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A Quick Guide to the Worldbuilding of Destiny

Destiny is out! And whilst it might be the most-preordered new property in gaming history, not everyone who’d be interested in a new scifi story is necessarily interested in playing a shooter to find out about it. So let’s take a look at a little of what we know about the universe of Destiny and…

Bloodletting and Bone Brushes: The White-Knuckle Days of Early Dentistry

With all those gleaming, stainless-steel tools readied for painful prodding, few people look forward to visiting the dentist. But modern dentistry is a walk in the park compared with archaic methods of treating oral maladies: Be glad you’re not seeking treatment for mysterious “tooth worms” or using dentures filled with the syphilitic teeth of dead…

US military working on turning soldiers into the Wolverine

Not only the US military want to make an Iron Man suit, they also want to give the soldiers the same self-healing powers of the Wolverine, the Marvel superhero that can accelerate the healing of injuries and chronic diseases. DARPA calls the project ElectRx. Their description is fascinating. ElectRx (pronounced “electrics”) aims to develop new,…

Extraterrestrial Trailer Promises The Return Of Alien Horror

After slogging through one disappointing alien horror film after the other, here’s hoping that Extraterrestrial will be different—and actually be scary. Check out the first trailer and let us know: did it give you chills? Extraterrestrial was written by the Vicious Brothers, and directed by one half of the team, Colin Minihan. The Vicious Brothers…

“Mucus-Harvesting Drone-Pilot” Sounds Like A Pretty Awesome Job

Much of the work done to study stress in whales may, paradoxically, be stressful to whales. Ocean Alliance – a research and conservation organization devoted to the development of “benign research techniques” – has designed a possible solution to this problem: a mucus-harvesting drone. The stuff whales eject from their blow-holes isn’t water. It’s snot.…

How did the terribly bland Red Delicious apple come to dominate US grocery stores? The Atlantic recounts the rise of the Red Delicious, how the fruit lost its flavor, and why the apple is finding a market overseas. [via MetaFilter]

Garmin Fenix 2 Watch Review: Jack of All Trades, Master of Many

The Fenix 2 is the watch Garmin has made to appeal to active people who might end up doing… well, just about anything outdoors. It’s not just for runners, just for swimmers, just for snowboarders, or just for hikers, it’s for people who want a single watch to track their complete athletic lifestyle. The good…

Critics Hail Gotham As The Fall’s “Most Promising” New Show

Didn’t expect this! The Television Critics Association has hailed Gotham as the most promising series of the fall season” in a new poll, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Seeing as the TCA probably isn’t as biased in favor of Batman-related entertainment as most of us are, that’s very encouraging news. Basically, if a bunch of…

The Science of Dog Training: Is It Okay To Use A Shock Collar?

No matter what you call them – shock collars, e-collars, or the more scientific-sounding “collar mounted electronic training aids” – are designed with the most basic form of learning in mind, operant conditioning. How Do Shock Collars Work? From a psychological perspective, the idea is remarkably simple. An animal has a behavior you’d like to…

“Strong Women Characters” Who Made Mistakes (And Learned From Them)

You know what we really want from our “strong female characters” in pop culture? Not to be perfect human beings. Or to screw up and be sidelined. What we want is to see them do what all great characters do: make mistakes, and grow as a result. Here are a ton of female heroes whose…

How Apple Traded Magic For Surprise

If you had a working internet connection and the capacity to Google before yesterday, you’d already seen the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in full detail. The details of the Apple Watch, though, remained a mystery until the end. How’d Apple keep the secret? By sacrificing a small part of its magic. And by putting…

Deezer’s Lossless Streaming Music Service Is Perfect for Audio Nerds

Deezer’s streaming music service has been around overseas for years, and it’s finally coming to the United States this month in the form of Deezer Elite, which delivers CD-quality audio through the interwebs. Finally, high-resolution audio that makes sense. The new Deezer Elite service is exclusive to the US for now, and it’s also starting…

You Can Buy Fake College Email Accounts For As Little As 16 Cents

Want to pretend you went to the Ivy League? If you have some money and know how to log onto China’s version of eBay, Taobao, it’s not so hard. It is, however, illegal. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks discovered stolen and fake .edu email addresses for sale on China’s largest online marketplace. Some of the…

What Huge Star Wars: Episode 7 Spoiler Did J.J. Abrams Just Reveal?

Two big, fat Star Wars spoilers for Episode 7 have been released into the ether of the Internet. One rumor was churned up by the director himself. And the other? Well, the other is a huge, huge, huge freaking reveal—those of you who want to remain untouched for the great Star Wars reawakening should cover…

A Timelapse Of All The Different Sights Astronauts See From The ISS

An astronaut aboard the ISS sees some pretty incredible things when he or she looks out the window. And now, this gorgeous timelapse consolidates some of the most amazing of those sights, so that the rest of us can get a glimpse, too. Put together by the ESA from images taken by astronaut Alexander Gerst,…

Samsung Storage, Credit Card Knives, Save $10 on Destiny [Deals]

This 64GB Micro SD card has dropped to $30 on a few different occasions, and always sells out quickly, so grab it fast. It has fantastic user reviews, and even a Wirecutter recommendation. [Samsung Electronics 64GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDXC with Adapter, $30] Get these deals and more, and earlier on Deals.Kinja. Connect with…

Report: Microsoft Will Ditch the Windows Phone and Nokia Names

Internal documents obtained by GeekOnGadgets reports that Microsoft will be killing off its “Windows Phone” and “Nokia” names for less confusing “Windows” and “Microsoft” replacements in time for the holidays. However, other terms, such as the Nokia created “Lumia” brand seems safe for now. The Verge has also confirmed that the leaked documents regarding the…

Thorin’s Company looks marvellous as Lego figures

Finnish Lego fan Pate-Keetongu over at Cyclopic Brickshas spent almost two years crafting these awesome Lego ‘action figures’ of the cast from The Hobbit trilogy – and they look absolutely fantastic. The 15 models, one for each of Thorin and his dwarves, as well as Bilbo and Gandalf, took a total of 580 days to…

Time Capsule of Unpublished Books Won’t Be Opened Until the Year 2114

Sadly, you won’t be able to read Margaret Atwood’s new book. When it’s finally published you’ll be dead. Well, you’ll probably be dead. Because her latest work is going to be placed in a time capsule that won’t be opened until the year 2114. And hers isn’t the only book. “It does appeal to that…

A Visual History of the iPod Click Wheel (R.I.P.)

The click wheel is dead! Long live the touchscreen. While Apple has moved on to brighter, and screenier devices, the click wheel remains one of our favorite input methods of all time. Call us sentimental, but let’s take a walk down memory lane. iPod First Generation Born: October 23rd, 2001. This is the thing that…