Jamie Condliffe

Watch This Amazing Animation That Imagines Famous Scientists as Superheroes

Imagine if you could assemble the brains of famous scientists like Einstein, Darwin and Tesla into a band of time-traveling superheroes led by Winston Churchill. Well, now you don’t have to imagine, because the animated series Super Science Friends depicts exactly that. The first in a series of the Kickstarter-funded science adventure series has just…

Sadly, Facebook has activated its Safety Check featurefor the second time in five days—this time for the tragic bombing in the Nigerian city of Yola.

Anonymous Has Declared War on ISIS

In the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and renewed airstrikes in Syria, hacking collective Anonymous has declared war on ISIS. In a video published on YouTube, a masked Anonymous spokesperson explains in French that ISIS can“expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared. Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down.”…

Intel Plans to Put Its Insane 8-Teraflop Supercomputer Chips Into a Desktop

Yesterday, Intel announced that it’s putting its insane 72-core Knight’s Landing’ supercomputer chip—its fastest ever—into production. But perhaps more exciting is the fact that it has plans to ship desktop workstations that contain the face-melting computational powerhouse. PC World reports that Intel plans to ship a “limited number of workstations” that pack the powerful slab…

The ISS Has a (Small) Electrical Fault That Can’t Be Fixed Until 2016

NASA has announced that the International Space Station has suffered a small electrical fault that’s reduced the number of power channels available to the astronauts aboard. The fault doesn’t put the astronauts at risk, but does reduce the available power channel options from 8 to 7. The damage was caused by a short circuit on…

Google’s Chromebit Turns a TV Into a Chrome PC and Is Selling for $85

Earlier this year, Google announced the Chomebit: a Chrome OS-based computer on an HDMI stick that could turn any screen into a computer. Now, it’s officially going on sale—and it will only cost you $85. The stick, about the size of a small candy bar and made by Asus,weighs 2.6 ounces and plugs straight into…

Walmart Will Sell You an Android Phone for $10

Need a burner but want to run the apps you’re used to? Walmart has the answer, in the shape of its incredibly cheap new LG Android smartphones, which you can bag for $10. Before you get too excited, it’s worth managing your expectations. The LG handsets feature a 3.8-inch 480×320 LCD screen, a dual-core 1.2…

Google Is Working on Glass Successors—Some Without the Glass

The team behind Google Glass is reported to be working on a successor to the occasionally controversial device, though it may not include the screen that made the original so distinctive. Earlier this year, it was reported that the company’s Project Aura would help raise Glass from the dead. Now, according to a new report…

Half the World’s Natural History Specimens Might Have the Wrong Name

The next time you visit a natural history museum, don’t believe everything you see. At least that’s according to Oxford University researchers, whose new study suggests that half of the specimens held in their collections may have the wrong name. Often, when a sample arrives at a natural museum—or its exclusively botanical brethren known as…

Microsoft’s Plan to Port Android Apps to Windows Appears Delayed

In April, Microsoft excitedly announced its plans to port everything to Windows, including iOS and Android apps. Now, it looks like it may take longer than expected before you see any Android action on its operating systems. Reports by Windows Central and Verge both suggest that the plans to port Android apps to Windows face…

This Dry Glue Only Becomes Sticky When You Crush It

Usually, dry glue is a sign that you need a new tube of adhesive. But researchers in Japan have developed a new type of glue that’s perfectly dry until you crush it—at which point it becomes super sticky. Adhesives that are solid at room temperature aren’t anything new, of course, but usually they require heat…

Your GPS Probably Overestimates Distance

Ever thought your GPS system said you’d gone further than you expected? A new study dives into the statistics behind the satellite-based positioning service—and finds that overestimates in distance are inevitable based on the way measurements are currently made. A team of researchers from the University of Salzburg in Austria have been looking at how…

These Paratroopers Look So Peaceful While They’re in the Air

Heads up! If you were anywhere near San Gregorio in Spain on November 4th, you could have seen a slew of American paratroopers emerge from the back of a C-17 Globemaster III and drift serenely down to Earth. The show was in fact part of a demonstration being carried out in Europe, know as Trident…

How a Bad Hangover Helped Discover Ibuprofen

Back in the early 1960s, Dr Stewart Adams had a bad hangover. So he did what many a confident scientist of the time might do: he took a handful of an experimental drug he was working on. It worked—and the compound went on to become known as ibuprofen. Speaking to the BBC, Dr Stewart Adams…

How Your Coffee Choice Varies With Workload

For times of relaxed work, there’ s the artisanal coffee shop across town where the flat white tastes rich and sensual. Then for deadline, there’s Nescafé. There is, of course, a transitional phase. Who of us hasn’t struggled through a cup of filter coffee that’s sat on the hotplate for somewhere between 4 and 8…

Huawei’s Researchers Can Charge a 3,000mAh Battery to 48% in 5 Minutes

Battery life is one of the biggest headaches in tech—but while capacity remains a problem, manufacturers are at least making big improvements to charge times. Like Huawei, whose new experimental set-up can take a dead battery to 48 percent change in about five minutes. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer has developed a lithium-ion battery with a…

Pluto Shows Its Principal Colors in This Psychedelic Shot

Do not adjust your monitors. While this view of Pluto looks like it’s all screwed up, in fact it’s an image from New Horizons that brings out the subtle variations in color on its surface. The image uses a technique that NASA calls principal component analysis. It’s designed to “highlight the many subtle color differences…

Earlier this year, Snapchat introduced a new Lenses feature which provides a rolling set of free filters to make your pictures more fun. From today, via the medium of the in-app purchase, you can buy expired Lenses to use forever at mere 99 cents a pop.

These Water-Filled Condom Raindrops are Art to Raise Water Awareness

You’re looking at 3,000 extra-large, extra-strength condoms that have been filled with blue water and hung above the head of the public, as part of an art installation designed to raise awareness of water use. Created by the Spanish design studio Luz Interruptus for the Waterman Arts Centre in London, the giant fake raindrops—said to…

This 360-Degree View From a Blue Angel Cockpit Is Amazing and Terrifying

The Blue Angels are insanely talented—and, if this video is anything to go by, also more than a little nuts. The 360-degree view from a cockpit of one of their F18s is amazing, exhilarating and absolutely terrifying all at once. The video is shot from Blue Angel 2, which assumes perhaps the most terrifying position…