We have liftoff. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite launches from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas-V rocket on Thursday night. Photo by Ed Dosado/Flickr.

Here’s Judi Dench as Titania in a Trippy Midsummer Night’s Dream [NSFW]

You probably already worship Dame Judi Dench for her many amazing performances in everything from James Bond movies to British comedies like As Time Goes By. But have you seen her wild performance in the trippy 1968 Midsummer Night’s Dream? Warning: Possibly NSFW. Here she is as Titania, wearing what looks like green bodypaint (and/or…

Historians have underestimated the death count of WWI by a huge margin

Yikes, as if we didn’t already think the First World War claimed enough victims: A French historian says the number of soldiers killed in the Great War has been vastly understated — a death count too low by as many as one million. Above: Serbian prisoners of war are arranged in a semi-circle and executed…

Meet the magic bra that can only be opened by “true love”

Ladies! Do you find yourself exposing your bosoms for pretty much anybody you have a small amount of affection for? Then do I have good news for you! Japanese lingerie maker Ravijour has developed a bra whose clasp will only open when its wearer is experiencing true love. How does it do this, you ask?…

Cover your rooms in Cthulhu damask wallpaper and invite madness in

You’re sure to have…interesting dreams if you sleep in a room with this wallpaper, inspired by classic damask patterns. An elegant, leafy Cthulhu peers out from the walls, watching and waiting. This pattern was designed by Megan Rose Gedris (also known as Rosalarian) and is available as a wallpaper, fabric, and gift wrap from Spoonflower.…

Finally! The ladies from American Horror Story say, “WE DON’T NEED A MAN”

OK, that’s not entirely fair. American Horror Story: Coven has been a pretty female dominated season. But for the first time this in a long time, it finally felt like the witches of this Coven realized, “who run the world? GIRLS.” And it was AWESOME. I love this season of AHS. When it was first…

3D-printed octopus cyborg is art from the future

A couple of years ago, Sean Charlesworth created this incredible sculpture of an octopus cyborg as a thesis for his degree in 3D modeling and animation. It’s just one of many 3D-printed creations that remind us how much this new technology could change the way we make art — as well as everything else. This…

The real reason you should be concerned about “Planet Hillary”

You get it. The cover of this week’s NYT Magazine is a mess. But here’s a criticism you probably won’t see debated on late-night TV: have you noticed how painfully, unforgivably, idiotically inaccurate it is, from a scientific standpoint? https://jezebel.com/this-new-york-times-magazine-cover-of-hillary-clinton-i-1507370822 “The gravitational pull of a possible 2016 campaign is bringing all the old Clinton characters…

So, why couldn’t R2D2 speak English, anyway?

R2D2 was a droid with incredible resources for data storage, navigation, and even defense, but no one ever bothered to install translation capabilities. After looking at some of the amazing footage of the user interfaces designed for the starships in Star Wars, a question came up: Why not? https://gizmodo.com/amazing-footage-the-spaceship-user-interfaces-of-star-1508275780 Dr_Gerbz If it’s so easy to…

Astronomers know when Monet made this painting — to the very minute

Back in the late 19th century, impressionist artist Claude Monet captured this striking sunset on the Normandy Coast. Now, thanks to the work of forensic astronomers, we known the precise moment it happened: February 5th, 1883 — at exactly 4:53 PM. Art historians know that Monet visited this stretch of the Normandy coast, called Étretat,…

Pakistani comics fans are super-excited about the new Ms. Marvel

Here’s a bit of Friday feel-goodery: American comics fans aren’t the only people excited about Kamala Khan, the teenage Muslim Jersey girl taking the role of Ms. Marvel on February 5th. So are Pakistani women, who hope that the character will inspire Pakistani girls and help their country’s image. UPI interviewed several Pakistani women, who…

Could you see yourself living in any of these incredibly tiny houses?

Itty-bitty apartments are nothing new, but many people are moving towards microhouses, free-standing or mobile structures that have all the amenities of a larger home, just with a lot less room. Would you be willing to trade your current digs for a small house that maximizes space, or do these just look like cramped quarters?…

A Little Girl Watches Her Mom Make History

Pictured here: Kristin Fisher, daughter of astronauts Anna Fisher and William Fisher, hanging out in mission control during her mom’s 1984 flight aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. Fisher the younger was just 15 months old when her mom became the first mom in space. [Kristin Fisher via The Mary Sue]

What is absolutely the best movie to watch at a party?

Whether you’re hosting a movie night, or just want something on in the background while people mingle, there are certain science fiction and fantasy movies that just get things going. What’s your go-to movie to get your guests in the mood to party? Post videos, key visuals, links, and passionate defenses of your party movie…

This mind-bending music was created using Voyager spacecraft data

An Italian scientist has taken 37 years worth of data from both Voyager space probes and turned it into music. The result is surprisingly good. The composer, Domenico Vicinanza, is a project manager at Géant — Europe’s high-speed data network that powers Cern and the Large Hadron Collider. He used 320,000 individual measurements of cosmic…

Vampire Diaries shows that bad people should feel bad about themselves

Last night’s Vampire Diaries romp was the show’s 100th episode, and it felt sort of like a party, with everybody coming back for cameos. But also like a summation of what the show was about, and its three main ex-villains: Damon, Katherine and Klaus. They all want to stop hating themselves, but we know that’s…

Amazing, never-seen images from the making of The Ten Commandments

Some previously unseen images from the legendary movie The Ten Commandments are up for auction, and we’ve got a preview. Holy hell, this movie was massive. Take a look at the oil paintings that were used as concept art for Charlton Heston’s makeup. Amazing. RR Auction is hosting a fantastic collection of never published, 35…

I, Frankenstein will be your new favorite midnight movie

Its premise is badass-simple, like a great first-person shooter, and its cast is mysteriously awesome. Get ready for demonic mad science, an army of Gargoyle angels, and Aaron Eckhart as the Batman-voiced Frankenstein monster who makes his enemies explode. You heard it here first: I, Frankenstein is destined to become a so-bad-it’s-good cult classic. This…

This Transforming Medieval Text Is Actually Six Books in One

With a literacy rate hovering around an estimated 5 to 10 percent of the population during the Middle Ages, only a select few of society’s upper echelons and religious castes had use for books. So who would have use for a sextuplet of stories bound by a single, multi-hinged cover like this? Some seriously busy…

What would happen to your voice if you just… stopped talking?

What if tomorrow you woke up and decided that you were going to stop speaking? Not for a day, not for a week — but for, say, twenty years. What effect would if have on your body? What effect would if have on your mind? Top photo by SarahElizabethC. via flickr Before we begin, it’s…