Latest

The Bright Radar Reflections of London

The bright lights of London have always drawn wide-eyed, enthusiastic youngsters seeking fame and fortune. But in this image from the European Space Agency, the city shows up with bright radar reflections instead. The image is created from data gathered by the ESA’s Sentinel-1A satellite on 4th March 2015 using its Interferometric Wide Swath detector.…

A Meteor Was Mistaken For a Sinking Ship In North West England

We often hear of people mistaking the mundane for the unusual. It’s a little rarer to hear it happen the other way around. And even rarer to hear about it happening in modern times. And yet, a full-on search and rescue operation had to be called off when an SOS signal turned out to be…

This Woodcut from 19th Century Japan Reveals Deep LOLcat History

This video is an animation based on a Japanese woodcut called “Popular Hotspring Spa (of Cats).” It’s from 1880, but artist Utagawa Yoshifuji’s imaginary world of spa cats looks like something that’s unfolding at the intersection of LOLcat and internetville. This woodcut is just one of many on display at New York’s Japan Society right…

A Haunted Wood Disturbs a Jogger In This Short

Line Signal, by John Panton and Meat Bingo, is under ten minutes long, but is wonderfully set up and paid off. Beautifully shot, and strangely complex, it really rewards re-watching. Piecing it all together — if its meant to be — is a rewarding exercise. It’s thoroughly disturbing, even if I wasn’t looking for extra…

You Should Go Get Your Free 8GB Of SXSW Music

SXSW, the back-patting tech conference masquerading as a music festival, is wrapping up tonight down in Austin. In among the press conferences, there’s been time for some actual bands to play — and for those of us unable to be there in person, the festival has released 8.42 gigabytes of DRM-free MP3s for your listening…

This Guy Played Real-Life Space Invaders With A Laser Cutter

Space Invaders competes with Pac-Man for the title of the defining arcade game. But the 8-bit graphics always seemed a little unrealistic. So one engineer decided to make a real-world version, using lasers. Martin Raynsford is one of the owners of Just Add Sharks, a UK-based laser cutter manufacturer — in other words, a guy…

Behold The Beauty Of A Spring Equinox Sunset Over Alaska

This is either a shot of six people marveling at yesterday’s spring equinox sunset on an unseasonably warm-ish (42 degrees) evening in Anchorage, Alaska … or lost album art for an LP of AM radio jams, circa 1973. AP Photo by Dan Joling

Man Interrupts Tortoise Sex, World’s Slowest Chase Scene Ensues

Yes, tortoises sometimes try to chase things, and yes, it’s every bit as hilarious as you’d imagine. Several days ago, a National Geographic expedition to the remote island nation of Seychelles encountered something extraordinary: two giant tortoises mating. The male tortoise, none too happy about being caught in the act, proceeded to chase expedition leader…

This Fascinating Short Contrasts The First And Last Shots Of 55 Films

In just over five minutes, Jacob T. Swinney’s film contrasts the opening and closing shots of 55 films, from The Tree of Life to The Usual Suspects. Some are quite abstract. But the number you will be able to ID (especially if you’ve watched a lot of indie/art-house movies in recent years) may surprise you.…

‘Post Modern Skateboard’ Has No Board Whatsoever

We’re well into the 21st century, so perhaps it’s not surprising that somebody finally decided to render the tried-and-true skateboard a major update. Enter the Post Modern Skateboard—at least, that’s how it’s being marketed. Thing is, this contraption has no board to speak of. As CNET points out, the Post Modern Skateboard—basically, a $100 pair…

Chlorine Treatment Can Accelerate Antibiotic Resistance, Study Says

As anyone who’s ever owned a pet fish or gone to a public swimming pool knows, chlorine is commonly used to disinfect water. Ironically, when it comes to sewage treatment, it may be doing just the opposite. At wastewater treatment plants, chlorine is used to eliminate both harmful bacteria and pharmaceutical residues, including antibiotics. But…

This Week’s Puzzle Is Impossible. Can You Explain Why?

The solution to this classic puzzle is that it’s impossible to solve. But can you explain why it’s impossible? Sunday Puzzle #25: Solving The Unsolvable Puzzle This classic puzzle goes by many names, but the challenge it poses is always some variation of the following: Without lifting your pen from the page, draw one continuous…

Why So Many Common Languages Are Second-Class Citizens on the Web

Welcome to Reading List, a weekly collection of great tech reads from around the web. This week’s crop shines a light on the (white, male) bias of language on the internet and the prosthetics industry, and explores the desolate reality of Burma’s urban experiment. Enjoy! Unicode, the “universal” encoding that enables computers to understanding text…

Like It Or Not, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Begins Filming In April

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel is set to begin filming next month in New York City and Buffalo. We didn’t much care for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it was a huge hit, ergo sequel. One good thing: rumor is part two (actually the sixth TMNT movie) will feature some fan-fave villains. https://gizmodo.com/the-new-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-fails-in-eve-1618071520 https://gizmodo.com/the-tmnt-sequel-will-feature-some-familiar-mutated-fa-1668819473…

Science Photographer Reveals Beauty of the Microscopic World

Linden Gledhill is a photographer with a background in biochemistry, and lately, he’s been using his scientific training to make the microscopic world look absolutely breathtaking. Gledhill uses one of three basic set-ups to produce his work: Macrophotography, a microscope that reflects light, or a transmission scope, wherein light passes through an object and is…

Drumlins Are The Easy-To-Identify, Hard-To-Understand Glacial Landform

Drumlins are a ubiquitous landform in lands once overrun by glaciers, and yet after two centuries of studying them, we still aren’t certain how these teardrop-shaped hills form. Top image: A drumlin field 27 kilometers southwest of Amundsen Gulf in the Nunavut Territory of Canada, imaged by Landsat 8 on June 21, 2014. Credit: NASA…

Happy 84th Birthday, William Shatner!

He’s a rocket man, burnin’ out his fuse up there alone. HBD Captain!

A University of Calgary professor has written “the first scholarly study of the Archie comic,” titled Twelve-Cent Archie. Though some of his colleagues were skeptical, his motivation, Bart Beaty explains, was “to really challenge the kind of snobbery that’s inherent in the way that comics aren’t studied.”

The Most Obscenely Expensive Apps for iOS

If you thought $10 was highway robbery when it comes to apps, this colorful infographic should help put things in perspective. It’s arguable that a few of the apps listed here are worth their eye-popping price tag—Harrison’s Principles, for instance, is basically a medical textbook for doctors, while IDIA is the veterinarian’s counterpart. But others,…

In this interview with Armando Iannucci, the TV vet mentions that he’s spoken with Steven Moffat about writing an episode of Doctor Who. Nothing’s confirmed, but it could be a fun reunion for Iannucci and Peter Capaldi — who before becoming a Time Lord starred on Iannucci’s political satire The Thick of It.