A new PVRR (Pet Virtual Reality Research) technical brief targets the hundreds of millions of global kitties who might enjoy a romp through a virtual playscape. For starters, be sure to watch the compelling promotional pitch below:

Isobar, the brainchild of this operation, boasts their brain-monitoring and emotion-measuring capabilities. Thee brief reports that they have partnered with Zoos Victoria to detail the stakeholders and potential benefits of their emerging tech. After all, they ask: why should only “big cats” get to have all of the fun?

Per the paper, “PVRR utilizes EEG and EKG technology to monitor cats’ emotions to certain stimuli. The methodology accounts for the fact that cats see less color, but see better in the dark than humans.” Their tests involved showing cats swimming fish, low-flying birds and other objects and scenes designed to evoke a response.

Actually reading the brief, though, you might be both amused and skeptical — it did also, after all, come out on April second, which may be more than coincidence (really, though, you should read it yourself to learn more).

More from the design team: “We pioneered a patent-pending process that is referred to as ‘W.A.H.T’- whisker attenuation and haptic telemetry. this groundbreaking addition to the computer vision and sensor platform has allowed us to leverage software algorithms to understand the ‘tells’ each feline has related to their whiskers and be able to accurately understand when a cat experiences one of the following states: (1) TD: totally disinterested, (2) D: disinterested, (3) MD: mildly disinterested and (4) CNP: cat-nipped – a term we’ve been using to express the same brain activity seen in highly stimulated cats when under the effects of catnip”

Of course, this may all sound silly to us right now, but wait a few years and household pets may well while away lonely days at home being fed by robots and goofing off inside simulated playscapes. According to the PVRR brief: dogs are the next target audience, so: stay tuned, canine fans!

Colorful but powerful, this strong synthetic dough (dubbed PLAY) looks like modeling clay made for kids, but can hold together all kinds of materials including wood, metal, glass and marble. The idea, in part, is to facilitate creative freedom, allowing anyone to become a designer.

Developed by London designer Stephen Johnson started with Play Doh and other similar materials, but found he needed something more — a mixture that was both pliable but also could form a durable solid when cured for connecting parts and pieces. The components can be just about anything, including leftover furniture bits and pieces, construction materials or simply found objects.

“The objective was to design functional products using kids dough, but given its soft nature it’s just not feasible,” he explains. “I needed a material that looked and behaved in the same way but became rigid over time.”

He spent years developing his secret recipe, an organic/synthetic hybrid, that is easy to mold, stick and make solid. Then, for fun, he began mixing in colors, mimicking some of the other more playful variants already on the market. The multi-hued results also encourage a certain level of experimentation — if the object is going to look a bit wacky anyway, why not use a broom handle here, or a toilet plunger shaft there?

“It is about the innovative freedom we had as kids, being spontaneous, putting objects and materials together without restriction – designing in the moment with our hands, imagination and the things we have around us.” In the end, there are a lot of possibilities, from crafting colorful furniture and decor objects to modeling, arts and crafts applications. Or really: anything fun.

Acting out scenes from storybooks or animating real activities, these deceptively simple-looking, folded-paper toys leap, bounce, roll and hatch into action when played with.

Japanese designer Haruki Nakamura was inspired by the ancient art of kirigami, a variation on origami that involves cuts as well as folds, but takes it to the next level with his playful animals.

The specific behaviors of the toys often follow the natural reactions of a given animal, like an armadillo rolling itself up for protection when threatened.

Combining kirigami with karakuri, the art of mechanical puppets actived by touch, led him to these neat hybrid creatures that one can poke, prod, press or drop into action.

In some cases, the activities are innocent and entertaining, like a turtle popping into its shell or a chick hatching from an egg. Others are humorously sinister, showing wolves in sheep’s clothing or a tortoise being eaten by an alligator. For now, alas, these works are only available in Japan.

This 230-foot-long musical instrument contains 35 organ pipes and is powered by the Adriatic Sea, producing sounds for visitors that seem eerily composed rather than random.

Whistle holes cut into the stone steps are ‘powered’ by air pushed in by waves of water, creating chords that are strikingly harmonious in nature. The sounds are constantly shifting, but you can listen to a clip above (a .wav file of the waves, if you will).

The Sea Organ, or the Morske Orgulje, is part of plan to revive Zadar, a city over 3,000 years old that was nearly obliterated in the Second World War. Architect Nikola Baši? wanted to give the place something with character, differentiated from the stark and boring concrete buildings that were created during initial years of rebuilding.

The design was inspired by the Hydraulis, an ancient Greek instrument that used water to push air through tuned pipes, but also borrows from the Wave Organ in San Francisco, a likewise seaside device amplifying the sounds of the Pacific Ocean. (images by linssimato, Lisa and J We).

When the hydrophobic NeverWet spray came out, it promised to waterproof everything, but users found they had mixed results in applying it to things like clothing and touchscreens – it discolored shoes and left films on devices. Then someone thought to create a stencil and tag sidewalks with the stuff, and a new type of visible-when-wet graffiti was born.

Since an initial round of stencils came out in Boston, others have gotten even more creative with the stuff, creating hopscotch boards and other water-activated drawings.

Recently, a series of works inspired by the popularity of the augmented reality game Pokémon GO have allowed people to throw gameplay-inspired water balloons to reveal characters on sidewalks.

Rainworks in Seattle has created an array of humorous messages and interactive games that only show up when the city’s famous fog turns into a downpour. Others have made poems and short stories spelled out light-on-dark against drenched backdrops.

Of course, the potential applications are endless – businesses could use the same strategies to offer rain-specific happy hours or other discounts to passers by, signs that only show up when wet. Graffiti artists could add new secret layers to their murals that also only appear in the rain. Fun in the sun is great, but this approach encourages people to get out on cloudy days … then rewards them for their efforts.