(http://geeknewscentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/britishinventorsproject-150x110.jpg)This interview from Gadget Show Live (http://www.gadgetshowlive.net/) comes with a warning. If you think that rats are cute cuddly animals with every right to life, you should probably stop reading now. If on the other hand, you believe that they're plague-ridden rodents that should be wiped from the face of the planet, read on.

The inventor and founder of the PutDown Trap (http://putdowntraps.com/) is Mark Sheahan, the British Library’s first ever Inventor in Residence. Mark took on the challenge of every inventor of building a better mouse trap, or in this case a rat trap. The Putdown Trap is poison-free, self-rearming and needs no power.

The Putdown trap uses the motion of the rat in and out of the trap to inject air into the rat's brain causing an embolism and subsequent death. The needle is sprung-loaded so the trap re-arms itself and there's no poison to either refresh or be eaten by another animal accidentally. There's a second needle to spear the heart.

The photo below shows the internals of the trap - the rat moves in from left to right.

(http://geeknewscentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/putdowntrap.jpg)