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A deserted farmhouse that has been untouched inside since the 1940s will soon be up for auction. See the house-turned-time-capsule at theCoventry Telegraph website.

There Are Weird Undeveloped Sperm in Your Semen (But No Need to Worry)

Doctors have long observed odd, circular cells in semen. They resemble undeveloped sperm, but scientists have been unable to work out how or why they appear—until now. Whenever a sperm sample is checked, healthy swimmers are counted along with the mysterious round cells. They’re often assumed to be underdeveloped sperm, but sometimes classified as white…

Mark Zuckerberg on VR, AI and Sending Thoughts Over the Internet

Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg ran a Q&A on Facebook, answering questions about the future of the social network, its technology and the Internet more generally. Here are some of the choice cuts. We’ve already covered his first public statements on real names and LGBT users. But elsewhere in the Q&A his discussed some of the less…

How Bigger Atoms Could Help Make Smaller “Lab-on-a-Chip” Devices

“Lab-on-a-chip” devices – which can carry out several laboratory functions on a single, micro-sized chip – are the result of a quiet scientific revolution over the past few years. For example, they enable doctors to make complex diagnoses instantly from a single drop of blood. In the future, shrinking such devices to extremely small sizes,…

Long Ago, a Ship Entered a Lake And Became an Island For The Lost

On these small islands, spindly rock formations are the only hints of the dark magic that transformed the original ships into monuments to angering the local mages. Alternately, it’s an island called Phantom Ship located in Crater Lake in Oregon. Lots of inspiration in both the island and lake names. Contact the author at [email protected].…

Here Are All the Ways Scientists Propose to Protect Earth From Asteroids

In a short, informative video, the American Museum of Natural History explains all the proposals for deflecting asteroids. Sadly, the plan from Armageddon is not on the list. Happy asteroid day! Here’s a bunch of reasons not to be too frightened of them. Contact the author at [email protected].

FBI Investigating Attacks On Physical Internet Infrastructure In SF

Squads of Chinese hackers aren’t the only threat to internet infrastructure in the US, it would seem: the FBI is reportedly investigating “at least 11” physical attacks on high-capacity internet cables in the Bay Area dating back a year. According to a report in USA Today, agents have confirmed that they are looking into a…

Creepypasta spawned the Slender Man, and now it’s invading TV, thanks to a new horror anthology series on SyFy, Channel Zero. The first season will be based on the internet horror forum-derived “Candle Cove,” a short story about a sinister TV show (meta!); future seasons will focus on other tales.

Here’s Hillary Clinton Working Out How to Use a Fax Machine

This evening, the State Department released another trove of Hillary Clinton’s emails from her time as secretary of state. Among the gems being uncovered is this terse exchange, a wonderful insight into trying to use a fax machine in the modern age. Anyone who’s tech-supported their parents over email can definitely relate. The full email…

Sprint Instantly Regrets Shady-As-Hell Video Throttling Policy

Early this morning, Sprint announced a new ‘All-In’ wireless plan with unlimited data, throttled to 600kbps for anyone trying to stream videos. The internet’s resounding ‘hell no’ showed Sprint the error of its ways, and it has now changed that explicit throttling policy to a more vaguely-worded (but no less shady) one. Sprint’s All-In plan…

What the sky would look like if you could see all the asteroids

Here’s a really cool visualization from astronomer Scott Manley that shows what our sky might look like if we could actually see all the asteroids. Asteroids aren’t visible to the naked eye because they’re too small to register but Manley was able to reveal the known asteroids and speed them up to exaggerate how they…

Mark Zuckerberg Wants You To Read Iain M. Banks’ Player Of Games

The founder of Facebook is reading a book every two weeks, and discussing it with the Facebook community. And his next selection is The Player of Games, one of the amazing Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. Writes Zuckerberg: This is a change of pace from all the recent social science books. Instead, it’s a…

See a Plane’s Eye View of a Red Sprite Forming Above the Clouds

Red sprites are poorly-understood atmospheric phenomena. They are bright glowing shapes that temporarily appear above the clouds. The Florida Institute of Technology has captured high-speed video of a sprite in action. Above is a picture of a red sprite taken from the International Space Station. The sprite is the faint smudge of red directly above…

Watch a F-16 shoot down a drone in the air

Here’s a video showing an F-16 shooting down a drone in the air and popping off flares in a live fire exercise. One day, the drones will probably start fighting back as revenge for all these training exercises but until that day comes, let us enjoy the amazing powerful flying machines controlled by humans that…

What’s The Sassiest Answer Your Digital Assistant Ever Gave You?

No, people did not suddenly become obsessed with calculus today, wanting to know the answer to an controversial math equation. Aaron Paul seems to have discovered an Easter egg on Siri that quickly tore up the internet. In a widely shared tweet, Paul urged his followers to ask Siri a question that many mathematicians believe…

Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider Come To Life On Two Bright New Posters

Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider, two of Marvel’s most mysterious and frightening heroes, have been given a bright update in a new pair of posters by artist Dave Perillo and Grey Matter Art. Perillo’s jovial, simple yet distinct style is one fans may recognize from his work with Mondo, The Simpsons, The Beatles, Gallery 1988,…

June 30th Gets a Leap Second Because Earth’s Rotation is Slowing Down

If you’re the sort of person who lives by the motto that every second counts, next week, you get to put your money where your mouth is. That’s because, as we first learned back in January, we’re all being gifted a leap second today. Leap seconds can wreak havoc across the Internet, but, as NASA…

Germany is converting its old military bases into nature reserves. The AP reportsthat 62 former military bases and training areas will soon provide nearly 80,000 acres of protected land for imperiled wildlife. “The land will be considered protected immediately, even though details are still being worked out on who will look after the wildlife areas…

Time Travel Amy Schumer-Style Is Dirty, Funny, and Totally Nuts

How many relationships have you had where you wish you could travel back in time and do it all over again? I’d venture to guess lots. Well the key is get your own TV show, like Amy Schumer. Then you can do just that. In a new skit from Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, the…

The Chilling 1948 Kidnapping That Inspired Lolita (But Was Way Scarier)

History remembers her as “the real Lolita,” because young Florence “Sally” Horner’s grim ordeal helped inspire Nabokov’s novel. But the author drew on multiple sources for his famous tale, so it’s not an exact retelling. And Sally’s real-life kidnapping was much worse than the fictional version. Acting on a dare from some of her fifth-grade…