Cheryl Eddy

“The newest incarnation of Superman isn’t so much a betrayal of the character’s origins as it is a perhaps unwitting return to them,” The Atlantic’s Charles Moss writes in an essay that brings some historical perspective to the backlash against the character’s “brooding” depiction in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Camera Triggered By Heartbeats Reveals A Dog’s Eye View Of Photography?

When Grizzler the Border Collie was outfitted with a special camera that snapped a photo every time his heart rate increased, his top subjects were, well, not that surprising: cats, birds, other dogs, and food, as well as random spots that were no doubt emitting some mighty exciting smells. UPDATED: Thanks to the commentors below…

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles ends tonight, alas, but if you’ve been enjoying the gruesomely campy show, get a behind-the-scenes peek via Geeks of Doom’s series of interviews with the show’s writers here and here. And, of course, check back tomorrow for our recap of the series finale!

Your Armpit Hair Will (Probably) Never Grow To The Floor. Here’s Why.

A few weeks back, we examined why fingernails grow so much faster than toenails. Now comes the explanation for another bodily-function quirk you’ve always kinda wondered about, courtesy of the SciShow’s Hank Green: How does hair (including, like, eyebrow and armpit hair) know when to stop growing? https://gizmodo.com/why-do-fingernails-grow-so-much-faster-than-toenails-1695886809

Sad news: John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician, has died at age 86 in a New Jersey car crash. Also killed was his wife, Alicia. The Nashes were portrayed by Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, which delved into Nash’s struggles with mental illness.

Louisiana Black Bear May Soon Be Removed From Endangered Species List

The Louisiana black bear inspired the teddy bear and is its home state’s official mammal, and its once-low population has been elevated thanks to decades of conservation efforts. This week, the US Department of the Interior announced the bear may soon be removed from its list of threatened species. According to the official press release:…

Christopher Lloyd’s LEGO Ad Makes Us Want A New Back To The Future Movie

Doc Brown returns in this fun trailer for WB Games’ Lego Dimensions, in which the zany scientist helps construct the device that enables the toys (including his own tiny doppleganger, and lots of other familiar faces that have nothing to do with Back to the Future) to virtually “come to life.” [Via Mashable]

This Is What Happens When Two Galaxies Collide

Four hundred million light years away, NGC 6240 appears in this image from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. One NASA source terms the galaxy’s shape the result of a “galactic merger,” another goes for the more colorful “titanic galaxy-galaxy collision.” Here’s a more detailed explanation of what you’re seeing: This…

A Thought-Provoking Video That Examines Worldbuilding In Fantasy Fiction

Author Evan Puschak, aka blogger the Nerd Writer, breaks down what he calls “the perils of worldbuilding” in this video, using the works of Tolkien and Game of Thrones, among others, as examples. On his blog, he writes: The key point is that worldbuilding fiction, or the worldbuilding acts of authors and fans, imply a…

The Play’s The Thing (That Gets You Killed) In Trailer For The Gallows

On the heels of its jarring teaser from April, the full trailer for The Gallows — about a cursed high-school play — offers a lotta night vision and shaky-cam, a haunted VCR (?), a slowed-down version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and a spirited prayer that found-footage horror still has one last breath in it.

Newborn Baby Gorilla Enjoys A Nap While Its Mother Keeps Watch

Just six or seven days old, a baby Western lowland gorilla has a snooze in the arms of its proud mother, Frala, at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. So far, mom and newborn have been hanging so tight that keepers haven’t been able to determine whether their newest charge is a male or a female. AP Photo…

Tour A Real, Abandoned Insane Asylum In This Creepy Short Video

Ghosts are implied but not actually filmed in this spectacularly eerie tour of a massive asylum, closed for 20 years. Elegant editing and camerawork, including some graceful aerial footage, capture graffiti-covered abandonment as well as what the narrator terms “a presence, as if something was still there.” The video also recognizes the explorers and artists…

Wayward Pines‘ Second Episode Builds To A Jaw-Dropping Twist 

Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) continues to be baffled by the surreal pace of life in Wayward Pines, but he’s no longer completely clueless. That said, he’s still fully capable of putting disastrous events in motion, which he does in episode two: “Do Not Discuss Your Life Before.” Spoilers follow! The episode’s title,…

ID Network’s First Scripted Drama Evokes Soap Operas And Ted Bundy

Investigation Discovery, or ID, is mostly known for its reenactment-heavy true-crime shows (including guilty-pleasure fodder like Wives With Knives, Momsters, and Frenemies: Loyalty Turned Lethal). The network’s first scripted series arrives in June with a suitably lurid title: Serial Thriller: Angel of Decay. According to Deadline, the show is a three-night miniseries rather than a…

A Clever Herd Goes Undercover In The Stop-Motion Shaun The Sheep Trailer

You can tell by the googly eyes that Shaun the Sheep is an Aardman Animations production. The trailer promises the clever humor and adorable stop-motion animation that the studio (home of Wallace and Gromit) is known for … plus, did we catch a Silence of the Lambs reference? Snort. Official synopsis for the film, which…

Sweden’s Most Bizarre Unsolved Murder Was (Maybe) Committed By A Vampire

Precious little information exists about what’s known as the Atlas Vampire Murder, so named for the neighborhood in Stockholm where it took place in 1932 … and for the gruesome crime-scene details left behind by an unknown assailant. Quite obviously, the latter is why this long-cold case is still so tantalizing. The victim was Lilly…

How America’s First Female Detective Helped Foil An Assassination Plot

History isn’t certain if Kate Warne, America’s first female detective, had that career path in mind when she walked into the Pinkerton Detective Agency. It’s possible she was applying to be a secretary. But she so impressed Allan Pinkerton that he hired her as an agent — a job she proved unusually well-suited for. This…

The Borden Sisters Go Undercover (But Not For Long!) On Chronicles

You gotta give The Lizzie Borden Chronicles credit; the only thing predictable about this show is how unpredictable it is (and, ok, the fact that Lizzie will off at least one other character per episode). In episode seven, “The Sisters Grimke,” the Borden sisters flee Fall River and Lizzie adopts a more fun-loving hair color.…

On a single day in 2011, Anders Breivik killed 77 people, most of them attendees at a youth camp organized by the Norwegian Labour Party. A thoughtful piece in the new New Yorker by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard takes a look at the mass murderer from the inside out, examining his mind and his…

The Six Most Terrifying Serial Killer Families In History

Couples who kill together — Fred and Rosemary West, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo, David and Catherine Birnie — get plenty of ink. But what about siblings and larger family groups whose shared viciousness leads them into committing horrifying crimes? Read on for six especially nasty examples. 1) “The Bloody Benders” A gang of four…