Brushing your teeth is a regular ritual for most people, and normally that involves both a toothbrush and toothpaste to remove the gunk that builds up on our teeth and gums. The solar toothbrush looks to eliminate the paste, harnessing the power of the sun to kill off all that nasty bacteria.

For decades futurists have promised us cars that can drive themselves, but so far that dream hasn't progressed much beyond The Jetsons. Now an Italian company is making real progress with a car that can't fly like George Jetson's, but which can certainly drive itself, and they plan to demonstrate the technology with a dramatic 8000 mile intercontinental trip.

While it may look like invading aliens just landed in London's über-posh Belgrave Square, this luminous pink tree is actually just an art installation called OR2.

The Ikaros, launched back on May 21st, is safely in orbit and today Japan's space agency reports that the craft's solar sails are fully extended. The Ikaros's claim to fame is that it'll use only the sun to propel itself and continuously generate power, making it an ideal candidate for deep space missions.