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The Physics Behind Ice Spikes, Nature’s Perfect Murder Weapon

Ice spikes may very well be the perfect untraceable weapon, but how do these jagged sticks of frosty death form? Turns out there’s no magic involved (womp), just some simple physics. Image: Shulevskyy Volodymyr via Shutterstock Ice cubes freeze from their outer edges inward, expanding as they go. Sometimes, this process squeezes the water in…

Author Paolo Bacigalupi Shares Thoughts On Optimistic Science Fiction

Hugo-Award winning author Paolo Bacigalupi is on tour in support of The Water Knife, and at his event yesterday in Brookline, Mass., he was asked about the disparity between “optimistic” scifi and “pessimistic” scifi. One of his observations: “Science fiction hunts for the techno fix, not the social fix.” The Water Knife, which came out…

Google Photos Keeps Tagging My Images Wrong And I Love It

There’s a new image storage service in town and, if you haven’t heard, it’s dang promising. Unlimited storage? Automatic geotagging? Search by photo subject? Yes, please. Google Photos is poised to take over my digital image library. It’s also good for a laugh when it gets it all wrong. See, the machine learning algorithms Google…

Solar Plane’s Pacific Marathon Puts Pilot to the Ultimate Endurance Test

Google’s solar powered Internet drone may have just tanked in a desert, but other sun-powered fliers are still going strong, including the Solar Impulse plane, which has just taken off on a nearly 5,000 mile journey across the Pacific, from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii. Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2. Image: AP Photo/Ajit Solanki Five days, five…

Black Holes Broadcast Galactic Collisions In Epic Plasma Radio Bursts

You’d probably get upset if somebody ran smack into you on the street, or plowed into your car. Whatever sort of fuss you’d raise, however, pales miserably in comparison to the epic cosmic scream of supermassive black holes when their host galaxies collide. Artist’s impression of high-speed jets emanating from supermassive black hole. Image: ESA/Hubble,…

The Original Art Behind Some of the Craziest Star Wars Posters

Thanks to Budapest Poster Gallery I had the opportunity to take a very close look at the original oil paintings for the world famous Hungarian Star Wars movie posters. The three original artworks are going to be auctioned off this Sunday, May 31, and now you too can examine them closer than ever. https://gizmodo.com/the-mind-blowing-hungarian-posters-for-all-your-favorit-1531366622 UPDATE:…

Woody Harrelson Is An Ideal Choice To Star In Clowes Adaptation Wilson

If negotiations go as planned, Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) will write the script for the big-screen adaption of his graphic novel Wilson, with Woody Harrelson playing the cranky title character and Laura Dern as his ex-wife. The Hollywood Reporter, which notes the film is scheduled to begin filming next month in Minneapolis, summarizes the plot…

Stunning Footage Captures Never Before Seen Deep Ocean Creatures

In the Internet age, it’s easy to tell yourself you’ve seen it all. But while you’ve probably consumed a lifetime’s worth of cat videos, explosion gifs, and Hitler-vs-dinosaur action sequences at this point, the natural world’s still got plenty of surprises in store. Including, it turns out, a plethora of fascinating creatures that lurk in…

And Now, A Pair Of Dachshunds Dressed As Astro-Dogs

Or would that be cosmo-dogs? Weiner-nauts? All we know is, there was a dachshund parade in St. Petersburg, Russia, today, and these two li’l sausages were helping lead the charge. Here’s a bonus one, for all of you who were fans of a certain outrageously popular YouTube video that was everywhere last year: https://gizmodo.com/behold-the-adorable-horror-of-the-mutant-giant-spider-d-1630703670 AP…

Meet Eris, The Solar System’s Largest Dwarf Planet

Eris is the largest dwarf planet in the Solar System, and the ninth largest body orbiting our Sun. Sometimes referred to as the “tenth planet,” its discovery is responsible for upsetting the traditional count of nine planets in our Solar System, as well as leading the way to the creation of a new astronomical category.…

Google’s Skynet Drone Crash-Landed in the Desert and Nobody Noticed

While everybody’s eyes were on Google I/O this week, another little bit of Google news nearly managed to slip under the radar: The tech giant’s high-flying, solar-powered Solara 50 drone apparently crashed landed in the sands east of Albuquerque weeks ago. Whoopsie. The drone, perhaps inspired by one of those giant dragonflies that ruled the…

Lefties: Does Technology Discriminate Against You?

So, I’m left handed. Among other things, this means I smear my words horrendously as I take notes, strangers go out of their way to tell me I’m probably a “creative type,” and learning a new sport involves a surprising amount of personal discovery. Image: Wikimedia Being left handed also means navigating a technological world…

San Andreas Is A Hit. Which Fault Will Hollywood Target Next?

San Andreas has already raked in more dough than the entire haul of last year’s tornado thriller Into the Storm. Which, in originality-starved Hollywood, means only one thing: MORE EARTHQUAKES! Which fault line will form the backdrop for the next Rock-starring disaster drama? There’s one obvious choice. The Cascadia Subduction Zone, which runs for 680…

Here’s What the iPhone Would Have Looked Like in 1985

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve booting up my parents’ Macintosh Plus to play Super Munchers or make pixelated masterpieces in MacPaint. Alas, Apple hadn’t gotten into mobile devices just yet, but that didn’t stop Pierre Cerveau from imagining what the tech giant’s very first smartphone might have looked like if it were made…

For Cartoon Studies Graduates, Even The Diploma Is A Work Of Art

When students attending the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont complete their degree, they are issued a spectacular diploma. Here’s what was given to the Class of 2015: The diploma for this year’s graduating class was illustrated by Eisner Award winning Norwegian cartoonist, Jason, who’s created books such as Meow, Baby!, I…

Scientists Are Spinning Spider Silk Without The Spiders

Spider silk is often touted as a wonder material that’ll soon weave its way into everything from body armor to replacement hearts. But we can only squeeze so much of the stuff out of our eight-legged friends, which is why scientists and entrepreneurs are working hard to reproduce it artificially. Top image: The AutoMotovated Cyclist…

How Stargate and Star Trek Paved the Way for the Marvel Movie Universe

Since 2009, Disney has dominated summer blockbusters with their Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, their project isn’t the first to play with stories across television and film: television shows such as Star Trek and Stargate helped to pave the way for complicated worlds with multiple ongoing narratives. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek is arguably one of the…

“The problem — for writers, and for writing itself — is that it’s easier to be a ghost than to be a writer,” observes this long-form Atlantic piece on authors working within the mysterious yet staunchly business-driven world of ghostwritten book series for kids, including The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.

Open-Source Cyborg Hand is Making Prosthetics More Accessible Than Ever

A generation ago, getting a prosthetic limb fitted usually amounted to a having a heavy, nearly useless hunk of plastic and metal tacked onto your body. But bionic hands such as this one illustrate just how quickly that’s all changing. HACKberry, brainchild of the Japanese company exii, wants to become a game changer for those…

Google I/O Wrap-Up: Android M, Photos, Cardboard, and Everything Else

Woohoo! Google I/O is just the best. We just got a view of Google’s plans for the your future. Here’s all the most interesting stuff you might have missed. Android M Is Here, and So Is Google’s Smartphone Future The future of Android is here. Android M (I’m still hoping for Muffin) is the software…