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Inside The Galaxy Note 4’s Virtual Reality Ambitions

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is now the best big phone you can buy, but it’s also something more. It’s the first smartphone designed with virtual reality in mind — just slot it into the Gear VR headset and a whole new world opens up. I say “the first” because I learned something intriguing at…

Archaeologists working in Norway have found a 1,300 year-old ski with the binding and leather straps still attached. The discovery, made possible because of melting ice, shows that Vikings were able to move fast and steady on the snow. It’s one of only 20 pre-modern skis to be found in Norway, and only the second…

Never Explain Your Dumb Evolutionary Theories To Dean Winchester

At least, not if Dean Winchester has been possessed by the Mark of Cain, killed, and then brought back as a murder-craving demon. See for yourself, in this clip from last night’s Supernatural. Spoilers ahead… A little context for the above clip. Basically, Dean is still just in the Sheryl Crow school of demonhood —…

Belle & Sebastian: Piazza, New York Catcher

A couple years ago, I was leaving New York, the city I considered the center of the world, for San Francisco, a city I had only the vaguest impressions of from reading Joan Didion. (Naturally, I was composing my own version of a leaving New York essay in my head.) I also spent the time…

Pregnant Sloth Gets a C-Section, A First For Her Species

As founder of Sloth Institute Costa Rica, Sam Trull is a busy woman. But when a pregnant sloth fell out of a tree, her commitment to rehabilitating wildlife reached new levels. The animal got an emergency C-section, perhaps the first ever for a sloth. The newly re-designed BBC Earth reports what happened on September 27…

Belmore Browne painting the background for the Bighorn Sheep Group at the American Museum of Natural History in February of 1941. Factually is Gizmodo’s new blog of fun facts, interesting photos, and weird trivia. Join us on Twitter and Facebook.

Use These Interactive Images To Play With Astronomy

Astronomy relies on seeing in many different wavelengths beyond the mere optical visible to our puny human eyes. See for yourself in interactive images of iconic astronomical objects that allow you to seamlessly slip between seeing through different spectral bands. Top image: Messier Object 16, the Eagle Nebula, in optical, x-ray, and far-infrared. Credit: MPG/ESO,…

First Look At The Firefly Online Game In Action!

It’s still early in development, but we thought you’d want to check out the first footage of the Firefly Online videogame. It’s pretty much just a dude walking around a spooky spaceship, but it does have a bit of voiceover work from Captain Mal and Jayne, and that ain’t bad. If you missed it, we…

Amazing watermill Lego build will make your jaw drop

César Soares has several gorgeous builds that he has done for the Guilds of Historica section over at Eurobricks. Castle themed MOCs are his specialty and this build shows that he has some impressive skills when it comes to building in this theme. Look at this roof! That is the coolest Lego roof in existence!…

UberPLUS: Like UberX But For L.A. Cliches

Uber launched a new car service in Los Angeles today. It’s basically the old one that everybody uses. But it’s more expensive and perfect for people who reinforce stereotypes about vapid Angelenos only obsessed with shiny, expensive cars! My youngest brother recently moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. While out at one of our fair…

Why Did NASA Kill the One-Person Spacecraft?

On February 7, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless made history as the pilot for the test flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). On live TV, he backed away from the Space Shuttle Challenger, venturing 320 feet into space, becoming the first human satellite. But, by the end of the year, the MMU was mothballed. Writing…

The Most Indispensible Book About Star Wars You’ll Read This Year

Who hasn’t seen Star Wars? Chris Taylor opens his book, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise, pointing out that while not everyone has seen Star Wars, most people in the United States and around the world know elements of the series. Phrases like ‘Death Star’,…

This Is Precisely Where We’ll Be Landing on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

This is it folks, the area on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko where the Philae Lander will touch down on November 12. The ESA has officially given the green light for its Rosetta mission to deliver the lander in the first-ever attempt at a soft touchdown on a comet. We now have the timeline of events and an…

Lockheed Says It’ll Have A Truck-Sized Fusion Reactor In 10 Years

American defense contractor Lockheed Martin has issued a statement declaring it has made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion. It’s hoping to have a prototype ready in five years — and a small, functional unit ready by 2024. It’s a big claim, but if they’re being honest it could…

Organized Criminals Are Better than Evil A.I., on Person of Interest

On last night’s Person of Interest, there was a particularly interesting development with Elias, the mob boss who was the big bad of the show’s first season. Let’s be honest: Most of last night’s episode was an awkward and embarrassing After School Special. There was the kid who had to “learn to be a man”…

The Surprising Origin Of Copyright Law, And How It Came From Censorship

While today, we think of copyright law as a way to protect the property of creators, English copyright law was actually based on systems designed to enable censorship and allow the government to control print works. This cartoon takes you through a quick history of printing and copyright. This is the third episode of the…

The Most Important Nexus 6 Feature Is the Price

The Nexus line has distinguished itself for two ways since its 2010 debut. First, it’s a vessel for the purest expression of Android’s capabilities. As a very close second, it’s dirt cheap. One of those things is still true. The just-announced Nexus 6 is a Hulk of a phone, its 5.9-inch display large enough to…

These Halloween Disney Bearbricks are creepy for all the wrong reasons

Disney and Medicom are collaborating on a new range of Bearbrick toys for Halloween this year, taking 9 characters and dressing them up in Halloween costumes. The results? Petrifying, but perhaps not in the way Medicom expected. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, Pooh, Chip and Dale all get makeovers for the holidays in the…

What Movie Or TV Series Do You Wish Could Get A Total Do-Over?

What film or movie or TV series do you wish you could eradicate from existence and get a total top-to-bottom do over? Me, I would like an entirely new Golden Compass. Based on author Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials, the movie lacked all the magic and wonder of this extensive fantasy series. And even…

Mopping Is No Longer a Chore With a Penguin Gliding Across Your Floor

Even if you get a lot of satisfaction from standing back and looking at your freshly cleaned home, no one really likes all the work needed to get to that point. And while there are countless products promising to make cleaning easier, maybe we need to start focusing on making it more enjoyable, and this…