Have you ever wondered what it would be like to interact with a ray of pure light? Well now you can, with Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory’s advance in technology as we know it, the Sticky Light. “The piece is based upon a 3d tracking technology developed in our lab in 2003, using a laser diode, a pair of steering mirrors, and a single non-imaging photodetector called the ‘smart laser scanner’,” an explanation of how the Sticky Light functions (no projectors or optical illusions!). It gets its name because of its ability to stick to whatever surface it touches--it can even function on vertical surfaces. It works by sensing objects that are a color different than the background color (it searches for items to play with!). It can then follow any pattern for any amount of time, and it can even split into several different points of light that simultaneously trace the pattern (works on white boards, tables, floors, ceilings, papers, three-dimensional surfaces, clothing, and much, much more!). Operates using a 1/3 mW laser, one third of a very weak laser, so it is completely harmless! (Long-term exposure to the eyes may cause minimal damage.) It is unspecified if this product is out for commercial sale yet, or for what price it may be selling, or even if it will be available to the general public at all, but I suspect is , because there are people performing a demo who did not look like University officials. Here's a video demo!

I know this is a little late, but as we all know, Japan was hit by a massive 8.9 earthquake on March 11, 2011. I know a lot of us want to help, and for some of us, our schools are holding fund raisers to donate to the Red Cross so that they can put the money to good use, helping boost their relief efforts. Maybe some of us can make an example out of Ryan Higa (aka NigaHiga). He went outside to a busy intersection for one hour with a sign that said "Honk if you love Japan". For each honk he got, he donated $10 to the Red Cross. There's a video after the jump of him doing "Honk For Japan!"