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Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

Well hey there, weekend. You sure are lookin’ good. I brought you a gift. I brought you the best apps of the week. I hope you like them. Multi-Platform Updates Tunnel X Want to really make sure your private text messages stay private? Tunnel X links its users in a direct, 100-percent private, encrypted conversation.…

Does Anyone Really Understand The Angel War In Dominion?

No. The answer is no. Also YIIIIIKES, that last scene. There are two subjects I want to talk about from last night’s Dominion. First, there’s the fact that the angel war has all these stupid arbitrary rules for certain angels and not others and it just makes no sense at all. Second is the killing…

Snowpiercer Is Out On Demand Today, Just Weeks After Hitting Theaters

Snowpiercer looks like a badass movie. Like if Blade Runner had sex with Speed. The sci-fi film has great reviews, an intriguing plot about hardscrabble future people engaging in class warfare on a really fast cold-weather train, and Tilda Swinton. But with a limited theatrical release, it hasn’t been very easy to see. That’s about…

Smoke From Canada’s Copious Wildfires As Seen From Space

Canada is currently experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons ever. The active fires blazing in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Alberta are spewing tremendous amounts of smoke into the atmosphere, affecting weather patterns in both Canada and the United States. This gorgeous shot was taken by the NOAA’s GOES-west satellite on July 9,…

This Ad for a Homeless Shelter Turns Into a Mini Homeless Shelter

A curious ad campaign recently popped up in Vancouver. The backs of park benches have become billboards for Raincity Housing, a nonprofit that helps the homeless. But they’re not just advertisements for a homeless shelter. Some of the ads actually transform into little shelters. “Find Shelter Here” reads the convertible billboard. When you flip it…

“This Story Throws You In The Deep End — And That’s A Very Good Thing”

Not every story needs to start out with an ordinary, relatable person discovering a strange world. Sometimes, it’s great to follow a character who’s already steeped in the weirdness, and get caught up in the action right away. What’s your favorite story that shoves you straight into its weird world, with no hand-holding? This is…

A Surprisingly Poignant Short Comic Set In A Side-Scrolling Video Game

What happens when a video game character can’t move either forward or backward in a side-scrolling game? This comic reveals the answer—and just might make you cry. You can see the first few panels of Shenanigansen’s comic We Go Forward below to get an idea of our protagonist’s predicament. Check out the rest over at…

What If H.R. Giger Had Designed Galactus?

The Devourer of Worlds becomes even more nightmarish in this fan art mashup. This week’s drawing challenge at Comics Should Be Good’s The Line It Is Drawn asks, “What if comic characters had different creators?” One reader asked to see what and H.R. Giger-created Galactus and artist Axel Medellin obliged with this piece of horror.…

This Topographic Calendar Turns Your To-Do List Into an Actual Mountain

If you’re finding yourself overwhelmed with all the work on your plate, it’s probably a bad idea to keep track of it all on this lovely calendar Land Rover has made. Using the topography elevation lines you’d find on a 2D map as inspiration, this calendar ends up looking like a genuine miniature mountain on…

Dusting the Exterior of Skylab

In 1973, astronaut Owen Garriott clambered around outside of Skylab to collect interplanetary dust particles. Because dusting isn’t just a household chore when you’re in space; it’s an opportunity to collect samples for science. Skylab was the first American space station. The list of mishaps that plagued the station is a story for another day,…

We Went to Scotland To See How Real Scotch Is Born

Among connoisseurs, scotch whisky is heralded as a complex delicacy. Listen in on a tasting: You’ll swear they’re describing an entire dinner entree, not a sip of booze. But scotch distillers need only three ingredients—and a barrel-full of technique—to make that magical elixir, as I learned while touring the Aberlour distillery in Scotland. The folks…

How Hemlock Grove Will Top Last Year’s Psychotic Werewolf Transformation

The most memorable thing about season one of Hemlock Grove was the batshit transformationof a human into a wolf. How can this show beat that thrill this time around? By going even more crazy with the “wolf-face exploding out of human face” action. And by reversing the process. This featurette shows Eli Roth and VFX…

Here’s What It Really Means When Astronomers Say “Earth-like Planet”

In June, the media went wild. A planet had been discovered that was so much like Earth it was heralded as our best bet for supporting life. Positioned 16 light years away, Gliese (or GJ) 832c was a mere hop from home, too. How did the press get it so completely wrong? The original journal…

Why Medium Format Is So Gorgeous (It’s About More Than Resolution)

One of the biggest reasons to shoot film nowadays is medium format, an option that yields gorgeous results but whose digital counterpart is wildly expensive. It’s well known that medium format offers an increase in resolution and print size, but there are other advantages that make it a unique tool in a photographer’s repertoire. The…

I want to spend summer and my entire life in this awesome house

I want to move to any of these Villae Minimae—small villas—a collection of five isolated single-family houses perched in beautiful, hard to access places created by theItalian studio LAD. Then I want to become a Bond villain. The projects have in common a provocative and utopian approach. All projects are based on the distortion of…

U-Boats, Spies, and White Magic: The Invention of Wireless Cryptography

The wireless telegraph station in Sayville, New York was one of the most powerful in the world. Constructed by the German company Telefunken in 1912, it served as a transatlantic relay point for diplomatic messages and business communications. It was a beacon among amateur wireless enthusiasts around the United States who could tune their home-made…

Inducing hypothermia in oxygen-deprived newborns can protect them from brain damage. Researchers cooled infants to 33–34°C for 72-hours within 6 hours of birth. Treated babies were 60% more likely to have normal intelligence, hearing and vision, and had better mental and physical health through 7 years of age.

Wombat poop is cube-shaped

Wombats are adorable. These wonderful marsupials are native to Australia and it seems all they want in life is some good food and a nice cuddle. Oh, and they also have cubic poo. Which is a fun fact™. From Learning About Animal Behavior: Wombats have a long digestive process which takes about 14-18 days (Philip…

MIT Thinks Lighting Drones Could Be the Perfect Photography Assistants

If you’ve ever been to a photography set, you’ve probably noticed how much time the photographer and their assistants take to perfectly position the lighting—only to have their efforts foiled when the model moves. That’s why researchers at MIT are proposing using drones as lighting, as they can constantly ensure they’re always in the perfect…

These autonomous, floating robots are embarking on their first trip out along the Alaskan coast. They are headed out on a 5-month expedition to survey the melting glaciers, which researchers have long suspected are contributing to ocean acidification in the area.