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Stolen Ferrets, Fluorescent Fish, and the Upside of Cold

What a weird week for weather, huh? On earth, it was so cold that Canada got frostquakes. In space, a massive solar flare sent so many particles hurtling toward us that northern lights were visible outside of the Arctic circle. Here are some landscape reads for this week, taking you under the sea and deep…

A London Museum Where Machines Push Everything To The Limit

The Kirkaldy Testing Museum in London was once where materials were sent to die: to be tested to their breaking points, often pulverized, shattered, broken in two from sheer strain, punched clean through, or stretched—ripped and shredded—by hydraulics. Founded in 1874 by David Kirkaldy, a Scotsman, the assemblage of machines began its life as an…

Holy Crap: Google Just Bought Nest For $3.2 Billion In Cash

Surprise! Google just announced it has acquired the home automation startup, Nest, for $3.2 billion. According Nest founder Tony Fadell, the acquisition won’t affect the day-to-day operation of Nest, nor will it change anything about its branding. “Nest will stay Nest,” says a company rep—though when has that ever truly been the case with a…

Watch the Master of Saddleback Leather Give a Lesson in Counterfeiting

If you’re looking to get into the knockoff leather game, there could be pools of cold, hard cash in your future just waiting for you to go diving on in. All it takes is a little half-assery, a more-than-questionable moral compass, and the knowledge of where to actually cut those corners—which can be harder than…

Bitcoin Fragmentation Is Getting Out of Hand

You probably won’t be surprised one bit to learn there’s a new Bitcoin competitor out there. A group of cryptographers just announced the creation of Zerocoin, an ultra-anonymous cryptocurrency that’s otherwise a lot like the dozens of other newly launched cryptocurrencies. In a way, Zerocoin is a useful thing, especially for drug dealers and money…

How those mesmerizing slow-motion subway videos are made

Adam Magyar is a wizard who knows how to freeze reality, capturing the passing of time into one single image, turning daily moments that are constantly ignored by everyone into fascinating views of humanity and the world that surrounds us. His techniques are pretty damn cool.

Not chilly enough yet? Here are some of the world’s coldest settlements

The polar vortex has brought record-breaking temperatures to the US and Canada, but in some parts of the world, people regularly live with frigid temperatures that make 0°C look rather balmy. Here are some currently and formerly inhabited spots where a good coat and a set of longjohns are essential to life. Verkhoyansk, Sakha Republic,…

Your Favorite Futurist Is Wrong

Nobody knows the future. This may seem like an obvious statement, but it bears repeating. Nobody knows the future. Most people can generally accept this idea. But when it comes to our favorite prognosticator, we often put blinders on. Futurism is an imperfect craft in which the most earnest and educated individual must practice a…

Portland celebrates another safe year for cyclists, Hamburg goes car-free, San Francisco rents its curbs to tech buses, Houston’s got some wacky architecture, and L.A. is the city of the future—or a city in decline? It’s all in this week’s Urban Reads. In 2013, the city of Portland, Oregon, reported zero bike fatalities—again. They also…

This creepy claymation ballet is like a Silly Symphony from Hell

The short film Eager begins as a slow dance of undead wraiths, but it eventually takes us to a claymation garden that seems pulled from a particularly nightmarish version of Alice in Wonderland, where the pansies have skull faces and the snap dragons are out to eat everyone else. NSFW for claymation breasts and phalluses.…

Spectacular blue lava flows at this Indonesian volcano

Photographer Olivier Grunewald first learned about the Kawah Ijen volcano in 2008. A sulfur mine by day, this infernal Indonesian mountain turns into a surreal alien landscape when the night comes. His pictures—taken in very dangerous conditions—are stunning: He and his friend Régis Etienne have gone back repeatedly to photograph and film this incredible unearthly…

Windows 9 Could Be the Best Thing to Happen to Windows 8

Windows 8 was an incredible change, if not quite incredible. It wasn’t untilWindows 8.1that a lot of the kinks were smoothed out. Now, Microsoft’s annual BUILD conference is coming in April, and rumor has it that Windows 9 might be showing up. That’s all well and good, but please Microsoft, don’t go backtracking on us.…

Watch the ENTIRE history of Europe unfold before your very eyes

Perhaps no other landmass in the world has undergone as many political changes during the past 5,500 years than Europe. Thanks to the work of Groovy Historian, we can now visualize this evolution. Groovy Historian required 20 maps to chart this cartographic history; here’s a sampling: Circa 3,500 B.C Circa 500 BC: Circa 1,000 AD:…

A Tie with a Hidden Tokyo Subway Map is Nerdy and Brilliant

Nobody likes looking like a tourist, especially in their hometown—but with a public transportation system as complex as Tokyo’s, sometimes a map is entirely necessary. Need a simple solution to avoid getting lost while looking like a native? Wear your map in a hidden place. That’s exactly what this Bluebelland brand necktie offers. It looks…

New Model Shows Exoplanets May Have Oceans and Continents

A new exoplanet model developed by Nicolas B. Cowan of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics and Dorian Abbot of the University of Chicago, has shown that some “super-earths” may resemble our planet a lot more than previously thought. According to the model, these planets may have oceans and continents. By definition,…

Anti-marijuana laws were based on racism, not science

Is marijuana’s beer-like buzz more damaging than what people get from hard liquor? Is there a scientific reason why this drug is deemed so dangerous and illegal? Nope. It turns out that marijuana prohibition laws in the 1930s were designed to prevent “darkies” from thinking “they’re as good as white men.” Over at The Fix,…

These Beautiful Solar Orbs Are So Efficient They Even Harvest Moonlight

Photovoltaic panels aren’t the most glamorous technology: They’re usually tucked away on a roof, and when you can see them, they’re ugly. And inefficient. But what if they made architecture more beautiful? And what if they were more efficient, working even at night? Say hi toRawlemon, a solar ball lens that is quickly making its…

Are you one of those people who thinks hot water is ice cold?

Some of you will not know what this headline means. Others will have stuck your hand (or your whole body) under a shower and felt as though you were in an ice bath for a millisecond before you realized you’d scalded yourself. For some people, sufficiently hot water will, for a moment, feel ice cold.…

All The Camera You Need Under $300, Apple TV, Storage [Deals]

The Sony NEX-3NL was a great camera when it hit the market for $500, but at under $300, this deal is unmissable for anyone looking for a great portable camera, ready to downsize their DSLR, or interested in diving into an interchangeable lens ecosystem for the first time. Retractable power zoom lens, tilting LCD, 16MP,…

Fox’s Gotham TV series is going to be Batman: The High School Years

Were you hoping that Fox’s Batman prequel TV series Gotham would be a tough crime procedural set on the mean streets of Gotham City? Or were you hoping it would be about teenaged Batman, The Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and the Penguin all hanging out together? Because it’s the latter. Sorry, I threw up in my…