Latest

Finally, Dudes Can Wear An Awesome R2-D2 Swimsuit Too

Black Milk’s Star Wars-themed swimwear — their R2-D2 one-piece in particular — have been all the nerd rage for women for years now. But where have the men’s swimsuits been? Someone has finally corrected this grave injustice with these new trunks! The good news is that unlike the women’s suit, which is $100, the men’s…

Inflatable Huggable Robots Could Replace Complex Mechanical Automatons

All of those images of a dystopian future where mankind is enslaved by giant robots don’t seem so terrifying if these inflatable air-powered alternatives are realized. Not only do they seem downright adorable and huggable, they’re also incredibly easy to make once a mould has been 3D printed. Inspired by a sea slug, which it…

Why Doctor Who‘s Greatest Challenge Could End In Heartbreak

There are more photos and details from the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Plus Agents of SHIELD already has plans for seasons two and three. And new details from Under the Skin and The Machine. Plus watch more Game of Thrones trailers, and a Walking Dead finale clip. Spoilers right now! Top image: Doctor…

Tracking the pings from Flight MH370

Working with hourly pings that had no meta-data — no GPS, no distance, no speed, no heading — satellite company Inmarsat was able to determine the last known location for Flight MH370. Targeted searches in projected flight path area have turned up possible debris sightings. Inmarasat is a mobile satellite communications company. Their SwiftBroadband service…

9 Paper Buildings By the Winner of Architecture’s Top Prize

Last night, Shigeru Ban became the 37th winner of the “Nobel for architecture,” also known as the Pritzker Prize. Ban is the most exciting winner in recent memory—here’s why. https://gizmodo.com/shigeru-ban-wins-the-pritzker-prize-architectures-hig-1550596664 The 56-year-old architect is far from a star. Rather, he seems like a fairly normal guy, apart from his unique ideas about architecture. Michael Kimmelman…

Terrifying video of a man stuck in a cave as it fills with water

I knew I was going to freak out when I clicked on this video of a man stuck in The Tube, a long thin passage in the Lost Johns’ Cave—a large cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, England—as the water pours in and he panics. Fortunately, he escaped at the end. Note to self: Don’t…

Starting today, Spotify is offering US college students a killer 50 percent discount on its premium service: $5 per month for unfettered access to its on-demand catalog. That’s a great deal.

You Might Have Free Amazon Money Waiting in Your Inbox

If you’re a regular buyer of Kindle ebooks, you want to go check your email; inside, there might just be a little present from Amazon waiting for you. And by “present” I mean “legally mandated compensation to make up for years of price-fixing.” Just like Christmas! Here’s the note going around to Amazon customers this…

The World’s First 3D-Printed Kayak Is Adorably Colorful

The first ever entirely 3D-printed kayak isn’t just an impressive feat of engineering—it’s adorably child-like in its rainbow color scheme, too. Made up of 28, 3D printed sections, each has brass threaded inserts so neighboring sections can be screwed together. A little silicone caulk is used to keep things watertight, and the result is a…

How Testosterone Makes You Hairy

Male or female, most of us have body hair—some far, far more than others. This video explains how testosterone fuels the growth of hair all over your body. Whether you want more of it or less of it—and wherever that may be—the key driver in hair production is the male sex hormone. This video explains…

Quantum Research Shows D-Wave’s Computers Are (Probably) the Real Deal

D-Wave’s quantum computers have certainly demonstrated that they’re capable, but they’ve also received much criticism from scientists. Now, new results show that their technology could be even more solid than they’d claimed in the past. https://gizmodo.com/the-quantum-d-wave-2-is-3-600-times-faster-than-a-super-1532199369 D-Wave takes a different tack to quantum computing than most academics and researchers, favoring an applied approach which makes…

Apple has begun testing a new “related search suggestion” in the App Store, which may actually help make finding things easier. Because, damn, it couldn’t be much worse right now.

Google Deal With Ray-Ban and Oakley Could (Possibly) Make Glass Cool

Google has just signed a deal with Luxottica. You may never had heard of ’em, but they’re the eyewear manufacturer behind the likes of Oakley and Ray-Ban—and they could, maybe, possibly, make Glass cool. Perhaps. The deal will see Luxottica bring “bring design and manufacturing expertise” to Google’s Glass project. Initially focussed on Ray-Ban and…

NYT: Obama Wants to End NSA Bulk Phone Data Collection

The New York Times reports that President Obama is planning to reveal a legislative proposal that will overhaul the NSA’s practices—and put an end to its bulk collection of phone records. The reports suggests that instead of allowing the NSA to gather and store call data, it would remain with phone companies. Further, carriers wouldn’t…

Malaysia Air Officials: MH370 Is Lost Because Nothing Else Makes Sense

In two separate press conferences early this morning, the Australian Defense Minister and the CEO of Malaysia Airlines reiterated that flight MH370 is lost with no survivors, mirroring the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razik’s announcement not 24 hours earlier. But both added one troubling addition: They’ve come to this conclusion because there’s no evidence to…

On March 31, visit your local U.S. theaters for an evening of science!

At the end of this month, 17 independent U.S. theaters will celebrate the connection between movies and science with “Science on Screen.” Science-themed movies will be paired with a related lecture from a scientist. Check the schedule to see if there’s an event in your town! The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation describes the events: With…

Poetry-into-Sound

Another track from the same poetry-into-sound series that yielded Saturday’s Downstream entry (Vernal Drone” by Larry Johnson): Mike J Dayton’s “The Crumbling Ice Temple” takes as its subject a haiku, part of the Naviar Haiku Project. The poem is by Kristjaan Panneman. Dayton’s rendering is all gentle clatter and echoing resonance. Deep Silence In this…

I can’t believe this twisting plane managed to land in such bad weather

The pilot in this twisting and turning plane must be ridiculously disciplined, have palms that never sweat, a personality that never stresses and big brass ones because that’s what it takes to land a plane in such shit weather. The propeller plane landed on the island of Flores in the Azores. Seeing things like this…

Stunning photo of lightning illuminating Earth

Photos of lightning taken from space may be a dime a dozen, but sometimes there are images that are truly extraordinary. Like this one, taken by the Expedition 26 crew with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 180 millimeter lens. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Ice Cream Crush

SugarSweet Ax‘s Ice Cream Crush is equally confounding to both the eyes and the ears. Like Rebecca Black’s Friday but without any discernable form of melodic structure or progression.