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Watching a Solar-Powered Marble Machine Will Clear Your Addled Brain

For those who ditched their click-and-clacking Newton’s Cradle decades ago, this Solar Marble Machine just might be the modern ball-based meditation tool of your DIY dreams. What does it “do”? Not much! But that’s precisely the point. I mean, technically it has a very simple repetitive function: Solarbotics crafted the gear-and-spiral combo to operate in…

Creepy Cosplay That’s As Horrifying As Anything We See In The Movies

If you ever need proof of how utterly effective special effects makeup can be in horror, you need look no further than these cosplayers. They take terrifying characters and concepts away from the realm of movies and into the real world. Sometimes cosplay is inadvertently horrifying. Sometimes it stretches the line between cute and strange.…

Why This Company Wants To Build Data Centers Next To Gas Storage Sites

The problem with data centers is excess heat. The problem with liquified natural gas terminals is excess cold. In a perfect world, one problem would neatly cancel out the other—which is exactly the world imagined by Massachusetts-based TeraCool. Coupling data with liquified gas could make a lot of energy sense. You’re already familiar data centers,…

Leprechaun: Origins Monster Is Not A Leprechaun, May Be A Large Lizard

The first clip from the WWE-produced horror film Leprechaun: Origins is out. And we’re now even more sure that Leprechaun: Origins should just be retitled Baby Fish Mouth: Origins, because it makes no sense. Watch the leprechaun growl like a tiger and eat people. So this isn’t a leprechaun at all, is it? WARNING AUTOMATIC…

XKCD’s Creator Explains What Would Happen If Earth Stopped Spinning

XKCD’s Randall Munroe is publishing a book of science explainers! What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is due out September 2. To celebrate its imminent arrival, here’s the first chapter from the book – an explainer about global devastation. Fun! GLOBAL WINDSTORM Q. What would happen if the Earth and all terrestrial…

Shooting Challenge: Crazy Things You See In Clouds

You know when you see something in a cloud, and you wonder, am I just crazy, or does that cloud really look like a dragon being ridden by a pig eating a cotton candy hot dog? Well it’s your lucky day. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, take a photo of something crazy you see in…

How Lizard Tails Could Help Scientists Study Human Limb Regeneration

Prosthetic technology is getting insanely good. But what if we just didn’t need it any more? What if we could simply program our genes to regrow human limbs as easily as lizards regrow lost tails? Well, scientists are getting closer to that fantastic future. A huge team of 19 scientists from around the world just…

​More Than 100(!) Awesome Comics To Watch Out For This Fall

Movies? Pshaw. TV shows? Piffle and poppycock. If you want autumn’s best entertainment, then you’re going to need to check out all the comic and graphic novels due out over the next three months. It’s an embarrassment of superhero, scifi, horror and fantasy riches — which is ironic, because you’re going to go broke trying…

NASA Releases Doves Into Orbit To Stalk The Planet

The Doves are a series of microsatellites designed to provide rapid whole-Earth satellite images, and to look good while doing it. Astronauts Alex Gerst and Reid Wiseman ejected two Dove satellites from the station on Tuesday to join the flock already in orbit. Releasing the Dove satellites was yet another team project between buddy-movie-inspiration-astronauts Alex…

In the sustainable energy future, we could be heating public buildings with sewage. No, “sewerthermal” is not quite what you think. Rachel Kaufman has a great article explaining it in NextCity, and describing how Seattle’s next sports arena might use it.

The Princess Bride Makes For An Inconceivably Creepy Horror Flick

Warning: Watching this Princess Bride trailer, recut to make it look like a creepy horror film where Westley is Buttercup’s psychotic stalker, may ruin the beloved movie for you forever. Other than that, though, it’s pretty awesome. You have Philip Raupach to thank/blame for the video. Now every time I hear Westley say “As you…

Comcast Will Let You Stream Cable To Your Dorm Room Over Wi-Fi

Comcast’s newly announced program, Xfinity on Campus, lets college dorm dwellers watch almost 80 channels, as well as access Xfinity On Demand programming. But this isn’t some lofty good will gesture—student loans and students’ parents will still be footing the bill. The Xfinity on Campus program targets millennials, forever absorbed in their gadgets, and reworks…

Geronimo! First Work-Safe Look At The New X-Rated Doctor Who Spoof

Doctor Who’s mysterious time traveler has been many things. The Oncoming Storm. The Last of the Time Lords. The protector of the innocent. But now, he’s becoming… a porn star? Behold an exclusive safe-for-work look at the new X-rated Doctor Who spoof, from the folks who brought you Game of Bones. From Lee Roy Myers,…

Just What’s In A Tube Of Red Lipstick?

Its color may seem like the defining characteristic of a tube of red lipstick. But how much of your lipstick is actually color — and how much of it is something else? Chemistry teacher Andy Brunning put together this graphic that breaks down the major components — and just what percentage of the whole they…

Mad genius invents steel safe suit to stand inside a fireworks display

Mad genius Colin Furze is back again with a new invention. This time he built himself a steel safe suit with the sole purpose of standing inside a fireworks display and enjoy the views. The suit shape looks hilarious, a terrifying mix between the tin man and the scarecrow, but it works perfectly. SPLOID is…

A Smart Transforming Hanger Will Double the Capacity of Your Closet

Closet organization is a certifiable pain in the ass—so much so that an entire industry has developed out of our collective desire to keep our respective clothes in order. Space constraints are almost always the biggest problem; this convertible Hanger’ might help you keep your gear in check. Shanghai-born, Germany-based Designer Ivan Zhang, under his…

This Machine Destroys Seeds of Nasty Mutant Weeds In the Combine

Combines are a modern farming miracle, separating grain from chaff in a matter of seconds. But that chaff—often full of seeds from herbicide-resistant weeds—gets blown right back onto the field. Enter the clever Harrington Seed Destructor, which grinds the pesky and unwanted seeds into oblivion. This seed destructor is the brainchild of Australian farmer Raymond…

What Do Animals Really Dream About?

If animals dream like us, where do they go in their slumber? Some scientists have discovered that we can peer into the minds of sleeping cats, birds and other creatures to find out. Photo Credit: cybermacs via flickr | CC BY 2.0 https://gizmodo.com/what-do-animals-dream-about-1625103575

What Do Animals Dream About?

“Almost all other animals are clearly observed to partake in sleep, whether they are aquatic, aerial, or terrestrial,” wrote Aristotle in his work On Sleep and Sleeplessness. But do other animals dream? On that the Greek philosopher also had an opinion. In The History of Animals, he wrote: “It would appear that not only do…

Marijuana Legalization Could Keep Democrats In Control Of The Senate

The Republican Party has an excellent chance of winning the majority of Senate seats this November. Alaska could make the difference, since incumbent Democrat Mark Begich is particularly vulnerable. But a ballot initiative on legalizing pot could keep him in office, and maintain a Democratic majority. There are several reasons why the Alaska Senate race…