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An entire city block in Manhattan was electrified yesterday

An entire city block in Manhattan was electrified by stray voltage yesterday, charging up everything from the metal street grates to the doorknobs. The event began when a stray volt of electricity met an early morning rain. That, combined with the lingering salt left on the streets from earlier snows, created the perfect storm for…

io9 Ria Misra Feb 20 '14

Daaaaamn: NASA’s Opportunity Rover Photographed from Mars Orbit

Check out this outstanding photo of NASA’s intrepid Opportunity rover. The Agency’s HiRISE camera caught a rare glimpse of the spacecraft on Valentine’s day while orbiting high above the “Murray Ridge” section of the western rim of Mars’ Endeavour Crater. Can you spot it? Here, have some arrows: Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona; Caption Credit:…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 20 '14

A Tiny Briefcase That Turns Citibikes Into Electric Scooters

The bike share programs that have popped up in major cities around the world make for a cheap way to get around town for a few hours—unless you’re lazy. So if you find yourself suffering from “let’s just take a cab” syndrome, you might want to consider funding this clever little briefcase called the ShareRoller…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Feb 20 '14

Believe it or not, this awesome magical thingamajig exists

Excuse my ignorance, northerners of the world, but I didn’t know such wonderful thingamajigs existed in that snowy world of yours. May the Gods of Snow always protect you. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sploid Jesus Diaz Feb 20 '14

First Concept Art for Paramount’s Star Trek Theme Park

The bad news: the Star Trek area at Paramount Park Murcia, in Spain, won’t be a representation of Risa, the pleasure planet where Riker picks up strange games. Rather, it’ll be some blend of Starfleet Academy and Starfleet HQ, judging from this concept art. The good news is that Trek fans will finally have a…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 20 '14

Atomic Bomb Testing Dummy (1953)

March 1953: A dummy sitting behind a protective shield in a Nevada basement used for atomic bomb testing. The mannequins used for these kinds of tests were often purchased from downtown Las Vegas department stores like J.C. Penney’s. [National Geographic’s Tumblr “Found”]

Tech News Matt Novak Feb 20 '14

Here’s How All That Winter Road Salt Is Made

Road salt has been a point of contention lately, what with all this wintry weather. If you live in a snowy climate, you’re probably used to seeing warehouses and dump trucks full of the stuff. But where does all that ice-melting goodness come from? National Geographic brings us this fascinating, oddly soothing video explaining the…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Feb 20 '14

The real highway to hell is in Russia

This is the Tolbachik volcano, laying down roads of magma over the Peninsula of Kamchatka for condemned Russians to drive on their way to hell in cars equipped with dashcams. At least, that’s what it looks like in Lusika33’s photographs. It’s truly pretty—in a Mordor kind of way. Watch the rest of the series here.…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Feb 20 '14

Licking Ice Cream To Make It Sing With NYC’s Weirdest Orchestra

Last week, at a former bodega in Alphabet City, food designer Emilie Baltz and smart object designer Carla Diana conducted the second performance of their “Lickestra“—a “musical licking performance” involving conductive ice cream cones, four volunteers, and a pre-recorded soundtrack of peculiar tones and baselines created by musician Arone Dyer of Buke&Gase. Lured by the…

Tech News Nicola Twilley Feb 20 '14

Looter caught trying to sell a hoard of Roman gold and silver

An amateur archaeologist — or more accurately, an opportunistic ass-wipe with a metal detector — recently uncovered a treasure trove of gold and silver artifacts in Germany. But he was promptly caught after trying to sell the rare items on the black market. The items, which date to the early part of the fifth century…

io9 George Dvorsky Feb 20 '14

Resurrecting Dinosaur-Age Proteins To Cure Human Disease

While dinosaurs have not yet been resurrected Jurassic Park-style, scientists fiddling with ancient DNA sequences have made a discovery that may turn out to be a tad more useful: a treatment for gout. That a 90 million-year-old protein could treat a modern disease is a fascinating window into evolutionary history. If you’ve heard of gout,…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Feb 20 '14

Scientists just created some of the most powerful muscles in existence

In a surprising breakthrough for the world of materials science, researchers have created some of the most powerful artificial muscles we’ve ever seen. And they did it with simple fishing line. These freakishly strong and cheap muscles could revolutionize robotics, and perhaps one day our own bodies. Ray Baughman, director of the NanoTech Institute at…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 20 '14

Darren Aronofsky wins battle with studio over cuts to Noah

For the past few months, we’ve been unsure which version of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah would be hitting theaters — there were tons of reports that Christian audiences reacted badly in screenings. Paramount had reportedly cut as many as six different versions of the film. But now, it appears Aronofsky has won. https://gizmodo.com/are-we-all-wrong-about-vin-diesels-role-in-guardians-o-1450447491 In an article…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Feb 20 '14

Some Guy Turned Each Episode of Breaking Bad Into Its Own Dope Poster

It’s been five months since one of the greatest shows ever to grace the small screen has gone off the air, but if you’re one of the many rapt Breaking Bad fans, you’re probably still pretty deep in mourning. Fortunately for you, Hungarian designer Zsolt Molnár (Zsutti) decided to pay homage to the meth-loaded masterpiece…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Feb 20 '14

Okay, So Vertical Videos Are Now Art?

Unperturbed by the scourge of vertical video shot on mobile phones, a bunch of Serious Artists have banded together for a film festival devoted exclusively to incorrectly oriented videos. Why subject our eyeballs to such unnatural composition? For art, duh. Vertical Cinema, made up of 10 specially commissioned works by experimental filmmakers, is a deliberate…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Feb 20 '14

This App Shows You What Your Photos Will Look Like With Any Lens

Sometimes when shooting or conceptualizing a scene, it’s hard to visualize composition without actually looking through a specific lens. This new iPhone app shows you just how hundreds of lenses will see your subject. The app is called Mark II Artist’s Viewfinder. Weird name. But yeah, what it does is simulate frame lines in your…

Tech News Michael Hession Feb 20 '14

Scientists Find Striking Similarities Between Human and Dog Brains

It’s funny watching dogs do human things. It’s funny to watch them drive cars. It’s funny to watch them sit in chairs. But, seriously, new research shows that dogs actually are just like us. At least they are when it comes to processing voices and emotion—and, now, we’ve got the brain scans to prove it.…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Feb 20 '14

When Edgar Allan Poe offered Americans interior design advice

While we might picture Edgar Allan Poe hunched over his writing desk in a drafty, sparsely furnished home, the famed horror writer actually had quite specific tastes when it came to interior design. And he believed that Americans simply did not know how to furnish a room. In his 1840 essay “The Philosophy of Furniture,”The…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 20 '14

Cute arctic fox contemplates a massive solar wind storm hitting Earth

SunViewer posted this amazing photo by Vladimir Scheglov, taken on January 19 at the Kupol mine in the Chukotka region of Russia, just after a Coronal Mass Ejection hit Earth to produce some beautiful northern lights. He’s like “whatevs, I will just chillax and look cute here.” According to Scheglov, “the Kupol mine has banned…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Feb 20 '14

A Sliding Stool That Expands To Accommodate an Extra Person

With a design that promises to revolutionize flirting at the bar, Karthik Poduval’s Room For Two stool features an expanding design that allows it to seat two people when the need arises. So there doesn’t have to be an extra stool available when there’s someone you want to sidle up to. It’s of course also…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Feb 20 '14

An entire city block in Manhattan was electrified yesterday

Daaaaamn: NASA’s Opportunity Rover Photographed from Mars Orbit

A Tiny Briefcase That Turns Citibikes Into Electric Scooters

Believe it or not, this awesome magical thingamajig exists

First Concept Art for Paramount’s Star Trek Theme Park

Atomic Bomb Testing Dummy (1953)

Here’s How All That Winter Road Salt Is Made

The real highway to hell is in Russia

Licking Ice Cream To Make It Sing With NYC’s Weirdest Orchestra

Looter caught trying to sell a hoard of Roman gold and silver

Resurrecting Dinosaur-Age Proteins To Cure Human Disease

Scientists just created some of the most powerful muscles in existence

Darren Aronofsky wins battle with studio over cuts to Noah

Some Guy Turned Each Episode of Breaking Bad Into Its Own Dope Poster

Okay, So Vertical Videos Are Now Art?

This App Shows You What Your Photos Will Look Like With Any Lens

Scientists Find Striking Similarities Between Human and Dog Brains

When Edgar Allan Poe offered Americans interior design advice

Cute arctic fox contemplates a massive solar wind storm hitting Earth

A Sliding Stool That Expands To Accommodate an Extra Person

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