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Where are the stylish Joan Watson and dapper Sherlock Holmes this week? Taking a belated holiday! Elementary will resume with “The Games Underfoot” on December 10th with a recap on Friday. Will next week bring a new Clyde sighting, or has the turtle gorged himself on homemade meals? Here’s hoping he doesn’t sleep through the…

The Folks Behind the Sword & Laser Podcast Are Publishing Science Fiction Books Now!

Sword & Laser is a great podcast about science fiction and fantasy from Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt—and now, it’s also a line of science fiction and fantasy books! They’ve just announced their first book, The Life Engineered by J.F. Dubeau, which takes place in the far future, after the human race has been extinguished.…

Thanos Is Scarier Than Ever In This Exclusive Mondo Poster Reveal

The collectable poster, music, and toy company Mondo is teaming up with Marvel Comics for an officially licensed gallery show. It’s called Snikt Bamf Thwip: A Celebration Of Marvel Comics, and we’ve got an exclusive reveal along with more art. Our reveal is this frighting 13” x 19” giclee of Thanos by artist Mike Mitchell.…

Who Needs Stars When You Can Gaze at Spiders Through Your Telescope?

Freaking spiders, always getting up on the camera lens like they want to be astronomers, too. The camera dome at Marshall Space Center has a small problem: every now and then an arachnid astronomer decides to go waltzing across the lens, obstructing the view for pesky humans. The spiders climb onto the all-sky camera used…

Disney Was Somehow Shocked that Michael Jackson Grabbed His Crotch in Captain EO

Captain EO has been a Disney park staple since 1986, the height of Michael Jackson’s post-Thriller fame—but the Francis Ford Coppola-directed, George Lucas-produced short will shut down December 6 to make way for new attractions. A new oral history sheds light on all the making-of drama. It’s definitely worth taking the time to read the…

Badass Historical Chemists: Alice Hamilton Versus Absolutely Everyone

Alice Hamilton was one of those people who used science to shape morality. Basic concepts like sanitation, worker safety, and proper chemical disposal exist because she proved there was no other choice. She was also one of the first to speak out about the growing threat of Nazi Germany. Technically a biochemist, Hamilton is a…

These Are the Best Pluto Images New Horizons Captured

NASA has just received the first batch of the sharpest images of Pluto captured during the July flyby—and they’re incredible. Are you ready to go cross-country skiing and ice climbing three billion miles from home? Because Pluto’s terrain is a frozen wonderland. The images below are part of a sequence captured by New Horizons’ Long…

Carrie Fisher Has the Best Response to the Slave Leia Merchandise Controversy

Recently, the Star Wars fanbase took time off from freaking out about The Force Awakens to freak out over a rumored ban on merchandise depicting Princess Leia’s “Slave” outfit from Return of the Jedi. Many words about the matter have been said since—a lot of them pretty good!—but leave it to Leia herself to put…

Finally, Well-Designed Pipes For the Discerning Stoner

The design associated with smoking weed has heretofore been confined to a room draped in tie-dye tapestries with swirling blown-glass bongs glittering beneath the blacklight glow of a Phish poster. No longer. It’s Friday afternoon, you’ve made it through the long week, and it’s time for Happy Hour, Gizmodo’s weekly booze, etc. column. A cocktail…

Which Classic Character Did Not Need a Goddamn Childhood Trauma Added To Their Backstory?

It’s Screenwriting 101. When you’re taking a beloved character, who’s lasted decades or even centuries with a simple, streamlined origin, the first thing you do is add something terrible to his or her childhood. Because why would you ever want to preserve the character’s classic simplicity? Lately, we’ve been just drowning in well-known characters who…

Let’s Talk About Whatever You Want Right Now

Happy Friday, Gizmodo! We spent the week looking at the future of our favorite planet*. How’re things in your neck of the woods? Our Future Earth mission is ongoing—we’ll have more dispatches for you next week—but here’s a round-up of everything you might have missed: We’re Spending the Next Two Weeks Envisioning Our Future Earth…

A Turkish Court Has To Decide If Gollum Is Good or Evil

Is Gollum a good guy or a bad guy? It’s a complicated question. At times, the former Hobbit is nothing but pure venom. Other times, he’s kind, sweet and caring. Plus he can change between the two in an instant. Finally, a court of law will tell us if the former ring-bearer is good or…

The US Is About to Waste $305 Billion On Roads We Don’t Need

A big infrastructure bill finally passed the House this week, pushing $305 billion over five years to transit and highway projects. In the same week, Uber raised another $2.1 billion, bringing its total valuation to $62.5 billion—roughly the same amount the new bill spends on infrastructure each year. Which of these figures do you think…

Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista Screentesting for Guardians of the Galaxy Is Hilarious

Marvel’s Phase 2 box set truly is a trove laden with treasures. Earlier todaywe got to see Loki live out his fantasies in a deleted scene from Thor: The Dark World—but this time, we turn to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the fantastic improv skills of Star-Lord himself, Chris Pratt. The clip comes from…

Hello Barbie Could Have Exposed Information About Children to Hackers

It seems Vtech isn’t the only toy company playing it fast and loose with children’s privacy. Security researchers have discovered myriad security flaws that make Mattel’s Hello Barbie connected doll hackable. When Hello Barbie was introduced earlier this year, the doll’s connected technologycame under scrutiny from parents and advocacy groups concerned about data security and…

The Deadliest Kisses In All of Science Fiction and Fantasy

The holidays are almost upon us, which means one thing: lots of weird superstitions involving sprigs of vegetation and mandatory kissing. Which is weird. But it could be worse—those kisses could actually kill you. Just check out these kisses of death from science fiction and fantasy! Kitana’s Kiss of Death in Mortal Kombat The 10,000…

This Distant Galaxy Appeared Just 400 Million Years After the Big Bang

NASA scientists have captured a remarkable glimpse of a primordial compact galaxy that came into existence at a time when the Universe was exceptionally young, using the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists at NASA spotted the ancient galaxy while analyzing a Hubble image of a massive cluster of galaxies. Located at the mind-boggling distance of 4…

3D Printers Can Now Churn Out “Living” Blood Vessels

In a breakthrough that could lead to printable organs and an enhanced understanding of human physiology, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Labs have 3D-printed functional blood vessels that look and function like the real thing. 3D bioprinters are similar to conventional 3D printers, but instead of using inert materials, they use “bio-ink:” basic structural building…

Second Attempt to Launch Cygnus to the Space Station Scrubbed by Wind [UPDATED]

After getting rained out yesterday, it’s time to start preparing for the next launch window for the Cygnus spacecraft. If it succeeds, this will be the first launch for the cargo tug since the previous one blew up in October 2014. UPDATE: Gusts of wind caused first delays and finally a scrub for the launch…

Samsung’s New Project For Gear VR Is a Thriller In 360 Degrees

Samsung just announced a new project using Gear VR called Gone, in partnership with Skybound Entertainment (think Walking Dead) and WEVR. It’s either about the horrors of child abduction, or having a kid full of exploratory whimsy. The trailer is vague on that point. What’s more interesting than the actual content itself is the deeper…