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Another Great Way to Prove Moon Hoax Conspiracy Theorists Wrong

Humans have landed on the moon six times, but conspiracy theorists still insist the actual number is zero. They cite bad science, misunderstandings of physics, and outright lies to try to convince you that American astronauts never set foot on our moon. Here’s one more way to prove those wackos wrong. Space historian Amy Shira…

Watching this guy draw a dragon makes my brain go into trance mode

One stroke painting is such an impressive skill that it’s unbelievable even when you see it happen. These artists from Kousyuuya in Nikko, Japan have been mastering their craft for over four generations. The amount of detail they can put out with one stroke is just unreal. The GIF above sums it up but if…

A SpaceX Rocket Test Just Went Explosively Awry

A rocket exploded during a test flight at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas. An anomaly crept during the flight, triggering the rocket to self-detonate. No injuries are reported, and rumours are rampant. While an unintentionally explosive test flight is a shocking thing to our risk-adverse society, it’s actually an indicator…

Here’s a 4K time lapse of a spaceship burning up in the atmosphere

We saw the stunning crystal clear photo, so now here’s a 4K time lapse of Orbital’s Cygnus cargo ship burning up in a beautiful fiery streak as it re-enters our atmosphere. The footage was shot from the ISS by German astronaut Alexander Gerst. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

These Are the Silliest Star Trek Reenactments We’ve Seen in Ages

We love these photographs and gifs created by Ken Lin and his friends, who posed for them in many of the same kinds of California landscapes that provided the “alien world” backdrops for the original Star Trek series. The results are crazy and adorable. These pictures are taken from Lin’s “Into California” and “Red is…

Watch This Documentary And Remember Why SeaWorld Sucks

SeaWorld is back in the news in a big way this week. First, the park announced an ill-timed, controversial expansion. Then, someone finally claimed responsibility for a highly-visible protest against the park back in May which changed the freeway signage to “Sea World SUCKS.” The man behind the prank was none other than Jackass hero…

Watch A Cemetery Spring To Life Thanks To Animated Magic

A collection of artists directed by Alejandro Garcia Cabbalero brought Mexico’s 590-acre cemetery Panteón Dolores to life thanks to some little animated video projectors. And the result is really stunning. Watch the 700,000 tombstones get colorized thanks to a Mexico City animation collective called Llama Rada. The project is bringing the work of various talented…

No, New Orleans Is Not Getting Another Katrina This Weekend

New Orleans really doesn’t need to worry about a hurricane barreling into them right now, even if you see a Facebook post proclaiming, “SHARE THIS IMMEDIATELY!” You can stop calling the National Weather Office in a panic now. Like most viral misinformation, a tiny glimmer of truth hides within the fear-mongering. In this case, it’s…

Is Marvel’s Closest Equivalent Actually Pixar?

Marvel’s seemingly unstoppable block of superhero flicks has spawned more than a few imitators and comparisons among studios that work in the genre. But is the best comparison actually animation icon Pixar? In response to this post on what to make of the glut of superhero movies headed our way in the next few years,…

The alien beauty of the Portuguese man-of-war

The Portuguese man-of-war, also known as the weirdest looking creature with the coolest name, was captured in an up close video that shows how stunning this colorful alien-looking, not jellyfish, blown-up balloon can be. I can’t believe these things live on the same planet that we do. National Geographic writes: The Portuguese man-of-war—a colonial organism…

True Facts About Marsupials, Nature’s Cutest Animals With Three Vaginas

The latest installment in Ze Frank’s always-excellent “True Facts About ________” nature series (previously here and here) is all about three of everyone’s favorite marsupials: kangaroos, wombats, and koalas. https://gizmodo.com/true-facts-about-the-sea-pig-a-living-deep-sea-condo-474745201

I Just Saw Boyz II Men For the First Time and It Was Incredible

Last Saturday, there was a special surprise at the end of the Mets game. Boyz II Men played a free concert. As the members of the R&B group are now in their 40s and certainly have better things to do than play free concerts, my expectations were low. But holy shit, they blew my mind!…

Forget Transformers, This Is The Film We Want About Transforming Robots

In this mesmerizing short film, a mysterious robotic device lands on a barren planet in order to radically alter the landscape. But along the way, the robot must change itself, transforming at each stage of its task. Richard Mans directed and animated the stunning Abiogenesis, imagining how robots might speed along the process of life…

iPhone 5 Battery Letting You Down? Apple Might Replace It—For Free

If your iPhone 5’s battery just doesn’t have the kick that it feels like it should, you might be able to get a new one for free. Apple has found that an apparently small batch of iPhone 5s (not the S or C) that “may suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged…

Amityville: The Awakening Trailer Is Really Weird And Gross

First rule of buying a home: don’t buy the Amityville house. Behold the super weird trailer for Amityville: The Awakening in which one of the characters is bed-bound, so naturally a lot of really terrible things happen to him. It’s really just gross.

A new meta-analysis published inPsychological Science throws a bucket of cold water on the “10,000-hour rule” – the idea that “deliberate practice” of any skill for 10,000 hours is sufficient to make you an expert at that skill. Fiona Rutherford breaks down the results over at NewStatesman.

When the Earth Collapses Under Our Feet

Though we understand what causes pits and chasms to open up in the ground, we can’t predict them. And that leads to disasters like the ones in these pictures, which can strike in the middle of a field or the middle of a city — with terrifying results. https://gizmodo.com/why-are-sinkholes-round-1614203510 A massive hole appeared in Winter…

Should Cities Have Zoning For Drones?

The FAA’s rules about commercial drones have so far been ham-fisted: ban, except in special cases. But what would a world where we live, play, and work next to drones look like? What would city zoning for drones look like? For that, we might take a look at a recent post by Mitchell Sipus, an…

Will California’s Drought Cause a Honey Shortage?

California’s punishing drought, which has been claiming victims both above ground and below, has set its sights on a new kind of prey: Our honeybees. https://gizmodo.com/just-how-bad-is-californias-drought-heres-a-scary-10-1618712607 https://gizmodo.com/what-will-californias-drought-do-to-our-food-supply-1615733458 https://gizmodo.com/drought-is-parching-the-united-states-from-underground-1610362293 Until the last decade, California was the nation’s top honey producer. But, with the crops that the bees usually feast on either not flowering or plowed under,…

A Female Sherlock Holmes Solves Demonic Cases In A Retrofuturistic City

Like her inspiration, Sherbet Lock is a cocaine-addicted detective—although her mysteries tend to be of the supernatural variety. She’s looking for a bit of crowdfunding support, as is an anthology of speculative fiction and essays, a bisexual horror web series, and gorgeous 16-bit video game. Top image from Aegis Defenders. Holdfast Magazine Anthology Holdfast Magazine…