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The SpaceX Launch Is Sending Dinosaur Microbes to the Space Station

The SpaceX Dragon capsule that just left Earth for the International Space Station is carrying many an important item: a new laser communication system, coffee (which they just ran out of!), a planter for fresh produce, and billions and billions of microbes swabbed from dinosaur bones, sneakers, and spacecraft clean rooms. Over the next few…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang Apr 18 '14

Rebranding Weed So It’s Not Just For Potheads Anymore

With marijuana legal in two states and approved for medicinal use in about 20 more, this year’s 4/20 is gonna be epic, bro! But even as marijuana is being embraced by the mainstream, its image has been left behind in the 1960s. It’s time to rebrand weed. Our evolving relationship with pot might be progressive,…

Tech News Alissa Walker Apr 18 '14

Neat cover of Happy made using Vine and multiple iPhones

This guy discovered that one measure of Happy is six seconds, exactly like a Vine clip. He then used Vine to record himself and his friends playing different instruments and singing, creating this perfect symphony using multiple iPhones. I’m getting near my point of saturation with Pharrell William’s Happy, but I still have a few…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Apr 18 '14

2,500 Flaming Gas Burners Make This One Awesome Audio Visualizer

Remember Winamp’s wonderful audio visualizers? They let you see your music through trippy ever-evolving patterns, but they couldn’t hold a flame to this Pyro Board, which trades animations for a glowing grid of flames produced by 2,500 gas burners. Awesome first, safety second. We’ve seen similar devices before, but this new video gives us a…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Apr 18 '14

The High-Tech Sensors That Keep Track of L.A.’s Weather

When Dallas Raines or the Times’ weather page reports that it was 92 degrees in Los Angeles yesterday, their data likely come from one source: the National Weather Service’s downtown Los Angeles station on the University of Southern California (USC) campus. Wedged between Vermont Avenue and USC’s tennis courts on land leased from the university,…

Tech News Nathan Masters Apr 18 '14

What Movie Is Only Good With The Sound Off And Loud Music Blasting?

We’re living in a new golden age for movies that look pretty as fuck. A ton of big Hollywood releases feature insane imagery, but the story isn’t really worth paying attention to. Which movie is absolutely the best to watch with the sound off and your favorite music blasting at top volume? Please include a…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Apr 18 '14

Italy Wants to Turn Its Old Bridges into Inverted Skyscrapers

Southern Italy is dotted with hulking aqueducts that went out of service years ago. In an attempt to find a new use for the structures in lieu of tearing it down, the government held a competition. One of the winning designs will blow your mind. This proposal to repurpose an abandoned concrete viaduct in Calabria…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Apr 18 '14

The Weird U.S. Government Projects That Have Been Named BATMAN

Government researchers must have a Batman fetish. Perhaps that explains why so many have named their projects after him—it’s federally-funded cosplay. The question is why this odd bunch of projects bear the Dark Knight’s name. There’s no denying that, among superheroes, the Dark Knight ranks especially high on the “coolness” factor. After all, he’s rich,…

io9 Mark Strauss Apr 18 '14

Driving the Past, For the Future of Car Design

This week the Ford Mustang, perhaps America’s most culturally influential car, turned 50. Ford Motor Company celebrated the anniversary with commemorative models and publicity stunts, but the company’s top two designers had the most fitting tribute: A Michigan-to-NYC road trip in two classic Mustangs. I rode along and, while the vehicles were vintage, the conversation…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Apr 18 '14

The fastest way to take off your t-shirt

This guy claims this is the fastest way to take off your t-shirt. It looks pretty damn fast to me, although guys with tight t-shirts will not be able to use this trick. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sploid Jesus Diaz Apr 18 '14

Layers of Inflatable Balls Might Just Make This the Greatest Bed Ever

Forget those individually-wrapped coil spring beds that can shrug off bouncing bowling balls, the Balluga—a mattress made of layer upon layer of computer-controlled inflatable spheres—could be the most comfortable place you’ve ever rested your head. And with a laundry list of other lavish features, you may never have a reason to get up. Because the…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Apr 18 '14

When A Sleepy California Town Was At The Center of War in the Pacific

The newsmen ignored the Japanese bombs shaking seventy-five feet of rock above their heads. It was June 1940, and a team of Chinese and Western broadcasters continued their reports from a tunnel beneath Chongqing, China’s wartime capital, the “world’s most bombed city.” Seven thousand miles away, in Ventura, a dentist woke early to listen to…

Tech News Bill Lascher Apr 18 '14

Ugly but Successful: Delayed SpaceX Launch Makes Orbit

After the original April 14th launch attempt was delayed, the SpaceX launch of Falcon 9 waited out ominous weather and made it into orbit this afternoon. Although successful, this is the first launch I’ve seen with a complete dearth of beautiful photographs. Everything ended up where they expected it to, so… Success! Another launch made…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Apr 18 '14

New Hurricane Forecast Maps Can Warn You Of Impending Floods

More than half of all hurricane-related deaths are caused by storm surges, yet few consider it a factor when trying to decide whether or not to evacuate their homes. But starting this hurricane season, national forecasters will warn people using color-coded storm surge maps. No doubt, storm surges are a serious issue. Along vulnerable coasts,…

io9 George Dvorsky Apr 18 '14

When Vegetarians Tried To Build A Utopia of Octagonal Houses in Kansas

If you begin looking into the history of vegetarianism, you’ll find that Kansas pops up over and over again. The state was once the planned site for a particularly striking vegetarian utopia: Octagon City. Its strict geometric plan was a grand, city-scale expression of a mid-18th century fad for octagon houses. You won’t find eight…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Apr 18 '14

Scientists Have Cloned Embryos From Adult Cells For the First Time Ever

Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned eighteen years ago, scientists have been trying and failing to use that same technique to create cloned human embryos from adult cells. Now, they’ve finally succeeded, in what could a major step toward personalized organ transplants and other therapies that rely on a pool of stem cells. Last…

Health Sarah Zhang Apr 18 '14

Japan Unveils Its Plan To Save The Whales, By Killing Them

Last month, the International Court demanded an end to Japan’s research whaling program, and Japan said it planned to abide by the ruling. But now, the Japanese government has explained just what that means… including plans to resume whaling in the Antarctic by 2015. Japan has long hunted whales in the Antarctic, ostensibly for scientific…

io9 Ria Misra Apr 18 '14

Consider a Spherical Cow

The Spherical Cow is a physics classic, invoked in every introductory course as a way of simplifying an intractable problem down to something you can actually solve. Now that concept is running, but mostly rolling, through the plains of Africa in this delightful animation. https://observationdeck.kinja.com/and-this-is-why-animals-arent-round-1564640903

Biology Mika McKinnon Apr 18 '14

Why Adventure Time Is Finally Breaking Its Status Quo Once And For All

Adventure Time has evolved a lot in four years. But the core of this whimsical post-apocalyptic fantasy cartoon has remained the same. Jake the dog has kids, but they don’t change his life much. Princess Bubblegum gets young, then she’s old again. But producer Adam Muto tells us the show is finally ready to make…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Apr 18 '14

Cool video of the new Falcon reusable rocket launching and landing

Behold the first test of the Falcon 9 Reusable rocket, launching and then smoothly landing in another location—an entire rocket going up and landing back on Earth ready to be refilled and launched again. Unlike the Grasshopper, this thing is huge! It is so amazing that I squeaked like a little girl when I saw…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Apr 18 '14

The SpaceX Launch Is Sending Dinosaur Microbes to the Space Station

Rebranding Weed So It’s Not Just For Potheads Anymore

Neat cover of Happy made using Vine and multiple iPhones

2,500 Flaming Gas Burners Make This One Awesome Audio Visualizer

The High-Tech Sensors That Keep Track of L.A.’s Weather

What Movie Is Only Good With The Sound Off And Loud Music Blasting?

Italy Wants to Turn Its Old Bridges into Inverted Skyscrapers

The Weird U.S. Government Projects That Have Been Named BATMAN

Driving the Past, For the Future of Car Design

The fastest way to take off your t-shirt

Layers of Inflatable Balls Might Just Make This the Greatest Bed Ever

When A Sleepy California Town Was At The Center of War in the Pacific

Ugly but Successful: Delayed SpaceX Launch Makes Orbit

New Hurricane Forecast Maps Can Warn You Of Impending Floods

When Vegetarians Tried To Build A Utopia of Octagonal Houses in Kansas

Scientists Have Cloned Embryos From Adult Cells For the First Time Ever

Japan Unveils Its Plan To Save The Whales, By Killing Them

Consider a Spherical Cow

Why Adventure Time Is Finally Breaking Its Status Quo Once And For All

Cool video of the new Falcon reusable rocket launching and landing

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