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This Is How “Sugarless” Sweeteners Trick Your Tongue

Take a sip of licorice tea and you’ll notice a strange lingering sweetness, as if someone secretly added sugar to your cup. This is due to glycyrrhizin, a sweetener which was used well before stevia entered the commercial market, but which works a similar way. People crave sweetness. Supposedly this is because we crave calories,…

How Many Sailors Do You Need to Pull a Helicopter to the Ground? 

Five, but they all have to be on the staff rotor! Sorry, that’s an awful joke. Actually, this image shows a team fast-roping from a helicopter: Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 3, execute a fast-rope exercise with an SH-60 Seahawk assigned to the “Black Knights” of Combat Helicopter Squadron 4, on the flight…

This Is the First Video To Be Projected on to Clouds From an Airplane

This video isn’t in 4K. Or 3D. It isn’t even in full color. But that doesn’t matter, because it’s the first video to be projected from an airplane onto the clouds outside. New Scientist explainsthat the hardware for the project was created by artist Dave Lynch, scientist Mike Nix and maker Aaron Nielsen. Project Nimbus,…

Why Does Batman Hate Superman in Batman v. Superman?

How will future Terminator films handle John Connor? Netflix may be having trouble deciding how to take on Iron Fist. Plus there’s a ton more Batman v Superman details, speculation on the return of a certain Game of Thrones star, and new looks at Mockingjay Part 2 and Once Upon A Time. Spoilers Get! Batman…

Robots Can’t Kill You—and Claiming They Can is Dangerous

If we start holding robots responsible for their actions – and accidents – we let their human designers and operators off the hook. Robots’ involvement in human deaths is nothing new. The recent death of a man who was grabbed by a robot and crushed against a metal plate at a Volkswagen factory in Baunatal,…

Major Government Spying Service Supplier Hacked, 400GB of Data Stolen

An Italian company called Hacking Team, which supplies intrusion and surveillance tools to governments and law enforcement agencies, has been hacked. The intruders have made off with 400GB of data which is now being leaked online. The tranche of document reveals details about the company’s clients, along with passwords and details about the use of…

The Best of Gizmodo This Week

Apple jumped into the streaming music game this past week, and we give it a try. We had some thoughts. We also previewed the new Mac OS El Capitan, and tested a bunch of inexpensive laptops to find the very best. Meanwhile, our weekly podcast discussed what would happen if a star exploded near Earth,…

Facebook Really Would Like You to Use GIFs in Messenger

I’m personally doubtful that GIFs need more help in taking over the internet, but then again, I don’t have Mark Zuckerberg’s vision (or even two lowly commas). Facebook appears to be testing a new built-in way to search GIFs and stickers in Messenger, with the feature available to select users in Canada. Although you’ve been…

Everyone Relax, NASA Solved The Problem With Its Pluto Probe

Yesterday afternoon, NASA lost contact with its New Horizons spacecraft for an hour for reasons unknown. This is generally not a good thing when you’re working with technology that’s 4.5 light hours away, but thankfully, NASA seems to have solved the problem. According to NASA, the problem was caused by a “hard-to-detect timing flaw in…

Burning Wood With Electricity Is My Kind of Modern Art

I’m not saying this is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen on the internet, but it does do a good job of making the Anarchist’s Cookbook look like a Health & Safety training manual. This video is the work of YouTuber/future Darwin Award winner TheBackyardScientist. He demonstrates how to use electricity to burn fractal…

Reddit CEO: Vast Majority of Users Don’t Actually Care About Drama

The last few days have seen Reddit, the internet’s Fort Knox of cat GIFs,tearing itself apartover the dismissal of Reddit’s unofficial liason between staff and the community. The disagreement caused some subreddits to go offline, turning the site’s front page into a barren wasteland — but according to CEO Ellen Pao, the ‘vast majority’ of…

A Runaway Star Makes An Interstellar Bow Wave

Zeta Ophiuchi zooms through interstellar space at 24 kilometers per second, pushing a bow wave of glowing gas and dust 12 light-years wide in front of it. The Spitzer space telescope created this false-color infrared image of the runaway star and its bow wave. Zeta Ophiuchi is a young blue star about 19 times the…

Beercan Solargraphs Show Off Our Brilliant Sun

This fantastic compilation of solargraphs were taken with beer cans: homemade pinhole cameras with a paper negative inside. These sixteen were among the best that the Philippus Lansbergen Public Observatory in Middleburg, Netherlands received. [Spaceweathergallery.com]

Teachers Decorate School Lockers To Look Like Gigantic Bookshelf

High School lockers are incredibly boring, just rows of metal boxes that line the hallways. A group of teachers in the Biloxi Junior High School in Biloxi Mississippi decided to change things up a bit, and painted the ones in their school to look like book covers. Their work of art started last fall when…

How Museums Preserve and Display Tattoos on Human Skin

Welcome to this week’s Reading List, Gizmodo’s weekly roundup of great tech stories from around the Internet. In this week’s edition, we explore the ethics and science of displaying tattoos after their wearers are dead, join a bloody Renaissance sport on the streets of Florence, and relax with architecture-inspired puzzles. A handful of museums around…

The Best Phones For The Privacy-Obsessed

With governments looking to wrap their hands tighter around your personal data, getting a phone that can keep your information safe is paramount. Here are our top picks for super-private devices. BlackPhone 2 Want the creature comforts of a modern smartphone without worrying about the Feds coming around? You need a Blackphone. “While the rest…

Global Politics Are A Deadly Game In Genevieve Valentine’s Persona

In Genevieve’ Valentine’s novel Persona, international politics are a sort of game played on an international level: diplomats are carefully chosen for their charisma, and follow a detailed script. When a C-level diplomat, Suyana Sapaki is almost killed, she finds herself involved in a desperate chase for survival. Some spoilers ahead. Also, a disclaimer: Genevieve…

The New Republic has an excellent look at Shirley Jackson and why she is “in the class of writers who require fierce advocates to keep her work alive. Her horror is domestic; it takes place in the familiar world of the kitchen, the family, and known and loved objects. It unsettles too much to be…

There’s a Scientific Reason the Terminator Looks His Age in Genisys

Explosions, gunshots, and car crashes may not stop the Terminator, but even a cyborg assassin from the future isn’t immune to the aging process. Here’s a scientific look at the Terminator’s organic bits. [Nerdist] Contact the author at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter.

When You Play The Game Of Thrones, You Rock Or You Die

Foo Fighter’s front man David Grohl recently broke his leg during a show last June, and had cancelled several shows. The band went back on stage, with Grohl perched on a throne of guitars that looks like it was more than a little inspired by Game of Thrones. [Variety]