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The Best Video Game Surprises of 2013

You didn’t see these coming! This year’s video games actually offered some reasons to rejoice, from the Tomb Raider reboot to The Last of Us multiplayer. I bet you can’t guess all the terrific games on Kotaku’s list of the year’s best surprises. https://kotaku.com/the-best-surprises-of-2013-1490494760

Who’s the most badass senior citizen in science fiction or fantasy?

It’s easy to come up with a list of the greatest teenage heroes in genre fiction. But what about the older generation? Which elder hero kicks the most ass in any universe? https://gizmodo.com/the-very-best-teen-heroes-in-science-fiction-and-fantas-452442698 Please include a picture or clip of your favorite older hero. And please mention his/her name and where he/she comes from. Thanks!…

Our Best Booze Articles of 2013

2013 was a good year for drinkin’. We investigated boozy superstition, we traveled the earth to see how your favorite spirits are made, and we drank cognac out of a bone. We had a great time, and we were glad you came with us. Here now are our favorite Happy Hour episodes from 2013, including…

The best selfie ever is the one an astronaut takes from freaking space

Here’s astronaut Mike Hopkins taking the selfie to end all selfies. It’s over, you cant’ beat it, give up, return your camera, become a horse jockey. Hopkins snapped a photo of himself in full astronaut suit outside of the ISS as he was spacewalking on Christmas Eve with the beautiful blue Earth in the background.…

Dogs that look more like puppies have an evolutionary advantage

In many ways, dogs appear and behave more like wolf puppies than wolf adults. Scientists have theorized that these “paedomorphic” features are the byproduct of selecting dogs against aggression. But a new study suggests this is no byproduct at all, but rather the result of a human preference for puppy-like facial expressions. How wolves were…

Watch ‘Em While You Can: The Movies That Vanish from Netflix Next Week

Netflix is making it harder to find out when titles are expiring — but it turns out that a slew of movies are disappearing from Netflix on New Year’s Day. Including Troll 2, but also a bunch of genuine classics. See for yourself. https://gizmodo.com/the-20-best-movies-disappearing-from-netflix-on-new-yea-1490040962

Jaywalking, Cinnamon, and Ruins: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Walkers are making L.A. unsafe for cars, a ban on a crucial spice won’t be very nice for Denmark, and tourists flocking to Detroit’s urban ruins are ruining Detroit even more. It’s our final look at What’s Ruining Our Cities this year! Jaywalking is ruining Los Angeles Police have mounted a jaywalking sting in downtown…

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the Father of Computer Science

The first official image from The Imitation Game has been released, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as computer scientist, mathematician, and father of artificial intelligence Alan Turing. https://gizmodo.com/the-greatest-fictional-versions-of-alan-turing-1472836357 The movie is set during World War II, when Turing helped crack the Enigma code. A discovery which greatly impacted the length of conflict. This image which was released…

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2013

This was a banner year for science fiction and fantasy books — and choosing the year’s best titles was harder than usual. From time-slashing serial killers to grand space operas to Kafka-esque nightmares, this was a year of brilliant reads. Here are the 20 best science fiction and fantasy books of 2013. Neptune’s Brood by…

This Alpine House Looks Like It Was Beamed Down From Outer Space

Sure, the larch-wood cladding gives Ufogel a kind of rustic charm, but I’ll be damned if this Austrian guest house doesn’t really look like it just beamed down from a quaint corner of outer space. Architect Peter Jungmann designed the cozy 484-square-feet pod with a massive, angular window on one side—perfect to take in the…

Add this to the ever-growing list of reasons ants are incredible

This video from The New York Times on the physics of fire ants is absolutely captivating. Who knew large numbers of ants could ooze, sludge-like, from a funnel, or spring back, rubber-like, when subjected to compressive forces? https://gizmodo.com/macrophotographs-of-ant-warfare-are-downright-epic-936696588 https://gizmodo.com/10-frightening-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-ants-5880539 Via the NYT: These images illustrated the findings of the more technical research, done with rheometers…

At last! A use for those pesky tachyons!

If you’ve spent any time watching science fiction shows, you’ve probably heard of tachyon rays, a tachyon matrix, or just free-floating tachyons. Tachyons are particles that travel faster than light. And one professor finally came up with a use for them. Sort of. Gregory Benford is many things: a professor of physics, a Nebula-Award-winning science…

How the New York Botanical Garden Digitizes Nearly 300 Plants a Day

The New York Botanical Garden is packed with over 7.3 million specimens from all over the world. And when you’ve got that many plants, you need to get a little creative when it’s time to take their picture. It’s a high tech affair. Popular Science recently profiled the NYBG archival process and explained that the…

Ice climber impossibly survives a punishing fall from ice wall

Ouch. That has got to hurt. Ice climber Mark R. was climbing up a mountain when he was sent plummeting down by a piece of falling ice that hit him. He then basically avalanches down the mountain side and hits every rock down the way. It’s like a scene from Game of Thrones but completely…

This Gorgeous Stained Glass Landscape Is Actually a Rice Field

Who knew growing rice on a mountain could be so beautiful? The Ailao Mountains in Yunnan, China, have been carved into thousands of gradual steps, each a paddy growing red rice. The rice terraces stretch out over some 400 square miles of mountains and valleys. The Hani people moved into the area and began carving…

Family Opens Beats Headphones on Christmas, Finds Tuna Instead

It’s Christmas Day. You’ve carefully wrapped the Beats headphones your daughter’s been dreaming of, and she’s just about to see that dream become reality. Looking on with glee, you watch as she tears the paper from her brand new set of cans only to find that these were cans of a markedly different sort. Tuna,…

These robotic armor leggings will bring out your inner cyborg

Looking for a pair of stockings to give you that stylish bionic touch? Vancouver-based Mitmunk has released a set of bionic-themed printed leggings that will get the job done. These items, among many others, can be purchased here. Via Geeks are Sexy.

Three icebreaking ships were dispatched yesterday to aid a Russian research vessel that’s beentrapped by by dense ice-pack off East Antarctica. Today, the BBC reports the research vessel is close to being saved, as the Chinese “Snow Dragon” icebreakerprepares to cut a safe passage through the ice.

Why you can scratch one spot on your body and feel it somewhere else

Ever scratched your arm and felt a scratch over your ribs? How about pinching your leg and feeling a phantom twinge in your back? That sensation is called referred itch or mitempfindung. And here’s why scientists think it happens. Top image: Shutterstock.com Mitempfindung got its name from Johannes Muller, a German physiology professor who did…

Stonehenge’s New Visitor Center Looks Positively Neolithic

The decrepit old visitor center at Stonehenge has been too small and too old for decades. In fact, it’s been described with typical Brit candor as “disgraceful” and an “embarrassment” to England. Finally, this month, a new, $44 million visitors’ center has opened—here’s a look inside. A lot has changed at Stonehenge since the 1970s,…