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How to Store Nuclear Waste for 10,000 Years (and How Not To)

America has currently no plan for its nuclear waste. It did, however, at one point, have a supremely ambitious plan to bury it in a mountain for 10,000 years. From color-changing radioactive cats to rotting kitty litter, this essay from Method Quarterly explores the mythical and the mundane problems of nuclear waste. To tell the…

1950s Homes of the Future Were Going to Push-Button All The Things

After World War II, Americans were promised that pretty soon everything would be operated by push-button. Push-button cars, push-button schools — and a push-button for nearly every moving thing in your futuristic home. https://gizmodo.com/all-work-and-no-play-makes-self-driving-cars-a-dull-plo-1524354458 In a 1950 article for the Associated Press, editor David G. Bareuther wrote about the future of American homes. Skyscrapers might…

Statue Of Liberty Bit Cut From Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Is Insane

The classic broken-down Lady Liberty that has a cameo at the end of the original Planet of the Apes movie actually had a planned appearance in the apes movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was cut, but you can see what they had planned in this amazing concept art. Artist Brian Cunningham…

Money Makes You Less Rational Than You Think

Many of us believe that money brings out our calculating sides, inspiring decisions that are motivated by rational self-interest. But new evidence suggests that money does the opposite, leading to druglike mental states and irrational choices that are anything but sound. Illustration by Tara Jacoby. We get super weird around money, no doubt about it.…

Is This The First Look At The Ant-Man Movie’s Villain Yellowjacket?

We may have out first at Ant-Man’s similarly powered nemesis in his supervillain get-up. Locate a grain of salt, of course, but this appears to be concept art of Yellowjacket, the outfit/armor worn by Darren Cross, the Ant-Man antagonist played by Corey Stoll. Well, he’s definitely rocking the black and yellow color scheme, but the…

Your New Home Theater, Buffalo Storage, Power Deals, and More

Several great options for powering up today: Poweradd Pilot E2 12000mAh Dual USB Portable Charger External Battery ($20) | Amazon Inateck 4-Port 30W Compact USB Wall Charger ($10) | Amazon | Use code M7BM5EKO Intocircuit 2nd Gen Power Mini 3000mAh ($16) with your choice of: Free Dual Port USB Car Charger using code T8DJMOUY or…

Breaking Bad Barrel, Your New Home Theater, and More Deals

The Breaking Bad Barrel is down to just $189 today. The original run sold out so get them while they’re hot. Playstation TV, Sony’s non-portable entry point to the Vita library/box for streaming your PS4 to another TV/other things is $20 off today, for the first time ever. The DualShock 3 Bundle is also $20…

Critical Hit Dreidel Lights Up and Flashes When You Win

Make the Festival of Lights just a little brighter this year by swapping your family’s antique Dreidel for ThinkGeek’s electronic alternative that automatically lights up and flashes whenever it lands on Gimel. For amateur Dreidel players whose Hebrew is a little rusty (or non-existent) the upgraded version is an easy way to tell when they’ve…

The Futuristic Technology That Could Enable Interstellar Travel

Technically savvy scientists and engineers have put much effort into conceiving far-future technologies that might make possible near- light-speed travel. You can learn a lot about their ideas by browsing the web. It will take many centuries for humans to make any of those ideas real, I think. But they do convince me that ultra-advanced…

5 Camera Features You Think You Want, But Are Actually Bad Ideas

Camera geeks are a needy bunch. They all have their opinions and won’t hesitate to shout at manufacturers to include their pet requests. But that doesn’t mean all those requests are good ideas. Here are five commonly desired camera features that are better left to the trash heap of design. EVFs on tiny cameras If…

If you’re a Google Play Music All Access subscriber, you’ll get access to the new YouTube Music Key service next week. If you’re not, you can sign up for the beta here.

The Bedpan Whisperer

How many bedpans is too many? 10? 50? Try 250. That’s about how many bedpans and items of bedpan memorabiliaEric Eakin has collected thus far. “I have bedpan greeting cards, bedpan poems, bedpan jewelry, and bedpan salt-and-pepper shakers,” he says. Eakin’s also got plenty of vintage and antique bedpans, each one clean enough to eat…

​Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Outdoor Sleeping Pads

As important for keeping you warm at night as a sleeping bag and the difference between a good night’s sleep and no sleep at all, sleeping pads are one of the most important things you can take with you outdoors. And, the latest generation is better than ever. Here’s everything we learned about them while…

Dance Like No One’s Watching, Make a Propane Gun From a Soda Bottle

If you don’t have anything to do this weekend and also have an extremely chill landlord who doesn’t care if you construct a weapon using highly flammable materials, there’s always the option to build this elaborate propane prop gun using an empty pop bottle. (Or you could do anything else. This shit looks incredibly dangerous.)…

Crowdfund Sci-Fi Radio Drama, Board Games about crazy A.I and more!

What if aliens attacked the Prussians in the late 18th Century? A comic book series tries to answer just that in this week’s look at all things Crowdfunding – but that’s not all. There’s a board game about humanity rebelling against a rogue A.I, retro radio-dramas with a Sci-Fi twist and more. Header Image Credit:…

The Incredible Robots That Scan and Sort Your Recycling

If your city has a recycling program, you probably do as good a job as you can to make sure that your papers, plastics, and metals are all properly sorted. But at the recycling plant it’s absolutely crucial that everything is thoroughly separated, and even an assembly line full of hawk-eyed workers can’t compare to…

2,700 piece Natural History museum hits 10,000 supporters on Lego Ideas

This wonderful Lego modular by T. Spencer has achieved the support of 10,000 Lego enthusiasts and will be entered into the next review phase starting in January of 2015. This is the first time that a build specific to the Modular line has hit this goal. If Lego does produce this set, it will be…

The Fantastic Mr. Fox turned into the future Oscar-winner Foxcatcher

Critics think that Foxcatcher—the film about 1988 Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz sight Channing Tatum and Steve Carell—may win the Oscar for best picture next year. I think they should give it to Sploid reader Jonathan Hartwig, who sent us this brilliant mashup trailer for Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Foxcatcher. I love it. And since…

Apple’s Superstar Designer Marc Newson Redesigned This Classic Shotgun

The design world hyperventilated when it was announced that Marc Newson would be going to work with his best bud Jony Ive at Apple. But that doesn’t mean all of his work will be done inside the spaceship, and now Newson has revealed another project: Redesigning one of the most iconic firearms in history. Newson’s…

We need more like this Lego Triumph Scrambler

If there is any deficiency in the Lego lineup it is the lack of cool motorcycles. While Lego has done great stuff in their automotive lines, the lack of decent motorcycle models has always been pretty disappointing. Thankfully we have builders like Stephan Jonsson to fill in the gaps with high quality models. The likeness…