George Dvorsky, Author at Gizmodo

Boaty McBoatface Has Returned From Its Most Perilous Mission Yet

Our favorite autonomous underwater vehicle, Boaty McBoatface, has completed a two-month mission in which it explored a massive ice shelf in Antarctica’s southern Weddell Sea. Swimming nearly a kilometer beneath the surface, and with hardly any human assistance or oversight, Boaty spent over 50 hours directly beneath the Antarctic ice. Boaty completed its inaugural mission…

Climate Change George Dvorsky

Winged Archaeopteryx Dino Could Fly—Scientists Just Don’t Know How

Owing to its distinctly bird-like features, Archaeopteryx is one of the most intriguing dinosaurs known to science. Since its discovery some 150 years ago, paleontologists have wondered if the Late Jurassic dinosaur could actually fly. New research suggests the answer is yes—but its flying style was unlike anything seen today in modern birds. New research…

Biology George Dvorsky

Florida Wildlife Officials Are Killing Invasive Iguanas by Smashing in Their Skulls

As part of a $63,000 research project to devise new and effective ways of pruning back the skyrocketing iguana population in south Florida, wildlife officials in the state have started to smash in the heads of iguanas, saying it’s a quick and “humane” form of euthanasia. Sounds dreadful—and it is—but the situation in Florida is…

Biology George Dvorsky

These Early Humans Prospered During What Should Have Been a Devastating Volcanic Winter

Around 74,000 years ago, a massive caldera erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering a prolonged and devastating volcanic winter. Scientists have speculated that the Toba eruption pruned back human populations to a considerable degree, but new research published today suggests at least one group of humans living in southern Africa not only managed…

Human History George Dvorsky

California Startup Accused of Launching Unauthorized Satellites Into Orbit: Report [Updated]

The US Federal Communications Commission says Swarm Technologies—a communications startup run by Silicon Valley expats—launched four tiny internet satellites into space back in January. That’s a problem because the FCC never greenlighted the project, saying the experimental satellites are dangerous. If confirmed, it would mark the first known time in history that unauthorized satellites have…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

These Hawaiian Stick Spiders Have a Profound Case of Evolutionary Déjà Vu

Environments make species. This was the fundamental biology lesson that was drilled into Charles Darwin when he visited the Galápagos Islands back in 1835, a trip that ultimately inspired his theory of natural selection. Nearly 200 years later, scientists in Hawaii have stumbled upon a fascinating evolutionary quirk that would’ve made Darwin proud—the discovery of…

Biology George Dvorsky

Gruesome Scene as Bag Containing 54 Severed Hands Found in Siberia [Updated]

Well here’s something you don’t see everyday: a bag containing 27 pairs of human hands. The grisly discovery was made on a river island near the Siberian city of Khabarovsk, and local police are now investigating. At first, a single hand was discovered. But then, nearby, the motherlode was found—a bag containing no less than…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Forensic Scientist Claims to Have Solved the Amelia Earhart Mystery

Pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937, and we’ve been wondering about her fate ever since. A re-examination of a forensic analysis performed in 1941 shows that bones found on a remote south Pacific island belonged to Earhart—a conclusion reached with a splashy 99 percent number attached to it. Skeptics, on…

Tech News George Dvorsky

NASA Wants to Fly Your Name Into the Sun

The fine folks at NASA are sending a spacecraft to the Sun, and they want to send a little piece of you along with it. Here’s how to get your name on the ultimate “fry” list. A memory chip containing a list of submitted names will be inserted into the Parker Solar Probe, which is…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

UFO Wingnuts Confuse a Fallen Boulder for a Crashed Alien Spacecraft

There’s a viral video making the rounds showing the site of an apparent crashed UFO on the remote island of South Georgia. On closer inspection, however, the object’s true identify is something considerably more banal: It’s just a stupid rock that fell from a nearby mountain. The video was produced by Secureteam10, and it’s amassed…

Tech News George Dvorsky

The Juno Spacecraft Is Revealing Some Astounding Things About Jupiter’s Mysterious Interior

NASA’s Juno space probe has been circling Jupiter for the past 20 months, and it’s been transmitting scientific data back to Earth at a furious pace. Today, astronomers are releasing four new studies based on Juno’s measurements, all of which explore the gas giant’s turbulent atmosphere and the stuff that lies beneath its cloudy surface.…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

More Evidence That Dogs ‘See’ the World With Their Powerful Noses

Dogs are equipped with a powerful sense of smell, but scientists haven’t been sure if our canine companions are capable of linking an aroma or scent to a physical object. New research suggests this is very much the case, and that dogs form a mental picture in their mind of the target when they’re tracking…

Biology George Dvorsky

US Aircraft Carrier Sunk in WW2 Battle Finally Found Off Australian Coast

The USS Lexington, a US aircraft carrier lost during the 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, has been discovered by a team of civilian researchers off the north-east coast of Australia. The Lexington was discovered on Sunday, March 4, by Vulcan Inc., a company chaired by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. A search team aboard the…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Image Manipulation Hack Fools Humans and Machines, Makes Me Think Nothing is Real Anymore

Computer scientists at Google Brain have devised a technique that tricks neural networks into misidentifying images—a hack that works on humans as well. As Evan Ackerman reports at IEEE Spectrum, so-called “adversarial” images can be used to trick both humans and computers. The algorithm, developed by Google Brain, can tweak photos such that visual recognition…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Poo Stains Seen From Space Lead to Discovery of Massive Penguin ‘Supercolony’

After noticing the telltale signs of guano streaks on satellite imagery, an international team of researchers set out to count the number of penguins on Antarctica’s aptly named Danger Islands. They found a previously undetected supercolony of over 1.5 million Adélie penguins—a surprising result, given how poorly these aquatic birds are doing just 100 miles…

Biology George Dvorsky

Termites Are Finally Being Recognized for What They Really Are: Social Cockroaches

Very quietly, and without any formal announcement, the Common Names Committee of the Entomological Society of America has decided to list termites in the same category as cockroaches. It seem weird to lump the two together, but it’s a move that scientists have been considering for nearly a century. If you call up the ESA’s…

Biology George Dvorsky

5,000-Year-Old Mummy Is Earliest Known Tattooed Woman

A new analysis of two ancient Egyptian mummies has uncovered the earliest known examples of “figural” tattoos on human beings—that is, tattoos that are meant to represent a real things, rather than abstract symbols. What’s more, at around 5,000 years old, it’s the earliest evidence of tattoos on a woman. The two mummies, one female…

Human History George Dvorsky

Canadian Budget Pledges Billions to Fund Basic Science Research

The Canadian government unveiled its 2018 budget on Tuesday, committing nearly $4 billion (or over $3 million USD) to a range of science programs over the next several years. It’s the single largest injection of cash for basic science research in the country’s history, but critics say it still falls short of what’s needed. In…

Tech News George Dvorsky

New Species of Tardigrade Discovered in Japanese Parking Lot

Say hello to Macrobiotus shonaicus, a completely new species of tardigrade—those incredibly resilient microscopic wee beasties that likely have what it takes to survive the apocalypse. Tardigrades, sometimes referred to as moss piglets or water bears, are eight-legged microscopic animals that like to live in moss, lichen, decaying leaves, and soil. These metazoans, first discovered…

Biology George Dvorsky

Freaky Theory Offers Totally New Explanation of the Moon’s Origin

A favorite pastime of astronomers is to debate the origin of Earth’s Moon, but despite decades of research, they don’t seem to be any closer to reaching a consensus. Scientists have now added a new theory to mix—and it’s weird as hell. The Moon, they argue, formed inside a gigantic donut-shaped cloud of vaporized rock…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

George Dvorsky

Boaty McBoatface Has Returned From Its Most Perilous Mission Yet

Winged Archaeopteryx Dino Could Fly—Scientists Just Don’t Know How

Florida Wildlife Officials Are Killing Invasive Iguanas by Smashing in Their Skulls

These Early Humans Prospered During What Should Have Been a Devastating Volcanic Winter

California Startup Accused of Launching Unauthorized Satellites Into Orbit: Report [Updated]

These Hawaiian Stick Spiders Have a Profound Case of Evolutionary Déjà Vu

Gruesome Scene as Bag Containing 54 Severed Hands Found in Siberia [Updated]

Forensic Scientist Claims to Have Solved the Amelia Earhart Mystery

NASA Wants to Fly Your Name Into the Sun

UFO Wingnuts Confuse a Fallen Boulder for a Crashed Alien Spacecraft

The Juno Spacecraft Is Revealing Some Astounding Things About Jupiter’s Mysterious Interior

More Evidence That Dogs ‘See’ the World With Their Powerful Noses

US Aircraft Carrier Sunk in WW2 Battle Finally Found Off Australian Coast

Image Manipulation Hack Fools Humans and Machines, Makes Me Think Nothing is Real Anymore

Poo Stains Seen From Space Lead to Discovery of Massive Penguin ‘Supercolony’

Termites Are Finally Being Recognized for What They Really Are: Social Cockroaches

5,000-Year-Old Mummy Is Earliest Known Tattooed Woman

Canadian Budget Pledges Billions to Fund Basic Science Research

New Species of Tardigrade Discovered in Japanese Parking Lot

Freaky Theory Offers Totally New Explanation of the Moon’s Origin

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

Meta Has More Smart Glasses Coming Whether You Want Them or Not

Apple Requires Device-Level Age Verification in the UK Now. Could the US Be Next?

Astronomers Say Recent Rash of Meteor Sightings ‘Warrants Serious Investigation’

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees