Watch In Horror As A Tapeworm Wiggles Through A Living Man’s Brain

Physicians in the UK were unable to explain a strange ring-like pattern moving across a patient’s brain tissue in a series of scans taken over four years. During a biopsy, they were shocked to learn it was a one centimeter-long parasitic tape worm. The 50-year-old Chinese man was admitted to hospital after complaining of headaches,…

This GIF Party Dance Off Is The Only Party You Need

Enter at your peril, GIFs! This party is a good old-fashioned dance-off. Do you have any news to share about your week, upcoming holiday plans, recipe requests, or just some updates to share with the room? Interpretive GIF dance your way to an answer — and then get ready to throw down in the comments…

This Amazing Back To The Future Event Is Worth Time-Traveling For

If you don’t know Secret Cinema, they’re a group from the U.K. that put on movie screenings alongside a wild live-action performance (and a theme park!). Watch this incredible look at last summer’s BttF event, and prepare to want to be there almost as much as you want a working hoverboard. The bad news is,…

A New NASA Map Depicts 20 Years Of Fireball Events Across The Globe

Bolides, more commonly known as fireballs, are small asteroids that impact Earth’s atmosphere and create very bright meteors as they disintegrate. NASA has compiled data on each and every impact around the world since 1994. The sizes of the yellow dots (daytime impacts) and blue dots (nighttime impacts) are proportional to the optical radiated energy…

Is There Really Going to Be a Game of Thrones Movie?

Charles Dance says there’s talk of one. There are more contradictory rumors about the Star Wars teaser trailer and a description of what the villain looks like in it. Jennifer Lawrence guesses where Mystique will be in X-Men: Apocalypse. And can anyone die in Gotham? Spoilers now! Top image: Game of Thrones Star Wars Some…

The polar vortex was all over the news (and our thermostats) last year, and for many people that was first they’d heard of the alarming phenomenon. But the phrase actually originated over 150 years ago in a magazine edited by Charles Dickens, as explained in this linguistic history of the term.

Aereo Has Filed for Bankruptcy

The struggling Aereo, which closed its Boston offices but refused to actually shut down, is now filing for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. https://gizmodo.com/aereos-latest-death-rattle-comes-as-boston-office-shutt-1655599827 In a company blog post, CEO and founder Chet Kanojia explained: While we had significant victories in the federal district courts…

The Stand Is Going to Be Four Movies

After Stephen King said not to count on The Stand being only one film, writer-director Josh Boone confirms that it won’t. It’s going to be four. Boone let a lot details loose in his appearance on Kevin Smith’s Hollywood Babble-On podcast. Boone said he wasn’t a fan of the scripts he was given, so he…

Matt Smith And Natalie Dormer Will Fight Extinction in Patient Zero

Sadly, it’s not a crossover. Instead, Matt Smith’s signed on to star in Patient Zero with Natalie Dormer. And they’ll be fighting a pandemic that’s resulted in a violent new species. Patient Zero will be directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky from a script by Mike Le. It takes place when an new rabies strain has resulted…

Hold a Perfectly Accurate Supermoon In the Palm of Your Hand

This LED lamp was designed by Nosigner and is based on the March 19th, 2011 Supermoon, where the moon appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter. It’s also completely accurate to the actual moon. The design team of Nosigner created the lamp with data from the Japanese lunar orbiter Kaguya. [Bored Panda.es via Bored Panda]

Bangkok Won’t Show Mockingjay After Protestors Use Katniss’ Salute

The three-fingered salute used by Katniss and the other rebels in The Hunger Games have been adopted by pro-democracy activists in Thailand. And as a result, a movie chain in Bangkok has cancelled screenings of Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Photo Credit: AP Images Thailand’s been under military rule since May, and protestors have started…

Big Hero 6 Could’ve Had Roving Gangs Of Baseball Ninjas—BASEBALL NINJAS

There are a lot of really neat ideas that never made it into Big Hero 6, including Rocket Cat and Honey Lemon as a superhero catgirl. And one proposed iteration of the film has a The Warriors feel to it, with gangs whose members dressed like ninja baseball players and shark-mouthed airplanes. https://gizmodo.com/big-hero-6-supersuits-that-didnt-make-the-cut-like-catg-1660767961 Artist Kevin…

An Incredibly Detailed Geologic Map Of Giant Asteroid Vesta

Appearing in the December issue of the journal Icarus, this beautiful geologic map of big ol’ asteroid/minor-planet Vesta was created by a team led by planetary scientist David Williams, from data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft during its 15-month orbit of the oblong object between 2011 and 2012. https://gizmodo.com/could-giant-asteroid-vesta-actually-be-a-planet-5895973 The researchers use the geologic map…

RIP R.A. Montgomery, Creator Of The “Choose Your Own Adventure” Books

Few book series celebrated narrative possibility and experimented with branching storytelling in as unique a way as the Choose Your Own Adventure novels. They were largely the work of R.A. Montgomery, who died aged 78 on Nov. 8. The Choose Your Own Adventure blog has a great account of how the series got started: In…

2014 Will Almost Certainly Be The Warmest Year On Record

It may be the snowpocalypse in Buffalo, but the latest global analysis from NOAA’s National Climate Data Center reports global temperatures since January to be the warmest ten calendar months on record. November 2013 to October 2014 was also the warmest 12-month period since bookkeeping began in 1880. Meanwhile, combined sea and land temperatures in…

Concept Art Writing Prompt: Dogs In Spaaaaaaaaaaaace!

We’ve had a couple of macabre Concept Art Writing Prompts lately, so this week, we’re doing something on the lighter side. Can you come up with a story about these space-faring canines? If so, share it with us here. “Space Doggy” is by artist Edward Gan. If you dig Gan’s style, you can order a…

Will Uber’s Latest Scandal Finally Make People Worry About Big Data?

For years, people have warned about corporations collecting your personal data. But no matter how much people insist that Google knows too much about you, we’re willing to sacrifice privacy for convenience. Could the latest revelations about Uber finally get people angry enough to do something about rampant data collection? Top image: Uber HQ, via…

Sham Journal Accepts Totally Absurd But Completely Appropriate Paper

The International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology, a predatory open-access journal, has accepted for publication the marvelously titled paper “Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List.” According to Scholarly Open Access, researchers David Mazières and Eddie Kohler first prepared the manuscript in 2005, to protest spam conference invitations. The paper – which can be read…

American Horror Story Isn’t Afraid To Kill Everyone—It’s Just Bad At It

As with all American Horror Story seasons, Freak Show is finally hitting its “What the hell is this? I don’t even…” crest, in which the show no longer exists as an actual form of serialized television, but rather a collection of weird/entertaining moments. Last night’s episode had a lot of very rewarding moments, but they…

Why Books Are Still One Of Our Most Durable Technologies Ever

With limited free time for reading, tight publishing markets, and the rise of e-readers, people have been sounding the death knoll for the book for quite some time. But they haven’t died. Not even close. So what is it that makes them so enduring? In response to a question about the technologies that inspire the…