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How Close Are We To Creating A Star Trek-Like “Holodeck”?

Hundreds of years, if it’s possible at all. There are several main technologies that are on display in a holodeck, some of which we are closer to and some of which we are further away from. The most obvious, of course, is the holograms themselves. They must be free standing and able to move around…

Here’s Where The Marvel Movie Characters Stand, Now That Phase 2 Is Over

Now that Ant-Man is out, Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is over. This slate of six movies began with Iron Man 3, and included some bold experiments (Guardians of the Galaxy) as well as huge upheavals. Now that it’s over, where do all our favorite characters stand? Let’s get you up to speed…

Get a Load of All the Plant Sperm Trapped on This Bee

OK, technically pollen isn’t sperm–it’s the tissue that makes sperm. But there’s sure a lot of it caught in this bee’s hair. There’s so much packed on her back legs that it makes them look like puffy pantaloons. Those “pantaloons” are so full thanks to a big brush of stiff hairs that holds the pollen…

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered ancient text on a 1,500-year-old piece of charred parchment. By using advanced digital imagery, the scientists exposed the hidden writing, which isn’t visible to the naked eye. Discovered 45 years ago, the Hebrew Scroll is believed to contain the first eight versus of the Bible’s Old Testament book of Leviticus.…

Why Solving Murders Is Going to Get a Lot Harder

Carbon emissions aren’t just changing the climate — they’re making it harder to solve crimes. As our atmosphere fills with fossil carbon, scientists will have a tougher time using radiocarbon dating, a standard forensic technique, to analyze human remains and wildlife tissues. Radiocarbon dating is best known for its use in paleontology and archaeology, but…

Why Are Smells so Good at Triggering Memories?

Smells are really good at stirring up memories, especially ones from adolescence. Which is curious, because these memories are often the hardest to access. In the latest episode of SciShow, Hank Green reviews some of the research on why smells are such potent triggers of early memories. “Smells tend to evoke early, perceptive memories of…

Archeologists think they’ve pinpointed the spot where chicken became one of the world’s most popularly-eaten foods: A dig in an ancient city in Israel yielded a trove of chicken bones, dating back to 400 B.C.E., likely from the first instance of a chicken food craze ever.

Quit Astroturfing Your Lawns, California—Just Get Rid of Them.

There’s an insidious message being delivered to drought-hit Californians: You can have your lawn, and your water too, with a little help from synthetic grass. But, no, be bold, California! Don’t double-down on a failed experiment. It’s time to tear down your lawns. Each and every last one of them. In the conversation about California’s…

Beach Towel Board Games You Play With Discarded Bottle Caps

A day at the beach usually doesn’t involve board games because the sand will quickly gobble up dice, Monopoly hotels, and Scrabble letter tiles. But since building sand castles gets boring quick, someone’s created a series of board game beach towels that can be played with bottle caps, seashells, or even small rocks. The four…

39 *Scratchy Scratchy* Photos of Dogs

Nice work, my canine friends. You got all of your human pets to photograph you, then email us the photos. Here are the entries from this week’s Shooting Challenge, dogs. Winner: Bailey What better way to cool off during the dog days of summer than dipping into a stream! My dog, Bailey, is a senior…

The Plan To Reuse Earthquake Rubble For Emergency Homes In Nepal

The earthquake that killed thousands of people in Nepal and destroyed priceless heritage sites also flattened hundreds of thousands of normal homes and buildings. Now, the rubble from those structures is being put to use by an architect who is designing permanent shelters for those who lost their homes. As we wrote in May, the…

Musical Training Can Accelerate Brain Development and Help With Literacy

The notion that musical training can have positive effects on cognitive functions other than music has long been a source of interest. Research first emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. Standardised assessments of IQ and musical ability suggested the two were correlated – and it was thought that participation in musical training could…

The top 10 most beautiful looking movies of all time

CineFix attempted the impossible task of trying to list the top 10 most beautiful movies of all time and did a half decent job! If anything, it’s nice to see these movies pop up on your screen again (albeit through a YouTube window) just to remind yourself about how beautiful the colors and the cinematography…

Does a Diet of Chestnuts Really Flavor the Meat of a Pig?

Those of us watching Hannibal know that when Hannibal feeds someone chestnuts, it’s a warning sign. Supposedly a diet of chestnuts flavors meat. Let’s look at several studies on the subject (done with pigs, not humans) and try to determine if that’s true. Many people swear by nut-fed meat. Squirrel hunters believe that squirrel meat…

The Feds Are Investigating a Teen Who Weaponized a Quadcopter

Earlier this month, a 14-second video entitled “Flying Gun” was posted on YouTube. It shows a flying quadcopter outfitted with a handgun firing four shots. Now, it’s become a Federal Aviation Administration investigation. The July 10 video, which currently has around two million views, shows a hovering robot in the woods with a semiautomatic handgun…

Pixar’s Good Dinosaur Trailer Blends Science, Fiction and Beauty

What if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth? That’s the premise at the start of The Good Dinosaur, Pixar’s long-delayed family adventure scheduled for release later this year. A new trailer is now out and it begins to hint at the beautiful places that question can take us. If that asteroid missed Earth,…

Two Strange Tales, One Movie Star: Clark Gable’s “Daughter” And Daughter

In 1937, paternity tests hadn’t yet evolved to the sophisticated science that provides highly accurate results (and much talk-show drama). A man who denied fathering a child—even a movie icon as “the King of Hollywood”— would have to mount a traditional court case to prove himself. Thus was the case for Clark Gable, who in…

6 Reasons Why Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye Is One of Marvel’s Greatest Comics

Delay after delay kept it out of our hands for months, but with last week’s release of Hawkeye #22, Matt Fraction and David Aja’s spectacular series has come to a close. While it’s nice to finally read the end, it’s with a twinge of sadness: we’ll miss this Hawkeye an awful lot. Here’s just six…

Here’s an Anatomical Structure We’ve Never Seen in the Penis Before

You already know that a penis has arteries to bring blood to its erectile tissues, and veins that take the blood away again when it returns to its normal flaccid state. You may not know that there’s another set of vessels tucked under its skin. We just got our first good look at them. As…

How the Army Screwed Over Targets of Biggest Government Hack Ever

Here’s proof that the government blind-bumbles its way through tech problems like some hydra-headed bureaucratic Mr. Magoo: The Army thought a legitimate email of warning from another agency was also from hackers—and ended up leaving people affected by the hack in the dark because of its mistake. After personal data was stolen from millions of…