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An artificial molecule built according to our understanding of HIV infection may protect cells more effectively than the body’s natural antibodies. A study published in this week’s issue ofNature found the molecule kept four monkeys injected with large doses of the virus free of HIV infection.

Shooting Challenge: Flame

Whether it’s a fireplace or a glowing candle, there’s nothing like a little pyromania to cut through the winter blues. So for this week’s Shooting Challenge, photograph flames. The Challenge Take a photo that features a flame. It can be an extreme close up, or it can be a tiny part of the image. Just…

Oil Refinery Explodes in California; Blade Runner Flashbacks Ensue

It’s raining down ash in Southern California, after an Exxon Mobil oil refinery exploded. The blast nearly leveled a processing unit and left four contractors with minor injuries. The local Torrance Fire Department says gasoline is to blame. Meanwhile, the aftermath looks like a scene from Blade Runner. The scene does not look peaceful, but…

Cookie Monster’s Shower Thoughts About Food Are Just Plain Hilarious

What does Cookie Monster think about when his mind is left to wander? Well, mostly, he thinks about food, and it’s pretty hysterical watching the cookie-fiending Muppet wander through the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art offering his profound culinary thoughts. Mashable‘s Annie Colbert and Armand Valdes created this video…

This Optical Illusion Bar Stool Is Entirely Real

From the right angle, Josh Carmody’s Legless Bar Stool looks like it’s one leg shy of safely resisting the pull of gravity. But it’s just an optical illusion made possible by some clever woodworking, and in reality it has all the legs necessary to remain upright. The stool’s unique form factor isn’t just eye-catching, though,…

A Previously Unpublished Dr. Seuss Book Is Coming Out This Summer

When Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, passed away in 1991, he left behind a few manuscripts that were nearly finished. One of those manuscripts, What Pet Should I Get? is currently being colored and will be posthumously published this coming July. Image from Random House Children’s Books, via The New York Times.…

UMass Lifts Ban on Iranian Students in Science and Engineering

Yesterday we reported on a troubling policy at the University of Massachusetts of Amherst. The school banned Iranian nationals from enrolling as graduate students in several engineering and natural science programs. After much uproar and protest, U. Mass has backed down, and will admit Iranian students again. https://gizmodo.com/umass-will-no-longer-admit-iranian-students-to-engineer-1686322842 Corey Robin, who broke the story about…

Here Is the Spy Equipment That Powers the FBI’s Secret Dragnet

The FBI is going to remarkable lengths to hide information about its surveillance program that intercepts calls and texts with equipment called Stingrays. If you’ve never heard of Stingrays, that’s what the FBI wants. They are stealth devices used by local and federal law enforcement all over the US to gather location data and intercept…

​What Have You Stopped Buying In Stores Because of Amazon?

There was a time in my life where, when I needed something, I’d pop on down to the local big box retailer and pick it up. Now I don’t. Now I have Amazon Prime. It’s been years since I’ve bought shaving soap in person. Is that weird? What have you stopped buying in person because…

The Origin of Joy Division’s Most Famous Album Cover, Finally Revealed

The cover of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures is famously graced with the radio pulses of a dying star. Its origins, however, have always been unclear. But now, Scientific American’s Jen Christiansen has followed the rabbit hole to the very end—to an obscure 1970 PhD astronomy thesis and the guy who wrote it. Joy Division fans…

Why So Many Species Are Discovered In Museum Storage

The latest episode of the American Museum of Natural History’s outstanding series “Shelf Life” is about the discovery of the olinguito, a ridiculously adorable species of mammal first identified in 2013 – ninety years after its remains were first collected, in 1923. The story of the olinguito’s discovery is common among newly identified species. In…

The Slightly-Less-Than-Epic Quest To Measure the Blueness Of The Sky

Some projects meant to gather scientific information end in glory when future generations recognize a visionary endeavor. Others, not so much. Here is the story of the cyanometer, and one man’s attempts to measure the blueness of the sky everywhere on Earth. Inventor, adventurer, man of science, Horace-Benedict de Saussure had a vision. He wanted…

Person Of Interest Shows Us That Creepy Mind-Control Is Already A Thing

This season of Person of Interest has ventured deeper into the wilds of science fiction. We’ve seen the amoral A.I. Samaritan rigging elections, turning crime on and off like a light, and controlling an entire town. But last night’s episode showed how computerized mind-control is already real. Spoilers ahead… It wasn’t that long ago that…

A Beginner’s Guide To Doing Drugs In The Outdoors

Going outdoors is an intense reminder that we’re part of something larger. In moderation, drugs can enhance that connection, help you enjoy the sights and sounds and feelings even more, and help you push reset on all the craziness involved in modern life. Want to try them sometime? Here’s how to get started. https://gizmodo.com/a-beginners-guide-to-doing-drugs-in-the-outdoors-1686617842

Samsung Wants To Replace Your Credit Cards With These Clever Magnets

Your next Samsung Galaxy smartphone could have a neat trick up its sleeves. Just place your phone next to any ol’ credit card reader, and press a button to pay. That’s because Samsung just announced that it’s buying LoopPay—a company that figured out how to trick magnetic stripe readers to accept your money wirelessly. Does…

A Beginner’s Guide To Doing Drugs In The Outdoors

Going outdoors is an intense reminder that we’re part of something larger. In moderation, drugs can enhance that connection, help you enjoy the sights and sounds and feelings even more, and help you push reset on all the craziness involved in modern life. Want to try them sometime? Here’s how to get started. If you’re…

A Map of the World’s Largest Annual Human Migration

In the days and weeks before Chinese New Year, some 700 million people—twice the entire population of the U.S.—cram onto trains, buses, planes and boats to go home. This mass migration is the largest annual movement of humans in the world, and now it can be tracked by smartphone. For the past couple years, Chinese…

Snoopy looks so good in this movie poster

There is a new Peanuts movie coming on November 2015. I don’t know if it’s going to be good or not, but technically it looks like a pretty nice translation of Schulz’s graphic language into the 3D world. The trailer below just seems like the classic Snoopy and Woodstock fantasy silliness. It seems to me…

According To This Map, We Are The Loudest Americans In History

And tomorrow’s Americans will be louder, still. In 2011, researchers monitoring noise levels in remote regions of Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park declared that ambient human noise was all but inescapable in the U.S. New data corroborates their claim. This map, based on 1.5-million hours of noise-monitoring across the country, illustrates the extent of the…

Jaimie Alexander To Star In New TV Series That Sounds Like Memento

Jaimie Alexander, also known as Sif from the Thor movies, is the best. Unfortunately, some blond nightmare god keeps getting in the way of her getting more screen time. But that’s all about to end now, because she’s getting her own show on NBC, which sounds like Memento with a lady. Entertainment Weekly has announced…