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Future Internets Will Be Powered by Quantum Particles

Like quantum physics? What about quantum computers? Or quantum computers in a diamond? Then you should know that researchers at the Max Planck Institute have appropriately devised a way to create a quantum network in which a photon is exchanged between two atoms. Future! According to Time, the two atoms transmit the photon over a…

10 Tricks That Chatbots Use to Make You Believe They’re Human

Chatbots can convince you of remarkable things — like the necessity of clicking a link or giving away your credit card number. Mostly, though, they just want to make you believe that they’re real breathing humans. And the creators of chatbot programs work hard to compensate for their lack of soul or independent will. Here…

How Canon’s Making Our Gorgeous 4K Dreams a Reality

The Canon EOS-1D C is the 4K DSLR that many filmmakers have been clamoring for. It costs $15,000, which means you can’t afford it. Bummer? Hardly. Canon’s paving the road to a beautiful super-high-resolution future. Get excited. When we first got a look at Canon’s 4K DSLR concept in the fall, we were cautiously excited.…

Crazy detailed Star Wars organ turns the Death Star into circus music

Sure, we just featured some ripping 2001 LEGO spaceship designs, but this is too stellar not to mention. As a promotion for The Phantom Menace’s 3D re-release in Germany, LEGO builders Rene Hoffmeister and Lorenz Lnggrtnr constructed a massive circus organ that doubles as a gargantuan diorama. Explains Lorenz of its mechanics: https://gizmodo.com/behold-the-2001-a-space-odyssey-lego-sets-that-never-5901669 We took…

The Avengers really did film a secret extra scene after their world premiere

Robert Downey Jr. stirred up a bit of drama at The Avengers press conference, when he let it slip that the Avengers would be secretly assembling after their day of press to film one last scene. The films director, Joss Whedon was quick to squash any rumors following up at a separate panel that it…

Cabin in the Woods will make you love movies all over again

When you hear that Joss Whedon and his Buffy the Vampire Slayer comrade Drew Goddard have created a “meta” horror movie, you fear the worst: this is something that sneers at genre entertainment, or else panders to fans of it. At absolute best, you might think, Cabin in the Woods is a movie that will…

Is This the Most Popular Photo on Instagram?

This might be the most liked photo on Instagram. Which would be a pretty sad but totally understandable indictment of Instagram. Thing is, we’re not sure. There’s no real way to know, but FWD tracked down a pretty educated guess. So here’s the story with Biebs and Selena up there: Apparently, there is no way…

Nike Fuelband Review: A Friendly Reminder to Stop Being Lazy

A girl at a bar sees the futuristic and slim black cuff cradling my wrist, points at it and asks—well, more like demands to know—what is that? I look down, thinking I might’ve spilled beer on my sleeve, and see the Nike Fuelband. Oh. That thing. To demonstrate, I hit the only button on the…

What you need to know about North Korea’s failed rocket launch

North Korea launched a multistage rocket Friday morning in an act of international defiance, after being asked repeatedly by the U.N., U.S., Russia, Japan, and others to stand down. The spacecraft exploded less than two minutes after liftoff. Minutes later, fragments of the failed rocket were bobbing in the Yellow Sea. What does this mean…

The entire periodic table, as narrated by a three-year-old

After learning the names of the elements when she was two, three-year-old Rose from Seattle has now memorized Tom Lehrer’s classic paean to the periodic table. Who knew somebody could make Yttrium totally adorable? [Via Boing Boing]

Massive collection of Prometheus stills take you inside Ridley Scott’s new spaceship

We’ve got a gigantic gallery of hot new Prometheus stills coming from inside the spaceship! Behold the interiors of what will hopefully become the new Nostromo of this generation. Plus, check out a glorious breakdown of the infamous medical pod we spotted a poor pair of legs flailing about in many trailers ago. https://gizmodo.com/every-alien-easter-egg-in-the-latest-prometheus-trailer-5894612 Thanks…

Why Friday the 13th Is So Unlucky

It’s Friday the 13th! This can mean only two things: disaster is imminent, or you’re going to get yourself a sweet discount tattoo. However you’re celebrating—er, observing—this folkloric faux-holiday, you deserve to know why it’s so spooky in the first place. The origins of Friggatriskaidekaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) are a little muddled,…

Drone Helicopter Gets Deadlier with “Precision Kill” Weapons Upgrade

The MQ-8 Fire Scout, an unmanned helicopter used for reconnaissance work by all branches of the US military, made news this week when the Navy grounded its Fire Scout aircraft after a pair of recent crashes. The current machines are unarmed, but by 2013, a planned weapons upgrade will make them first sea-based, armed drone…

Nike Fuelband Gallery

Some Serious Effort Went Into Restoring Jaws for Blu-ray

Film restoration is an incredibly complex process that can enrich an old movie and truly make it sing on that 50-inch flat screen and surround system you just bought. And when the film being restored is Jaws, you make damn sure you get it right. Above, an in-depth look at the original summer blockbuster getting…

Wait, maybe birds don’t have compasses in their beaks after all

One of the theories for the incredible navigational skills of birds is that they can sense magnetic fields through the magnetite in their beaks — essentially giving them a built-in compass. It’s one of the more pervasive explanations, but it looks like it might not be true, at least for pigeons. New research published in…

How To Design Your Life: Q&A With Author Mike Monteiro

Life is a design problem. Which is why reformed Philadelphian Mike Monteiro’s new book, Design Is a Job, isn’t just about how to maneuver through the Web design business, it’s an instructive life lesson. You may know Monteiro as one of Twitter’s more, er, notorious users (even the background image on his Twitter page is…

Hijacking Panic Sends Terrifying Sonic Booms Over England

A series of unfortunate events: a confused helicopter pilot accidentally gives a signal that he’s been hijacked. British RAF fighters are scrambled so quickly to shoot the thing down, they go supersonic. Brits down below fear explosions and earthquakes. Boom. The Aviationist recounts the air force farce, which went down yesterday over English skies: At…

The weirdest mating habits of the animal kingdom, explained using humans

The animal kingdom is brimming with fauna who get their rocks off in surprisingly unorthodox ways, and it adds an extra level of curiosity when you depict these behaviors using anthropomorphic models. Illustrator Humon has done just that. Oh hyenas, giving birth through your positively epic clitorises and whatnot. Let’s all be happy duck sex…

Foolish Vietnam Cop Almost Dies Riding on a Criminal’s Windshield

Watch this Vietnamese traffic cop go for a wild, half-mile ride on the front of this speeding vehicle in Hanoi. Holy hell, it’s terrifying to watch him hang on for dear life by only the bus’s windshield wiper. High-speed chase: You’re doing it wrong. According to the Associated Press, 2nd Lt. Nguyen Manh Phan stopped…