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Having decided the city needs more public art, Baltimore is currently installing whimsical crosswalks around the city. This giant zipper by artist Paul Bertholet and a hopscotch-inspired piece by Graham Coreil-Allen are already up, and two more creative crosswalks are on the way. Any interesting crosswalks in your town? Drop some pics in the comments.…

Sherlock meets The Doctor in the beyond impressive mash-up Wholock

Do you like Doctor Who? Sherlock? Things that are awesome? Then you simple must watch Wholock, a fan-made mash-up so amazing that you will swear that someone must actually have filmed Benedict Cumberbatch standing in the TARDIS, acting opposite Matt Smith. There are a few shots where the characters’ lines of sight don’t exactly match-up,…

Even cats get fooled by these optical illusions that appear to move

It’s okay to be fooled by these ‘animated’ optical illusions. They totally look like they’re moving. Hell, the cat watching them was fooled too. But the truth is, they’re all just a masterful visual trick. The image isn’t actually moving, the special sheet in front of it just makes it seem that way. It’s pretty…

The 9 most baffling passages in the Bible, and what they really mean

The Bible has been called an historical document, a guidebook for moral living, and a work of fiction. No matter how you view it, there is no question that certain parts are confusing. We’ll take a look at the possible meanings of the nine strangest passages in the Bible. 9. The Many Begettings One of…

How Nuclear Bombs Tell Us the Age of Human Cells

When mushroom clouds exploded in the sky during Cold War-era nuclear bombs testing, they also created an unexpected boon for science. The nuclear explosions caused a massive uptick in Carbon-14 that eventually settled in all living tissue—everything from tree rings to elephant tusks to human brain cells. As such, this spike in Carbon-14 has helped…

Gifts For Your Nieces and Nephews That’ll Make You Their Favorite Aunt

Your young nieces and nephews: you love the guts out of them, but you’re glad they’re not yours. No matter what, you’re going to spoil them to pieces, especially on Christmas. These gifts will ensure you will secure favorite aunt status for the umpteenth year running. I’ll get things started with a few of my…

Every second in Star Wars IV arranged by how bright it is

You’re looking at every single second in Star Wars IV: A New Hope arranged according to their luminosity by Jason Salavon. It reminds me of a really cool book that I got a couple weeks ago—Star Wars: Frames. We are giving a copy of the book away, plus an original sketch by Star Wars’ artistic…

“UFO Detector” for sale on Amazon — and it’s getting great reviews

Just in time for those holiday abductions, Amazon is selling a “UFO-O2 Detector.” It will help you spot UFOs coming, by beeping when it detects “magnetic anomalies.” But the best part is the product reviews. This gadget is from the fine people at Images SI, who will also sell you a Roswell UFO crash site…

This Goldilocks Mug Would Keep Your Coffee Just the Right Temperature

Coffee is a fickle mistress. Take a sip too soon and you risk searing your tongue, wait too long and it becomes undrinkably tepid. But with this ingenious phase-change mug prototype, your coffee will cool to a perfectly drinkable 140 degrees and stay there for hours. “Our goal was to create a coffee mug that…

First look at Johnny Depp’s robot creation lab in ​Transcendence

We’ve been on pins and needles waiting for more information on Wally Pfister’s directorial debut, Transcendence. And now we finally have a glimpse into the world Chris Nolan’s brilliant cinematographer has created. Entertainment Weekly has a collection of images from the new film (see them in high-res at their website). The official synopsis was just…

And the next beloved children’s book Ghibli is animating is…

When Marnie Was There, the 1967 novel by Joan G. Robinson. It was #18 on Hayao Miyazaki’s list of recommended children’s books, so this shouldn’t be a shock, although it’s worth pointing out that Marnie will be directed by The Secret World of Arriety’s Hiromasa Yonebayashi, as Miyazaki still maintains he’s retired. http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R2L7RKX8EM4IZU?tag=gizmodo08c-20 If you…

Watch a pile of Lego bricks transform into an original Macintosh

This 30 second time lapse video of a Lego original Macintosh being built captures all that is fun about playing with Lego. You see a pile of bricks slowly morph into an object that is instantly recognizable. It’s like seeing the pieces of your imagination come together into something just so freaking fun. The video…

The Chilling Geometry of Every US Military Base Seen From Space

The United States military is everywhere. It’s so big that it’s hard to quantify just how massive it is—any number used to describe it is so large that it defies the understanding of an ordinary human brain. Which is why artist Josh Begley skips the numbers and goes straight to the visuals with this chilling…

Tired of clicking that “Display images below” link in your emails? Thanks to Gmail’s newest update, you can give your index finger some much-needed rest: all images will now automatically show up in the body of your emails. [Google]

Red Hot Nickel Ball vs. Paper: 1, 2, 3, Burn

Everyone’s favorite Red Hot Nickel Ball has taken on a rogue’s gallery of adversaries in its day, with varying levels of success. Now the spherical metal “rock” is taking on its greatest challenger ever: paper. To keep things slightly interesting, the RHNB took on not only a single sheet, but 10 sheets, and 50 too.…

Will Your City See Snow on December 25th?

December 25th is fast approaching — but will yours be snow-laden? This map, released by NOAA and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), gives the probability of a “White Christmas” across the continental United States. A White Christmas, according to the NCDC, is one with an inch or more of snow on the ground at…

Hubble detects water plumes coming out of Jupiter moon Europa

For the first time ever, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed water plumes on the icy crust of Europa. The Jovian moon is one of the most likely worlds to contain life in the Solar System. According to Lorenz Roth—who headed the team that made the discovery—”this is tremendously exciting.” No kidding. Above: NASA’s artist…

Sexting Comes to Instagram

Instagram’s private messaging service, Instagram Direct, is finally here. Why, though, with so many photo-messaging apps at our fingertips already, would you use a private channel for your filtered, edited, and enhanced brunches and sunsets? The same reason we do anything—sex. Dick pic, meet Kelvin. To hear Instagram tell it, the photo service has become…

Lomography’s Reverse-Engineered Petzval Portrait Lens Is Now Real

Earlier this year, toy camera makers Lomography undertook the challenge of reverse-engineering the classic Petzval portrait lens from the the 19th century for today’s DSLRs. It was a Kickstarter, which always makes us a little queasy. Well it worked, and now you can pre-order the real thing. The lenses are available for pre-order ahead of…

EL Doctorow warns government surveillance could lead to “internet hell”

No, not Cory Doctorow — E.L. Doctorow, author of The March and Billy Bathgate. At a National Book Awards ceremony, Doctorow sounded very much like his namesake as he warned of the dehumanizing potential of internet surveillance and Big Data. But Doctorow concluded by warning that the biggest danger isn’t surveillance, but the self-censorship that…