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What’s the Point of a Fly-By When We Have the Tech to Go Into Orbit?

New Horizons’ fly-by of Pluto and its moons is the latest in a historic string of missions to objects in the solar system. But given that a fly-by lasts for just a short time, how much can we really get out of it? There’s no doubt that the mission will yield a great deal of…

Facebook’s Testing Online Shops Embedded Into Business Pages

Forget the Like button: Facebook wants you to hit the Buy button instead. Buzzfeed reports that Zuckerberg & C0. is testing new, miniature e-commerce sites that are embedded within the Facebook pages of retailers. While they’re currently in the testing phase, the idea is to conduct the entire shopping experience within Facebook. There, “buy” buttons…

What happened to Kerry and Kevin Conran, the brothers behind Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow? Olly Richards at The Telegraph traces what went wrong with the movie, its continuing influence on Hollywood, and where the two retreated to in the aftermath. [via Metafilter]

Constantine May Be Resurrected By an Appearance on Arrow

Here we go: It sounds like the Constantine could live on post-cancellation on the CW. Arrow’s working hard to make it happen, cementing themselves as the premiere home of live-action comic book characters on TV. Executive producer Wendy Mericle told IGN: Yeah, we really want to do it. It’s something we’ve been talking to DC…

Do You Want New Horizons to Keep Exploring? Write to Congress!

The New Horizons space probe is sending back incredible data from the Pluto-Charon system, even shaking the foundations of planetary geophysics. The spacecraft has the capacity to make another flyby of a second Kuiper Belt Object, with all-new data to shape our ideas about our solar system. All it takes is money. If you’re truly…

Panasonic GX8: Insane Stability and 4K Video for This Beefy Mirrorless

There is no shortage of high-end mirrorless cameras to choose from these days, and Panasonic is adding one to the bucket with the Lumix GX8. It’s out to capture your attention with 4K video and some advanced technology for keeping your shots stable as hell. Panasonic gained renown in the 4K arena with last year’s…

You Now Have No Excuse Not to Email Your Member of Congress

When you have to go to three whole separate websites to find the names and email addresses of your representatives, it’s easy to pass on contacting them. But thanks to a new tool made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that job now requires about five clicks (and just a little moral stamina). The EFF’s new…

The Bonkers Plan for Amazing Spider-Man 3? Bring Back Everyone. 

If Dennis Leary is to be believed, there was a plot in development for Amazing Spider-Man 3 which would have made it possible for any and all characters to return. Now, usually, if a plot can be described as “undeadifying” people, that’s a bad thing. Here? Maybe not. Speaking to IGN at Comic-Con, Leary said:…

Here’s the Home-Made Gun-Toting Quadcopter Nightmares Are Made Of

I’m not normally of the school of thought that quadrotors should be terminated with a shotgun, but then again, I’ve never seen a DIY drone just casually flying around with a handgun. Until now. The YouTube video doesn’t give much to go on, other than that this is a) a homemade drone, and b) very…

Missiles Are Literally Falling Off Britain’s Crumbling Jets

While Britain waits (and waits, and waits) for the F-35 to stop breaking, the mainstay of its ground-attack aircraft remains the Panavia Tornado, a ‘70s airframe that is not aging gracefully. Exhibit A: the two Brimstone missiles that accidentally ‘became detached’ during a landing in Cyprus today. Britain’s Akorotiri airbase on Cyprus is being used…

Your Favorite George R.R. Martin Moments Just Got A Bit More Exciting

Now that Game of Thrones has depicted most of the major events from George R.R. Martin’s books, it’s harder and harder to picture those characters and situations any other way. Maybe this will help. The 2016 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar is going on sale July 28, and we’ve got the first exclusive…

This Fanged Fish Can Live Inside a Volcano [Updated]

The more we learn about undersea volcanoes, the more we realize that life can thrive almost anywhere. Now, an Australian research vessel has discovered a new kind of fish living in volcanoes off the coast of the continent. It’s called a scaleless blackfish and it’s adorably ugly. The team is still trying to identify this…

Medical Studies Without Females are Incomplete (Even if They’re Rats)

Some sex differences, like facial hair or genital anatomy, are plain to see. But people also have hormonal and metabolic sex differences that aren’t so obvious, and those can change how diseases affect the body and how drugs work. So when males are the only test subjects in medical research–both in the animal models that…

Disney Is Working On A Live-Action Prequel To Aladdin

When you watched Aladdin as a kid, did you ever think, “I wonder where the genie came from?” If you did A) That’s a little weird but B) You may just get your answer. Disney is reportedly developing a live-action Aladdin prequel, focusing on the world of genies. Oh, and it gets better/worse—depending on your…

A Stunning Map of AT&T’s Phone Network from 1891

Today, AT&T is regularly listed as one of the most hated companies in the United States. But back in 1891, two years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, the company was just taking its first steps. This map of its network from that year is just beautiful. Think of it as AT&T’s baby picture.…

Central European Forests Are Regrowing After the Breakup of the USSR

The collapse of the Soviet Union didn’t just affect humans—forests across Europe and Asia were impacted, too. Some 533 million acres of forest in Eastern Europe have regrown since 1985, largely due to the disintegration of timber industries and abandonment of agricultural lands in countries such as Hungary, Croatia, and Bulgaria. Drawing on 52,539 images…

How the Hell Does This Fish Get Around?

That’s a legitimate scientific question. Multiple teams of researchers have wondered how the yellow boxfish manages to swim when it looks like someone attached fins to a cube of cheese. Find out how this thing moves. If you’re wondering how this tiny, bright, cube-shaped fish doesn’t end up becoming the snack of every other fish…

Gizmodo Is Hiring A Few Good Tech Researchers

Are you obsessed with gadgets, apps, and technology in all its many forms? Come work with us! Gizmodo is seeking part-time researchers to analyze, report and write about consumer electronics and tech. This is an ideal job for a person who wants to learn the tech blogging ropes. You’ll work with Gizmodo staffers to find…

This Biotech Discovery Means You’ll Never Need a Painful Flu Shot Again

The worst part about getting vaccinated is the shot. I don’t care how much of a badass you are, it’s still painful and annoying. But now a group of researchers in Japan have tested a new “dissolving needle” that is basically a painless patch that you stick to your arm. And it works. Below, you…

Dinosaurs Are Alive and Battling in Valdez, Alaska

Photographer David Canales captured this outstanding photograph of three avian dinosaurs doing battle while kayaking on Alaska’s Prince William Sound. “One of the most epic sights I’ve ever seen,” Canales wrote on Instagram, where he’s been cataloguing his recent adventures in Alaska. “This eagle flew right into a nest of these birds and just carried…