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CERN Hid Lego Figurines All Over During Its Google Street View Shoot

If simply getting a peek inside the guts of CERN isn’t cool enough, the lab’s computer security officer, Stefan Lüders, has a secret treat for the nerds among us. Just before Google Street View came to visit, he and his crew hid Lego figurines all over CERN’s Computing Center. About 20 of them—including aliens, a…

This Interactive Moto X Ad Isn’t Online, It’s In a Magazine

After a long day in front of the computer, the ads in a paper magazine can seem a little flat. Where’s the interaction? Where’s the content? Moto is filling that gap with this cool full-page magazine advertisement that lets you pick your favorite Moto X color with the push of a button. Just like the…

Robots aren’t any better at performing surgery, they just cost more

Robots may be gaining an edge in package delivery, perhaps even telemarketing, but a new study says that surgeries performed using robots aren’t any more successful than traditional surgical methods. What they are, however, is more expensive. https://gizmodo.com/heres-the-delivery-drone-that-could-be-showing-up-at-y-1474718537 https://gizmodo.com/robot-denying-telemarketing-robot-may-not-actually-be-a-1485617146 The study from Johns Hopkins, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, took a…

The AIA Finally Gave A Medal To A Female Architect. She Died In 1957.

How is this possible? The American Institute of Architects, the largest and most influential architecture organization in the country, had never, ever awarded a Gold Medal—its highest honor, which it has been bestowing upon architects since 1907—to a woman. Until now. I only really have one question here. What took so long? The woman in…

These awesome images from another dimension have not been photoshopped

These are the amazing light paintings of Tackyshack, who is really taking this art form to a complete new level. Some of the amazing images in this small collection of his work are crazy psychedelia. Other look like Alice in Wonderland landscapes. And the one above—playing with shadows and subtle abstract shapes—looks like entrances to…

Rate the hottest dragon in pop culture

You know you think about it. Don’t even pretend you don’t look at dragons in that way sometimes. Over at Vulture, pop culture aficionado Jordan Hoffman has ranked the greatest dragons from hottest to . . . least badass. His hottest dragon vote goes to Godzilla’s three-headed, flying space kaiju nemesis Ghidorah, which is absolutely…

If a Rubik’s Cube Is Bruce Banner, This Thing’s the Hulk

Solving a regular Rubik’s Cube is already a daunting task for most of us, and that’s just 54 colored squares you have to rearrange. Can you imagine if someone dropped this monstrosity into your lap? Completely scrambled and out of order? Resorting all of those colored rectangles would take a lifetime—and restickering it? Just as…

I Can’t Help Smiling At This Old Japanese Satellite

The fascinating History of Engineering and Technology tumblr just posted this great, previously unseen photo of a Japanese weather satellite called GMS-2, from 1981. No one can deny it came directly from the Muppet Show! Image source: History of Engineering and Technology

Unpretentious and Inexpensive Gifts For Designers and Design Fans

Buying a gift for a designer doesn’t have to involve a $200 book or $2,000 chair. In fact, it’s usually better if it doesn’t. Keeping our near-empty wallets in mind, we tapped our friends and co-workers to choose 14 gifts that are witty and useful without being snobbish. If you’ve got any ideas you’d like…

The cursed coffee experiment!

After hearing about so many historical experiments that disregard patients’ rights, it does me good to finally find that one – regarding the effects of coffee – proved fatal for everyone but the patients. Coffee has taken over every country it ever has reached, but in some countries it encountered a lot of resistance. Arriving…

7 Groundbreaking Drum Machines That Changed Music As We Know It

When the first drum machines hit the market in the 1950s, they must have felt like the future. Imagine that—a robotic drummer that does exactly what you tell him to, and doesn’t get loaded after the show. Of course, the human drummer never quite went out of style, but drum machines changed music forever. In…

Streaming music service Rdio has posted its year in listing of the most popular music from 2013, which should be available shortly right here. It’s not quite as comprehensive as Spotify’s mammoth year in review, but it’s certainly interesting to compare the differences. Does their list match up with what you were listening to?

How long before The Walking Dead adds another Big Bad from the comics?

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart deny all knowledge of X-Men: Apocalypse. Will Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie be more like District 9 than Elysium? There’s new video of Tris and Four in Divergent. Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, and Orla Brady drop hints about the Doctor Who Christmas special. Spoilers now! Divergent Here’s a new clip…

Steam Machine Teardown: A Gaming PC by Any Other Name

Valve has offered up 300 beta kits of its forthcoming Steam Machine console for developers and the like to play around with. Fortunately, iFixit got its hands on one, too—and then ripped the sucker apart. Here’s what’s inside. Diving into this piece of hardware offered more surprises than many teardowns, because the Steam Machine’s specs…

A Map of How Educated the United States Is by County

How does academic achievement vary across the US? While stereotypes and prejudices invariably exist, the only way to the answer that question is with some cold, hard data. Here it is. Thanks to the Census Bureau’s new interactive data-mapping tool, Atlantic has taken a look at how educational achievement varies across the country. Above is…

The Sounds Your Computer Makes Can Give Away Your Encryption Keys

You might think your computer runs quietly—or, if you’re unlucky, noisily—but either way you probably wouldn’t expect that its hum could give away your secrets. Turns out, that the noise your computer makes can reveal the RSA keys it’s using. A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University has been analyzing sound recordings made close…

What do you do when a student asks for advice on how to pick up girls instead of answering a biology exam question? After reading this teacher’s response, I’d say he nailed it. [Via The Poke]

A Fully Loaded New Mac Pro Will Cost You $14,000

After no short period of waiting, the new Mac Pro has finally gone on sale today. All along it’s promised to pack punch, and it might just prove to be your ultimate work station. But absolute power will cost you. https://gizmodo.com/the-mac-pro-finally-goes-on-sale-tomorrow-1485617275 If you head on over to the Apple Store, you can configure the Mac…

Just in time for the new Mac Pro going on sale, Final Cut Pro has gotten a big update, with improved support for 4K.

What Causes Spontaneous Combustion?

Most of us experience combustion, a chemical process where a fuel combines with oxygen to produce heat and light, in the form of a fire where both the fuel and ignition source are well known. In some circumstances, however, the trigger that ignited the fire is not a definite source, like a match, but a…