Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

Why a Gun Loaded With Blanks Can Still Kill You

A prop gun can still be lethal, and incidents on film sets happen all too often.

Behold the Best-Designed Cat House Any Cat Will Still Completely Ignore

Every year, FixNation, a Los Angeles animal charity, holds an auction of designer cat houses to raise money. This year’s Fan Favorite is “Cat in the Fishbowl.” It’s very nice, but we’re pretty sure any cat will ignore it in favor of the box it came in. FixNation is a remarkable charity which attempts to…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 30

Biologists Have Discovered Underground, Burrowing Tadpoles

Scientists have documented Indian dancing frogs for over a century. For that century, they’ve found only adult frogs. At last, a team of biologists have found the tadpoles that develop into frogs—and they’ve found them underground. Micrixalus herrei, one of a number of “dancing frogs” in India, spends its days in fast-moving streams. It gets…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 30

This Company is Making an Epi-Pen That Fits in a Wallet

AdrenaCard is meant to help people who are both unfortunate enough to need an epinephrine injection for serious allergic reactions—and human enough that they regularly forget their “epi-pen” when they’re going out. It’s a small epinephrine injector that fits inside a wallet. Most people with serious allergies have had an encounter with epinephrine. When the…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 29

Robot Anesthesiologists Lose Their Jobs Because of Humans

A robot anesthesiologist designed by Johnson & Johnson is going off the market. Only three years after approval, the company has stopped production on the Sedasys machine due to poor sales. The Sedasys machine was designed to provide anesthetic to patients undergoing routine surgeries. The American Society of Anesthesiologists was especially alarmed because anesthesiology is…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 29

This Software Can Read Harry Potter and Answer Questions About It

A Canadian company has come up with an algorithm that can read texts, and then accurately answer questions about them. The software is meant to help people by scanning and responding to their questions about boring technical texts—but there could be so many other great ways to use it. The company, Maluuba, is interested in…

Artificial Intelligence Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 28

Major Logging Will Begin in the Last Primeval Forest in Europe

In depressing news, about 180,000 cubic meters of wood will be taken from the last of Europe’s primeval forests. The environmental minister in Poland declared that the Bialowieza Puszcza will be logged over the next decade. The Bialowieza Puszcza was always famous to environmentalists and naturalists, but it became well known to everyone due to…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 25

How Chicago Is Trying to Hide Its Giant Hell Pit

This 110-foot-wide hole, punched into one of Chicago’s best neighborhoods, represents nearly a decade of dashed architectural dreams. Recently, developers gave up trying to build on it, and have started building hills to hide it from the sight of angry neighbors. This hole, which looks like the aftermath of an attack by either Godzilla or…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 24

Arrow Knows How to Break Our Hearts But Good

Arrow is not a perfect show, but if there is one thing it knows how to do, it’s how to wring our hearts like they’re dirty dish rags. That skill was utilized last night in “Broken Hearts,” and we have the clip that proves it. When it comes to heartbreak, last night’s episode left everything…

Television Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 24

Genetically-Modified Maggots Could Help Wounds Heal Faster

Scientists at North Carolina State University are bringing an 18th century wound treatment into the 21st century. They’ve genetically modified maggots to secrete a human growth factor to promote healing while they clean people’s wounds. For some time, doctors have used the larvae of the green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, as treatment. The maggots eat…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 23

‘Cat Parasite’ Could Be To Blame for People Suffering from Rage Disorder

A new study has shown that people with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), associated with bursts of overblown aggression, are twice as likely as healthy people to have Toxoplasma gondii. This parasite, famously carried by cats, has been shown to mess with the neurochemistry of mice. Could it be doing the same to us? Published in…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 23

Arctic Microbes Are Expanding Their Homes By Making Stuff that Melts Glaciers

Humans aren’t the only ones trying their best to warm up the world like it’s a Hot Pocket. Bacteria are also creating particles that melt glaciers and make the world comfortable for more bacteria. Today, at the Microbiology Society’s Annual Conference, scientists from Aberystwyth University announced that microbes are heating the planet. That’s not unusual,…

Climate Change Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 22

Birds Nest Near Alligators to Scare Off Predators and “Pay” Them in Rejected Chicks

A lot of things eat baby birds, and alligators eat most of those things. Birds in the Everglades seem to have noticed this, and nest in trees near alligators. The alligators provide a benefit to the birds, keeping away the opossums and raccoons that would eat their eggs. But what might the alligators get out…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 22

Take a 3D Tour of Richard III’s Grave

Richard III is best known as the eponymous villain in one of Shakespeare’s plays, and second best known for having his body discovered in a car park in 2012. The remains were re-interred in a suitably sober fashion, but now you can get a 3D glimpse at what the king’s original grave looked like. People…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 21

We Might Finally Be Able to Read Ancient Scrolls Damaged By Vesuvius Eruption

Pompeii has the best press, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD also buried the town of Herculaneum. Charred scrolls were recovered from the town library in 1752, and Italian scientists just discovered it might be possible to use X-ray technology to read them. Their findings were published recently in the Proceedings of…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 21

Our Cities May Be Making Birds Smarter

The term “bird brain” is going out of fashion as biologists come to understand that birds are actually quite smart and competent. Now scientists in Barbados say that, in many respects, urban birds are smarter than rural birds. Scientists at McGill University’s Bellairs facility spent the past few months capturing bull finches from cities, suburbs,…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 21

Seventeen People in Wisconsin Have Died From One Strain of Bacteria

The bacteria Elizabethkingia anopheles has claimed 17 lives over the last five months in 12 Wisconsin counties, and caused 54 people to become seriously ill. As yet, no one has been able to trace the source of the infection. Elizabethkingia anopheles is named for a famous researcher who worked with the CDC in the mid-1900s.…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 18

Physics Students Calculate How Long a Vampire Needs To Drink Your Blood

A bite to the neck and a clean getaway—that’s what a vampire needs. A group of physics students from the University of Leicester calculated exactly how long a vampire would need to accomplish those two things: about 6.4 minutes. They published their findings in the university’s Journal of Physics Special Topics. The human body can’t…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 18

Hyenas and Wolves Are Teaming Up to Survive

Different species of carnivores don’t get along. At best, they’re in direct competition for prey. At worst, they turn each other into prey. But recently, zoologists found that two predators are teaming up to both survive and haunt your nightmares. The Negev Desert in southern Israel is one of the most arid places in the…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 17

This On-Off Switch for Sperm Could Lead to Better Male Birth Control

Researchers just found an on-off switch for sperm movement. This has the potential to help men who are infertile, but it also has the potential to help all men. It could be an effective form of male birth control. A new study in Science details a new finding, which may be the first step towards…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 17

Esther Inglis-Arkell

Why a Gun Loaded With Blanks Can Still Kill You

Behold the Best-Designed Cat House Any Cat Will Still Completely Ignore

Biologists Have Discovered Underground, Burrowing Tadpoles

This Company is Making an Epi-Pen That Fits in a Wallet

Robot Anesthesiologists Lose Their Jobs Because of Humans

This Software Can Read Harry Potter and Answer Questions About It

Major Logging Will Begin in the Last Primeval Forest in Europe

How Chicago Is Trying to Hide Its Giant Hell Pit

Arrow Knows How to Break Our Hearts But Good

Genetically-Modified Maggots Could Help Wounds Heal Faster

‘Cat Parasite’ Could Be To Blame for People Suffering from Rage Disorder

Arctic Microbes Are Expanding Their Homes By Making Stuff that Melts Glaciers

Birds Nest Near Alligators to Scare Off Predators and “Pay” Them in Rejected Chicks

Take a 3D Tour of Richard III’s Grave

We Might Finally Be Able to Read Ancient Scrolls Damaged By Vesuvius Eruption

Our Cities May Be Making Birds Smarter

Seventeen People in Wisconsin Have Died From One Strain of Bacteria

Physics Students Calculate How Long a Vampire Needs To Drink Your Blood

Hyenas and Wolves Are Teaming Up to Survive

This On-Off Switch for Sperm Could Lead to Better Male Birth Control

Scientists Generated Solar Power After Dark, Thanks to a Trick Using Wood

Amazon Clears Out EGO POWER+ String Trimmer at Its Lowest Price of the Year, Battery and Charger Included

Ray-Ban Meta Deal Extended at Record Low, Smart AI Glasses at the Price of Regular Glasses

ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard

Sony Is Turning ‘Bloodborne’ Into an R-Rated Animated Movie

GoPro’s New Plan to Beat DJI Is a Bigger Action Camera Built for Pros

Sony Soundbar With Bass Reflex Speaker Is Now Under $100 at an All-Time Low, Even Cheaper Than Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar

New ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’ Footage Just Swung Into CinemaCon

LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Is Built to Last, but Its Lowest Price Isn’t (Includes Darth Malak Minifigure)

You Can Now Relive the Golden Age of ‘Warhammer’ PC Games

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled