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Learn How to Do Your Cooking In Darth Vader’s Head

Anyone can have a regular wood-burning stove. Want to put a stamp on your backyard? Then you can customize it to look like your favorite metal-based characters. Instructables user doddieszoomer has a variety of these how-tos available: Witch King of Angmar, R2-D2, two different Darth Vaders, Stormtrooper, and Iron Man. The instructions for all of…

Xperia Z4 Tablet: Slick and Slim, With Laptop Aspirations

There’s a new tablet in town. It’s the new Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet and yeah, it’s slimmer, lighter and more powerful than its predecessor, the Xperia Z2 Tablet. But the biggest achievement here is that the attachable keyboard transforms the Z4 into an Android PC, with its own mouse cursor and adapted UI. I tried…

A Charming Tale of a Girl, a Bear, And Her Family

I’m completely in love with Black Bear Moon, an animated short where a bear paperweight triggers childhood memories for a young woman packing up her life. Is the bear her imaginary friend? A representation of family? All of the above? The transitions here are beautiful, as is the whole animation. It’s so good. [via Vimeo…

It’s Been A Busy Year For A Tiny Planet Whirling Through Space

It’s the one-year io9iversary of Earth & Space, the physical sciences subsite for all your astronomy, geology, and planetary science needs. The Space subsite has been around a long time — the first article dates back to January 24, 2013, followed shortly by a stamp-memorial to the Challenger disaster — covering all things astronomy and…

How One Man Wants to Free North Korea With USB Drives and Pirated Movies

North Korea is a quietly desolate otherworld, at least as far as we outsiders can tell from the bits and piecesof untouched, unpropagandized media that occasionally leak out. The key to freeing it? It could be sneaking American media in. Wired talked to one of the men who does it, and his story is fascinating.…

This Painter Can Even Make Toxic Sludge Look Beautiful

If you didn’t think anything beautiful could come from toxic waste, well, think again. Ohio University art professor John Sabraw and civil engineer Guy Riefler have joined forces and devised a method for extracting iron oxide metals from industrial waste. The extracts can then be turned into vibrant pigments and used to create stunning works…

An Oculus Rift-Controlled Robot Is Awesome (and Also Adorable)

Even before the Oculus Rift has made it into the homes of eager early adopters, there have already been super great, and yes, super creepy, applications dreamed up by developers. This is definitely one of the super great ones. Self-described technology enthusiast and programmer Jonas Lauener created IRE, short for Intuitive Rift Explorer, which is…

Gaze In Amazement At This Image Depicting Thousands Of Galaxies

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies is composed of thousands of galaxies (and billions of stars), just a fraction of which can be seen in this image. It was created in 2006 by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of an initiative to learn how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Image via NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage…

You Can Hire a Spell-Caster on Etsy to Improve Your Sex Life

Welcome to Reading List, a weekly collection of great tech reads from around the web. Up this week: how to say “photobomb” in sign language, what it’s like to hire a witch on Etsy, and why women are quitting tech in droves. Enjoy! Overshadowed by artisan crafts and bespoke furniture is a strange niche skillset…

Withings’ Wonderful Watch-Looking Fitness Tracker Now Works With Android

At this year’s CES, we found out that one of the most attractive (and expensive) fitness trackers out there was going to come in an affordable form: the Withings Activité Pop. The catch? It was iOS only. But no more! Withings has announced both the $400 and $150 versions of its watch-based fitness tracker are…

It’s Time to Go Alien Hunting on Titan

Move over Europa, there’s another moon out to claim the title of first place we’ll discover extraterrestrial life. New research from Cornell University finds that alien microbes could, just maybe, eke it out on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. But these critters wouldn’t be like anything we’ve ever seen before—not even close. That’s because Titan, awash…

In Honor of National Pig Day: Pigs in Space!

As much as we love The Muppets, in 1963 a pair of NASA engineers entertained the idea of sending real pigs into space. This is their story. “Little Joe” was the name of the rocket used by NASA to test the launch escape system and heat shield of the Mercury capsule. Developed by pioneering spacecraft…

An Animated Short About A Hard-Fought Battle Between Light And Darkness

Short film Chronemics, by London animation studio Animade, is set in a world where robot-like stick figures who dwell in light and darkness push against each other, with surprising results. The animation is simple, the tone is cheeky, and who knew stick figures could have so much personality?

Huawei TalkBand B2: Half Fitness Band, Half Earpiece, All Bizarre

Huawei is betting (again) on wearables—who’s not! And alongside its new Android Wear watch, the Chinese company has something much weirder: the TalkBand B2. The TalkBand B2 is the successor of the TalkBand B1, with a 0.73 PMOLED touchscreen. Built on a metal dock instead of plastic or rubber, the TalkBand B2 comes in two…

What’s it like to watch Aliens with a group of kids who are seeing it for the first time? Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s essay on the joys of re-watching and sharing favorite films recounts his experiences doing just that (spoiler alert: “It went over well”).

SanDisk Has the First Flash Drive With a Reversible USB Type-C Connector

Remember those rumors about a 12-inch MacBook that ditched a MagSafe connector and traditional USB ports for a single USB Type-C port? If true, SanDisk’s new Dual USB Drive will be the first flash drive that’s able to connect to that redesigned hardware without an ugly adapter. But given it will be a few years…

Samsung Pay Might Finally Let You Ditch Your Wallet

Mobile payments are here, the adoption of Apple Pay is evidence enough. But Samsung thinks it can do smartphone payments even better (of course), and that’s why they’ve created Samsung Pay, a tech team up that will make mobile payments more accessible than ever. Samsung will be equipping the Galaxy S6 with two mobile payment…

SanDisk Squeezes 200GB Into a Tiny microSD Card

Stop for a second and take a look at the fingernail on your baby finger. That’s roughly the size of a microSD card that can now hold a whopping 200GB of data thanks to SanDisk. Remember when USB flash drives with a full gigabyte of storage were mind-blowing? We were so foolish back then. Available…

European Beavers Mate For Life; North American Beavers Prefer Free Love

European beavers mate for life, and remain faithful to their partners. North American beavers? Not so much. What’s the reason behind this discrepancy … and which of the two beaver species has the greater advantage? A new genetic study headed up by Pavel Munclinger, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Charles University in…

Learn Which Famous Authors Coined “Nerd” And “Quark” In This Fun Video

This week’s episode of Mental Floss’ List Show on YouTube, hosted by John Green, breaks down 43 words invented by authors (spoiler alert: they’re not all by Shakespeare … and a lot of them are from scifi books!)