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When female capuchin monkeys want sex, they throw stones at the males

Children who don’t know better might throw spitballs or pull hair to get another child’s attention, and it turns out that certain monkeys do something similar. Female capuchin monkeys have been observed throwing rocks at males as a form of courtship. This study involves an animal with the incredibly appropriate scientific name Sapajus libidinosus, the…

Biker base jumps off Bolivian death road and survives against all odds

Watch as a biker attempts to base jump off Bolivia’s famous Death Road and fails badly. Don’t worry, he survived, but it was really painful: “injuries included fractures in his forearm and cut tendons in his knees.” SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Passenger Snaps Photo of Fuel Pouring Out of a Dreamliner’s Wing

If Boeing was looking to 2014 as a fresh start for their constantly malfunctioning Dreamliner, that particular dream is almost certainly crushed by now. In addition to one of the plane’s batteries malfunctioning (again) just a few days ago, a Norweigan’s Airlines flight was cancelled yesterday after a passenger noticed that fuel was pouring from…

How Google Glass Will Save Car Enthusiasts From Extinction

“Computers are killing the automotive hobby!” Car geeks say this with defeatist disdain; tech nerds utter it with futurist superiority. Thing is, they’re both wrong. Virtual reality and wearable tech could very well save hobbyist mechanics from becoming the 21st century’s horseshoe installers. Here’s how. Modern cars have gotten enormously complex. Increasingly stringent emissions and…

On Intelligence, the story works better without the main character

Last night’s episode was by turns fun and plodding. Unfortunately, the best parts proved that the main character is the weakest thing in this show. Oops. Spoilers. . . Once again, this show’s McGuffin is completely ancillary to an exploration of Gabriel’s feelings. This is a problem because Gabriel’s the worst part of this show.…

At first glance, this winning design for a mixed-used complex in Zhejiang Province design by Liu Xisang seems like just another glassy tower project. But take a closer look at the facades, which are laced with a network of outdoor spaces spiraling upwards to connect the ground floor to the roof with a—nearly—continuous path of…

This Anvil Case for Your iPhone Just Needs Casters and Band Stickers

Go backstage at any rock club in the world and you’re going to find tons of anonymous-looking black boxes holding all of the equipment that bands travel with. Now you can get that legendary protection for your phone. Above, a crazy-intense new iPhone 5/5s case from Anvil, a manufacturer of road and flight boxes for…

Trailer for The Babadook, the creepy horror film that scared Sundance

The little Australian horror movie The Babadook is terrifying the critics at Sundance. Now’s your chance to get a first look at what people are buzzing about. The movie’s first trailer introduces a brand new monster, The Babadook. Written and directed by Jennifer Kent, the movie features a widow and her eerie little boy. Together…

Artist brilliantly reimagines Game of Thrones as classic Japanese art

In the game of Game of Thrones fan art, you either win or you keep on drawing pictures of Jon Snow cuddling with his direwolf Ghost. Artist Seiji has clearly won with these phenomenal recreations of key GoT scenes and characters translated to feudal Japan, and rendered in that unique style. I don’t even want…

iOS in Your Car Could Look Pretty Great

One of the big revelations from the iOS 7 debut was that Apple’s working on an in-car version of the mobile operating system. Now app developer Steve Troughton-Smith has tweeted some images of what iOS could, and should, look like when it hits your dashboard. And they’re pretty slick. https://gizmodo.com/apple-wants-to-redesign-your-cars-dashboard-722692417 It’s undeniable that iOS is…

The World’s First Nuclear Submarine Was Launched 60 Years Ago

Launched 60 years ago today, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Its atomic fuel source gave for the U.S Navy a dramatic increase in both range and operational flexibility. A few years later, the USS Nautilus achieved another historical first: she was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit to…

An apparent discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside neurons is rekindling a 20-year old debate on the nature of consciousness. Called the Orch OR model, it suggests there’s a connection between the brainʼs biomolecular processes and the basic structure of the universe.

Dancing on paper

Artist Heather Hansen thought it would be neat to cover her hands and feet on charcoal and transfer her body moves directly into paper, like a human plotter. She called it Emptied Gestures, an “experiment in kinetic drawing.” SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Breaking Bad would make an adorable, if demented, Little Golden Book

Breaking Bad, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and more get remade as those sweet Little Golden Books, with smiling children’s book illustrations and foil spines. Introduce kids to the wonders of chemistry and organized crime at an early age. These are some of the pieces from the Little Golden Tales show currently at Gallery Nucleus in…

62 Years of Global Warming in One Terrifying GIF

If you’re on the East Coast you might be getting some snow today, but rest assured the globe is getting warmer by the year. A lot warmer. See for yourself. This visualization from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies was just updated with new data from 2013, which tied for the hottest year since 1880…

K-Pop stars 2NE1’s latest video will dazzle you with geeky wonder

Our favorite Korean pop group, 2NE1, is back with a new science-fiction-themed album and tour, All Or Nothing. Check out the first teaser, including lightsabers, mutant powers… and eight-sided dice that only have ones and zeroes on them. Awesome. But who are those weird fox priests?

When should scientists talk politics, and when should they shut up?

Scientists who study the environment often find themselves stuck. They see problems with how humans are affecting the planet, and they want to advocate for changing the way we are doing things. At the same time, they aren’t political experts. How can they offer informed opinions, without falling prey to propagandizing? Carnegie Institution global ecologist…

This Is the Closest Thing to a North Korean Google Street View

North Korea remains one of the few places in the world that remains untouched by Google Street View’s all-seeing eye. But at least now, we can content ourselves with these fascinating, state-approved (i.e. likely censored) 360-degree shots from Singaporean photographer Aram Pan. Despite North Korea’s notoriously strict limitations on tourists in general (not to mention…

These pretty little bubbles are actually bug sperm

Springtails have evolved a rather strange way of mating. The males of these tiny soil-dwelling arthropods never actually get to meet their partners — instead, they deposit drops of sperm on sticks for discriminating females. Male members of the springtail species, O. cincta, make no effort to meet females. Instead, they roam around leaves, pausing…

Of Course, China’s Bad Air Is Polluting the West Coast

The latest fear-mongering study about pollution in China has arrived, and it’s frightening. According to a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bad air in China is blowing across the Pacific and polluting the West Coast. Scary! Well, not really. It’s hardly a surprise that dirty air from China could become…