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A Horde Of Mobula Rays Invades Baja

Mobula rays are perhaps best known for their bold attempts at flight*, but these animals can be every bit as stunning below the waves as above them, as this remarkable photograph reveals. They almost look like an alien invasion. https://gizmodo.com/david-tennant-narrates-a-herd-of-flying-devil-rays-5872124 “The rays were moving quite fast,” writes photographer Eduardo Lopez Negrete, who photographed the mob…

The World’s Biggest Picnic Blanket Is Growing in the Swiss Countryside

An art installation that plans to be the world’s largest picnic blanket is currently checkerboarding its way through the green rolling hills of Switzerland. This summer, about 1,500 picnickers have ventured to the site, which is adorably named BIGNIK. And it’s only going to get bigger. The blanket is the vision of brothers Frank and…

This Is The Closest Thing To A Blade Runner Anime We’ll Ever Get

A gent named Chris Kessler has recreated the original Blade Runner movie trailer with clips from classic anime series AD Police Files and Bubblegum Crisis, and I’ll be damned at how amazingly well it works out. It should be no surprise that late-’80s, early-’90s cyberpunk anime like these two series were influenced immensely by Blade…

Family That Walks On All Fours Not A Product Of ‘Reverse Evolution’

In Turkey, there’s a family with an apparent genetic disorder that causes them to walk on all fours. Scientists have speculated that they’re an example of “devolution” — a backwards step towards our quadrupedal past. A new paper challenges this assumption, offering a far more reasonable explanation. This condition came to light in a 2005…

This is why not everything we call random is actually random

It’s true that the word random is commonly used in English, but do we know what it actually means? Vsause explains it in this video. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

A MagSafe Charger for the iPhone Would Be Awesome

MagSafe is really wonderful tech, the MacBook’s most underrated feature. Wouldn’t it be great on the iPhone too? That’s what the Kickstarter for a charger and battery pack called “Cabin” is shooting for. And even if it never actually happens, it’s a nice fantasy. Cabin won’t upgrade your iPhone to change its charging port or…

In the wake of the EU decision that people have a “right to be forgotten” on Google, Microsoft is now offering Bing users in Europe the chance to request that certain links in search results be removed. And evidently, Yahoo will be next.

Moon Boot Sneakers: Celebrate Apollo 11’s Anniversary in High-Top Style

Forty-five years ago man first set foot on the moon, and to celebrate the anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic mission, GE (of all companies) is releasing a limited edition set of high-top sneakers inspired by the moon boots worn by the astronauts. Working alongside JackThreads and Android Homme, the sneakers not only pay tribute to…

3D-Printed Ice Cream Guarantees the Perfectly Balanced Cone

The MIT students who hacked together a Cuisinart soft-serve machine, a Solidoodle, and a freezer to create this wonderful 3D ice cream printer have no plans to commercialize it; they just built it as a proof-of-concept. And that’s too bad, because if perfected this machine has the potential to engineer a perfect ice cream cone…

Explore a Water Park Built Inside a Huge German Airship Hangar

Drive 45 minutes outside of Berlin, and you’ll find a hulking airship hangar once known as the Aerium—the largest free-standing building in the world. Today, the place is known as Tropical Islands Resort, a family fun hotspot that Casey Neistat and his son recently had the pleasure of visiting. Obviously, they brought back video. The…

Welp, There Go Your Dreams of Android on a Nokia Phone

Just after the news that Microsoft was about to buy it, Nokia let a curious little gadget drop: a Nokia phone running Android. And the Nokia X wasn’t just a one-off curiosity; it even has a successor. But that’s the end of the line. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says no more Android for Nokia. It…

6 Buildings Competing For the UK’s Top Architecture Prize

The Stirling Prize is one of the most prestigious of all architecture awards. Named for the great British architect James Stirling, the prize is given annually from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to a single building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture. The shortlist has just been announced. Although the…

Three Problems That Computers Will Never Be Able to Solve

Computers have advanced terrifically over the decades—but they’re not perfect. Here are three problems that, no matter how good they get, they’ll never be able to figure out. New Scientist has put together this lovely video that summarizes three questions a computer will never crack: the Halting Problem (given a program and its input, a…

Surfing in the arctic circle is a harsh but beautiful experience

This video captures photographer Chris Burkard’s journey to the Arctic Circle to film professional surfers braving sub-zero temperatures. The cold really hurts, but there are moments of raw and aching beauty despite the harsh unforgiving environment. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

A Tent With Built-In LED Lighting Eliminates Midnight Flashlight Hunts

If you’re sleeping out in the woods, and suitably far enough from civilization that you wake up in complete darkness, finding your flashlight to investigate a noise outside your tent can be all but impossible. So tent-maker Big Agnes has announced a new line of temporary abodes featuring LEDs built-in to the framework, ensuring adequate…

Imgur’s had an overhaul, including a new search feature—which let’s you find images by title, tag, image size, and image type—and user-suggested tagging. Basically, it’s way easier to find the right animated GIF now.

Watch a Boeing 787 Dreamliner Pull Some Crazy Stunts

There are certain things we all look for in a huge passenger jet: safety, stability, comfort… but what about some insane acrobatics? Well, you’ll be pleased to see that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner can certainly provide the latter. In between having cracked wings,dribbling fuel and catching fire, you might be surprised to find out that…

An Interactive Chart Showing Which Jobs STEM Majors Really End Up In

What do students who receive a Bachelors degree in a STEM major end up doing with it? The answer, as this chart shows, is all over the place. This interactive chart was put together by the Census, using data on Bachelors degrees and fields of employment from Americans between the ages of 25-64. Interestingly, the…

The Messed-Up Experiment Meant To Induce Crippling Guilt In Children

Do you know when children start to feel guilt? Scientists at the University of Iowa do, because of this little experiment. They gave children a toy, told them that the toy was very special to them, and asked the child to be extremely careful with it. Then the toy broke. The toy, usually a doll…

Darwin’s Entire Library Aboard The HMS Beagle Is Now Available Online

A historian has reconstructed the lost library of books that accompanied Charles Darwin during his five-year scientific voyage across the world, allowing the public to read the more than 400 volumes that served as reference and inspiration for the young naturalist whose theories would revolutionize biology. When Charles Darwin first stepped aboard the HMS Beagle…