These Auditory Illusions Are Absolutely Bewildering

The latest installment of AsapSCIENCE opens with a demonstration of the McGurk Effect, a powerful auditory illusion that demonstrates how what we see influences what we hear. But even more baffling is the Shepard tone illusion – a sort of sonic barber’s pole that seems to continually ascend in pitch, without actually doing so. The…

We Can’t Stop Grinning At This Animation About A Delusional Stegosaurus

The rhyming animated short Wayne the Stegosaurus feels like a children’s book come to life. This pea-brained dinosaur may be stupid, but he also leads an incredibly charming life. Aran Quinn and Jeffrey Dates adapted Kenn Nesbitt’s silly Stegosaurus poem and the results are delightful. Dates translated Quinn’s illustrations into 3D, creating a 3D animated…

It Took 30 Artists To Redo Ghost In The Shell‘s Opening In Live Action

The opening credits of Ghost in the Shell are a stunning visual masterpiece — so when a team of artists decided to create 39 live-action still frames recreating shots from the opening, this was a major undertaking. Graphic designer Ash Thorp has worked on Amazing Spiderman 2, X-Men: First Class and Person of Interest, but…

Behold the Weird Glory of Airplanes Driving on Roads

Though they’re typically vehicles of the sky, airplanes sometimes need to be dragged around on Earth, too. These photos capture the odd and often amazing methods that people have been using to drive planes around for over a century. The Wright airplane being towed to the parade grounds of Fort Meyer, Virginia in 1908 (Photo…

The 100 Makes An “Arrow To The Knee” Joke

I don’t have much to say about this week’s 100. What could I say? I mean, really? At the start of the new episode, we meet this guy: And just like all new faces on this series, he is shot with an arrow immediately. The surprise twist for this new guy was that HE LIVED…

Everything You Need To Know About Dark Horse Comics’ Project Black Sky

It’s a name, an event, a label, and even a comic or two. If you’ve seen Dark Horse’s Project Black Sky — and given that the first comic was the best offering at this past Free Comic Book Day, I hope you have — you’ve entered into a complex world of heroes. Here’s what you…

Hundreds of “Hidden” Paintings Discovered at Angkor Wat

More than 200 paintings adorning the walls of the massive, 12th Century Cambodian temple Angkor Wat were discovered hiding in plain sight, after Noel Hidalgo Tan, a rock-art researcher at Australian National University in Canberra, noticed traces of red paint on the walls of the religious monument. Photo Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen via Wikimedia Commons…

What’s The Most Bleak And Misanthropic Series Of All Time?

Plenty of science fiction and fantasy series have dark themes or gritty settings — but they still offer plenty of hope for the human condition here and there. But what’s the most misanthropic series, with the grimmest view of human nature, you’ve ever come across? Please include a book cover, photo, poster or clip for…

Introducing HeroX — A Way To Crowdfund Your Very Own X-Prize

Imagine being able to come up with your own insanely futuristic idea — and then having teams race to achieve your goal. The recently launched HeroX platform could make this happen. HeroX is essentially a cross between XPrize and Kickstarter, enabling the crowd to create their own challenges and then eventually crowdfund them. It’s described…

James McAvoy Won’t Do Star Trek Impressions For Patrick Stewart

Watching Michael Fassbender And James McAvoy do impressions of their future selves in the X-Men movies right in front of the magnificent actors who play said future selves, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, is WONDERFUL. The best part is when Patrick Stewart tells McAvoy to say “Space…”— implying that he should do the introduction to…

The Bones of A Mythical Japanese Water Demon Are Going On Display

According to Japanese folklore, the Kappa is a monstrous creature that inhabits lakes and rivers. Occasionally, though, the demon will leave its watery lair and challenge humans to single combat. If so, one of them lost: the alleged mummified remains of a Kappa, shot to death in the year 1818, will soon be exhibited. As…

The Sentence Structure Of Dothraki, Diagrammed

We know what Dothraki sounds like, but what does it look like? Here’s the syntax of some of your favorite Dothraki sentences — including “I will not honor you thus” and the slightly alarming “I saw the man that you killed” — diagrammed by the language’s creator. Commenter mxyzptlk tipped us to the diagrammed sentence…

Well, The First U.S. Trailer For Snowpiercer Looks Awesome, At Least

When we last left Snowpiercer, Harvey Weinstein had finally given up his vision of taking out 25 minutes of footage and adding narration to the already award-winning film from Bong Joon-Ho, but had decided to give it a limited a release. As this first U.S. trailer shows, it’s still going to be worth tracking down.…

Wonder Woman Costume Designs We’d Love To See On The Big Screen

Rumor has it that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman will be rocking pants and jacket in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s a look that could work, but it’s hardly the only one. After all, there are tons of fan-made Wonder Woman costume designs that could be spectacular onscreen. None of these costumes are official…

See The Signal for free tonight! If you want to see The Signal tonight in San Francisco, there are still tickets available.

Here’s What A Day Off Looks Like From Aboard the ISS

Late Wednesday night, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, cosmonaut Max Suraev and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst became the fourth, fifth and sixth members of the International Space Station’s Expedition 40 crew. The team will commence its first full workday Friday at 2 a.m. For now, however, the team will rest. The photo above, captured by the…

Classic Doctor Who, Eureka Complete Collection, Huge ThinkGeek Sale

Dedicated Whovians can pick up a couple of Jon Pertwee DVDs for their lowest prices ever, today on Amazon. Doctor Who: The Mutants (Story 63) ($15) | Amazon Doctor Who: Beneath The Surface (The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep) ($18) | Amazon Today only, you can snag the complete Eureka…

The number of planets on which complex life could exist in the Milky Way may be as high as 100 million. Researchers arrived at the number by computing a “Biological Complexity Index,” which rates planets on a scale of 0 to 1.0, based upon characteristics assumed to be important for supporting multicellular life.

Why Agnosticism Probably Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

Agnostics are often characterized as ambivalent or wishy-washy fence sitters who refuse to make up their minds. But there’s much more to agnosticism than these tired misconceptions, including a stricter adherence to scientific principles than those typically invoked by atheists. Top image: “The Eye of God” Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). Credit: Hubble/NASA/Rogelio Bernal Andreo. The…

Do You Feel Like You’re Not Sleeping, Even When You Are?

Pseudoinsomnia is a sleep disorder, even though people who suffer from it appear to have perfectly normal sleep patterns. When pseudoinsomnicacs fall asleep every night, they feel as if they are lying awake, anxiously trying to get some rest. But they’re not imagining things. They really do have an unusual form of insomnia. In last…