Ryan F. Mandelbaum, Author at Gizmodo

Multiverse Thought Experiment Suggests Life Could Still Exist Under Different Laws of Physics

Perhaps we’re not alone but instead reside in a multiverse stocked with all sorts of fantastical realms. These other universes are somewhat—but not exactly—like our own. Maybe gravity acts differently, or particles come in different shapes and sizes. Could life still exist in any of these bubbles? A team of researchers at the University of…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 31 '18

Moon to Be Slightly More Moon-y for Some People Tomorrow

At my last job, we used to talk about how the only way to avoid disappointment was by setting clear expectations. In the case of the “Super Blue Blood Moon,” the rest of the internet has set the expectations: that you’ll see it. But for many, that’s not the reality. I know that everyone is…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 30 '18

Scientists Are Reviewing Amazon Products the Way They Actually Use Them

Scientists are just like us: They buy things on Amazon. The difference is what they actually use their purchases for. That’s the basis behind science’s hashtag-du-jour, #ReviewForScience, in which researchers write reviews for everyday products—the way they really use them. It all began with Scottish Ph.D student Robyn Womack noticing writer John Birch’s Amazon review…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 30 '18

Frog Species Breaks Record for Most Sex Chromosomes in a Vertebrate

You may have learned in school that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes: 22 “autosomes” and their partners, which contain pretty much the same genes and in the same order, plus one pair of sex chromosomes that lead to the differentiation in sexual traits. But enough about us. The Amazonian Leptodactylus pentadactylus (smoky jungle frog)…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 29 '18

What’s the Speed of Dark Matter?

Based on physicists’ measurements, most of the mass in the universe is actually taken up by dark matter. Whatever this stuff is, we can see its effects on the behavior of distant galaxies, though no experiment has detected it here on Earth. Doing so probably requires knowing how fast it moves. That’s a puzzle that…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 29 '18

The ‘Shower Rat’ Is Very Obviously Not Showering [Update: Also, It’s Not a Rat]

It’s very easy to look at an animal mimicking a human-like behavior and think “Wow! That animal is doing a human thing! It looks so cute and happy” (because humans are so cute and happy, right?) That is almost never the case. If an animal looks weird, it probably is weird—and not in a good…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 29 '18

Holy Crap These Leech Cocoons Are Incredible

Nature’s beauty can originate from the most unlikely places. Take leech cocoons, the sacks in which leeches lay their eggs. They have an incredible solid-foam surface, as the image below shows: A team of researchers at Rutgers University, Camden (and one scientist from Turkey) took a look at these structures to figure out how they…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 27 '18

Parisian Zoo Recaptures 50 Escaped Hostages

The Vincennes Zoo in Paris was evacuated Friday morning after a group of 50 hostages revolted against their captors. The Guardian reports: About 50 baboons were reported to have got out and congregated around the Grand Rocher, the fake rock centrepiece of the zoo, on Friday morning. Most had been rounded up and sent back…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 26 '18

‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroids’ Are Not The Asteroids You Should Worry About

“Potentially hazardous” may be useful for scientists, but is a bad term for everyone else.

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 26 '18

Sex Researcher Thinks Many ‘Cuck’-Obsessed Conservatives Harbor Private Cuckoldry Fantasies

After a spat about a news story endorsing cuckoldry, a sex researcher suggested on Twitter yesterday that many male conservatives are using “faux scorn” to hide their personal fantasies of having other men sleep with their partners. The saga began on Thursday when CNN published a story titled “Cuckolding can be positive for some couples,…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 26 '18

This Trippy Music Video Is Made of 3D Fractals

What you’re watching isn’t organic, but a computer-generated visualization of complex mathematics. It’s a three-dimensional fractal. The clip is a new music video for the song “Eternal Recurrence” by electronic music group Birds of Paradise, created by Dutch fractal artist Julius Horsthuis. Producing the visuals to accompany the soundscape required rendering mathematical formulas in the…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 24 '18

Scientists Think Dark Matter Could Be Causing Long-Standing Neutron Measurement Problem

You probably know that atoms contain neutrons. But there’s a strange, long-standing discrepancy plaguing one of the neutron’s most basic measurements—something that a pair of scientists think might have to do with dark matter, the mysterious substance that supposedly accounts more than five times the amount of mass in the universe as regular matter does.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 23 '18

We Might Need to Redefine ‘Planet’ Again

You may think you know what a planet is, but celestial bodies often refuse to fully comply with our artificial human labels. We all thought tiny Pluto was a planet, until the 2006 vote in which the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefinition stripped it of its title. But when is something officially too big to…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 23 '18

Even the Tuna Conservationists Want a Piece of This Blockchain Action

It seems like everyone is getting into blockchain these days. After all, companies claim to like “transparency,” “security,” and anything to do with the rollercoaster ride that is bitcoin. But consider this: tuna. There are now several blockchain-based projects that aim to stop illegal tuna fishing, according to a post on The Conversation by Candice…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 22 '18

Fool’s Gold Suggests Ancient Life in ‘Oxygen Oases’ Far Before There Was Atmospheric Oxygen

You wouldn’t survive a stint on the hellish early Earth that existed between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years ago. There was almost no breathable free oxygen, for one thing. But scientists may have located an ancient oxygen oasis that existed prior to whatever event first oxygenated our atmosphere. A team of researchers analyzed pyrite,…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 19 '18

This Picture of Jupiter’s Swirly Blue Pole Is Magnificent

I’m not usually one of those “check out this beautiful planet photo” people (jk, I am). But seriously, the images coming from the citizen scientists looking at Juno data are all incredible. I’m not sure how this latest one can even be real. I mean, yeah, of course it’s real. You’re looking at the planet’s…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 19 '18

NASA Runs Successful First Tests of Compact Nuclear Reactor for Mars Base

If humans have any hope of sticking around on Mars for longer than a few days, they’ll need some form of power to sustain themselves. A successful test in Nevada has demonstrated that that power could be nuclear. NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy successfully performed their initial tests on a miniature nuclear power…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 19 '18

Test of Einstein’s Theory Confirms the Sun Is Losing Mass

The best planet, Mercury, is in the midst of telling us something important about our sun: It’s losing mass. Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has a history of helping us study gravity. Albert Einstein demonstrated that Newton’s laws of motion break down when dealing with very large masses. He created his theory of…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 19 '18

Astronaut Slated to Be First African-American ISS Crew Member Unexpectedly Grounded

Astronaut Jeanette Epps, slated to be the first African-American crew member on board the International Space Station, will not be flying in 2018, according to a NASA announcement. Epps was slated to be a flight engineer on board the station in a mission scheduled to launch in May. She will instead assume duties in the…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 19 '18

Study With One-Word Abstract Finds Moon Phases Don’t Predict Earthquakes

It’s not often that science can answer questions with an easy “yes” or “no.” Usually it’s more of an “evidence suggests” or “this correlation proposes” sort of situation, even if the public’s understanding is generally a little less nuanced. So USGS Seismologist Susan Hough found the right question: “Do large (magnitude ≥ 8) global earthquakes…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 18 '18

Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Multiverse Thought Experiment Suggests Life Could Still Exist Under Different Laws of Physics

Moon to Be Slightly More Moon-y for Some People Tomorrow

Scientists Are Reviewing Amazon Products the Way They Actually Use Them

Frog Species Breaks Record for Most Sex Chromosomes in a Vertebrate

What’s the Speed of Dark Matter?

The ‘Shower Rat’ Is Very Obviously Not Showering [Update: Also, It’s Not a Rat]

Holy Crap These Leech Cocoons Are Incredible

Parisian Zoo Recaptures 50 Escaped Hostages

‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroids’ Are Not The Asteroids You Should Worry About

Sex Researcher Thinks Many ‘Cuck’-Obsessed Conservatives Harbor Private Cuckoldry Fantasies

This Trippy Music Video Is Made of 3D Fractals

Scientists Think Dark Matter Could Be Causing Long-Standing Neutron Measurement Problem

We Might Need to Redefine ‘Planet’ Again

Even the Tuna Conservationists Want a Piece of This Blockchain Action

Fool’s Gold Suggests Ancient Life in ‘Oxygen Oases’ Far Before There Was Atmospheric Oxygen

This Picture of Jupiter’s Swirly Blue Pole Is Magnificent

NASA Runs Successful First Tests of Compact Nuclear Reactor for Mars Base

Test of Einstein’s Theory Confirms the Sun Is Losing Mass

Astronaut Slated to Be First African-American ISS Crew Member Unexpectedly Grounded

Study With One-Word Abstract Finds Moon Phases Don’t Predict Earthquakes

A Dangerous Bacteria Is Moving Up the East Coast. Here’s What That Means for You

Ecovacs Deebot X12 OmniCyclone Robot Vacuum and Mop Drops $250 Off, All-in-One Cleaning Solution at Its Lowest Price Yet

Soundcore Space 2 Review: A Shockingly Stellar Value for Budget ANC Wireless Headphones

Largest 3D Map of the Universe Is Adding Serious Fuel to the Cosmology Crisis

SpaceX Becoming a Publicly Traded Company May Rob Elon Musk of a Cool Source of Easy Cash

Xbox’s Big Turnaround Hedges Everything on Gamers’ Nostalgia

The First Trailer for ‘Strange New Worlds’ Season 4 Teases a Weird and Scary Galaxy

The ‘Invincible’ Game’s Story Brings Action and New Voices

‘Daemons of the Shadow Realm’ May Be Your New Shonen Fave

South Korean Man Might Get Prison Time for Posting AI Wolf Picture

Anker’s UV Printer Can Handle Almost Anything… If You Know What You’re Doing

HP’s EliteBoard Keyboard-Computer Proves We Can Stick a PC in Anything

Sleep-Tracking Earbuds Didn’t Fix Me, but They Did Open My Eyes

I’ve Tested a Lot of Bad Smart Glasses and These Are the Worst Yet

Roborock’s Qrevo Curv 2 Flow Is the Ultimate Robot Mop—If You Don’t Have Corners or Walls

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real