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Adding Water to Solids Can Actually Make Them Stronger

It may sounder counter-intuitive, but adding drops of humble old water into solid materials can actually increase their strength and changes their other properties in interesting and useful ways. Researchers from Yale have discovered that adding droplets of water into some solids can strengthen and stiffen them, by virtue of their surface tension. The force…

Sony’s Letting Robert Rodrgiuez Finally Make Fire and Ice

Sony’s just completed a deal that brings Robert Rodriguez’s dream project — a live action version of Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice — to the big screen. This is passion project for Rodriguez, who has been trying to make this homage to his friend for years. And it looks like it will finally happen. Image:…

A pizza world champion made this 99-cheese pizza and it tastes fantastic

Check out the gorgeous images that photographer Steve Scalone took of my latest object of desire, a 99-cheese pizza created by pizza world champion Johnny di Francesco, of Melbourne’s famed 400 Gradi. A pizza that The Guardian says tastes fantastic: Fantastic. Di Francesco has created a balanced and surprisingly nuanced pizza. It sounds like a…

How You Can Use the Genetic Code for Passwords

Need a password for a new device or service? Try the genetic code. Messenger RNA triplets and the amino acids they specify provide nearly endless password possibilities. And it’s timely — the People’s Choice for Sciencemagazine’s Breakthrough of the Year is “Giving Life a Bigger Genetic Alphabet.” I began using the code for passwords years…

You will love this short on the guy who told you how logos are made

Aaron Draplin is the guy who told the internet how profesional designers create their logos with a passion that made me want to spend an entire day with him. I wanted to hear a lot more, so here’s a short documentary which offers a fascinating look into his mind, obsessions, and creative process. This is…

These distinctive underwater features of the Great Bahamas Bank are made of limestone, largely from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms, which has been accumulating for over 100 million years and is shaped by underwater currents. The image was captured the European Space Agency’s Landsat-8. [ESA]

Christoph Waltz Explains the Joys of Krampus to a Befuddled Jimmy Fallon

We love Krampus, the dark side of Santa, who punishes the naughty while Santa rewards the nice. But not everyone is aware of this Germanic folktale, leaving Christoph Waltz to act as an ambassador for the creature. He’s right: the Elf on a Shelf just does not compare. [via Laughing Squid]

It’s Very Easy to Get Drunk on Food Alone

Around Christmast, a lot of food comes laced with alcohol. But while the commonly held view is that much of it gets burned off in the cooking process, this video demonstrates that there’s plenty left in there to see you exceed the safe limits for driving. This responsible piece of journalism, put together by the…

BBC: Apple Still Failing to Protect Factory Workers

An undercover investigation by the BBC’s Panorama team has found that Apple is still failing to protect those that work at the factories of its parts manufacturers. The Apple’s Broken Promises documentary found that staff at the Pegatron factories routinely were encouraged to work unhealthy hours building devices, while issues with underage workers and dormitory…

This Is Why Electronic Voting Is a Bad Idea Right Now

The system of democracy is built on the rather more humble system of voting. And voting is built on the two fundamentals of anonymity and trust. This video explains why, right now, digital voting doesn’t provide over of those two things well enough. Tom Scott gives a pretty great run down here of the ways…

Two Different Satellites Take Two Different Pictures of the Same Galaxy

What a difference a wavelength makes: On the left is the M82 Galaxy as seen in the visible light spectrum, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope — and the image we most associate with that galaxy. On the right is an x-ray image of the same galaxy, taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Image credit:…

Mark Wahlberg’ll Be Back For More Transformers Films. And Soon.

Contrary to earlier rumors that Mark Wahlberg’s first appearance in the Transformers franchise, Wahlberg himself has said that he’s contracted for a “couple” more and that he expects to be back on the set “soon.” From Wahlberg’s comments, it’s pretty clear that the studio’s done some movement on the Transformers front. Speaking to MTV, Wahlberg…

Hopscotch with the kids in this cute Lego scene

Michael Jasper is a pro at creating great Lego vignettes. This build, simply titled Hopscotch, is a wonderful example of SNOT (Studs Not On Top) building. From the excellent number bricks in the ground to the amazing bikes that utilize the magnifying glass element as wheels, this build is really creative though it looks fairly…

Making candy canes by hand is a mesmerizing process

One of my favorite things: seeing the process of how things are made from things I’ve never ever wondered how they get made. Take for instance this awesome hand made candy cane, which starts as dark and yellow sugar goop that looks unrecognizable. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

See The Weapon That Beats The Wave Motion Gun In The New Yamato Movie

As far as I know, we still haven’t gotten the new Space Battleship Yamato 2199 TV/movie series in the United States, even after it aired a whole season in Japan. But now, there’s a follow-up movie, Star-Voyaging Ark, in which the Yamato gets hit with a weapon called the Flame Direct Attack Cannon, that can…

This mini Lego detective’s office completes the block

In 2012 Lego released a set called Mini Modulars (10230) which took the line of modular buildings and reduced them down to approximately 1:4 scale (Modular buildings are on a 32×32 stud base, mini-modulars are 8×8). Par016 has made a mini-modular of the Detective’s Office (10246), a set that hasn’t even been released yet. https://gizmodo.com/the-latest-lego-modular-building-feels-like-a-perfect-p-1661514112…

How they made the crazy visual effects of Transformers 4

Skip the terrible movie that was Transformers 4 and let’s just enjoy the awesomeness of this visual effects reel from ILM for Transformers: Age of Extinction. It has all the coolest parts of the movie anyway, which is all the parts with any Transformers transforming and any Transformers causing explosions. SPLOID is delicious brain candy.…

Check out this medieval Lego bobsled team

This wonderful winter scene by mrcp6d had to be shared. The build may not be huge but it is packed full of awesome little details and the minifigure placement is just perfection. Thankfully, it includes the international symbol of all things middle ages, the turkey leg.

After The Robot Uprising, Human Gladiators Must Battle Robo-Dinosaurs

In the distant future, humanity is enslaved, forced to fight in the gladiators’ ring for the amusement of robot audiences. But something unexpected happens when the robots pit their ultimate warrior, Carl, against the humans’ Space Jesus. Yes, Márk Juhász’s student film Carl, which he made at MOME Hungary, is packed full of zaniness, but…

Remixing the Serial Theme with Notorious B.I.G. Is Surprisingly Perfect

Did you listen to the Serial finale yet? Good for you, now please don’t tell me what happens. Instead, you should listen to this Notorious B.I.G. remix featuring the Serial theme. Fafu, the New York-based producer behind this little work of genius, even made it downloadable so you can listen to it on the go—just…