Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Teenagers Create Innovative Door Handle That Kills 99.8 Percent of Germs

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 01:22 AM PDT

A couple of teen geniuses from Hong Kong have invented a product that could revolutionize the world of hygiene and infection control. They've created a door handle that instantly destroys germs every time it is touched by human hands.

The two kids – 17-year-old Sun Ming ('Simon') Wong and 18-year-old King Pong ('Michael') Li – are students at Tam Lee Lai Fun Memorial Secondary School, in Tuen Mun, China. They realised that everyday objects such as doorknobs, handrails, shopping cart handles, and counter-tops are breeding grounds for millions of germs, so they set out to explore the possibility of creating self-disinfecting surfaces that remain germ-free all the time.

After considerable research, Simon and Michael found out that titanium dioxide is an amazing bacteria-killer. So they ground the mineral into a very fine powder to use as a coating for the handle. They also discovered that titanium dioxide is more effective when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays. This posed a challenge: sunlight is a natural source of UV rays, but door handles are generally used indoors. So they had to come up with an energy-efficient artificial source of UV rays.

sanitizing-doorhandle

Company Unveils World’s First Commercially Available Luxury Tank

Posted: 15 Jun 2015 12:13 AM PDT

If you happen to be a motor enthusiast with a soft-spot for ‘extreme off road recreation’, we have great news for you. The world’s first luxury tank – the Ripsaw EV2 Extreme Luxury Tank – is now available for purchase!

According maker Howe and Howe Tech, the platform 'Ripsaw' platform was originally designed and built as a high speed super tank for military use. It quickly proved to be the "fastest dual tracked vehicle ever developed" and ended up on the cover of Popular Science magazine. In 2013, Howe and Howe decided to introduce the cutting edge technology to the high end, luxury market. They spent "thousands of man hours" working on the project, and finally unveiled the 'Ripsaw EV2', a "handcrafted, limited run, high end luxury super tank, developed for the public."

Ripsa-EV2-luxury-tank

Man Spends Six Years Carving Cave Home in the Side of a Hill

Posted: 14 Jun 2015 11:05 PM PDT

After his divorce, Chinese farmer Xu Wenyi longed for a means to escape reality. So he set out on an epic challenge – to dig his own cave dwelling in the side of a hill. It was back-breaking work, but he kept at it for six long years, until his cave home was finally ready.

Xu, now 57, has been living in his cave for over a decade. Located in a mountain in Xiangtan County, in China's Hunan Province, it measures 100 ft deep and 13 ft wide. In fact, it's more like a tiny apartment, complete with concrete-reinforced walls and a front door. The interiors are pretty neat too, with an 85-square foot living room and a stone kitchen. Xu has even dug out alcoves in the walls, to use as shelves for his belongings. He has a chicken coop inside, and he's made himself a garden of pine and cypress trees outside.

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