These Basic Skills Are On The Verge Of Extinction

Every group of people has a set of skills that they think of as fundamental — but what those skills are tends to change a lot, depending on where, and especially when, you are. Here are the skills that, if they do survive in the future, may be so fundamentally changed that we can no…

Why You Should Find This Plant Absolutely Terrifying

This is Puya chilensis, a plant found in Chile. Did you know it’s the botanical equivalent of an Edgar Allan Poe story? Here’s why this plant is a house of horrors. Puya chilensis grows in arid climates along hillsides. It tends to grow in areas near the ocean, where people weave its fibers into durable…

Sometimes Evolution Looks Like Donald Trump’s Hair And That’s Okay

In the Amazon, there is a species of a bird whose babies mimic the appearance of a toxic species of caterpillar that resembles Donald Trump’s hair. (Spot the difference above, and after the jump.) Evolution! Ugly as sin, but damn effective. We have procured images of the baby bird and its doppelgängers. We present them…

Uncanny Photos From Space That Look Like Faces, Animals, And More

Pareidolia is the phenomenon where you interpret random stimuli as familiar images. And even though these photos are of planets, nebulae, and other objects in space, it’s easy to imagine that they’re actually pictures of human faces, caterpillars, elephants, and even Starfleet badges. The tick-shaped volcano, northeast of Alpha Regio, Venus, taken by the Magellan…

Why Doesn’t CS Lewis’ Silent Planet Get Compared To Dune Or Foundation?

C.S. Lewis is best known for his Narnia books, and also as one of the most powerful writers of Christian commentary of the 20th century. But he also wrote a beloved space-opera trilogy, beginning with Out of the Silent Planet. And one author argues that this book deserves to be mentioned among the great SF…

President Obama Has Vetoed The GOP’s Keystone XL Pipeline bill

The Keystone bill cleared the senate in January and passed in the House earlier this month, but the legislation was swiftly vetoed this afternoon by President Barack Obama. Above: Demonstrators rally in support of Obama’s pledge to veto legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, on January 10, 2015 | Credit: Jose Luis Magana / AP…

Orphan Black‘s Clone Club Launch Their Own Comic-Book Adventures

Yup, Orphan Black expands into the world of comics this week, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Clone Club. Plus, Spider-Gwen swings into action in her very own standalone series, the heir to the Frakenstein name teams up with Frakenstein’s monster, and much more. Here’s what’s new in this week’s…

On Star Wars Rebels, No One Expects The Imperial Inquisition

Well, okay, everyone expects the Inquisitor — and it’s no surprise when he starts resorting to torture. So it’s up to the Ghost’s crew to enact a rescue mission before one of their own ends up in one of the Empire’s nastier spots. Last time, Kanan got himself captured by the Inquisitor and Grand Moff…

Which Show Are You Glad Never Got On Television?

We hear tantalizing reports about TV shows in the pipeline… and then most of them never actually appear on your screens. Most of the time, this is pretty sad. But not always. Which TV show are you glad never actually made it to air? https://gizmodo.com/why-do-so-many-tv-shows-get-greenlit-but-then-never-1681405688 Please include a picture, clip, piece of promo art or…

Birdman Deserves This Action Figure Even More Than An Academy Award

Yeah, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture is nice and all, but I bet what director Alejandro González Iñárritu and star Michael Keaton were really hoping for was a sweet toyline for the film. At least they have this majestic fake toy commercial to show them what might have been. [Via Topless Robot]

What Did Charles Darwin Put In His Mouth? Pretty Much Everything.

One of Charles Darwin’s quirks was his curiosity as to how the animals he studied tasted. Throughout his life, he went around the world eating exotic species. Charles Darwin’s most civilized attempt at being a foodie was The Glutton Club. This club, organized when he was at Cambridge, got together to eat exotic animals. Because…

Could There Be Another Planet Behind The Sun?

Universe Today’s Fraser Cain nails it in just five words: “No. Nooooo. No. Just no.” But then he explains how we know this, and what would happen if a planet were to suddenly materialize, in an orbital position hidden from our view by the Sun. Eventually, our orbits would intersect, and there’d be an encounter.…

Six Questions The Sleepy Hollow Finale Answered (And One It Didn’t)

The Sleepy Hollow season finale had one last chance to convince viewers to come back after a rocky second season. But did this “reverse pilot” do the trick? Spoilers ahead… The good news: This was definitely one of the very few episodes this season that made me wish it were longer! On the other hand,…

Want To Start A Webcomic? Here’s The Best Advice Around

Starting a webcomic has never been easier, but it can still be a bit intimidating. Fortunately, if you’re looking for advice, there are plenty of comics professionals who’ve shared their experience, in the form of books, sites, and webcomics. Here are all the resources that will help you get started. Top image from C. Spike…

The New Avengers: Age Of Ultron Poster Confirms More Marvel Heroes

If you just looked at Marvel’s new poster for Avengers: Age of Ultron, you likely noticed the team being plagued by Ultron robots (and some perspective issues). But a closer examination of the credits finally proves that the Falcon and Agent Peggy Carter will star in the film — and they might not be alone……

Ancient Bolivians Used Basic Chemistry To Strip Flesh From Human Bones

Archaeologists working in the Titicaca Basin have discovered a mortuary used by ancient Bolivians to strip the skin from the remains of the dead. It appears they used calcium oxide – a substance more commonly known as quicklime – to to dissolve these bodies down to the bone. The mortuary site, a religious complex known…

After waiting 80 years to flower, this huge plant has just one month to live. Following a growth spurt that saw the unusually old American agave plant grow to 28 feet tall, it’s now in a period of decline. Thankfully, the “tons” of seeds it finally produced from its pods will be distributed to botanical…

This Map Of A Week’s Worth Of Global Shipping Traffic Is Mesmerizing

You order something, it ships, and a few days (and a few checks through package tracking) later it’s at your doorstep. It’s a relatively simple process — until you start looking at all the packages moving worldwide at once. And then that simple process becomes a vast, complicated, and even kind of beautiful, network. This…

These Statements Are Both True, But One Is Easier To Believe

Presented with these two semantically identical statements, people will believe the top one more than the bottom one. Why is this? And what does it tell us about John Keats’ famous dictum about beauty and truth? Osorno is a city in Chile. This statement is a fact. But not everyone is familiar with Osorno’s municipal…

Why Does February Have Just 28 Days, Anyway?

February gets the shaft when it comes to days in the month. While other months last 30 or 31 days, February has 28 or 29, depending on the year. Why? Well, this video explains all of the fiddling that Romans did to the calendar, and how that resulted in a single short month. In the…