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Silly Sign

I think I’m having trouble reading this sign. Does it really say “this sign will be covered in silly string from 12:00 a.m. October 31 to 12:00 Noon November 1?” I think it does! [This Isn’t Happiness via Boing Boing]

Tech News Jack Loftus Oct 31 '10

Record-breaking neutron star packs twice the Sun’s mass into a twelve-mile-wide sphere

The most massive neutron star ever discovered has been found 3000 light-years away. The tiny star is twice as massive as the Sun but its diameter is mere miles across. This discovery confirms these stars really are made of neutrons. Neutron stars are the end result of collapsed stars that aren’t quite big enough to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 31 '10

Portal turret jack o’lantern keeps Trick-or-Treaters at bay

One Portal fan created this jack o’lantern based on the talking turrets. This turret even pans left and right in search of targets, although there’s no word on whether it politely asks you not to smash it. [via Nerdcore]

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 31 '10

“Skin Printers” Could Become Biological Inkjets of the Battlefield

Gaping battlefield flesh wounds that take off more than 4 cm of skin can’t heal without aid, so researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine created a fantastical system that literally prints skin on demand. Using the same “fluid-based inkjet technology” found in those freebie printers that big box chains throw in with laptop…

Health Jack Loftus Oct 31 '10

The Easiest Way To Dress Up As Steve Jobs For Halloween

Sadly, iWear is fake. But oh it would be magical! Packaging a black mock turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers is remarkable. The glasses (sold separately) are a great touch. You’ll feel incredible, amazing, and phenomenal. Apple just re-invented clothes. If you didn’t catch on, that’s how people talk when they wear Apple clothes…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

Why isn’t NASA talking about the Hundred Year Starship?

Earlier this month, a NASA researcher mentioned the “Hundred Year Starship,” a plan to develop research and technology for one-way human space missions. But since then, all parties have been surprisingly mum on the subject. Why all the secrecy? During an event in San Francisco earlier this month, Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research…

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 30 '10

This Is What A Nuclear Test Site Looks Like From Above

This is a Google Maps Satellite View of Yucca Flat, one of the Nevada Nuclear Test Sites. Over 739 nuclear tests were run between 1951 and 1992 which has left the region scarred and pockmarked to this day. Yucca Flat is known as the “most nuclear blasted spot on the face of the Earth.” And…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

Superhero-Style Spacesuits Could Provide Vital Compression For Astronauts

This new Spiderman-style spacesuit may not win astronauts a spot in the fashion hall of fame, but it could help keep their bones intact during long spaceflights. Described in a new paper, prototype tests of the Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit, being developed by a research team at MIT’s Man-Vehicle Laboratory, show that the suit simulates…

Space & Spaceflight Laurie J. Schmidt - Pop Sci Oct 30 '10

Marketing is magic in M.K. Hobson’s Native Star

Foggy London’s the spiritual home of steampunk, but M.K. Hobson has set Native Star against Gilded Age America’s rise to power—and added magic. We talk to Hobson about American steampunk, mixing history and fantasy, and mass media-inspired magic. At the novel’s opening, local herbalist and witch Emily Edwards is struggling valiantly to support herself and…

Books & Comics Kelly Faircloth Oct 30 '10

How to turn a highway into a giant dungeon (slightly NSFW)

Street artist Dan Witz glues disturbing portraiture to highway walls. The result? Blink-and-you’ll-miss-them prison cells that leave drivers wondering what they just saw. In the future, they’ll build these for motorists who abuse the carpool lane. [Dan Witz via The Wooster Collective]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 30 '10

Concept Butter Package Packs A Butter Knife In The Lid

Single servings of butter are almost always a pain to use. This concept packaging would revolutionize single serving butter because you don’t need a butter knife. The lid of the package is the butter knife. I want this so bad. The idea is really simple theoretically could be extended to anything that’s served in single…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

Flee the zombie hordes on the “Organ Trail”

The pioneers had it rough traveling the Oregon Trail, but they didn’t have to contend with flesh-eating zombies. Can you survive the hazards of the Organ Trail, make it to Portland, and escape the zombie apocalypse? An undead take on the classic edutainment game, Organ Trail kicks off in DC at the start of the…

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 30 '10

A Typography Geek’s Dream Bookshelf

The Aakkoset bookshelf from Kayiwa might not be the most efficient way to store your things, but the alphabet shelf sure would get a typographer excited. Look at how useful a well constructed ‘W’ can be! The Aakkoset bookshelf can double as a room divider and if you don’t want to clutter the letters, you…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

This Week’s Best Web Video

Treat yourself to this week’s hidden gems, from Dexter’s Dark Echo to GameTrailers’ Rock Band 3 Review. Just don’t have Masters of Horror on full blast while kids are ringing your bell or you could scar them for life. WEB Take Me Back: Twin Peaks meets Northern Exposure meets Arrested Development. In Take Me Back,…

Television Sam Julian Oct 30 '10

Buy a map (of the state of California that weighs 70 tons)

One thing everyone should aspire to own is a 70-ton topographical map of the Golden State the length of two football fields. It can be yours for $500,000. Something I meant to post three few weeks ago, before October became the Great Lost Month of constant busyness and over-commitment, is the story of a 70-ton…

io9 Geoff Manaugh - BLDGBLOG Oct 30 '10

Google Co-Founders Wanted Steve Jobs To Be CEO of Google

When Sergey Brin and Larry Page were first looking for a CEO to run Google, they met with Steve Jobs. The Google co-founders left that meeting wanting the CEO of Apple to become the CEO of Google. According to interviews in Bloomberg’s documentary series, Game Changers, that’s who the two boywonders wanted as their head…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

The science of leaving ominous messages on bathroom mirrors

Scribbling on a steamed-up mirror can be a fun way to give one’s reflection a mustache after a warm shower or leave death threats in horror movies. But what’s the science behind it? It’s reasonable to associate the ghostly lines on the bathroom mirror after a long shower with the greasy handprints on windows and…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 30 '10

Why Is There a USB Drive Sticking Out of This Wall?

Across New York, there are USB drives embedded in walls, buildings and curbs. The idea is to create an anonymous, offline file-sharing network in public space. The drives are completely public and anyone can plug in to drop and download files. Seriously, you can plug the USB drive into your laptop. Like that guy right…

Tech News Casey Chan Oct 30 '10

On the principle motivating spirit of monsters

King Kong’s monstrous motivations aren’t the same as Dracula’s — one wants a castle made of bananas, the other a swimming pool full of hemoglobin — but, on a psychological level, their motivations differ too. Here’s Chris Braak’s monster taxonomy. All this talk about evil got me thinking about monsters. I’m going to eventually have…

io9 Chris Braak Oct 30 '10

A webcomic anthology of bugs, bad deeds, and body horror

If you’re looking for a quick, spooky read — or twenty — this Halloween weekend, check out Split Lip, a horror anthology webcomic, where you’ll find dozens of chilling tales spanning the myriad subgenres. Each installment of Split Lip is a self-contained horror story, written by Sam Costello and illustrated by a different artist. Costello…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis Oct 30 '10

Silly Sign

Record-breaking neutron star packs twice the Sun’s mass into a twelve-mile-wide sphere

Portal turret jack o’lantern keeps Trick-or-Treaters at bay

“Skin Printers” Could Become Biological Inkjets of the Battlefield

The Easiest Way To Dress Up As Steve Jobs For Halloween

Why isn’t NASA talking about the Hundred Year Starship?

This Is What A Nuclear Test Site Looks Like From Above

Superhero-Style Spacesuits Could Provide Vital Compression For Astronauts

Marketing is magic in M.K. Hobson’s Native Star

How to turn a highway into a giant dungeon (slightly NSFW)

Concept Butter Package Packs A Butter Knife In The Lid

Flee the zombie hordes on the “Organ Trail”

A Typography Geek’s Dream Bookshelf

This Week’s Best Web Video

Buy a map (of the state of California that weighs 70 tons)

Google Co-Founders Wanted Steve Jobs To Be CEO of Google

The science of leaving ominous messages on bathroom mirrors

Why Is There a USB Drive Sticking Out of This Wall?

On the principle motivating spirit of monsters

A webcomic anthology of bugs, bad deeds, and body horror

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