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The original Enterprise model from Star Trek is undergoing renovations before being moved to main entrance of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. You can read an interview with the conservator leading the preservation project, Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, at Trek Core.

Dad’s Illustrations Prove His 3-Year-Old Is Brilliant

Look, can any of us honestly say this isn’t how we’d rather spend our time? I could be working or I could be drawing pooping superheroes. Pooping superheroes win! Martin Bruckner’s collected and illustrated a number of gems from his daughter, the now-three Harper Grace, on Spaghetti Toes: Things Said By and To a 2…

This Beautifully Minimalist Prosthetic Is Made From 3D Printed Titanium

Designer William Root has designed this mostly see-through prosthetic with an emphasis on personalization and low cost. It’s available in a number of colors and patterns, with every end product remaining lightweight and strong. On the design page for the Exo Prosthetic, Root says that the current process has too many steps and is very…

Sam Raimi: The Problems With Spider-Man 3 Were “My Mistake”

In his appearance on the Nerdist podcast, Sam Raimi had a lengthy discussion on everything that went wrong with Spider-Man 3. He both identifies mistakes he made and has a pretty good sense of humor about it. The whole thing is well worth listening to, if only for Raimi talking about what Bruce Campbell was…

This River Flows for Only a Few Days a Year, But Has Scarred the Land

This massive, winding river in Namibia flows mostly underground, emerging only for a few days per year. Despite its ephemeral journey, it has left a lasting impression on the Earth’s surface. According to USGS: Namibia’s Ugab River only flows above ground for a few days each year. The subterranean waters underlying this ephemeral river, however,…

Watch a woman dance around in flames like a reborn phoenix (NSFW)

Adrien Servadio made this beautiful video showing Fanny Sage dancing around while surrounded by fire. The special effects flames that encompass her makes it look like she’s regenerating like a burning phoenix. The video is NSFW but it’s absolutely mesmerizing. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

A Scary-Lovely Dress That Can Defend You from Unwanted Attention

It’s called the Spider Dress, and it clings to your body like an exoskeleton. If anyone gets too close, parts of the dress can lash out at them with what seem to be skeletal appendages. Who doesn’t love what 3D printing and microcontrollers have done for fashion? Writes dress designer Anouk Wipprecht: Aptly called the…

The hilarious ridiculousness of the new Star Wars’ crossguard lightsaber

Like the rest of us, Machinima Happy Hour wondered what would happen after the crossguard lightsaber scene in the new Star Wars trailer. Unlike the rest of us, they created this hilarious animation imagination of how ridiculous that fight would be because adding light sabers to just anything is just crazy. We’re talking about a…

2014 Had The Lowest Movie Ticket Sales Since 1995

Final data isn’t in, but it looks as though overall U.S. box office was down in 2014 from 2013 — although the major studios still made over $10 billion domestically. Most significantly, the number of tickets sold dropped 6 percent, to the lowest amount since 1995. Top image: Raymond Shobe/Flickr. The good news? There’s no…

Dawn On Alternate Approach To Ceres After Cosmic Ray Hiccups Ion Drive

After 14 months at Vesta, the Dawn spacecraft swung around for its second mission target: Ceres. After a rogue cosmic ray jumbling the best laid plans in September, the spacecraft is in its approach phase to slip into orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015 just a half-day behind schedule. Top image: Artist’s concept of…

How the Pineapple Express Killed the Donner Party

Californians have spent December experiencing the effects of the Pineapple Express. For the most part, we’ve been happy to get all that rain. But in 1846, the Pineapple Express had a quite different effect. It contributed to the horrible fate of the most infamous California-bound party in history. To be fair, a lot of things…

The Complete Twilight Zone Marathon Viewer’s Guide

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! New Year’s Eve might be a garbage holiday, but at least we have Syfy’s Twilight Zone marathon to console us. Below, a list of when you can watch each episode during this year’s festivities. And for all you cordcutters, we’ve added links to Netflix (and Hulu for…

An epic supercut of explosions in movies

Nothing rings in the new years like explosions and fireworks and countdowns and mind sacrificing hangovers earned during silly festivities. This supercut video by Screen Junkies has most of that from movies like Star Wars and Tropic Thunder and more. You can save the hangover for tomorrow. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on…

Video Essay Dissects The Influence Of Video Essays, Because Meta

Long time video essayist Kevin B. Lee asked, “What Makes a Video Essay Great?” Then he attempted to answer said question via video essay. It’s more observational and thought-provoking than explanatory, but it does give a great overview of a few featured video essayists. And if you would like to watch what this creator considers…

The Natural Phenomenon That Explains Why Your Reception Is So Bad

When your satellite reception goes out there can be any number of things behind it: Distance, weather, human error. But there’s also an astronomical phenomenon that (at least a couple times a year) is responsible for some of those temporary outages we experience. In response to this thread asking you to spill the hidden secrets…

What Happened to These Notorious Crime Scenes?

Some buildings that bear witness to heinous crimes are transformed into tourist attractions (you can spend the night in Lizzie Borden’s house!) Others get a change of address, or are completely torn down. Here’s the current state of five famous crime scenes. Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment building At the time of his 1991 capture, cannibal killer…

Projected Lights Turn An Ordinary Forest Into Avatar‘s Pandora

The organisms in this forest aren’t bioluminescent, but they look that way thanks to the lights projected onto plants, fungi, and animals. It evokes the glowing world of James Cameron’s Avatar for a fraction of the budget. Inspired by actual bioluminescent organisms, artists Friedrich van Schoor and Tarek Mawad created this faux bioluminescent forest using…

Coulson’s SHIELD Agents Arrive In The Real Marvel Universe Tomorrow

Given that tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, it shouldn’t be surprising that there are barely any comics being released this week. There are a few exceptions, however — none of which should excite you more than SHIELD #1, which finally brings the TV show’s team to the Marvel comic-verse. • Abigail and the Snowman #1…

The Most Amazing Meteorological And Space Observatories Ever Built

As much as we admire the stunning images and incredible data we get from observatories, the buildings themselves are works of art in their own right. It’s hard not to admire them as they sit high above cities and nestled into mountain peaks. What a view. Sphinx Observatory, 11,716 ft (3,571 m) above mean sea…

Musician’s Recreation of Ancient Sumerian Songs Will Haunt You

These songs are examples of how art and science can come together to create something incredible. Musician Stef Conner learned to read several ancient Babylonian and Sumerian tablets written in cuneiform script, using historians’ research to figure out likely pronunciation. Just listen to the results. Conner is accompanied here by Andy Lowings, who recreates ancient…