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A Map of Just the World’s Time Zones

Time zones can be confusing things. But this map, which looks like it could be a piece of modern art, strips them back to their essence: this is how the world looks if the only thing you can see is the time zone boundaries. Created by Branden Rishel it’s largely a bit of fun—but it’s…

Could Our Planet’s Shrinking Crust Result in a Water World?

A reconstruction of Earth’s continental crust over the eons shows that our planet’s land masses are eroding faster than they’re being replenished—meaning our entire planet could become completely submerged in about two billion years. By studying the concentrations of isotopes from 13,000 rock samples taken around the world, geologist Bruno Dhuime and his team from…

The ISS may finally get its space veggie garden yet! This is actually the second attempt at getting lettuceseeds to sprout in the growing chamber, after the first one ended with some frantic overwatering to perk the dehydrated plants back up. Astronauts! They’re just like us. Image: Scott Kelly setting up the Veggie experiment on…

Musician Collapses Wearing All His Clothes to Beat Budget Airline Fees

Musician James McElvar used a sitcom-style idea to beat easyJet’s baggage restrictions, taking all of his clothes out of his bag and wearing them to avoid a fee to check his case – only to collapse on the flight from heat exhaustion. McElvar apparently ended up wearing 12 layers in all, comprising of 6 T-shirts,…

The XKCD Phone 3: So Good They Made Another One

Following the huge success of the XKCD Phone 1 andXKCD Phone 2, Randall Munroe has announced the XKCD Phone 3. Featuring wireless discharging, fingerprint randomizer, a magnetic stripe and more, Munroe promises that “if you’re not completely satisfied with the phone after 30 days, we will return you to your home at no cost.” It’s…

The Ladies of Indiana Jones Get Artistic At Acme Comic-Con Booth

Every year at San Diego Comic-Con, I make a point to head to the Acme Archives booth. Then again, it’s hard to miss considering it’s 5 times the size of every other booth and filled with beautiful art. This year is no exception and three pieces in particular jumped out: the ladies of Indiana Jones.…

Wesley Snipes’ Blade Could Return In The Marvel Movies

Jada Pinkett Smith really wants to be part of a second Suicide Squad. Ron Perlman still wants a third Hellboy. Plus, see Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1 in action, new clips from Ant-Man, Sam Raimi talks Ash vs Evil Dead, and our first look at Damien and the Sherlock Christmas special. It’s time for Spoilers! Storm Halley Berry…

Gmail Now Uses Artificial Neural Networks to Sniff Out Spam

Gmail’s spam filters have always been pretty good, but now they’re getting a shot in the arm. Google’s rolling out its artificial neural network technology, currently used in the likes of its Search and Now apps, to help reduce the weight of unwanted email even further. The filters that Google has used in the past…

You Can Read the First Chapter of Harper Lee’s New Novel Online

It’s 55 years since To Kill a Mockingbird was published, but Harper Lee’s second book, Go Set A Watchman, is about to be released. Now you can read the first chapter online. The first 3,500 words of the novel have been published on the websites of The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. If it’s…

This Is What the New Ghostbusters Look Like

We’ve already seen what they’ll wear and drive, but this is the first glimpse of what the new Ghostbusters will like when they hit the screen. While previous leaks from the film set have been made by director Paul Feig, these images of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones appear to have…

The Supermassive Black Hole That’s Growing Impossibly Fast

“Here be dragons” was a phrase once used on ancient maps, often accompanied by mythical sketches, to highlight an unexplored or potentially dangerous area. Astronomers might want to borrow this warning to label the centre of galaxies, which contain supermassive black holes. There’s a lot we don’t know about these monsters – and scientists have…

The Global Warming “Pause” Never Actually Happened

There’s been much debate these past few years over the cause of the so-called global warming “hiatus”—a pause in the overall uptick up of Earth’s temperature due to cooling at the surface of the Pacific Ocean since the early 2000s. Did climate warming stop? Nope, we just weren’t looking deep enough. Earth’s extra heat, you…

Modular Chameleon Satellite Can Transform to Change Missions

Once you’ve put a satellite into space, that’s normally kind if it. There’s not usually a lot of replanning once your technology is in orbit, meaning that if you want to change something like the broadcast frequency, you’re stuck. That’s the reason these transforming satellites exist. The Quantum programme is a European space project to…

Mass Recall of Avalanche-Rescuing Airbags, Thanks to Static Electricity

Avalanches make backcountry skiing one of the most dangerous ways to get your selfies, something that Black Diamond’s Jetforce airbags promised to change cheaply and simply with an innovative design that got rave reviews. But unfortunately, the designers forgot one tiny detail, leading Black Diamond to issue a recall. Airbag backpacks save skiers from avalanches…

New TV Series Damien Gives You the Antichrist as You’ve Never Seen Him

The new A&E series Damien is based on the original 1976 Omen movie — and that’s where all similarities with the crazy Antichrist franchise end. This show will give us a totally different view of Satan’s spawn, and offers the possibility that evil isn’t quite what you thought it was. Today at Comic-Con, we got…

It’s So Dry Even America’s Old Growth Rainforests Are on Fire

The season of terrible drought and fire keeps getting worse. In the past few weeks, hundreds of patches of forest in the Canadian and Alaskan boreal have gone up in flames. Now, one of America’s last remaining old growth forests—the Queets rainforest in Olympic National Park, Washington—is also burning. Currently covering over 1,200 acres, Paradise…

Jennifer Lawrence Told Us How Katniss Takes “Control of Her Own Destiny”

At the Hunger Games Part 2: Mockingjay press conference today, we got a chance to ask Jennifer Lawrence one question, and we asked whether Katniss is really a true believer in the revolution now. Is she finally on board, or is she just playing the role everyone expects of her? You can watch the video…

Oh Good, We Have One More Year to Eat Bloomin’ Onions In Oblivion

Although you might already be aware of the 520 calories in a Orange Mocha Frappucino thanks to existing laws in your city or state, the FDA recently mandated that calorie counts are to be posted at all chains nationwide by the end of 2015. Thankfully, a new ruling has postponed the deadline until next year.…

Here’s What a Record Painted With Conductive Ink Sounds Like 

Conductive paint is incredibly cool—it lets you create a circuit on virtually any material, from human bodies to a concrete wall. But a record? That’s new. Feild Craddock and Shruti KNR, two researchers at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, uploaded a video explaining how they used the paint to create music. They started with…

“Very Strong” El Niño Is Coming: But Will It End the Drought?

NOAA’s El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) discussion center released its latest predictions today and, well, are you ready for some El Niño? Because wet weather is almost totally certainly coming to the Western US. The question is, how much? Warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the Pacific create an El Niño event, which began to…