Jamie Condliffe

These Eerily Accurate Mugshots Were Created From DNA Alone

Everyone knows that DNA can be invaluable when it comes to solving crimes. But now genetic analysis can be used to generate incredibly precise mugshots of criminals, too. https://gizmodo.com/controversial-dna-crime-fighting-technique-keeps-it-all-5595808 Researchers have developed a new technique which uses DNA analysis to determine how genes influence facial shape. In turn, New Scientist reports, that’s allowing them to…

Amazing Aerogel: Eight Looks at the Ghostly Supermaterial in Action

Aerogel must be one of the strangest supermaterials to ever exist. Ghostly and shimmering in appearance, it’s insanely light, incredibly strong, and an amazing thermal insulator. And its tricks look absolutely impossible when you see them up close. Made for Fun Aerogel material—often referred to as frozen smoke, solid smoke, solid air or blue smoke—is…

This Is the Clearest Infrared Panorama of the Milky Way Ever Captured

You’re looking at the clearest infrared panorama of the Milky Way ever captured. At 20 gigapixels, it’s going to take you a long time to check the whole thing out. Unveiled at the TEDActive 2014 Conference in Vancouver, Canada, yesterday, the panorama of our galaxy is constructed from more than 2 million infrared images taken…

A Guide to Programming for Non-Programmers

Coding: how hard can it be? Take a few ideas, type a few lines of letters and numbers, sprinkle with some rarely used punctuation marks and—boom—you have software! Right? https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-happens-when-your-non-coding-boss-asks-you-1541110357 Wrong. This PHD Comics guide to programming for non-programmers is wonderful, though—and anyone who’s ever had to write a real line of code will know…

Bitcoin Software Fixed to Avoid Another Mt. Gox

In a bid to avoid another Mt. Gox, the software which drives Bitcoin transactions on the Internet has been updated to fix the weakness which contributed to digital vault’s downfall. https://gizmodo.com/the-bitcoin-exchange-mt-gox-has-disappeared-1530395202 Version 0.9.0 of the “Bitcoin Core” software includes five significant changes to help prevent attacks on the currency. The weakness which appears to have…

Turkey Has Banned Twitter

Turkey’s Internet watchdog has blocked Twitter, following threats by its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan fuelled by the network’s ability to carry rumors about government corruption. It’s a bold and draconian move from a country desperate to join the EU—which means it joins the ranks of Syria, North Korea and Iran on a list of…

How and Why the NSA’s Been Hacking Sys Admins Worldwide

A new report from The Intercept reveals that the NSA has been hunting and hacking system administrators the world over in order to gain access to the networks they control. A handful of screengrabs supplied by Edward Snowden reveal that the endeavor was probably worth it for them. Seems the NSA was able to monitor…

Medium has finally launched an iPhone app for reading its stories on the hoof—though there’s no search function, and you can’t write content through it. Interesting.

These Smiley Face Screws Are Wildly Impractical But Utterly Adorable

If ever there was a product designed to bring joy but ultimately destined to frustrate, it is these smiley face screws. They look beautiful, adorable, fun even. But you will shout and swear and stamp your feet every time you need to tighten them up. The Screw:) is the result of a collaboration between Japanese…

A Tequila Sweetener Could Help Reduce Diabetes and Obesity

Tequila is the answer to many of life’s problems—and now, a sweetener made from the stuff might just be the answer to our diabetes and obesity pandemics, too. New research suggests presented at the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) suggests that a sweetener made from agave—the plant used to make tequila—can…

Crooks Hack Into ATM to Steal Cash (Using a 50-Foot Tunnel)

Forget infected USB sticks and complex card skimmers: sometimes, the low-tech solutions work just as well. Now, a team of crooks from Salford, UK, has used a simple old tunnel to steal cash from an ATM. The team of criminals dug a 50-foot tunnel under a building to gain access to an ATM outside a…

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Looking Like a Swirl of Cream in Your Coffee

This might look like a splash of cream in your coffee—but in fact it’s Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, imaged by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. It’s swirling rather faster than the spoon in your cup could manage, too—in fact, the winds that carry the clouds that create the spot move in excess of 400 mph, creating…

What Do Coders Mean When They Talk About Bootstrapping?

When developers talk about bootstrapping, they’re not referring to a technique they’ve developed to avoid tying their shoelaces—but a means of running code wherever the hell they like. The concept behind bootstrapping sounds very simple: separate code and machine, allowing one piece of script to run on many different pieces of hardware. In reality it’s…

Google and Microsoft Helping the White House Track Climate Change

The White House has announced that it’s teaming up with Google and Microsoft to centralize its climate change data—and make it more accessible for public and researchers alike. The Data.gov website‘s new climate portal is one of the results of President Obama’s Climate Data Initiative (PDF), and it will be powered in part by teams…

Having proudly claimed the first Android-Windows Phone dual-boot phones would arrive by spring, Huawei is now backpedalling—saying they won’t happen after all. Sound familiar?

How Motorola’s Stunning New Smartwatch Was Designed

Motorola wowed us earlier this week with its sleek and incredibly watch-like take on the smartwatch. Now, Moto’s design chief Jim Wicks has spoken out about the creative process that led to the new device. https://gizmodo.com/moto-360-this-is-motorolas-android-wear-powered-smart-1546422737 Speaking to The Verge, Wicks has described the design story behind the new watch. Here are some choice cuts:…

Running Shoe Technology Won’t Reduce Your Risk of Injury

When it comes to running, it seems technology won’t help save you. A new study shows that whatever the technical features of the shoes you wear, you’re still at the same risk of injury. The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, originally posited that runners wearing hard-midsole shoes would be at a…

Sony’s Early Morpheus Prototype Looked Pretty Dumb

Sony’s Project Morpheus VR headset looks fantastic but the early prototypes… not so much. This early version of the headset may have offered plenty of the requisite VR headset features, but it did also feature three Sony Move controllers strapped to it, seemingly at random. https://gizmodo.com/project-morpheus-sonys-oculus-rift-competitor-looks-i-1546819815 It’s in some contrast to the “sleek futuristic ski…

How You Can (Kind of) Change the Past

Time travel might still be in the realms of science fiction, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change the past. Just don’t build your hopes up too much. As New Scientist explains, when it comes to photons, we can decide after the event how they traveled through space—like arriving in San Francisco from L.A., only…

Pandora has announced that its One subscription plan, which provides an ad-free version of the streaming service, will jump in price to $5 for new users, and its annual subscription option will be scrapped. Existing users will continue to pay $4. (For now.)