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These Long, Flowing Vortices Look Like Ribbons Tied to a Raptor

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor entered service almost ten years ago, and it’s still one of the best fighter jets in the Air Force. In this photo you can see its sophisticated silhouette and ribbons on its wingtips. Just joking: they’re actually vapor vortices behind the aircraft. An F-22 Raptor from the Hawaii Air National…

New Zealand Is Joining the Private Space Race

It might be more famous for its sheep than its spacecraft, but New Zealand is about to join the private space race. A compnay called Rocket Lab is to build a new facility near Christchurch which will launch a payload into orbit before the year is out. While Rocket Lab is now based in the…

There Is a Deadly Secret Hidden in This Fish’s Parenting Plan

This is the stickleback. The males of the species have a reputation for being wonderful fathers. They are so baby-crazy that if their nests are empty they will steal the eggs of other males, just to get a little something to watch over. But, wait! Just how did their nests become empty in the first…

Ant-Man Will Introduce a Weird New Reality From Marvel’s Comics

And how much of Edgar Wright’s original script is still in Ant-Man? Henry Cavill says Batman v Superman isn’t a Superman movie. Bruce Campbell talks Ash vs Evil Dead. Some familiar DC voices will be appearing in Vixen. Plus, clips from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Daredevil set pictures. Behold, Spoilers! Ant-Man Peyton Reed discusses…

Facebook’s New Icons Bring a Little Feminism to Your Friendships

The internet doesn’t always do a very good job with gender equality. But a designer at Facebook has taken control of the social network’s icons to bring a little more balance to its website. You may have never looked closely at Facebook’s friends icons. But on arriving at the social network to assume the role…

A Taxonomy of Hip Coffee Shop Names

As you walk down the sidewalk, you see a chalkboard in the distance. As you step a little closer, you smell the deep musk of coffee emanating from an artfully distressed front door. Out steps a man with a beard, a Mac slung under his arm, sipping from small re-useable flat white-sized cup. You’ve stumbled…

The Map of Tastes on Your Tongue You Learned at School Is All Wrong

Everybody has seen the tongue map – that little diagram of the tongue with different sections neatly cordoned off for different taste receptors. Sweet in the front, salty and sour on the sides and bitter at the back. It’s possibly the most recognizable symbol in the study of taste, but it’s wrong. In fact, it…

Logitech Is Changing Its Name to “Logi” Because Tech Means Nothing

You know Logitech, that company that makes the great keyboards, and the great speakers, and the great gaming mice? It’s going to start calling itself just “Logi” now, and that transition begins today. When I asked exactly why it decided to karate chop its tenured brand name in half, the answer was simple: tech means…

Facebook’s New Fort Worth Data Center Will Be Powered Entirely By Wind

Facebook has announced that it’s building a fifth data center—adding to other four in Oregon, Iowa, North Carolina, and Sweden. The latest addition will be also be entirely run on renewable energy. On the new data center’s Faceboook page—of course it has a Facebook page—Facebook’s Director of Data Center Operations Ken Patchett explains that it…

Was 1982 the Best Year for Science Fiction Film? An Old TV Clip Says So.

The A.V. Club has unearthed this summer movie preview piece from Entertainment Tonight. In addition to containing some fairly absurd descriptions of classics, it also makes a pretty strong case for 1982 being the best year for science fiction film. Blade Runner, Poltergeist (be prepared to have the heck scared out of you!), E.T., The…

Meet the Main Characters of The Shannara Chronicles in This First Photo

As a week full of news gets into full swing, MTV released the first image of its new show The Chronicles of Shannara. Take a look at Ivana Baquero as Eretria, Austin Butler as Wil Ohmsford, and Poppy Drayton as Amberle Elessedil. MTV’s adapting the second book of Terry Brooks’ post-apocalyptic fantasy series, The Elfstones…

Framing Pictures With Fingers Would Be the Best Google Glass 2.0 Feature

The first Google Glass might’ve died an ignominious death, but don’t give up on face computers just yet. Google will most likely launch some kind of updated Glass in the future, and when it does, features like framing up pictures with your fingers could make it a whole lot better than version 1.0. Google was…

Infrared Outlines Jupiter’s Great Red Spot In a Bright Glow

In preparation for Juno’s approach on Jupiter in 2016, NASA’s InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) took infrared images of Jupiter on May 16, 2015. Doing this now will give context for what Juno’s instruments will get when it gets up close and personal to the gas giant. While we usually imagine Jupiter as being dominated by…

Electric Cars Are Ever So Slightly Lighter With Dead Batteries

Drive your car until the tank’s empty, and it will probably be 100 pounds lighter (minus the 6 extra Red Bulls consumed). But drive an electric car until it’s out of juice, and on a much smaller scale, it will also have shed weight. Whether or not batteries get lighter as they lose energy is…

The New Ghostbusters Have Revealed Their Ecto-1

Director Paul Feig continues to tease us with images of iconic Ghostbusters items, updated for the his new film. The latest is Ecto-1, which Feigtweeted with “#whattheygonnadrive.” It looks pretty great! This one is more recognizably a hearse than the original — fewer windows and doors — and with less of a round look. Plus,…

The New GoPro Session Is Smaller Than The Garmin Epix Smartwatch

AT&T Thinks Shitty Internet For Poor Families Will Help Its Merger 

AT&T is trying to acquire DirecTV, a deal worth some $67 billion that would create a soul-sucking leviathan telecoms company. The deed is all but done, and just awaiting FCC approval — something AT&T is hoping to help along by (temporarily) offering (shitty) internet to low-income families. In a regulatory filing submitted to the FCC…

You Can Now Stream Showtime—Sans Cable—For $11 a Month

The era of à la carte TV may finally be here—ready or not. Today, you can officially stream Showtime over the internet, without a cable subscription, for $11 a month. You can get it through Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod, on a Roku, via Hulu, or through Sony’s PlayStation Vue—another cord-cutting service. Is Showtime worth…

The Biggest Danger From This Year’s Historic Wildfire Season

Wildfires are tearing across Alaska and western Canada at a record-breaking rate this summer. But stands of blackened trees and cross-continental plumes of smoke are only the most visible signs of damage from the 300 or more fires currently raging. The biggest concern may be what’s happening below ground. Globally, soils contain more carbon than…

An Artful Reminder That Surveillance Is Becoming Second Nature 

From far enough away, this installation by the Czech artistJakub Geltner almost looks like a flock of seagulls preening at the end of a jetty. Almost. The sculpture, called Nest 05, is the latest in a series by Geltner that treat the technological detritus of our urban landscape—from CCTV cameras to satellite dishes—as natural objects.…