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Brooks Cambium Review: Never Break In a Bike Saddle Again

Ask any cyclist: Racing saddles are uncomfortable. Especially for the first few months, when they feel like pieces of wood. But Brooks, the venerable British saddle maker, wants to change that with Cambium, a new saddle that arrives already broken in—without any of the normal torture. Your more sensitive parts (read: your crotch) will thank…

Japanese synchronized walking is a thing and it’s nuts

For the same baffling reasons they do many other things, the Japanese have been competing in synchronized team precision walking since 1966. They call it Shuudan Koudou and, as you can imagine, they do it perfectly well and it looks perfectly crazy. Go to 1:30 in the video above to start seeing the crazy action.…

Roku 3 for $70, $10 off TurboTax, Grid-It Organizer [Deals]

The Roku 3 is arguably the most capable and flexible streaming box you can buy, and that headphone jack-sporting remote is a stroke of genius. If you don’t mind getting a refurb, Newegg will sell you one for just $70 today. Refurb Roku 3 | $70 With Promo Code EMCPWWC56 In addition to looking cool,…

Author Ann Leckie is here to talk to you about Ancillary Justice

In December, the io9 Book Club read Ann Leckie’s novel Ancillary Justice. Today from 12:00-1:00 PDT, Leckie is here to answer your questions! Ask her about Ancillary Justice, what it’s like to publish her first novel, or anything else! https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-book-club-is-in-session-lets-talk-about-ancil-1501276341 Just jump into comments and ask questions, and Leckie will get to as many as…

This Week in Time Capsules: Stars, Surgery, and Secrets

This week’s time capsule news round-up has some future artifacts at a hospital in Ohio, kids in Minnesota who are sure to make you feel ancient, and a wooden box in Australia with “a secret inside.” 1964 loo capsule unearthed in the UK A rather inconveniently placed time capsule has been discovered in the UK…

Smashed your iPhone 5C screen recently? Looks like your days of picking shards of glass from your palms are numbered. Starting next week, Apple will finally start offering in-store screen repairs/replacementsfor 5C usersat any Apple Store. For those of you carrying a 5S, don’t worry; your day will come—eventually.

​12 Insane Things You Totally Forgot About the ThunderCats

The ThunderCats don’t have the cultural clout of Transformers or even He-Man, but it still has a legion of fans that remember it fondly to this day. Chances are, this is because they’ve forgotten how weird and ridiculous the cartoon usually was. Here are a dozen “fun” facts that should remind you the ThunderCats weren’t…

This Table Detects Breast Cancer Using Sound Waves, Not X-Rays

Traditional mammography machines—besides being uncomfortable—rely on ionizing radiation to image a patient’s breasts. And as all we all know, radiation ironically increases the risk of cancer developing. So a company called Delphinus Medical Technologies has developed a safer alternative called the SoftVue which instead uses ultrasonic sound waves bouncing around inside a large water tank.…

Target’s Holiday Hack Apology Email Looks Like Another Hack

Target’s heart may be in the right place, but its latest blunder in the holiday hacking fiasco proves that the company still has quite a bit of learning to do when it comes to restoring consumer confidence. Lesson number one: If you’re going to make a conciliatory gesture through email, for god’s sake, don’t make…

This mysterious rock just appeared in front of our rover on Mars

A mysterious rock suddenly appeared in front of the Opportunity rover’s cameras on Mars, puzzling scientists who describe the rock as both “a total surprise” and “about the size of a jelly donut.” The news of the rock, which NASA scientists have dubbed “Pinnacle Island”, came during a talk by Mars Exploration Rover head scientist…

Two fans broke onto Star Trek: TNG sets to film their own documentary

In 1988, two fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation broke onto the Paramount lot and wandered through the Enterprise sets, filming a homemade documentary as they went along. They also caused a little accidental mayhem along the way. These Stage 9 Interlopers certainly don’t seem prepared for their unauthorized behind-the-scenes look at the Enterprise,…

Carbon Nanotubes Can Now Fireproof Your Furniture

If you’ve ever lamented the fact that putting your sofa right next to a warm crackling fireplace was dangerous, carbon nanotubes might one day come to the rescue—again. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology—or NIST—have created a carbon nanotube-based coating that makes the foam used in furniture considerably less flammable. https://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-tiniest-saw-is-made-from-diamond-coated-car-1078896278 The…

What would the perfect planet be like?

When it comes to habitability, Earth may not provide the best example. Indeed, astrobiologists are saying we should look for planets that are more hospitable to life than ours — a new class of objects they’re calling superhabitable worlds. They even know where we should look. In the search for extraterrestrial life, astrobiologists are increasingly…

Obama’s NSA Reforms Come Up Short

In a major speech Friday morning, President Obama scaled back the NSA’s surveillance operations and redefines how we collect intelligence overseas. In brief, he ordered the end of the bulk telephony metadata program (in its current from) and spying on foreign leaders. Beyond that, though, the future remains murky. Truth be told, Obama did announce…

This Cold War “Mining” Barge Was Really Built to Steal Soviet Subs

When an advanced Soviet submarine sank in the Pacific in 1968, the CIA decided to risk World War III on a daring covert mission, using this massive barge to raise the sunken vessel and pry out its secrets. After Soviet submarine K-129 sank 1,500 miles Northwest of Oahu in March of 1968, few held out…

An experiment that tested a man’s tolerance for isolation to the limit

In 1962 a 23-year-old geologist lived alone in a cave for two months. He had no problem with it. In 1972, he tried it again, and nearly lost his mind. Naturally, there are people who choose to isolate themselves, but what would happen to someone whose primary goal in life wasn’t enforced solitude? Michel Siffre,…

How did dinosaurs fight? Brian Switek explains over at National Geographic, highlighting work by researchers who are recreating dinosaur battles — with science! No, Dinobots are not involved.

Things get creepy in the first real Penny Dreadful trailer

There have been plenty of teasers, but this new video — with nearly a minute of actual footage, including actual monsters, Timothy Dalton, and a contortionist — is the best look yet at Showtime’s somewhat literary, vaguely historical supernatural horror series Penny Dreadful. Thoughts? [Via Geeks of Doom]

The “bizarre experiment” that became a flying jellyfish robot

Small flying robots often take design cues from the flapping wings of insects and birds. But this robot prototype, pictured above, doesn’t move like any wind-loving creature here on Earth — instead, it flies like the jellyfish swims. And the story of its invention is pretty weird. https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-spherical-robot-drone-fly-around-the-room-5855803 https://gizmodo.com/roboticists-discover-the-secret-of-insect-flight-and-i-476242076 The “flying jellyfish” wasn’t actually designed…

The 11 Best American-Designed Buildings of The Year

Every year, the American Institute of Architects invites its members—some 83,000 licensed architects—to enter the buildings they’ve designed in the past five years for an award. It’s about as solid an award as an architect can receive, and this year’s winners were just made public. The projects range from museums to train stations to hotels;…