Katharine Trendacosta

A Crack Appears In the Sun

This photo, taken last week by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), shows a “filament” of cooler solar material hovering over the surface of the sun. The effect is of a huge crack across the sun, as if something is preparing to burst out. Image Credit: NASA/SDO NASA explains: SDO shows colder material as dark and…

X-Men: Apocalypse Casts Its Nightcrawler

Also, it looks like Bryan Singer has finally figured out a way to bring Nightcrawler back into the X-Men movies. Singer used Instagram to announce that Kodi Smit-Mcphee (the voice of ParaNorman and Tolly on Gallipoli) will become the blue elf. Singer’s said before that he’s wanted to bring the character back to the big…

How Visual Effects Create the Retro-Futuristic World of Agent Carter

On Agent Carter, visual effects don’t just create explosions or give an extra oomph to Howard Stark’s creations, they also help the show recreate the 1940s New York in 2010s Los Angeles. In this early exclusive from WIRED, you can see just how much work a television schedule is for VFX Supervisor Sheena Duggal and…

10 Lesser-Known Egyptian Gods That Are Absolutely Terrifying

Egyptian mythology has a lot of gods. Some of them have loomed large in pop culture and the public imagination: Ra, Apophis, Anubis, Isis, Bast, Osiris, etc. Some are far more obscure. But that in no way diminishes how scary they are. Here are 10 absolutely terrifying Egyptian gods that you might not have heard…

Bryan Singer Reveals Mysterious Concept Art From X-Men: Apocalypse

Director Bryan Singer’s teasing the next X-Men film with an Instagram post of concept art by Grant Major of something that presumably will appear in the actual film. Spoilers in the form of the image and speculation below. ?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=photo I assume the blurring is exhaust, but it does helpfully blur the face of whatever person…

The Problem With Professional Test Subjects

PBS has an article about the the rising use of Mechanical Turk — Amazon’s marketplace for low-paying, one-shot jobs — for academic research surveys. In the old days, psychology students were the primary subjects. Not anymore. Research shows that the median “Turker” has completed 300 academic studies. Jenny Marder at PBS writes about the problems…

Posters of Classic Movies, Boiled Down to Circles

Designer Nick Barclay’s Circle Movies poster series takes a very minimalist approach to classic films. And yet, even rendered in only circles, the films are still instantly recognizable. We asked Barclay, “Why circles?” and he told us: I chose circles because after watching interstellar me and a friend were talking about 2001 a space odyssey…

Magneto Cat Has the Most Useful Superpower for a Cat Ever

The ability to manipulate the food holders and weapons? Yeah, this is all cats have ever wanted. This video is by Kaipotainment, which also brought us Magneto Cat’s nemesis, Professor X Cat. [via Tastefully Offensive]

Get ready for the Star Wars cruise! Disney Cruise Lines will launch Star Wars Day At Seain 2016, filling their ships with Star Wars activities — including Mos Eisley-themed club night. So book your trip on Western Caribbean sailings, on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, and for the few dates January through April 2016 that…

Emma Watson Reveals Dark Repressed Memories to Ethan Hawke In Regression

In this trailer for Alejandro Amenábar’s Regression features Emma Watson’s Angela Gray recounting what could be a memory of something very wrong in her childhood. Ethan Hawke’s Detective Bruce Kenner seems to not only believe her, but find evidence that something huge has happened. Given the title of this movie, it really seems that we’re…

This Is What Mars Looks Like When It’s Not Being “The Red Planet”

This photo from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express is of the planet’s south pole, and the layers of white are frozen water and carbon dioxide. As much as the pole looks smooth here, it’s surface is usually compared to swiss cheese. Photo credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin / Bill Dunford The ESA describes the Mars’ ice…

This Is How Many Seagulls Fly Past a Single Window In An Hour

Videographer Paul Parker filmed seagulls flying past his window in Cornwall, England, for an hour. He compressed the hour into the short film you see above. This is not a video for ornithophobics, because, wow, are there a lot of birds here. Parker also used the “echo effect” in After Effects to show the flightpaths…

Suicide Squad May Have Found Its New Rick Flagg in Joel Kinnaman

Ever since Tom Hardy dropped out of Suicide Squad, we’ve heard all sorts of names as a possible replacement Rick Flagg. And now it seems that Warner Bros. may finally be circling a replacement: Joel Kinnaman. The Wrap reports that Kinnaman is “in negotiations” to play Rick Flagg. Of course, no one’s confirming this and,…

This Is Where Endlessly Reimagining Disney Princesses Will Get Us

I think I’ve actually seen all of these.

The Amazing World Of Zoo Drills, With Humans Dressed As Escaped Animals

This is both hilarious and makes total sense. Just like everyone else, zoos have to practice for emergencies. And zoo emergencies include escaping animals. Problem: You can’t just release a real animal for a drill. Solution? Fellow employees dressed as animals. All photo credits: Getty Images/Koichi Kamoshida Here are two such drills — more can…

Why Are All The Best Spies British?

Kingsman: The Secret Service comes out this week, the latest in a long line of spy fiction featuring British secret agents. And that brings to mind the question of why so many of our most famous fictional spies are British. When you’re looking at a comprehensive list of the greatest fictional spies, it becomes apparent…

Here Are NASA’s Plans to Send a Submarine to Titan

If we’re ever going to explore the only celestial body in our solar system with surface bodies of liquid, we’re going to need a sea-worthy vehicle. Luckily, NASA is all over the niche space submarine market. Titan, a moon on Saturn, has lakes and seas of liquid methane, which NASA is thinking of exploring by…

James Franco Will Try To Save JFK in Hulu’s 11/22/63

Time travel: it’s not just for films and TV anymore. Hulu’s adapting Stephen King’s 2011 story 11/23/63. And it’s just cast its star, who is also going to produce: James Franco. 11/23/63 will be an “event series” — which, seriously, is miniseries such a dirty word? Why have the last two years been inundated with…

The Greatest Spies In Pop Culture, Ranked

If you believe fiction, spies are everywhere. You cannot turn around without bumping into someone in a wig, armed with a gun masquerading as a tasteful pair of earrings, and carrying secret plans in microdot form. There are so many, we decided to rank them. We have fifty entries on this list, and we are…

Which Fictional Spy Has the Best Cover?

One of the things that make fictional spies interesting characters is the tension between who they really are and who they are pretending to be. And how many lies they are telling. So who has the best deep cover? Tell us!