustion. As a result, the metal canister burst, blowing the console cover off its hinges, shattering the car’s sunroof, rocketing into the sky and landing about 50 feet away from Debrecht’s vehicle.
“We thought something fell down from the sky,” Debrecht told a local news source. “But the glass was going outwards so we know that wasn’t the case.”
Debrecht took to Facebook to warn others about the freak accident. She wrote that, while most aerosol products come with clear heat warnings, they tend to be easy for people to forget.
Rat-onomous Vehicles
Move over, Ratatouille—there’s a new rat in town, and he’s got a need for speed.
Kelly Lambert, a professor of behavioural neuroscience at the University of Richmond in Virginia was recently able to train a team of lab rats to drive a car.
The rat-operated vehicle is a small, rodent-sized electric car in a tiny enclosure. The vehicle was built from aluminum, a plastic food container, an electric motor and four tiny wheels. Inside are three copper bars and the rat serves as a conduit to complete an electric circuit. When the rat’s tiny claws make contact with the copper bars, power is sent to the motor which makes the car drive forward. Steering is achieved by the rat touching either the left, centre or right copper bar.
The report states that 17 rats—11 male and six female—were effectively taught to drive and steer the vehicle in a small area in order to reach food.
Further, the study found the animals found learning to drive, among other skills, relaxing. By measuring hormone levels, scientists found that the levels of a stress-counteracting hormone in the rats’ feces grew throughout their driving training.
Blast from the Past
What do you do when you accidentally purchase a turbojet that shoots hot gasses from the back to create thrust instead of a regular turbine engine? Well, if you live in Amish country, you attach it to a wooden cart to create a jet-powered buggy, of course.
When an auto enthusiast accidentally purchased what is essentially a miniature jet engine instead of a regular turbine engine, he decided to construct a jet-powered buggy. A steel subframe strengthens the vehicle to handle the weight and power of the jet engine. The interior features a racing seat and custom control panel using a mix of automotive and aviation gauges.
While the buggy tops out at between 88.5 km/h and 96.5 km/h, that is a heck of a lot faster than any horse could ever pull the wagon. The owners are not particularly concerned about the buggy’s relatively low speed as there is no roll cage, meaning any crash could result in serious—even fatal—injuries.
Even if it’s not that quick, you can’t deny the buggy puts on an impressive show. The blue flame spewing from the vehicle’s backend has crowds mesmerized.
According to the builders of the jet-powered buggy, the vehicle will be used in upcoming drag racing exhibitions in the United States.
To see the buggy in all its glory, click here.
