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In order to make use of fields that can’t be legally built on, airports are turning to beehives. European airports use the bee products to monitor pollutant levels, with Malmo airport’s data consistently showing levels of heavy metals, volatile organic hydrocarbons and polyaromatic hydrocarbons well below European Union limits. [NY Times]

How We Can Use Light to See Inside the Human Body

Human flesh is opaque. As any good dictionary will tell you, that means it has the quality of “not transmitting light; being impenetrable to sight.” Well, forget that: scientists now can use light to see inside objects that were traditionally off-limits to the human eye—including our bodies. Of course it’s already possible to use X-rays,…

Short film: God is just a brain malfunction

This cool short film by British director Joseph White starts off with a very interesting premise: A brain hacker discovers that certain images can induce visions of God to people suffering a weird type of epilepsy. When he attempts to make this public, a violent religious sect tries to chase him down. They claim they…

This Is How Astronauts Practice Jetpack Missions in Space

Forget your Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard. In the International Space Station, virtual reality is vitally important—but a rather more makeshift affair. In this image, posted to Twitter by astronaut Terry W. Virts, you can see how astronauts train to use their jetpacks before missions in space. Yes, that’s a laptop strapped to his face.…

Door That Opens On a Surprise Ball Pit Is The Cure For All Ills

It’s almost the weekend, and I can think of nothing that would improve the week more than a surprise ball pit. I want one in my neighborhood right now. Blake Grigsby set up this door in Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall and filled the freestanding closet with 2,000 balls. The reactions he got are priceless.…

They could’ve included jailbreaking and rooting, too, but they’d have needed a log scale. [Truth Facts]

Sun Keeps Damaging Skin Cells For Hours After Exposure

When you think you’ve had enough sun, you probably move into the shade. But, according to a new study, that might not be soon enough—because it turns out that sun keeps damaging skin for hours after exposure. A team of scientists from Yale University have shown that sunlight does its damage to DNA over a…

Backpacks And Purses For When You Long to Look Like a Cartoon

These insane optical illusion bags are the work of Jump From Paper, and they are perfect for the days when you’re feeling just a tad 2-dimensional. Even though they’re a little too pricey to be for just a Halloween costume. More below. [Ignant via My Modern Met]

FDA Grants 23andMe Approval to Sell Test for a Rare Genetic Condition

At the end of 2013, 23andme was ordered to stop selling its DNA testing kit health reports by the Food and Drug Administration. Now, the FDA has granted the company approval to sell a single test for the markers of Bloom Syndrome, a rare genetic disease. Bloom Syndrome is associated with short stature, sun sensitivity,…

Here’s the First Photo Of Jason Momoa As Aquaman

Zack Snyder released the first image of Aquaman via Twitter, and, well. We wouldn’t mess with him. Seriously, though, hair aside, he looks pretty much exactly what you’d expect the Aquaman in the Batman v. Superman world.

Get Ready For the Next Big Animated Film: Untitled Kung Fu Space Western

There is nothing about this project that doesn’t reek of awesomeness. Deadline recently broke the news that Reel FX Animation Studios has signed a long-term deal with writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez — whom they worked with for The Book of Life — and the next film on their docket is an untitled kung fu space…

Astropad Is An App That Pretty Much Replaces Graphics Tablets

For as long as I’ve owned a Macbook and an iPad (read: two years), I’ve been searching for a way to connect the two together, marrying touch sensitivity and portability to a proper operating system in some kind of post-Jobsian tech utopia. And as long as I’ve been trying, every half-assed solution has sucked —…

ESA’s Sentinel satellite is proving its worth by mapping fault displacement from the earthquake that hit Napa Valley, California late last year. Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

Fun infographic shows which Marvel superhero had sex with who

Here’s a fact about living on Earth: it’s hard to keep track of who boned who. Even comic book superheroes have a hard time remembering who they’ve had relations with and who they kissed and who they briefly dated. This infographic breaks it down for us, showing which superhero has been around where in the…

Stunning Close-Up Comet Photos From Rosetta’s High-Speed Flyby

The Rosetta probe has been consistently blowing our puny little minds with photos beamed back from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but these new photos, taken as Rosetta conducted a low-altitude flyby, give a whole new perspective. As 67P gets close to the Sun (close in space terms: it’s still over 200 million miles away), it’s heating up…

Behind The Scenes Video Reveals Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s Fake Times Square

Sony Pictures’ Imageworks released a video showing just how much work went into sending Spidey web-swinging and web-slinging through New York City in Amazing Spider-Man 2. My god, look how much work it is to recreate Times Square, a place that is very close to being hell on earth as it is.

The Father Of The Internet Has A Plan To Future-Proof Computers

Back in the 1970s, Vint Cerf was one of the engineers working on ARPANet, the early military predecessor to the internet, and consequently he’s often referred to as one of the founders of the internet. These days, the decidedly father-figure-esque Cerf still cares about the network he helped create — specifically, saving digital information for…

Health Benefits Of Diet And Exercise May Be Chemically/Lazily Obtainable

Everybody knows the human immune system will respond enthusiastically to exercise and healthy eating. But is there a way to get those benefits, which include enhancing our bodies’ abilities to suppress certain kinds of inflammation, without, y’know, sweating or starving? Maybe. Hopefully. New Scientist reports: Exercising hard or not eating for a while can alter…

Man pretending to be a robot looks like a robot pretending to be a man

Dancer Madd Chadd is so, so good at doing the robot that he actually looks more like a frighteningly realistic robot pretending to be a human than a human dancing like a robot. In this latest video, he’s sitting down and attempting to eat a sandwich like a robot would and it looks absolutely perfect.…

This Magician Does Strange And Wonderful Things With An iPad

The original skeumorphic iOS was designed to make digital stuff more tangible and physical — but I’m not sure these amazing magic tricks were exactly what Jobs had in mind. We’ve seen illusionist Simon Pierro‘s iPad magic routive before, but he’s back on Ellen with a whole new set of tricks. If you look closely…