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As spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple will trim its iPhone return window from 30 days to 14 as of tomorrow. Carriers had previously offered 14 days, so now at least it’s consistent across the board. Still, for Apple Store customers, that’s less than half the time to decide if parallax effect is right for you. [9to5Mac]

In the future we could use plants to mine the Earth for us

In the future we might not need humans, or even robots, to go down into the Earth and hack out chunks of metal. With a little work, plants might be able to do the mining for us. Which is good news, because mining for metals is tiring and dangerous for a human body. It requires…

How International Human Rights Law Should Be Applied to NSA Spying

This past Monday, the Human Rights Committee commenced its one hundredth and tenth session in Geneva from March 10-28. During this session, the Committee will review the reports of several countries on how they are implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an international human rights treaty and one…

Why do comics always use the same old mythologies?

Full non-Postman disclosure: Because of a delayed flight, a three-hour midnight drive across my home state, a hotel room fire alarm choosing 4:00 am to start warning of its low battery and the subsequent 20-minute disappearance of the front desk staff, I’m running on three hours of sleep. If I sound incoherent or dumb today,…

An Entire Day of All of Europe’s Air Travel, Visualized

This stunning video shows all the flights that cross Europe on a typical summer day. Beautifully animated, it really provides a great insight into the intensity of modern air travel. It was created by NATS, one of the UK’s air traffic control providers. Paul Beauchamp, from NATS, explains how it was made: It’s an amalgamation…

This GIF translation game will take over your day

Is what a particular GIF means to me the same as what it means to you? GIFGIF, an astonishingly-addictive GIF sorting game from MIT’s Media Lab, aims at finding out. Created by MIT grad students Travis Rich and Kevin Hu and The GIFGIF generator works by throwing up two GIFs, pitting them against each other…

A 9,000-year-old “ritual wand” has been discovered in Syria

A Neolithic era staff engraved with two realistic human faces has been discovered near a graveyard where some 30 people were buried without their heads. Archaeologists are now trying to determine what the ancient Syrians used it for. The bone wand was first uncovered during excavations in 2007 and 2009 at a site in southern…

Why Proper Sterlization Procedures Are Used During Lethal Injections

Besides the fact that manufacturers sterilize the needles (so no real extra effort is needed), other sterilization procedures are also used in these executions for good reason. You see, a stay of execution may happen at the last minute. If this happens, but then the condemned later dies from infection, a wrongful death suit could…

Reckon You Can Solve This Million Dollar Math Problem?

Of the seven Millenium Math Problems, each of which is worth $1 million to the person who can solve it, the Riemann hypothesis is perhaps the most difficult to crack. Reckon you’ve got what it takes? In this video, my favorite mathematician, Edward Frenkel, explains the basics of the theorem. If you can puzzle through…

Why do rotten foods taste so awful?

Biting into a rotten piece of fruit or meat is a thoroughly unpleasant experience. According to a 40-year-old theory, it’s because microbes have evolved to taste disgusting as a way to fend off competitors — namely you. But proving this theory has been difficult, until now. Back in 1977, ecologist Daniel Janzen proposed the idea…

Captain America‘s got insanely good buzz, and Gotham gets a logo

Jon Favreau still wants to make Disney’s Magic Kingdom movie. A viral marketing campaign takes us deep inside X-Men: Days of Future Past’s Trask Industries. And Tilda Swinton talks vampire love in Only Lovers Left Alive. Plus, Extant casts Halle Berry’s father! Spoilers now! Top image: X-Men: Days of Future Past Only Lovers Left Alive…

Not All Online Editors Are Made Equal

What you see is possibly perhaps maybe slightly tangentially almost related to what you may or may not get. Or, WYSIPPMSTARTWYMOMNG as I like to call it. [XKCD]

Tim Berners-Lee: We Need an Online Magna Carta

Daddy of the internet Tim Berners-Lee has spoken out in an attempt to enshrine the independence of the world wide web, telling the Guardian that he believes we need an online Magna Carta to protect the rights of its users world wide. Speaking to the newspaper, he said that “we need a global constitution –…

WSJ Reaffirms Rumors That Music Streaming Is Headed to Amazon Prime

Last month, Re/codereported that Amazon was in talks to create a streaming music service to bundle with Prime subscriptions. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reaffirming that rumor. The Journal reports that Amazon is “hoping to offer an on-demand music-streaming service” to Prime customers—but it also cites people familiar with the matter as claiming that…

This Drone Footage of an Erupting Volcano Is Absolutely Nuts

Put your face close to your screen and hit play. This short video, uploaded by YouTuber Shaun O’Callaghan, was shot from a DJI Phantom quad-copter as Yasur volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu erupted. The view is absolutely stunning, but the remarkable thing about this footage is that the copter survived the heat, smoke, debris,…

BBC takes on the history of sci-fi

Episode 2 will tackle space, in all its forms. Topics include the challenges of getting off planet, world-building, travelling vast distances, and the appeal of a gritty future. Shows covered include Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, Left Hand of Darkness, 2001: A Space Odessy, Dune, The Mars Triology, Dark Star, Firefly, and Alien.

Watch an arrow change directions in this simple water optical illusion

Here’s a fun old trick anyone can do: draw arrows on a piece of paper, put a glass in front of those arrows and pour water into the glass. Watch as the arrows you drew magically change directions right before your eyes. Refraction is a mind bending thing. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: I Will Fly

“Dude, you sure you’re ok to drive? Your pupils look a little dilated” ranks among the top three things nobody wants to hear as the third blotter of acid kicks in—directly between, “Please bend of over the examination table and try to relax” and “Sir, step out of the vehicle right meow.” The later, of…

You really don’t want to watch this guy french kissing a king cobra

Seriously, why the hell would anyone want to kiss a cobra snake?* The GIF grosses me out, but the video is even worse. That’s when he actually opens his mouth. Ugh. * I wish someone asked me that question after I met my first wife. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us…

A music video of The White Stripes without the music is so awkward

Here’s another classic musicless music video by Mario Wienerroither. This time, it’s The White Stripes’ The Hardest Button to Button that gets stripped of its audio and remixed with empty noises to sound like real life. It’s a lot more awkward and a lot less revolution rousing! Like two kids playing for change in a…