How Parisians Did “Guillotine Chic”

The Revolution and the Terror devastated French society, and then receded. In their place they left a weird, chaotic society with a very strange form of chic and an even stranger form of fashionable lady. The French Revolution was kickstarted by food shortages, but political change failed to supply people with bread. Wars against foreign…

Blade Runner 2 Is The Least Necessary Sequel Of All Time

Sir Ridley Scott has made some of the greatest genre movies of all time, but in the last several years, he’s also made some horrible mistakes. But his misfires and missed opportunities pale before the grievous error he’s about to make: creating a sequel to Blade Runner. The original Blade Runner is a science fiction…

A Baby Star Pierces Through Its Blanket Of Interstellar Dust

Behold V1331Cyg, a young star located 1,800 light-years from Earth. This object, which is illuminating the dark cloud around it in spectacular fashion, is in the process of contracting as it becomes a main sequence star similar to the Sun. This strikingly vivid image of a snail-like reflection nebula was recently captured by the Hubble…

What Futuristic Inventions Must We Never, Ever Build?

No one sets out to make a dystopia, but there are some futuristic inventions that seem ripe for unintended consequences. So set aside that killer robot you’ve been putting together in your garage and for goodness sake halt your lab work on that food replacement pill, and tell us about your own personal tech nightmares.…

How Radiation Nearly Broke Physics

It was the heady days of the early 1900s, and radiation was all the rage. Researchers had just found a kind of radiation called “beta decay,” and they discovered that it did something that seemed to smash one of the basic tenets of physics. Here’s how the lowly neutrino saved the entire field. At the…

A one-in-a-billion perfectly spherical egg has sold for £480 on eBay. Kim Broughton found the egg from her hen, now called Ping Pong. The money from the auction will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. [BBC News]

Neill Blomkamp Re-Clarifies How His Alien Movie Would Affect Alien 3

Age of Ultron will reveal the Avengers’ darkest fears. Is Suicide Squad really like The Dark Knight? A closer look at some Jurassic World dinosaurs! The movie of Millar’s Starlight is still happening. Plus, set pictures from Doctor Who, a cleaner look at Jem, and hints for what’s to come on The Walking Dead. Spoilers…

A Successful SpaceX Launch Arcs Over the Night Sky

SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver the ABS 3A and EUTELSAT 115 West B satellites, with the ABS 3A delivered 30 minutes after launch and the EUTELSAT 115 West B delivered 35 minutes after launch. Image: SpaceX The mission launched from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force…

Learn How to Do Your Cooking In Darth Vader’s Head

Anyone can have a regular wood-burning stove. Want to put a stamp on your backyard? Then you can customize it to look like your favorite metal-based characters. Instructables user doddieszoomer has a variety of these how-tos available: Witch King of Angmar, R2-D2, two different Darth Vaders, Stormtrooper, and Iron Man. The instructions for all of…

A Charming Tale of a Girl, a Bear, And Her Family

I’m completely in love with Black Bear Moon, an animated short where a bear paperweight triggers childhood memories for a young woman packing up her life. Is the bear her imaginary friend? A representation of family? All of the above? The transitions here are beautiful, as is the whole animation. It’s so good. [via Vimeo…

Gaze In Amazement At This Image Depicting Thousands Of Galaxies

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies is composed of thousands of galaxies (and billions of stars), just a fraction of which can be seen in this image. It was created in 2006 by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of an initiative to learn how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Image via NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage…

In Honor of National Pig Day: Pigs in Space!

As much as we love The Muppets, in 1963 a pair of NASA engineers entertained the idea of sending real pigs into space. This is their story. “Little Joe” was the name of the rocket used by NASA to test the launch escape system and heat shield of the Mercury capsule. Developed by pioneering spacecraft…

An Animated Short About A Hard-Fought Battle Between Light And Darkness

Short film Chronemics, by London animation studio Animade, is set in a world where robot-like stick figures who dwell in light and darkness push against each other, with surprising results. The animation is simple, the tone is cheeky, and who knew stick figures could have so much personality?

What’s it like to watch Aliens with a group of kids who are seeing it for the first time? Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s essay on the joys of re-watching and sharing favorite films recounts his experiences doing just that (spoiler alert: “It went over well”).

European Beavers Mate For Life; North American Beavers Prefer Free Love

European beavers mate for life, and remain faithful to their partners. North American beavers? Not so much. What’s the reason behind this discrepancy … and which of the two beaver species has the greater advantage? A new genetic study headed up by Pavel Munclinger, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Charles University in…

Learn Which Famous Authors Coined “Nerd” And “Quark” In This Fun Video

This week’s episode of Mental Floss’ List Show on YouTube, hosted by John Green, breaks down 43 words invented by authors (spoiler alert: they’re not all by Shakespeare … and a lot of them are from scifi books!)

Can You Solve One Of Archimedes’ Most Challenging Puzzles?

Archimedes was the greatest mathematician of antiquity. He was also a lover of puzzles, which he would devise and pose to his contemporaries. This week, we present you with two versions of what is arguably Archimedes’ most challenging puzzle ever. Art by Jim Cooke I am speaking of Archimedes’ Cattle Problem. Said puzzle appears below,…

The Troubled History Of The Foreskin

Common in the US, rare in Europe and now championed in Africa, male circumcision is hotly debated. Are the gains worth the loss? On a recent Saturday morning, Craig Adams stood outside the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was sunny but cold. Adams, who had turned 40 the day…

Vintage Menu Recalls A Time When Pineapple Fruitcake Was Served In Space

Also, Cheese Cracker Cubes, Bacon Squares, “Frankfurters,” Banana Pudding, and PEACH AMBROSIA. Wonder how that tasted in spaced-out form? From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

UPDATED: Holy Shit, This Weight Loss Supplement Has Prozac In It

The FDA just issued a warning not to use the weight-loss supplement Oxy ELITE Pro Super Thermogenic — because it contains fluoxetine, also known as Prozac. Not a drug humans should be taking unaware, and one that can cause serious side effects, including suicidal thoughts and seizures. From the report: FDA laboratory analysis confirmed that…