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The Weirdest (And Most Violent) Ways That Plants Release Their Seeds

We all know the animal kingdom is incredibly violent — but what about plants? The world of plant life can be just as intense and violent, in its own way. Just check out these eye-popping videos, vines and other illustrations of plants spreading their seeds in an explosive, insane fashion. Violets Touch-me-nots Pilobolus, a genus…

Scientists Just Invented the Neural Lace

In the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks, futuristic post-humans install devices on their brains called a “neural lace.” A mesh that grows with your brain, it’s essentially a wireless brain-computer interface. But it’s also a way to program your neurons to release certain chemicals with a thought. And now, there’s a neural lace prototype…

What happens when you drop a can of Coke into liquid nitrogen

It’s going to freeze obviously. But there’s this awesome possibility that the soda can will split in half and start spewing an explosion of almost frozen Coca Cola into the surrounding liquid nitrogen. Once it does that, the exploded coke looks like it has been stopped in time, the soda has frozen into art mid-explosion.…

You Can Now Get Your Waze Directions Directly From The Terminator

Whether you’re casually avoiding T-1000s in the San Fernando Valley or involved in a high-speed chase in the bed of the LA River, your navigation can now be voiced by a Terminator Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, thanks to Terminator Genisys’ new partnership with Waze. And yes, it’s really Arnold telling you where to go. In…

Crafton Hills College president Cheryl A. Marshall has refused to ban any books or alter the curriculum at the center of a student’s calls to “eradicate” four graphic novels from an English class. Her statement affirms the college policy on academic freedom and an open learning environment. [Comic Book Resources]

Astronomy Picture of the Day Turns 20 Years Old This Week!

I can remember visiting Astronomy Picture of the Day from the Macintoshes in my elementary school computer lab (this was in the mid-nineties, before Apple started calling its computers “Macs”). Today, some two decades later, I still visit APOD regularly. How many websites can you say that about? https://gizmodo.com/the-milky-way-galaxy-as-seen-from-a-747-1590984471 https://gizmodo.com/the-moon-venus-mars-in-a-single-frame-1688520786 https://gizmodo.com/a-rare-glimpse-of-rapidly-pulsating-aurorae-over-icelan-1710617491 Over at The Verge,…

More Of Christopher Lee’s Hammer Horror Classics Are Coming To Blu-ray!

Krampus is coming early this year — October 6, to be precise — with some juicy additions to Hammer Horror’s selection of classics available on Blu-ray: Taste the Blood of Dracula, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Mummy, and Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Three star the late Christopher Lee. https://gizmodo.com/22-incredible-facts-about-the-life-and-career-of-sir-ch-1710917366 Here’s Lee giving Vampire…

A Videogame Tester Explains Why They Will Never Fix That Bug You Found

So, you’re playing a videogame and you spot a problem. You should alert the company, and eagerly await your patch to come through, right? Probably not. Here, a videogame tester explains why. io9’s comment of the day today comes from commenter and videogame tester NeoSocrateS who explains why the bug you’re so eagerly telling them…

Concept Art Of The Most Amazing Image From Last Night’s Game Of Thrones

Last night’s Game of Thrones had some pretty insane set pieces, and a whole lot of tragedy. But one image in particular stands out in its fierce beauty — and it’s another thing entirely to witness it in its full painterly splendor. Check out concept art of the season finale from awesome artist Emmanuel Shiu.…

Why Mathematicians Are Hoarding This Special Type of Japanese Chalk

This spring, an 80-year-old Japanese chalk company went out of business.

Here’s Why Lithium Batteries Occasionally Just Catch Fire

Lithium batteries are compact, efficient, and store a lot of energy. They also, occasionally, catch on fire. Here’s how that happens. The great thing about lithium batteries is they keep store a huge amount of energy in a small, light package. This makes them perfect for use in planes, cars and laptops. The bad thing…

Mad Max‘s Imperator Furiosa Is Getting Her Own Comic!

Gather all the “what a lovely day” references you can find. Mad Max: Fury Road’s real protagonist, the wonderful Imperator Furiosa, is getting her own comic book, exploring the origin of everyone’s new favorite post-apocalyptic badass. Continuing off the origin story comic for Immortan Joe and Nux released last month, Vertigo’s second Fury Road comic,…

People Pretended This Dome Was on Mars For Eight Months, God Bless ‘Em

Looking through the dome’s small porthole, the only view was of a barren field of red rocks. The astronauts ate freeze-dried food and shared cramped quarters for eight months to further space exploration, only venturing out to the alien landscape wearing spacesuits. At the end of the claustrophobic mission, they were greeted with a “Back…

Rain Jackets, Explained

For an incredibly simple concept — keeping you dry — rain jackets have evolved into awfully complicated products. Air flow rates, water pressure resistance, durable water repellent coatings, hard shells, soft shells…the list of technical terms goes on. Here’s what they all mean and how you can use them to find the best jacket for…

“Among the most puzzling aspects of Ebola virus,” David Quammen writes at National Geographic, “is that it disappears for years at a time.” Even if you’ve never read his outstanding book Spillover, Quammen’s coverage of the latest efforts to root out where Ebola hides between outbreaks is a must-read. Contact the author at [email protected].

Sandwiches deconstructed in a neat chart

I have spent many waking hours trying to rank the best sandwiches. But there are so many sandwiches! Here’s a good place for me to start: this poster shows all types of sandwiches deconstructed in delicious drawings. But there are still so many sammiches I haven’t eaten! There are nearly 90 different types of sandwiches…

Foxconn Played an Unwitting Role in the Hack on the Iran Nuclear Talks

The story of Israel using a sophisticated cyberweapon to spy on the United States and others attending nuclear talks is getting weirder. According to Kaspersky, the attackers not only used a Stuxnet-like weapon—they also used a stolen security certificate from Foxconn to sign the malware. This is both crazy and curious. The new attack also…

Strange & Norrell Rips Apart Both Jonathan Strange And Our Hearts 

It turns out that no one can ever be happy on Strange & Norrell. While we’ve spent the past few weeks seeing the emotional damage Norrell’s past decisions have wrought upon himself (but mainly others), this time it’s Strange’s turn to go through one hell of an emotional coaster. Warning: This Recap is for the…

It’s About To Get A Lot Harder To Experiment On Chimps

The Jane Goodall Institute, in collaboration with other animal welfare groups, has successfully petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare a new rule under which all chimpanzees—both wild and captive—must be protected as an endangered species. Wild chimpanzees have been listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 1990, so it seemed odd…

Watch Doctors Jam This Tiny Camera Inside My Knee Joint

Diagnosis is hard. Especially when it comes to joint injuries. Doctors can make educated guesses based on your symptoms, to be really sure, they’ve got to look inside. While MRI is the most popular option, it’s expensive, time-consuming, and not particularly accurate. That’s why this new, miniaturized camera that can be stuck inside your joint…