Latest

What if the Most Interesting Man in the World Was a Head of Cauliflower

I don’t always eat my vegetables, but when I do, I prefer to pick around the cauliflower. What? Who wants to give that albino broccoli wanna-be the satisfaction?

How Rendezvous with Rama Might Look As A CG Film

Inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and based on an illustration by Andre Freitas, the CGI artists at Lightfarm Studios created “The Verge” by matte painting over 100 aerial photographs and creating a 3D model of the floating astronaut. And the artists didn’t just model the spacesuit; there’s a digital man inside. You…

Trying to cross the street in Vietnam is just crazy

If you don’t walk with confidence, you’ll never cross the street. One bit of hesitation and you’re going to cause a massive scooter crash. You have to treat your body like a car. Or at least a moped. Or at least a helmet. If you don’t hit them, they won’t hit you. Or something like…

Watch This Trailer For The Anti-D&D Movie Dark Dungeons Or Satan Wins

We previously brought you the news that Dark Dungeons, the legendary Jack Chick tract that exposed the sinister truth that playing Dungeons & Dragons is a one-way ticket to hell, was becoming a movie. Now behold the first trailer, and make a saving throw against the devil! This movie looks fantastic, mostly because it appears…

Alton Brown shows you how to make your own delicious peanut butter

Why make your own? Because it’ll taste better than any store bought chunky or creamy crap you buy from the store and it’s not that hard to do yourself! Or at least, not that hard for an Alton Brown recipe. Just fry peanuts with peanut oil in a wok, let them cool down and then…

How the heart actually works

It pumps blood. Duh. Well, for most of history, people were unsure what the heart’s main function was. Even Leonardo Da Vinci gave up studying it and he’s probably one of the five smartest guys ever. Even now, it’s not as easy as it should be to find out how the ticker works. Don’t worry,…

The Moon Seen from the Space Station is Beyond Breathtaking

The Earth seen from space is always awe-inspiring, but the view of the moon from the International Space Station caught me without words. This photo is courtesy of NASA astronaut and former International Space Station resident and Douglas Wheelock, who posted it to Twitter. Of course the view is enchanting. (You can read all about…

This Is The Best Smackdown Of Pat Sajak That You’ll Read. Ever.

There have been some awesome responses to Pat Sajak’s “global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists” tweet. But, nothing can compare to this blog post by Marshall Shepherd, past president of the American Meteorological Society. Shepherd’s experience also includes twelve years as a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and serving on the NOAA…

Dogs Love Sidecars

Watch The Film Godzilla Director Gareth Edwards Made In Just 48 Hours

Before he directed Godzilla—or even Monsters—Gareth Edwards made this moody short science fiction film. More impressively, he wrote, filmed, and edited the entire thing in just two days. Edwards made Factory Farmed for the 2008 SCI-FI-LONDON 48hr Film Challenge. Edwards’ team, Rebel Alliance, was given the title and told to include a clear bottle with…

A Free Preview Screening Of This Year’s Sundance Rave The Signal

Three young geeks travel in the desert, looking for clues to the location of the legendary hacker Nomad, but find something… weirder. The Signal got rave reviews at Sundance, and if you’re in San Francisco you can see a free preview screening of this Twilight Zone-esque thriller next Thursday the 29th at 7:30 PM. https://gizmodo.com/sundance-roundup-part-2-the-indie-movies-everyone-is-b-1507647850…

The Livestock Of The Future Will Be Insects

When you think of livestock, cattle, pigs, and sheep are probably the first animals to spring to mind. But it might be time to start thinking smaller. No, not chickens. Even smaller: Insects. Entomologist, and edible insect expert, Arnold van Huis joined us today to take our questions about why (and how) we would all…

The curious story of why the Jedi are called Jedi

If you’re a cinema fan you may know part of this story but, if you aren’t, this video is a summary of how American westerns influenced the samurais of Akira Kurosawa—and how the samurais of Akira Kurosawa influenced that galactic western known as Star Wars. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us…

These Sequoia Trees Are Thriving 175 Miles South of Their Natural Range

Giant sequoias don’t take root just anywhere. In fact, these majestic trees grow only in 67 isolated groves in the Sierra Nevada—”Goldilocks groves” where soil and climatic conditions are just right. So how can these notoriously picky trees be not only growing but thriving in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California, some 175 miles…

Argon the robot got some attention from Jacqueline Tirman, an attendee of a national computer conference, at the New York Coliseum on June 4, 1979. Ms. Tirman is holding a hairbrush above Argon’s head. The robot greeted people and “has a computer, moves on an internal tracking system, and turns his head 360 degrees,” according…

Physicists say that slowly collapsing wormholes could be used to send messages through time. Calculations show that the tube-like shape of wormholes could remain open long enough to be safely traversed by pulses of light, and thus allow for faster-than-light communication.

In My Real Children, Two Believable Versions of the 20th Century

Can the humble romantic choices of one woman alter the course of global politics? That’s the question at the heart of Jo Walton’s fascinating alternate history character study, My Real Children. The book is a masterpiece of personal and political worldbuilding. Like Walton’s last novel, the award-winning Among Others, My Real Children can easily be…

Science. It Works (Occasionally), Bitches.

Via the delightful webcomic Twisted Doodles comes the perfect rebuttal to one of the most incessantly quoted XKCD comics of all time. For everyone who’s ever made a sacrifice to the PCR Gods (for they are angry, capricious gods) – this one’s for you. See more on the Twisted Doodles Tumblr and Facebook page. http://www.twisteddoodles.com/

Sometimes Even A Well-Trained Dragon Runs Away

Can’t wait for the How To Train Your Dragon sequel? Here’s a glimpse of the new tie-in comic book, to tide you over. The Dragons: Riders of Berk comic will come out quarterly from Titan Comics starting May 27, and we’ve got a few exclusive pages below. The comic is written by Transformers mastermind Simon…

An Interactive Tour Of London’s Greatest Scientific Experiments

Most London walking tours seem to deal with pubs, macabre histories of plague and murder or, more recently, Sherlock Holmesmania. So, I was glad to see this tour map highlighting some of the city’s most important—and intriguing—scientific breakthroughs. The map spans five centuries, including alchemy, Ben Franklin’s lightning rod experiments, John Snow’s investigation of cholera,…