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Salt Ponds at the Dead Sea

The evaporation ponds at the south end of the Dead Sea produce both sodium chloride and potassium salts. The pond size, and thus salt production, has expanded substantially in response to global demand for salts used in industrial processing. Salt ponds photographed in March 2012. Photography credit: NASA Salt ponds around the world have been…

Natural Disasters, Locks, Tires: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

On this week’s What’s Ruining Our Cities: Locks are the key to Paris’s downfall and tires are popping up in the most unexpected places in Detroit. Plus, a new exhibition is focused exclusively on ruined cities—and the designers that work to save them. Designers are making sure disasters don’t ruin cities We talk a lot…

Developers, Developers, Developers…

Our pal Jason Howie asked Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to disembodied smartphone voice assistants like Siri and Google Now, what she thinks of recently-departed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Turns out Cortana’s not afraid to poke a little fun at Microsoft’s sweaty, revved-up champion of developers. If you’re not sure what she’s referring to, check out this…

Scientists Have Confirmed the Heaviest Metal Ever Observed: Ununseptium

An international team of researchers has just published a paper confirming the existence of element number 117—ununseptium. It’s the heaviest element ever created, with an atom of ununseptium outweighing an atom of lead by 40 percent. Make some room on your periodic table, there’s a new metal in town. Seventy-two scientists and engineers from 16…

Our New Favorite Twitter Account: One Perfect Shot

Historical Twitter accounts are fun, but they’re also lousywith fakes. That’s not a problem with @OnePerfectShot, an account that tweets beautifully framed stills from classic movies. According to creator Geoff Todd, the account’s mission is to “honor the past and… inspire a new generation of perfect shots.” That’s a mission we can believe in. The…

Awesome Ski Jump Video Will Make You Wish for Winter

Pro skier Chris Benchetler and pro snowboarder Kimmy Fasani like to go out and play in the snow in British Columbia. Lucky for us, they wear GoPros when they do—and they capture some sick jumps. You can almost feel the snow hitting your face. Chris and Kimmy make hurtling down a snow-covered mountain look so…

The San Francisco Zoo Got A New Red Panda and He’s Adorable

Next weekend, the San Francisco Zoo will introduce the world to its new 10-month-old male red panda, but we got our hands on some early behind-the-scenes photos of the tiny panda. Yeah, we said panda, because the red panda was formally named and described in the scientific literature before the unrelated giant panda. Did you…

Watch an Unexpectedly Charming Short About an Ambitious Little Volcano

VOLCANO, created by animator Julien Loth, tells the story of a tiny volcano attempting to impress the larger of its kind by erupting. Simple in concept, charming in its execution. And, of course: short, sweet, and to the point. We wish more videos followed this formula. H/t Jennifer Oullette

America’s #1 Morning Show Will Discuss Science, But Not Climate Science

When Scientific American editor Michael Moyer was invited to appear on Fox & Friends, America’s number-one-rated morning show, a producer asked him to talk about future scientific trends. Moyer said he wanted to talk about climate change. He was told to talk about something else. The show had originally asked Moyer to come on air…

Passenger films one of his airplane’s engines on fire

Here’s one horrible nightmare: Sitting on your airplane and seeing one of the engines on fire. That’s what happened to Brad McCoy’s BAE 146 airliner on his way to Barrow Island, Australia, the guy who took this video. Fortunately, the pilot was able to make a successful emergency landing at Perth. Asked if it was…

This wave looks like one giant comfortable mattress

An impressive image of surfer Sean Woolnough on top of a wave, taken by Stuart Gibson in Namotu Island, Fiji, for the Red Bull Illume photo contest. Frozen in time, it looks like a comfy place to lie down and enjoy the sun. Looking for airplane tickets right now. SPLOID is a new blog about…

Solar jet fuel has been created for the first time

Maybe we won’t suck up all of Earth’s resources and destroy our planet just yet. Scientists say that they have created solar jet fuel using just sunlight, water and carbon dioxide for the very first time. That’s basically creating fuel from thin air. It’s a damn impressive feat and puts us closer to the dream…

Further Proof that Kanye Makes Everything Better (or Maybe Worse)

The formula is simple: take one or more already successful intellectual properties, shamelessly rip off some sick beats remix the soundtrack using an existing Kanye West joint, then just sit back and wait for the shitstorm of Kanye fanbois and haters to eviscerate one another’s musical tastes in the discussion section. Hairless cats and maniacal…

This one-cent stamp is ‘The Mona Lisa of stamps’ and worth $20 million

There is art in everything. Value in trash. Millions in the tiniest of things. Take this stamp. Known as the One-Cent Magenta from British Guiana, it’s 158 years old, hasn’t been seen in public since the mid 1980’s and is considered to be the Mona Lisa of stamps. Oh and Sotheby’s expects it to sell…

Another verdict has been reached in another Apple vs Samsung patent battle in the courts. This time Samsung was found to have infringed on two Apple patents and owes nearly $120 million to Apple. Apple, on the other hand, infringed on one Samsung patent but only owes Samsung $158,000.

This Is What Tent Cities Will Look Like After Peak Oil

This tent could one day be your home. It will provide you with shelter from the elements, food, energy, and purified water. Meet the Urban Algae Canopy — perfect for all your environmental apocalypse needs. This prototype is the brainchild of Italian design firm Carlo Ratti Associati, and were previewed during last month’s Milan Design…

Tree takes revenge on guy chopping down the tree by throwing him off

Well, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. A guy cutting down a tree branch gets caught in a gnarly spill when the branch he was cutting down falls and takes him down with it. Nature isn’t too kind when you’re chopping her off, I guess. His co-worker Kurt Stepp, who posted the video (because…

How Location Scouts Discover Where L.A. Can Stand In for Other Cities

Thanks to frequent film and television location shoots, Angelenos can walk the streets of far-off cities without ever setting foot on a plane. As a resident of downtown Los Angeles, I often turn the corner and suddenly find myself transported to Manhattan. Cabs bearing the “NYC TAXI” logo wait at the curb. Actors in NYPD…

These ads explain why books are always better than movies

Everyone with wrinkles on their brains knows that the book is almost always better than the movie. The book can do so much more! Your personal vision is only limited by your imagination! The little details and subtleties are allowed to breath better! These ads explain it rather perfectly saying, “a big part of the…

Reframe Roundup: This Week’s Best Photography Posts

Did you guys know there is a Gizmodo subdomain where you can go for all things photographic? Yep! It’s called Reframe, and it’s where you’ll find additional coverage of gear, techniques, news, and all kinds of great stuff related to the crafts of photography and videography. 10 Amazing Photos From the Museum of Natural History’s…