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Who Are You? Introduce Yourself To Us!

We’re doing an introductions-thread, today! So take a moment and tell us: Who are you? It’s been just over six-months since we first asked you to tell us a little about yourself. Tell us — either again or for the first time, whether you’ve been here for years or if this is your first comment…

Researchers have discovered 500 million-year-old fossilized embryos. Dating back to the Cambrian Explosion, they emerged during a time when most phyla of marine invertebrates first appeared. The discovery is offering a rare opportunity for scientists to study the origin and development of our planet’s oldest animals. Image: University of Missouri.

First Look At Splinter From The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie

Holy hell, the new Master Splinter is actually kind of terrifying. He looks like a real-life giant rat with a sword, from his pink little ears to his big, black eyes. Take a look. A brand new commercial for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot dropped revealing a brief, first look at Master Splinter, along…

Can You Create a Perfectly Silent Space?

Imagine a place with no noise whatsoever: no sound, no light, no radio—hell, no Wi-Fi. How on Earth would you go about creating it? First, you’d need no air in the space; second, it would have to be isolated from the ground; third, it would need to be entirely insulated from external sources of noise.…

An Incredibly Life-Like Reconstruction Of A 400 Million-Year-Old Plant

Using little more than a flattened fossil, researchers from UC Berkeley have created a stunningly life-like computer rendering of a long-extinct lycopod. A quick glance at this primordial plant reveals a very alien-looking species. The computer rendering was compiled by graduate student Jeff Benca. “Typically, when you see pictures of early land plants, they’re not…

Harrison Ford Revealed His Powerful Opinion On Who Shot First

During a Reddit AMA to promote his new movie Years of Living Dangerously, Harrison Ford was of course — of course asked for his thoughts regarding the eternal debate of who truly shot first in Star Wars. Ford did not disappoint. I think we would all like to know: Who shot first? Han Solo or…

Banksy’s Latest Depicts Spying, Right Outside the UK Intelligence HQ

What’s alleged to be Banksy’s latest piece of artwork has popped up on the side of a house in Cheltenham, and it depicts security agents spying on a public phone—right round the corner from the UK’s intelligence center, GCHQ. The graffiti appeared first thing Sunday morning, reports the Gloustershire Echo. Karen Smith, who owns the…

Major Plot Reveals From Transformers 4 and Godzilla!

James Cameron denies that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be joining the cast of the Avatar sequels. Pretty much the last crossover you ever expected will be hinted at on Arrow. And the final season of True Blood will spend a fair amount of time in Bill’s past. Plus, a wild rumor about the possible return of…

This Stellar Sperm Is Swimming Through Space

This bright blue sperm, in fact a swirling mass of dust and gas, doesn’t need an egg to impregnate: it’s producing baby stars all by itself. The tadpole-shaped clump of stellar matter—IRAS 20324+4057 to its friends—is actually home to a number of protostars. You can see some in the ‘head’ of the sperm, and one…

Cutting-Edge Cancer Research: Cannibalism, Zombies & Suicidal Cells

Cancer research is tough stuff—but it’s also surprisingly gruesome, too. This Sci Show video explains how the latest insights into curing the disease include cannibalism, zombies and suicidal cells. Don’t worry, it’s not on the human level: these findings are all about what happens to cells. But it’s fascinating to hear about the weird and…

Before the iPhone Launched, Android Didn’t Support Touchscreens

It’s virtually impossible to imagine now, but back when the iPhone was launched in 2007, Google wasn’t planning to make Android for touchscreen devices. Revealed in court documents that form part of the current Apple-Samsung legal argument, a Google report explains that Android “was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption.…

NYT: Obama Lets the NSA Exploit Some Internet Flaws

Over the weekend, it was revealed that President Obama thinks that when the National Security Agency discovers major flaws in Internet security, they should be allowed to exploit it if there’s a “a clear national security or law enforcement need.” The comment was revealed to the New York Times by “senior administration officials” on Saturday.…

Here’s Why Flies Are Some Of The More Terrifying Critters Around

A list in which parasitism is the least objectionable behavior is a list you know you want to read.

How Do You Get People To Care About Dogs Pooping Where They Shouldn’t?

The answer, some scientists hope, is to tell them how much everyone’s dogs’ poop weighs, and how much it costs to clean that shit up when it lands where it shouldn’t. For instance: There are 8-million dogs in the UK. Guess how much crap they produce on a daily basis. A ton? Fifty tons? Five-hundred…

How To Watch This Week’s Total Lunar Eclipse

Late Monday night/early Tuesday morning will be an incredible time for skygazing. Not only is Mars bigger and brighter than it’s been in more than six years, you’ll also be able to witness the first total lunar eclipse of 2014. Here’s how to watch. Photo Credit: NASA What The last total lunar eclipse to be…

Using X-Rays To Peer Inside Ancient Art Objects

Photographer David Maisel—widely known for his incredible aerial work, including a breath-taking project recently shot in Spain—has opened a new show in New York exploring the otherwise invisible insides of culturally important art objects. Called History’s Shadow, it is on display at the Yancey Richardson Gallery until May 10, 2014. As Maisel describes it, the…

Bringing The Science To Your Dog’s Poo

Dog poo is a problem. The problem is of the “tragedy of the commons” variety, an economic theory that describes what happens when individuals each act rationally according to their own self-interest, and yet the group as a whole suffers the depletion of some common resource. The resource in this case, obviously, is the ability…

“Three Cats One Meat” Teaches Us to Always Be the Middle Cat

This video might just contain all the answers to life. Three cats are given a single piece of meat, and while two cats play tug of war, the third just starts gnawing at the center. That’s some impressive problem solving. The two bigger cats are stuck in a live re-enactment of Newton’s Third Law, while…

Berlin Is Threatened From Below By Its Rising Water Table

While the American West stumbles forward into an already dangerous drought—and it’s barely even summer—Berliners are simply not using enough water. This means that the city’s water table is now on the rise, and it’s beginning to threaten the city’s buildings from below. Some basements have already been affected. As The Economist explains, “Since the…

The Infrastructural Mystery at the End of Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys

What an awesome way to end a book: literally in the last paragraph, Michael Lewis’s excellent Flash Boys drops a weird infrastructural mystery—and this gives away no spoilers—right when you were ready to turn out the light and go to sleep. But there, in the final six sentences, Lewis lights a fire. The Weird World…