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Train Your Brain to Get Smarter, Faster

Though we can’t all hope to match Sherlock Holmes’ preternatural deduction abilities and knack for witty repartee, with a little practice you can build a Mind Palace just as lavish as the famed detective’s. Here’s how you can improve your memory and reasoning skills in your free time. Techniques In the latest BBC spin on…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Mar 15 '14

This fascinating auditory illusion transforms normal speech into music

Turn your speakers on and listen up – it’s experiment time. Sometimes, the only thing separating speech from music is repetition, and the speech-to-song illusion proves it. In an outstanding feature published over at Aeon, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis – director of the music cognition lab at the University of Arkansas – explores why humans so…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 15 '14

The space-time continuum in carpet-format

A games shop in Paris embraced the rubber-sheet metaphor of space-time to guide their interior design. The illusion is so convincing I can imagine shoppers occasionally stumble when their eyes and feet disagree about where exactly to expect the floor. My only quibble is that I wish the display consoles were in the center of…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Mar 15 '14

Take two minutes to watch this bloody astronaut-on-alien battle

Take a heavy dose of Alien, add a lamprey-shaped monster and a bit of shag carpeting, and you’ve got Malaise, a fast and fun short film about an astronaut fleeing the hungry creature aboard her ship. Daniel Beaulieu made Malaise as his final project for Vancouver Film School’s 3D animation program. Alien is a clear…

io9 Lauren Davis Mar 15 '14

Torrent Site Popcorn Time, Shut Down Yesterday, Is Alive Again

That was quick. After closing up shop yesterday among the usual copyright questions, and just a week after its first launch, Popcorn Time is back. TorrentFreak has the story of how the project, abandoned by its founders, will live on at the hands of YTS developers. In a conversation with TorrentFreak, YTS developer Jduncanator assures…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Mar 15 '14

Do Want: Handmade Octopus Tentacle Jewelry

Kaity O’Shea is a Los Angeles based artist who loves making badass tentacle jewelry out of polymer clay. Seriously, her work is kind of fantastic. These pictures of items from her collection come from O’Shea’s DeviantART page, but you can score something for yourself on her Etsy and Facebook pages. Personally, we’re rather fond of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 15 '14

Finally, we meet the Darth Vader of Helix

Helix is at its best during crazy, grossout action scenes, and last night’s episode played to this strength big time. Not only did we meet the ultimate Big Bad posthuman, but the science got so campy that it felt a little bit like Speed Racer meets Darth Vader. And that was kind of great. Spoilers…

Television Annalee Newitz Mar 15 '14

Malaysian Prime Minister: Missing Plane Was Deliberately Diverted

In a news conference on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 today, Prime Minister Najib Razak declared that the plane was deliberately diverted from its prescribed route to Beijing, flying up to seven hours after takeoff, says The New York Times. Malaysian authorities have released a map plotting the plane’s last satellite signals somewhere along two…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Mar 15 '14

What if Helen Mirren had been cast as the 13th Doctor?

Artist Kevin Wada always paints the most stylish superheroes, and when he imagines Helen Mirren as Doctor Who’s Thirteenth Doctor, he adds flourish and flair to Peter Capaldi’s costume. We’re excited for Capaldi’s Doctor, but Helen Mirren certainly would have cut a dashing figure in the role. Helen Mirren, the 13th Doctor [Kevin Wada on…

io9 Lauren Davis Mar 15 '14

Google Play Made it Slightly Harder to Blow Money on In-App Purchases

Good news for habitual in-app spenders (or their parents): Android Police says Google’s newest Play store update lets you curb spending by opting to require a password for every in-app upgrade. It may not actually stop you, but hopefully it’ll make you stop and think. Maybe. The latest Google Play update lets you choose between…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Mar 15 '14

This Lego video might give you an orgasm (and cure you of insomnia)

This Lego build of the Burj Khalifa may cure you of insomnia, and possibly give you an orgasm. According to Health24 “filmed in a certain way, seemingly ordinary acts like this can cause your brain to flip out and enter an orgasmic state.” It’s called autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) and it’s pretty awesome. The…

Tech News Tatiana Danger Mar 15 '14

These optical helmets are like funhouse mirrors for your face

The optical helmets of Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee are delightfully creepy. Carefully positioned lenses of varying surface curvature make dysmorphic playthings of the wearers’ features – shriveling mouths, inflating noses, and multiplying eyes in cartoonish displays that are as captivating as they are disturbing. The helmets are part of Lee’s ongoing series of wearable, body–modifying…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 15 '14

Listen to JH Williams III talk about Sandman in San Francisco tonight!

Folks who are in the Bay Area tonight can stop by San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum, where artist J.H. Williams III will be talking about Sandman: Overture and offering a sneak peek at the second issue. The Cartoon Art Museum has been running its 25th anniversary celebration of Neil Gaiman’s comic series Sandman since October,…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis Mar 15 '14

The Ninja Turtles Revisit the 1980s in an Hour-Long Special

This week in the world of cartoons we take a look at a cringe-inducing (but very funny) episode of Rick and Morty, a double-episode of Adventure Time that aired earlier in the week, what looks to be a very interesting TMNT season finale, and more! As always – minor spoilers ahead! Teen Titans Go! –…

io9 Keith Veronese Mar 15 '14

Ball of fire illuminates Earth in unbelievable photo taken from space

This truly outstanding photo taken from the International Space Station shows the Japanese HTV-4 spacecraft illuminating the Earth’s clouds as it disintegrates in the atmosphere during re-entry. Unbelievable shot. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sploid Jesus Diaz Mar 15 '14

Stunning Titanfall intro sequence makes me wish there was a full movie

Not only is Titanfall, the video game that everyone can’t stop talking about, an incredibly fun game that surpasses the hype, it also has this fantastic cinematic intro sequence that makes me almost wish I could watch the movie version of Titanfall instead of playing the video game. The sequence was made by Spov Design…

Sploid Casey Chan Mar 15 '14

Watching adorable dogs kissing for the first ti—ok, that’s enough

OK, folks, we started this whole strangers kissing viral craze and we have had enough of it. This video of dogs kissing for the first time is the end of this stupid trend. They are not models and they like to sniff each other’s butts and that’s all we need. Enough is enough, people. Carry…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Mar 15 '14

The awesome futuristic vehicle designs of Daniel Simon

I never get tired of Daniel Simon’s design work, the man behind the vehicle design in Tron Legacy, Oblivion, the Lotus C-01 motorbike. His classic Cosmic Motors series are amazing.

Tech News Jesus Diaz Mar 15 '14

Take an Uninhibited Dive into an Artist’s Psyche (NSFW: Nudity)

Performance art of the highest caliber is that which leaves the audience stunned, speechless, and wondering, “Lol, da fuq did i jus watch?” Here is one such example from Natalia Sliwowska.

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Mar 15 '14

I want to drive all these fantastic vehicles through a hundred worlds

I’m a huge fan of the work of Daniel Simon, the design wizard behind the spectacular vehicle design in Tron Legacy, Oblivion, the Lotus C-01 motorbike, and countless other machines—like his outstanding Cosmic Motors series. Whenever I look at that his Cosmic Motors book I can’t stop myself from imagining driving his creations in alien…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Mar 14 '14

Train Your Brain to Get Smarter, Faster

This fascinating auditory illusion transforms normal speech into music

The space-time continuum in carpet-format

Take two minutes to watch this bloody astronaut-on-alien battle

Torrent Site Popcorn Time, Shut Down Yesterday, Is Alive Again

Do Want: Handmade Octopus Tentacle Jewelry

Finally, we meet the Darth Vader of Helix

Malaysian Prime Minister: Missing Plane Was Deliberately Diverted

What if Helen Mirren had been cast as the 13th Doctor?

Google Play Made it Slightly Harder to Blow Money on In-App Purchases

This Lego video might give you an orgasm (and cure you of insomnia)

These optical helmets are like funhouse mirrors for your face

Listen to JH Williams III talk about Sandman in San Francisco tonight!

The Ninja Turtles Revisit the 1980s in an Hour-Long Special

Ball of fire illuminates Earth in unbelievable photo taken from space

Stunning Titanfall intro sequence makes me wish there was a full movie

Watching adorable dogs kissing for the first ti—ok, that’s enough

The awesome futuristic vehicle designs of Daniel Simon

Take an Uninhibited Dive into an Artist’s Psyche (NSFW: Nudity)

I want to drive all these fantastic vehicles through a hundred worlds

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