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The strange, sad history of the lobotomy

If you thought that scene in Sucker Punch where the doctor gave lobotomies with an ice pick was artistic exaggeration – well, it wasn’t. That’s exactly how Walter Freeman, a popularizer of lobotomies in the 1940s, performed thousands of operations. In the mid-twentieth century, the lobotomy was such a popular “cure” for mental illness that…

io9 Annalee Newitz

You’ve Probably Never Thought About Water the Way Ferran Adrià Does

El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià: Most important chef in the world, most brilliant chef in the world, or over-scienced, over-indulgent, overwrought auteur—however you think of him—there are perhaps few who have been more important to modern cooking in the last couple of decades. And, well, he thinks about water very differently than you probably do. [92Y…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Like a Gizmodo Staff Member? Here’s How to Show It

After reading our posts day after day, you’ve probably grown to like—or maybe hate—a few of us. Well, we’d love it if you’d express any positive feelings by showing us just how much you like us on our Facebook pages. You see, most of Gizmodo’s staff members maintain individual Facebook pages for our thoughts, photos,…

Social Media Rosa Golijan

Ultra-hot superconductors could spontaneously form in the vacuum of space

A hundred years ago next week, superconductivity was discovered. Now we know electric charge can flow through ultra-cold objects without resistance. How better to celebrate this anniversary than with an awesomely crazy idea about ultra-hot superconductors forming in deep space? Physicists have a pretty good handle on how regular, low-temperature superconductors work. When certain materials…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Six Months of Tracking Someone’s Cellphone, Visualized

How much information does a phone company collect on you? Given that they know which tower your phone pings every time you use it, try “all of it.” That’s what one German politician discovered when he sued his carrier, Deutsche Telekom, for all of the data they’d archived for six months of his cellphone usage.…

Tech News Brian Barrett

What happens when a ghost and a zombie have sex? A Hong Kong tentacle monster baby is born

In the 1983 Hong Kong horror sleazefest Seeding of A Ghost (a.k.a. Zhong gui), a cab driver hits a warlock with his taxi. Naturally, this freak accident leads to ghost sex and a tentacle monster right out of The Thing. Later in this schlocky flick, the cabbie’s wife is later killed by a gang of…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

The REAL reason Sucker Punch will lose money

Since Sucker Punch failed to conquer the box office, there’s been lots of speculation about why it was a box office failure. Was it too stylized? Was it the reviews? Did it fail to appeal to women or older adults? Actually, there’s a very simple reason why Sucker Punch won’t make back its money, and…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

These Pictures of Afghanistan Were Shot in Secret

The Atlantic’s In Focus has a really great set of pictures taken in Afghanistan. Because of recent targeted attacks against journalists there, using a snazzy camera out in the open can get a little dangerous. So in order to take these pictures, Louie Palu, the photographer, had to use a panoramic camera hidden under a…

Tech News Casey Chan

Why Do These Breathtaking Russian Images of Earth Look So Different from NASA’s?

While this morning’s orbital image of Mercury is historic, these two images are the ones that have truly left me in complete awe today. Even more so than the most accurate, highest resolution view of Earth to date. But unlike Blue Marble, these images are not by NASA. In fact, they look a lot different…

io9 jesus diaz

Does the Total Recall reboot never get its ass to Mars?

Hot on the news that Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston will be cast as the head villain in the new Colin Farrell Total Recall reboot is a brand new plot synopsis. Which includes a troublesome detail. Spoilers ahead… Earlier today THR reported that Cranston could play the head villain in Len Wiseman’s (Underworld) Total Recall. They…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Cream, Sugar and Some Endo-Exothermic Phase Change Material for Your Hot Coffee?

Coffee Joulies are stainless steel beans filled with a phase change material that absorbs heat as it melts—cooling down horrifically hot coffee—and then releases that heat as it re-solidifies—then keeping your coffee warm for longer. The claim is that the Joulies cool your coffee down 3x faster than normal, and then maintain the “right” temperature…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Will Russell Crowe play superhero murderer Billy Butcher?

Anchorman director Adam McKay is already running down his shortlist of actor hopefuls for his live-adaptation of the ultra-violent comic The Boys. Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic follows a superpowered CIA group charged with keeping idiotic superheroes in line. In an interview with MTV McKay revealed that he had high hopes for Russell Crowe…

Movies Meredith Woerner

How does one write Lex Luthor? Action Comics writer Paul Cornell gives us tips

How does one write Superman’s greatest nemesis (and noted pastry bandit) Lex Luthor? We asked Action Comics author and Doctor Who screenplay scribe Paul Cornell for some advice on how to write the most diabolical villain with the shiniest head. https://gizmodo.com/a-brief-history-of-lex-luthors-cake-stealing-antics-5784465 Despite his fancy armor, allegiances with colorful characters, and megalomania, Lex Luthor doesn’t consider…

Books & Comics Cyriaque Lamar

What Is Google +1?

Google is introducing a new feature in Google search results today: +1. But what is it? A new social network? A social thingy? A social search engine? Is it even social? It’s a simple way to Like Google search results… When you’re signed into your Google account, every Google search result will now have a…

Tech News Casey Chan

The fittest and the unfit can actually survive side by side

Survival of the fittest is, at its heart, an expression of the idea that natural selection will favor those species that are best adapted to their environment. But there might also be a place for the unfit after all. Natural selection and survival of the fittest are often seen as synonymous, even if the truth…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Shut Up, Crime! Inside Secrets of Rainn Wilson’s Outrageous Superhero Movie

How did Rainn Wilson become our DIY savior? Why is a movie as horrendously messed up and insane as Super even allowed to exist, in a rational universe? Who thought a psychotic superhero film would be a good idea? We brought our questions to James Gunn, the director of Super, and he told us the…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

EcoModo – The Best of TreeHugger

This week on TreeHugger, $3 solar radios made from Altoids tins, crazy mechanical bird mimics seagulls, hack your iPad 2 smartcover to work with the iPad 1, see-through solar powered cell phones and more! How to Use the iPad 2’s Smartcover on the iPad 1 While it isn’t very green to upgrade a gadget like…

Tech News Jaymi Heimbuch

Newly-discovered monster virus from the depths of the Antarctic waters

At the edge of the world it lay undisturbed for thousands of years. They should never have awakened it. They did. Coming this summer: Virophage! An Australian research team working in Antarctica brought up something that was the stuff of nightmares – but not our nightmares. It’s the kind of thing that keeps viruses awake…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

HTC Pyramid: More Pics, More Specs Add Up to Great-Looking Phone

Our first look at the HTC Pyramid showed us a glimpse of the exterior, but now a truckload of images have backed up at the XDA Developers forum. What can we learn? That this is, as we thought, one big ol’ smartphone. A 4.3-inch 960×540 qHD display in front of a 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of…

Tech News Brian Barrett

The strange, sad history of the lobotomy

You’ve Probably Never Thought About Water the Way Ferran Adrià Does

Like a Gizmodo Staff Member? Here’s How to Show It

Top Stories: Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ultra-hot superconductors could spontaneously form in the vacuum of space

Six Months of Tracking Someone’s Cellphone, Visualized

What happens when a ghost and a zombie have sex? A Hong Kong tentacle monster baby is born

The REAL reason Sucker Punch will lose money

These Pictures of Afghanistan Were Shot in Secret

Why Do These Breathtaking Russian Images of Earth Look So Different from NASA’s?

Does the Total Recall reboot never get its ass to Mars?

Cream, Sugar and Some Endo-Exothermic Phase Change Material for Your Hot Coffee?

Will Russell Crowe play superhero murderer Billy Butcher?

How does one write Lex Luthor? Action Comics writer Paul Cornell gives us tips

What Is Google +1?

The fittest and the unfit can actually survive side by side

Shut Up, Crime! Inside Secrets of Rainn Wilson’s Outrageous Superhero Movie

EcoModo – The Best of TreeHugger

Newly-discovered monster virus from the depths of the Antarctic waters

HTC Pyramid: More Pics, More Specs Add Up to Great-Looking Phone

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