Latest

A scientifically accurate Flipper the dolphin would be too damn smart

The problem when animals are too smart? They become too much like us. Take dolphins. Movies like Flipper and seeing them at Sea World makes us think they’re just really cute. And they are! But they’re also too damn smart. Smart enough to masturbate, smart enough for depression, smart enough for suicide, and for so…

We Just Saw 3 Totally Different (And Mostly Great) Demonic Possession Films

Sunday into Monday at Fantastic Fest, I watched three back to back movies where the Devil was represented by a farm animal. First was the New England period piece, The Witch; second was a heavy metal possession movie called The Devil’s Candy; and third, a slow burn called February. Two lived up to the name…

Here’s Everything We Know So Far About Finding Water on Mars

Big news broke this morning as NASA scientists announced the first direct evidence for water on Mars. Let that sink in for a moment. Water. On Mars. It’s very exciting stuff, just in time for the big opening weekend of The Martian. Here’s what we’ve learned so far about this momentous discovery. The first hints…

Today, the FBI released the 2014 edition of its annual report on crime statistics, which found a decrease in violent and property crimes. New this year are federal stats on on offenses related to human trafficking, hate crimes, and computer hacking; it was also announced that future reports will study non-fatal shootings involving cops and…

There’s A Life Form That Exclusively Lives Inside Cephalopods

Dicyemida might get the award for strangest possible lifestyle. Not only does it only live in guts of cephalopods, it has two different modes of reproduction, which it deploys strategically through its life cycle. Dicyemids have no guts for the same reason you don’t grow and grind your own wheat to bake bread. Why work…

The Longest Glass Bridge on Earth Caters to Tourists Who Like Being Scared Silly

Tourists of the 19th century had Ferris Wheels to freak themselves out. The 20th century had bungee jumping and skydiving. Today, cities in the US, China, and Canada are building permanent glass “skywalks,” the longest of which—a 984-foot monster—just opened in Hunan province, China. Hunan is home to some of the country’s most amazing geology…

10 Pictures Showing How We Finally Found Water on Mars

Today we learned something new, and amazing, about Mars. But, although today was the day that the news was confirmed, it’s been in the making for quite sometime. Here, in pictures, is a history of how we finally found out that there really was water flowing up on Mars. https://gizmodo.com/is-there-life-on-mars-here-s-what-the-water-nasa-just-1733381829 Top Image: Recurring slope lineae…

Watch an incredible drone fly at crazy speeds through an abandoned building

Wow. This drone zooms so fast through this abandoned hospital in Spain that I’m pretty sure it might’ve reached warp speed. All the footage in the video below, taken by CHARPU FPV, is in real time. It’s pretty amazing control to fit into such small holes in the building and fly so gracefully through the…

Which Book-to-Screen Adaptation Actually Did Justice to Its Source Material?

The visual here is, of course, Marjane Satrapi’s wonderful Persepolis, but this question could also apply to a live-action film (or a film not directed by its source-material creator): Which page-to-screen translation really, truly knocked it out of the park? Please include an image or clip of the film or TV show that you think…

Virgin Buries Time Capsule In Most Awkward Ceremony Ever

Virgin broke ground on a new hotel in New York on Friday and, as a courtesy to future generations, they buried a time capsule. That’s the capsule on the far left, and Richard Branson kissing the shoe of Melissa Hill from the U.S. Department of Commerce on the right. Why is Sir Richard Branson kissing…

Twitter’s Hashflags Are an Abomination, and They Must Be Stopped

Did you tweet a photo of the supermoon? Perhaps you used the #supermoon hashtag, only to discover that a round red welt had affixed itself to your tweet, as ugly and unwanted as a social media zit. These are called hashflags. Hashflags are a newish phenomenon. Twitter simply tweaks their code to append a lil’…

Dozens of Cool Artifacts Recovered From the Antikythera Shipwreck

More than 50 items have been recovered at the site of the ancient Greek shipwreck that yielded the famous Antikythera mechanism. Working at a depth of 180 feet (55 meters), archaeologists managed to pull up the remains of a bone flute, glassware, luxury ceramics, and a bronze armrest. The ship, which was discovered by sponge…

The Guardians of the Galaxy Cartoon Loves The Guardians of the Galaxy Film A Little Too Much

The very first shot of Marvel’s new Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon is of Star-Lord’s cassette player. A hand reaches down onto it, the thumb presses play… and then Hooked on a Feeling blares out, as if a million executives simultaneously cried out “Oh god you loved that weird movie we made last year. What…

Article from 1975: The World Will Be Out of Oil by 2015

The idea of peak oil has haunted us for decades. I say haunt because the concept that sooner or later we’d run out of the stuff has contributed to some terrible public policy in the United States. Environmentalists of the 20th century took solace in the fact that if we wouldn’t convert to renewable energy…

The True Meaning of Christmas Is Obviously Watching Spock Die of Radiation Poisoning

Hallmark, you have outdone yourself. Although I feel like Kirk and Spock should be wearing little Santa hats, don’t you think? You can order the new ornament here, which plays Spock’s “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” quote. I can only pray that next year’s Star Trek II: The Wrath…

The Secret of Writing An Action Movie in Book Form

Screw movies. A great novel can be just as exciting and thrilling as a big-budget Hollywood tentpole. A novel can contain massive, insane action, that movie-makers could never even afford to bring to life. But how do you create an action movie on the page? We talked to 10 of our favorite authors, and here’s…

Shell Concedes That Drilling Off the Alaskan Coast Is a Really Bad, Really Expensive Idea

After spending $7 billion drilling for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, oil giant Shell announced today it will cease all drilling due to “a clearly disappointing exploration outcome.” This means there might be zero drilling off Alaska’s Arctic coast in the near future. Shell has called off all drilling for oil…

NASA Mars Scientists Answer Burning Questions About Flowing Water Discovery

Over on reddit, an awesome AMA between readers and NASA Mars scientists plumbs deeper into today’s flowing water announcement. Here’re the highlights. The reddit AMA included participants from NASA’s Mars Reconnoissance Orbiter (MRO) as well as their Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL): Rich Zurek, Chief Scientist, NASA Mars Program Office; Project Scientist, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Leslie…

A Humongous 50-Foot Floatie Saves Refugees Stranded At Sea

The creators of a new, massive emergency flotation device called the Centifloat were inspired to action by the horrifying images of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi. Centifloat is a tube that measures 52 feet long, can be inflated in 3 minutes, and has enough grab handles to support 60 people. Inventor Ben Board and his…

This Worm Is Shockingly Bad at Being a Worm

This worm is known informally as the “fried egg worm.” From the color scheme alone, you can tell it doesn’t want to be a worm, and its behavior proves it. Scientists only cataloged Archipheretima middletoni fairly recently—although the people of the Philippines have known about it for a while, and thought it was the larva-stage…