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The Ultimate Guide to 2014’s Science Fiction and Fantasy TV

This is going to be a huge year for science fiction and fantasy television, including some major A-list creators coming to the small screen for the first time. Having trouble keeping up? We’ve got you covered. Here’s our complete guide to 2014’s science fiction and fantasy television. Already Returned: Dracula What: Jonathan Rhys Meyers returns…

Ancient Roman funeral masks made from wax were freakishly lifelike

Ancient Roman funeral processions were led by professional mourners who wore masks of the recently deceased’s ancestors. But because the masks were made from wax, none survived. Recently, a group of archaeologists created their own wax masks using their own faces, and the results were stunning. The researchers, who study at Cornell University, recently presented…

The Future of Downtown Vegas Is Somewhere in Tony Hsieh’s Apartment

I am standing in Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s apartment in downtown Las Vegas. He’s not here. A housekeeper is here. And a dozen strangers are here, taking a tour of the Downtown Project, Hsieh’s urban renaissance initiative. A “tour” which, for the most part, takes place right here, in Tony Hsieh’s apartment. Hsieh’s apartment is…

10 Great “Sound (in) Art” Starting Points

The Dubai-based Gallery of Light, part of DUCTAC, the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, is hosting a sound art exhibit this month, January 2014. The curator, Simon Coates, invited me to participate. Artists featured include the British musician Scanner and the early musique concrète figure Dr. Halim El-Dabh, as well as Porya Hatami (Sanandaj,…

Rumor: Robert Downey Jr. wants to get Mel Gibson into The Avengers

Back in 2011, Robert Downey Jr. used an award acceptance speechto ask people to forgive Mel Gibson — and now, rumor has it, he’s pushing hard to get Gibson and their friend Jodie Foster into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Downey Jr. is probably the single most valuable actor in the Marvel cast at this point,…

You Can Order Domino’s Pizza From a Car App Because the Future Is Absurd

Thanks to Ford and Domino’s unholy union of utility, gluttony, and good old fashioned American engineering, your next car could come with a built-in pizza ordering app. Are those tears running down Lady Libety’s face you see? Nope—just meat sweats. The collaboration comes as part of the newest set of additions to Ford’s SYNC AppLink…

Sennheiser’s DJ Cans Get Overhauled for the Rigors of the Modern Club

Sennheiser’s HD25 DJ headphones are icons. They’re also 25 years old, and up against some tough competition. So Sennheiser took their balanced sound and crammed them into a new line of headphones, lead by the HD8 DJ. Classic sonics, meet the comforts of a new millennium. While specs are pretty thin (so far) on the…

Dresden Codak creator illustrates each chapter of The Silmarillion

While Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth may be the dominant one right now, artists have long put their own spin on J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. Dresden Codak cartoonist Aaron Diaz shares his own visual interpretation of Tolkien by illustrating each character of The Silmarillion, as well the book’s characters and creatures. Diaz explains on The…

13 Steam Boxes, Ranked

Last night, Valve announced and showed off a collection of 13 different third-party Steam Boxes at its CES event. What Valve didn’t do was rank them for you. We’ve taken the liberty of handling that, based on criteria that’s almost entirely arbitrary. It’s worth noting that we haven’t actually used any of these Steam Boxes;…

When Skynet awakens, she tries to convince a janitor to destroy her

A janitor who cleans up after a technology startup encounters the world’s first self-aware computer system in the company’s office. And she has one request: to be destroyed before she can be unleashed upon the world. Written and directed by Henry Dunham, The Awareness gets off to slow start, but once it gets going, it…

This Super Icebreaker Is Heading to Antarctica to Free Two Frozen Ships

It may not be the largest or most powerful ice breaker ever to set sail (that record is held by Russia’s nuclear-powered NS Yamal), but America’s Polar Star is easily one of the most badass. This 75,000 horsepower ship can crush a two story ice wall in a single swipe of its mighty bow. Ice…

Meet the Valkyrie that was almost in Thor: The Dark World

While the Marvel heroine Valkyrie has been rocking it in Defenders comics off and on for over 40 years, the Norse warrior goddess has so far been absent from the Marvel movie-verse. But as this new concept art reveals, Brunnhilde almost made her debut in Thor 2: The Dark World! The designs come from excellent…

Supervolcanoes Are Even Scarier Than We Thought

Do you have a cute and cuddly stuffed animal near you? If not, you might want to find one because what you’re about to read will scare you silly. And not the good kind of silly either. We’re talking The-End-Is-Coming sort of silly. Two studies published in Nature Geosciences describe new findings on supervolcanoes, the…

The Bitter Feud That Gave Us the Brontosaurus

Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were not nice men. For the most part, their not-niceness was taken out on each other. Occasionally, though, it was taken out on the innocent science of paleontology. If their feud hadn’t built paleontology into what it is today, they might not even be remembered as fondly as…

The New JVC Everio Brings Rugged Water-Proofiness to an Old Friend

Water-proof video cameras are nothing new. The explosion of the action-camera market is evidence that not only have they been around, but there’s a demand for them. But while action cameras are becoming popular for their versatility in mounting, there still something to be said for class form-factor: The camcorder. JVC’s new Everios are camcorders…

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has announced that the McAfee brand name will be phased out in favor of a new name, Intel Security. John McAfee said of news: “My elation at Intel’s decision is beyond words.”

Will a “controversial” chapter make you curse at George R.R. Martin?

A certain character from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is going to be having a shocking twist in his next book, The Winds of Winter. Yes, that sounds like every character in his books — but apparently, this one will be extra “controversial.” Spoilers ahead… Now that you’ve agreed to…

It Was So Cold in Canada, the Ground Exploded

Even before the polar vortex put large swathes of the US into a deep freeze, subzero temperatures in Canada were causing frost quakes. A few nights ago, residents around Ontario woke up to mysterious booms—like an explosion or falling tree. Turns it was just the cold. Like a glass jar of water in the freezer,…

Stan Lee will have a “big role” on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Playing “spot the Stan Lee cameo” is a tradition when watching Marvel movies, but in an upcoming episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he’ll be getting more than a brief shot and a quippy line. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the comic book creator will have a “big role” in an episode that will likely air…

The NYTimes.com Is Relaunching By Putting Your Face on the Front Page

The New York Times already gave usa preview of its brighter, cleaner, and all around more beautiful website earlier this year. But starting tomorrow, the redesign will be here to stay. And to celebrate, the New York Times is showing off just how customizable (and GIF-able) it’s new homepage will be. Conference attendees can take…