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This super nifty one armed robot is better at ping pong than you

It’s no Forrest Gump but this moving one armed robot is plenty good at ping pong. And may be even better than you. Watch it extend its arm to cover ground, cycle through backhand and forehand shots and hit the ball so effortlessly that it seems like an invisible human is controlling it. The DIY…

I don’t recall Indiana Jones IV being so damn terrible (but it is)

I think we can all agree that Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is the very worst of the Indy movies, but I don’t recall it being as bad as this Everything wrong with… episode shows. No, wait, I do now. I just think seeing Indy getting married at the end was…

2 Live Crew: Pretty Woman

While 2 Live Crew is arguably best remembered for their on-stage antics and contentious court battle against obscenity charges, the Miami-based hip-hop group actually played a vital part in creating the Internet we know today—even if they didn’t realize it at the time. The group’s parody of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” landed 2 Live Crew…

What kind of kaiju would attack Paris? How about a giant pigeon?

A quiet Paris day is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a massive feather that floats down into the streets. But that’s just the herald of a greater threat: an enormous pigeon strong enough to topple the city’s most famous landmarks. Ludovic Habas, Mickael Krebs, Florent Rousseau, Yoan Sender, and Margaux Vaxelaire made Douce Menace…

The gates of hell open in this time-lapse video

I just came across this cool old time-lapse video made by scientists from the US Geological Survey: The collapse of the crater floor of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō, one of the cones of the Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii. The video, filmed on March 5, 2011, “starts at 4 am and ends at 11 pm. The floor…

It takes 13 minutes to explain everything wrong with Indiana Jones 4

Hell, I’m surprised that CinemaSins managed to get their assessment of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in under 20. I figured they’d need to spend at least six minutes on Shia LeBoeuf turning into the King of the Monkeys alone.

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. Hear All About the Amazing Cinematography of House of…

Gumdrop, meet Spider

On March 6, 1969, Dave Scott, Rusty Schweickart, and Jim McDivitt tested docking the Apollo 9 Command and Services Module docked with the lunar module. Or, Gumdrop met Spider in a late test that shuffled around crews, changing who would land on the moon. Image credit: NASA

The Cosmological Constant: not-so-constant?

Once again, the infamous cosmological constant is rearing its head. A constant of integration, this mathematical relic has some serious implications for the end of the universe. We thought we had it nailed down from the last batch of observations, but maybe we were measuring the wrong thing. First Einstein set the cosmological constant to…

Meet CUPID: The Drone That Will Shoot You With an 80,000 Volt Taser

Are drones not scary enough for you yet? How about this? A drone helicopter that spots you and identifies you as an intruder. It tells you to stop and put your hands behind your head. Instead, you keep coming. The drone then shoots you with barbed Taser darts that pump 80,000 volts into you. If…

Now Available: Roland Aira, Letterman Jacket For Your Moto X

Two cool new things you can spend your hard-earned dollars on showed up this week, and they’re both (potentially) very neon green. Roland Aira Roland teased this lineup of all-digital, retro-sounding production and performance machines for a long time, and when we got our hands on them we fell in love with the sounds they…

This Tree-like Building Sprouts Balconies Instead of Branches

This magical, 17-story tower is set to rise in Montpellier, France, after Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto won a competition to design it this week. The complex’s name? L’Arbre Blanc, or “the White Tree.”

1995: Artist’s concept painting of a future expedition on Mars’ moon Phobos. The explorer on the left is using a personal spacecraft which is anchored to the soil, while the explorer on the right examines a boulder that might weigh 1,000 pounds on Earth, and just a pound on Phobos. [Illustration by Pat Rawlings for…

Turn Google Earth Images Into All-Terrain Area Rugs

We’ve seen rugs that let you cruise through the cosmos in your slippers, but these lovely floor coverings take a more terrestrial approach. Each of the one-meter-square samples is hand-tufted to depict a small glimpse of the world as viewed from Google Earth. Portugal, 2013 It’s a beautiful concept in itself—the idea that we could…

A round moon with a square crater

The moon is full of craters both large and small, but typically they come in only one shape: round. So why are scientists spotting square craters on the moon?

Lobster burger on mac-n-cheese buns and other mind-blowing burgers

Pornburger is a new site that will make you drool and crave for a delicious atomic burger that would make Godzilla happy. I just want each and everyone of these burgers, like a burger bukkake. I want to stuff my face with them, I want to date them, I want to bathe in them, I…

Texans get set to kill thousands of rattlesnakes in annual festival

Thousands of snakes will be killed in the 56th Rattlesnake RoundUp this coming weekend in Sweetwater, Texas. It’s a barbaric and environmentally reckless festival that’s also startlingly reminiscent of a classic Simpson’s episode. It’s the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup (yes, there are others), and it was started as a way to control the over-population of…

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

Well folks, the weekend’s nearly here. Time to kick back and spend some quality time decompressing with your Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone. Is that a smartphone in your pocket or are you just happy it’s the weekend? Android QuizUp The astoundingly popular trivia game came to Android this week, making the pool of potential…

New Law Could End Killer Whale Shows in California

New legislation being proposed in California would begin to phase out the keeping of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in captive environments in the state. Democratic Assemblymember Richard Bloom of the state’s fiftieth district announced the bill this morning at a press conference on the Santa Monica Pier. The bill, AB 2140, is informally called the…

The Last 2 Vampire Diaries Characters You Expected to Break Your Heart

The Vampire Diaries is still good for a ton of wacky plot twists, betrayals and reversals, but the actual story has gotten more and more muddled this season. And yet, sometimes, the show still serves up moments like this one — an unexpected jolt of total insane heartbreak, from the two most unexpected characters. Spoilers…