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What Are These Strange Bright Spots on the Sun?

From our perch here on Earth, the sun seems pretty uniform from day to day. But a closer look in this new magnetic map reveals that it’s teeming with activity—and with some intriguing bright spots. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory released this new magnetic map they put together of the sun to show all the magnetic…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Mar 15 '16

Bow Down Bitches: The Pope Is Getting Instagram

According to a report from the Italian newswire service ANSA, Pope Francis will make his grand entrance on Instagram on Saturday, March 19th, under the handle @Franciscus. The Earth-shaking piece of intel reportedly came from Dario Viganò, Prefect for Communications, during an appearance on Vatican Radio on Tuesday. With the whole rest of the week…

Tech News Sophie Kleeman Mar 15 '16

DC Is Shutting Down Metro For 29 Hours So Prepare For a Traffic Apocalypse

If you live in DC, I really hope you get to work from home on Wednesday. Starting at midnight tonight, the nation’s capital is closing its entire metro for at least 29 hours for a system-wide safety survey of electrical cables. The Washington Post reports that the unprecedented closure is a safety response to a…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Mar 15 '16

Here’s a Preview of the Presidential Tattoos People Will Be Getting Removed In 2017

Tattoo removal is a growth industry. And I suspect it’s only going to get bigger in 2017 when people sober up after the general election this November. With Donald Trump closer than ever to being the next President of the United States, supporters are showing their allegiance to the man in increasingly drastic fashion. And…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15 '16

One of These Dudes Is Young Han Solo (Probably)

Disney and Lucasfilm have apparently whittled the list of actors who could star in the Han Solo origin movie down from every young man in Hollywood to just three people: Taron Egerton, Jack Reynor, and Alden Ehrenreich. https://gizmodo.com/every-male-actor-ever-is-trying-to-get-cast-as-the-youn-1745699743 According to a report from THR, Disney is now in the final stages of casting the man…

io9 James Whitbrook Mar 15 '16

Windmills Are the Stars of This Dazzling Light Show

Dutch history meets modern energy initiatives in artist Daan Roosegaarde’s latest installation, which uses beams of green light to visualize the movement of the country’s windmills. Blades on these mills can reach 170mph, but special tracking software and a thermal camera mounted behind the blades keep the light beams pointed at their targets, connecting each…

Sploid Avery Ellis Mar 15 '16

How to Tell if a Fossil T-Rex Is Pregnant

Researchers have confirmed that a 68-million-year-old fossil found in Montana came from a pregnant Tyrannosaurus Rex. This not only will make it easier for other scientists to sex different fossils, it gives us an insight into the evolution of birds. Scientists from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences have…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Mar 15 '16

3D Printing Your Own Braces Works, Is a Terrible Idea

At the age of nine, I became the first kid in my elementary school class to get braces. They did their job, but by the time I left college, I’d lost my retainers and my teeth had drifted back into disarray. Imagine the feeling of kinship, then, when I saw this blog post by a…

Tech News Sophie Kleeman Mar 15 '16

Watch Winter Turn into Spring in These Beautiful Photos

Fall is probably the most picturesque season but there’s always something beautiful about seeing the stillness of winter give way to the color of spring. Here’s a collection of photographs from photographer Jim Brandenburg that documents the transformation from winter to spring. According to National Geographic, Brandenburg took a photo everyday in Minnesota from the…

Sploid Casey Chan Mar 15 '16

Peter Capaldi Thinks the BBC Should Care More About Doctor Who

It’s not every day you get to hear about a TV star critizing their own broadcaster, but Peter Capaldi has lashed out at the BBC for not caring about Doctor Who enough—not in terms of its content, or promotion… but when the show airs in the UK. The comments come from a recent interview with…

Television James Whitbrook Mar 15 '16

Here’s the Best Description of the Different Stages of Writing We’ve Ever Seen

Hugo-winning author Tim Pratt has a new novella out called The Deep Woods, about two boys who get trapped in a magic forest together. And the author (and Locus Magazine writer) just did an interview, where he came up with the best summary ever of the writing/editing process. Talking to Henry Herz, Pratt breaks it…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Mar 15 '16

The Making of Primer: ‘Every Inch of Film We Shot Was in That Movie’

We sometimes describe films like 10 Cloverfield Lane as being low-budget—but a real low-budget classic is more like the time-travel movie Primer, which was made for a shockingly tiny $7,000. In a new interview, star David Sullivan talked about how insanely shoestring this production was. Sullivan talked to Forbes, promoting his new Netflix series Flaked,…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Mar 15 '16

This Portable Shower Reuses the Same Water for Two Whole Weeks

Indoor plumbing and unlimited clean water aren’t available everywhere. That’s why this clever, compact shower that recycles the same water several times—after purifying it after each use!—seems very handy. It’s called Hotaru, and TechCrunch spotted it at South by Southwest this week in Austin. The Tokyo-based startup behind it says that its shower could let…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Mar 15 '16

How Does the Cue Ball Always Come Out of the Pool Table?

It’s magnets! Seriously. There’s a layer of iron underneath the cue ball that gets nudged and pulled by a strong magnet inside the pool table so that it gets put on a completely different track from the rest of the balls in pool. That track is the one that spits out the cue ball. The…

Sploid Casey Chan Mar 15 '16

Uber Drivers Are ‘Meat-Based Algorithms,’ Says South by Southwest Speaker

According to my Twitter feed, a transportation expert named Reilly Brennan just explained on a panel at South by Southwest that Uber drivers are “meat-based algorithms behind the wheel.” I don’t know Brennan or his work at Stanford and he’s probably a perfectly nice meat-based speaker, but I’d say that his comment is somehow both…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15 '16

You Can Play Classic Midway Arcade Games in this New Lego Dimensions Level Pack

Has there ever been a video game that appeals to as many fan bases as Lego Dimensions does? Through add-on level packs, fans of everything from Ghostbusters to Back to the Future will want to play. And now even gamers who prefer the classic arcade titles of the ‘80s have a reason to grab a…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Mar 15 '16

Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg Return for Indiana Jones 5 in Summer 2019

Indy is coming back. Disney just announced that Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford will return to one of their most famous franchises as Indiana Jones 5 opens on July 19, 2019. Spielberg will direct, Ford will star, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy will produce. The official press release from Disney has no mention of co-creator…

Movies Germain Lussier Mar 15 '16

A Single Lab Tweak Stopped 270,000 Food Poisoning Cases a Year

Twenty years ago, a change was made to how we did food poisoning testing. That change prevented over a quarter of a million cases each year, and it may also suggest how we could stop more cases in the future. The CDC just finished an evaluation of their PulseNet program—a system that links national labs…

Tech News Ria Misra Mar 15 '16

Amazon’s Alexa Is Not Even Remotely Secure and I Really Don’t Care

Forty-eight Cadbury Creme Eggs are en route to my house and it’s all Alexa’s fault. Alexa is incredibly useful. It gives you the weather as you stumble to the bathroom in the morning, and the news as you stumble back to your bedroom. It plays smooth jazz for your dog when you’re away and sets…

Commerce Alex Cranz Mar 15 '16

This Badass Beach Cruiser Fights Off Rust, Salt, and Sand

There’s a simple formula for every great beach cruiser: It should be easy to ride and be able to take a beating. That’s why it’s no surprise that Priority Bicycles, the company that made the $400 maintenance-free bike, has built a cruiser for use in places we need durability the most—at beaches and boardwalks. The…

Tech News Michael Nunez Mar 15 '16

What Are These Strange Bright Spots on the Sun?

Bow Down Bitches: The Pope Is Getting Instagram

DC Is Shutting Down Metro For 29 Hours So Prepare For a Traffic Apocalypse

Here’s a Preview of the Presidential Tattoos People Will Be Getting Removed In 2017

One of These Dudes Is Young Han Solo (Probably)

Windmills Are the Stars of This Dazzling Light Show

How to Tell if a Fossil T-Rex Is Pregnant

3D Printing Your Own Braces Works, Is a Terrible Idea

Watch Winter Turn into Spring in These Beautiful Photos

Peter Capaldi Thinks the BBC Should Care More About Doctor Who

Here’s the Best Description of the Different Stages of Writing We’ve Ever Seen

The Making of Primer: ‘Every Inch of Film We Shot Was in That Movie’

This Portable Shower Reuses the Same Water for Two Whole Weeks

How Does the Cue Ball Always Come Out of the Pool Table?

Uber Drivers Are ‘Meat-Based Algorithms,’ Says South by Southwest Speaker

You Can Play Classic Midway Arcade Games in this New Lego Dimensions Level Pack

Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg Return for Indiana Jones 5 in Summer 2019

A Single Lab Tweak Stopped 270,000 Food Poisoning Cases a Year

Amazon’s Alexa Is Not Even Remotely Secure and I Really Don’t Care

This Badass Beach Cruiser Fights Off Rust, Salt, and Sand

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