But before you get too excited, you should know that Phantom v1610 Camera does the deed as more of a marketing ploy than anything else (it worked on us). Regardless, you’ll be happy to know that it can still capture 720p HD video at a pretty mind-blowing frame rate.

The Phantom V1610 can capture a million frames a second using a ridiculously low resolution of 128×16, so you won’t go bonkers over those images. But at 720p HD resolution, it can still capture at a not-too-shabby 18,100 fps.

If you’re wondering why you’d want something so fast, this high-speed digital camera allows to capture those amazing high-definition, slow-mo shots you’ve been admiring in various TV shows, commercials and music videos. Sadly you’ll have to pay around $100,000 to get this one for your next shoot.

[via Uncrate]

In the experiment conducted by Arvid Guterstam, Valeria I. Petkova and H. Henrik Ehrsson, participants were asked to put their right arm next to a prosthetic right arm. As you can see in the left half of the picture below, both hands were simultaneously stroked by a brush at similar points. You’d expect that a participant would only feel the brush on his real hand, but what happens is that their brain gets confused. The blanket hides the fact that only the real arm is connected to the participant, so his brain is comfortable enough with treating BOTH hands as part of the body. Most participants responded that they felt the brush on both hands. Awesome.

To further prove the illusion, the scientists then threatened the confused participants by holding a knife over the fake right arm and then doing the same to their actual arm. The stress response for both events were very similar, again proving that the participants thought that the prosthetic was also their arm. But our brains are not that dumb – when the scientists tried placing a prosthetic left arm or a rubber foot next to a participants’ real right arm, the experiment failed.

So what applications could this result have? Ehrsson says that maybe in the future, stroke patients and other people with paralyzed limbs will be able to use prosthetic arms, or even people who have functional arms but could use an extra limb to do their job more effectively. Check out the source links below for more details on the experiment.

[via PLoSone via PhysOrg]

These cameras can shoot close up images at an insane rate of speed. They can take as many as a thousand 800×600 (SVGA) resolution photos every second. The lower the resolution is set, the more frames they can snap, topping out at 95,000 frames per second when dialed down to a 32×32 pixel resolution.

Now these cameras weren’t made for casual users. They’re desinged primarily for capturing and analyzing minute product defects in everything from automotive crash simulations to product durability drop tests.

Be sure to check out this cool video gallery of some high-speed shots from a variety of Phantom cameras.

[via TechDigest]