Robbie Gonzalez

Chili’s Cancels Fundraising for Anti-Vaccination Autism Group

Chili’s had planned to donate 10% of its customers’ checks on April 7th to the National Autism Association, an organization that claims vaccines “trigger or exacerbate autism in some, if not many, children.” This evening, Chili’s announced it will be canceling the event based on feedback received from its guests. Here’s the full statement from…

You’re Hurtling Through Space at Over a Million Miles an Hour

Remember that animation making the rounds on the internet some months back, the one that depicted “the true orbit of the planets” as a mesmerizing vortex? The animation, while beautiful, was decidedly unscientific. Featured above is a more accurate animation, served up with a hearty helping of exposition from Mika McKinnon.

If You Read One Thing About Peter Matthiessen Today, Let it be This

Esteemed writer and naturalist Peter Matthiessen, hailed by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould as “our greatest modern nature writer in the lyrical tradition,” died yesterday at his home in Sagaponack, N.Y. He was 86. Photo Credit: ED BETZ/AP Matthiessen was a celebrated novelist, former C.I.A. agent and co-founder of The Paris Review, among many, many other…

Star Wars: Episode VII Has Already Begun Filming

Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Galloway that the next installment in the Star Wars saga has already begun shooting. The actual sound bite, which appears in the segment of the interview featured above, goes as follows: Galloway: You start shooting in six weeks? Horn: “We’re actually…

All of Shakespeare’s Plays, Converted to 3-Panel Webcomics

And here we’d almost forgotten just how many of Shakespeare’s plays end with stabbings. Cartoonist Mya Gosling, a lifelong Shakespeare-fanatic and creator of the delightful webcomic “Good Tickle Brain,” has condensed each of Shakespeare’s plays into 38 three-panel webcomics. Well, thirty–six three-panel webcomics to be exact; for Henry VI, Part 3, Gosling affords a whopping…

George R.R. Martin Swings by SNL to Talk About His Writer’s Block

Season four of Game of Thrones kicks off tonight. To celebrate, SNL‘s Weekend Update poked good fun at George R.R. Martin and the challenge he faces with finishing A Song of Ice and Fire. In all seriousness, Martin faces one hell of a task in bringing ASOIAF’s last two books into being, what with the…

Check Out the First Poster for The Little Prince

Feast your eyes on the first poster for the forthcoming adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s tale, Le Petit Prince. The animated film is being produced by Paramount, directed by Mark Osborne (who’s resume includes the first Kung Fu Panda film) and voiced by an impressive cast that reportedly includes James Franco, Jeff Bridges,…

Somebody Built a Kangaroo Robot Because Why the Hell Not?

That somebody is German engineering firm Festo. The company, which has a history of turning to nature for inspiration, is also responsible for this mechanical seagull and these claw-tipped Doc Ock arms (which were modeled after an elephant’s trunk). IEEE Spectrum has the details on the roo-bot’s technical specs, which actually sound pretty cool: BionicKangaroo…

Aerial Photographs Catalogue the Life and Death of Volcanic Islands

Volcanic islands can seem to appear out of nowhere, emerging from the ocean like breaching monsters of the deep. Below, Mika McKinnon explains how these odd geological formations are born, how they evolve, and how they eventually vanish back beneath the waves.

Chili’s Will Donate 10% of Customers’ Checks to Anti-Vaxxers on April 7

Chili’s intends to donate 10% of its customers’ checks on April 7th to the National Autism Association, in honor of National Autism Awareness month. The problem? The NAA claims on its website that vaccines can trigger or exacerbate autism in “some, if not many, children.” Dammit not this again. UPDATE 04/06: Chili’s has cancelled its…

Watch the Extended Godzilla Trailer and Know Bryan Cranston’s Horror

Warner Brothers just dropped a new, extended trailer for Godzilla. Some of this footage we’ve seen before, but a decent chunk of it is brand spanking new – including the first publicly released glimpse into why Bryan Cranston’s character is so very, very angry. A minute-long TV spot was also released yesterday, giving us still…

An aluminum slug melts and levitates at the same time

Run an alternating current through a coiled length of copper and you’ll create a levitation cylinder. Drop a bar of aluminum in and you’ve got yourself some hovering metal. But leave the metal there too long… The thing about this levitation cylinder is that it doubles as an induction heater. In a nutshell: the current…

All the Secrets and References in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a superb action flick, but it also does a commendable job of serving up scenes for even the most die-hard fans. After the jump, Kevin Garcia dissects the film’s various secrets and subtle references to the broader Marvel Universe in an exhaustive review. Warning: Here be spoilers GALORE.

What would it look like from Earth if the Moon were a giant disco ball?

So, technically, this is what it would look like if the Moon were a disco ball AND orbited Earth at the same distance as the International Space Station, i.e. roughly 420 kilometers (260 miles) above the surface of the Earth. But that doesn’t make it any less incredible looking. This fantastic animation is by Nick…

NASA suspended cooperation with the Russian Federal Space Agency on Wednesday, this following weeks of concern that political tensions here on Earth could extend into orbit. But analysts say the policy, while unprecedented, may be largely symbolic; and most agree that humanity’s orbital outpost will weather this political storm.

Your Afternoon Catharsis: Liquid Droplets Coalescing in Slow Motion

You’ve probably seen two beads of liquid coalesce hundreds of times in your life. Maybe thousands. But we’re willing to bet you’ve never seen them do it in slow motion. This high-speed video, which was filmed at 16,000 frames per second and is played back here at 20, shows two beads of silicone oil becoming…

Your Guide to Witnessing the Biggest, Brightest Mars in Over Six Years

On April 8th, Earth will soar between the Sun and Mars. When it does, the Red Planet will reach what astronomers call “opposition” in the night sky. Just a few days later, Earth will be closer to Mars than it’s been in more than six years – and during a total lunar eclipse! Here’s how…

This Ridiculously Accurate Clock is the New U.S. Time Standard

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has unveiled a new atomic clock, and boy howdy is it accurate. Dubbed NIST-F2, the clock uses a fountain of cesium atoms to determine the length of a second, and will neither gain nor lose a second in 300 million years of operation, making it three times as…

Watch an X-Class Solar Flare Ignite the Skies Over Iceland

On February 25th, the Sun let loose an X4.9-class solar flare. It was our parent star’s most violent outburst of the year. When the debris from the ensuing coronal mass ejection collided with Earth’s atmosphere, it produced one of the most colorful auroral displays in recent memory. It was a spectacle to which Henry Jun…

For a Sharper Mind in Middle Age, Try Running in Your 20s

Reason #34,857 that exercise is important: getting your pulse up when you’re 25 can make for a better brain at 45, according to a newly published study out of the University of Minnesota, the first to examine how exercise in young adulthood affects cognition later in life. Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk // CC 2.0 Researchers…