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We’ve Been Using Media to Escape Human Interaction for Centuries 

It’s easy to blame your displeasure with contemporary behaviour on the technology in our hands. But, really, humans have been busy using whatever they can to ignore you for centuries. Randall Munroe predicts the inevitable in today’s XKCD: “2060: The gregarious superintelligent AI, happily talking its way out of a box, is fast becoming a…

Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit High, Likely to Become ‘Permanent Reality’

A new bulletin from the World Meteorological Organization reports that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high in 2014 that could become a ‘permanent reality.’ The bulletin explains that the atmospheric concentrations of CO2 has reached 397.7 parts per million (ppm) in 2014—close to the (largely symbolic) 400ppm…

Pinterest Now Has Visual Search and It’s Kinda Smart

Smart image recognition systems can be incredibly powerful, and how interior designers and fashionistas can take advantage of them. Pinterest now has a tool that allows you to search not using words but images, which could make tracking down that artisanal teapot a little easier. In the past, Pinterest has required you to know how…

Today’s lovely Google Doodle celebrates the 101st birthday of inventor and actress Hedy Lamarr, who we have to thank for wifi. Thanks again, Hedy.

This Is What the Orion Service Module’s Propulsion System Looks Like

Now this is some engineering. You’re looking at a model—though sadly, not a working one—of the propulsion systems that will power the Orion European Service Module (ESM). Developed by Airbus Defence and Space, the system is now being delivered to NASA’s Plum Brook Station facility, where will be checked and tested to determine whether it…

These Amazing Scientists Shared This Year’s $22M Breakthrough Prizes

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, funded by Silicon Valley giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin, last night announced the recipients of its $22 million prize pot at its third annual awards ceremony. Here’s the amazing research that just got a shot in the arm. The Breakthrough Prizes are designed to raise awareness of cutting-edge math…

We Need a Better Way to Get to Space

Human beings will always be explorers. We’ve pretty well surveyed our planet, our tiny blue dot, for answers and only found more questions. Why are we here? How did we get here? What does it mean? We’ve already taken baby steps out into the solar system. But cheap, affordable space travel would be revolutionary, heralding…

If the only thing stopping you buying Blackberry’s new Android slider was the AT&T exclusive, good news: the Priv is also coming to Verizon. Remember: Blackberry is going to keep on loving you. Contact the author at [email protected].

The (Unknown) Inventor of Bitcoin Nominated For the Nobel Prize in Economics

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is, as with most Nobel prizes, quite a big deal. Past laureates are a who’s who of economics—and starting in 2016, that list could include the inventor of Bitcoin. Assuming, of course, someone works out who that is. Satoshi Nakamoto is the widely recognized inventor of Bitcoin. They…

An Australian Carrier Just Pulled 1Gbps Over Its 4G Network

Think 100Mbps over a fiber connection is cool? Try 1000Mbps (1Gbps) over a wireless 4G connection. That’s what Aussie carrier Telstra and Ericsson just hit in their new network testing. That’s right: using LTE-Advanced and carrier-aggregation tech, Ericsson and Telstra pulled down 1Gbps over 4G wireless as it gears up to build a new 5G…

EPA Decides To Start Properly Testing Cars Post-Dieselgate

Part of the reason Volkswagen was able to cheat the federal government’s emissions testing for so long was the test itself: standardized, free of variables, and easy to engineer around. In the wake of Dieselgate, the EPA is announcing an overhauled, actually-useful testing procedure. https://jalopnik.com/your-guide-to-dieselgate-volkswagens-diesel-cheating-c-1731857018 According to the New York Times, the EPA is going…

So You Want To Join The Empire: Abs Made Of ABS

I’ve been a little behind in actually doing anything in the last week, but this weekend we’ve got some progress! The suit is almost done: there’s a little more to do, then adjustments. I’ve been working on finishing up the webbing (for which I need more supplies), and I need to do a proper test…

Scientists Have Found Fossilized Brains

Conventional wisdom says that brains don’t fossilize, but these seven fossilized brains beg to differ. An arthropod called Fuxianhuia protensa, which lived on the ocean floor about 520 million years ago, would have looked much like today’s shrimp, say paleontologists. Thanks to fossilized remains, we now know that its brain was also similar to those…

At The End Asks: Would You Become A Slave To Escape A Doomed Earth?

In this short film, a nearby supernova spells certain doom for Earth, and an alien fleet offers a choice: humans can escape, but only if they agree to become enslaved in space. The film follows one couple who have to come to grips with what it will cost to survive. Jason Whitmore’s film splits its…

Stormtrooper Helmets For African Wildlife Is Weirdly Gorgeous 

This art project is nuts: New York designer Blank Williams has recently put together a mashup of stormtrooper helmets as if they were worn by African wildlife. The sculptures imagine a stormtrooper helmet for rhinos, hippopotamuses and elephants, and have been put together in black and white versions in a pair of series called The…

This Former Soviet Observatory Just Keeps Going and Going

Welcome to this week’s Reading List, our weekly collection of great science and technology stories from around the internet. This week, we’ll tour a former Soviet observatory that’s still watching the skies, meet the archaeologists studying history while it’s still alive and kicking, and more. Hidden away high in the remote mountains of Georgia, the…

Our biggest planet in the solar system is also one of the best: it’s got crazy weather systems, it’s probably saved Earth from enormous impacts, and it’s got hundreds of moons orbiting it. The Atlantic goes over all the ways Jupiter is their favorite planet.

Here Are The Winners Of The 2015 World Fantasy Awards

The World Fantasy Convention was held this weekend in Saratoga Springs, New York, where the winners of the 2015 World Fantasy Awards have been announced! Here are the winners: Novel David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks (Random House/Sceptre UK) Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor (Tor Books) Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs (Broadway Books/Jo Fletcher Books)…

Astronomers Found the Ghost of a Rare Giant Radio Galaxy

Astronomers in India have discovered a very unusual galaxy, and it’s dying. By now, in fact, it’s probably already dead. The new galaxy, known as J021659-044920, is 9 billion light years away from Earth. That means it’s really old in cosmic terms (but not quite as old as the oldest object astronomers have ever found,…

Mothership Zeta Is The Newest Short Fiction Project From The Escape Artists

This looks pretty cool: Escape Artists, the folks behind Escape Pod, Pseudopod and Podcastle are launching a new magazine called Mothership Zeta. Their first issue is now live, and it has an exciting table of contents! The magazine is run by Mur Lafferty, Sunil Patel, and Karen Bovenmyer, with a focus on fun stories: Mothership…