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Twelve short films about 12 planets, each animated in a different style

You don’t need a spaceship, or even much time, to visit the alien worlds in these 12 whimsical animated films. Each planet has its own quirky personality, its own creature design, and a particular musical soundtrack. We’ve featured some of the individual shorts from Andy Martin’s Illustrated Aliens, but with their distinct visual and musical…

Stage An Oscar-Winning Drama On Your Own Personal Bombed-Out Movie Set

It may not look like much right now, but this strip of blown-out, busted-up buildings is usually swarming with celebrities. Movies like Zero Dark Thirty, Iron Man and National Security were all filmed here, at what’s known as the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch, a series of sets scattered out across 100 acres just north of…

Scientists set a new world record for the longest echo

Working in a unique underground fuel depot, acoustic scientists fired a pistol to hear how long the reverb would last. The resulting echo rang on and on and on — completely obliterating the previous record. One minute and 52 seconds. That’s the new standard, shattering the previous one — set in 1970 at the Hamilton…

Google Charts the History of Popular Music as We Listen to it Today

Google’s research department just released a fun visualization called Music Timeline, which attempts to chart the rise and fall of different musical genres in terms of their relative popularity. Watch rock, pop, alternative, and hip hop each rise to the top. The chart begins in 1950 and reflects data about what Google Music users have…

What show was the WORST EVER about constantly shifting directions?

Sometimes TV shows bore us by trotting out the same formula in every episode. But some go to the other extreme, changing the setup and characters so much that it’s like plot whiplash every week. What show was the worst offender in the “constant changes” department? Please be sure to include clips, pictures, or links!…

New Class of Drug Shows Promise in the Treatment of Herpes

Genital herpes, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, remains incurable. But now, newly published findings suggest one of the most promising experimental herpes- treatments in decades can significantly reduce the virus’ ability to replicate and spread, and do so without the side-effects of current therapies Above: TEM micrograph of a herpes simplex virus…

This Slick Steel Bucket Holds a Flame Or A Fern: Your Choice

What’s classier than a tiki torch, tougher than a luminaria, but less commitment than a big ol’ backyard pit? Well hey, it’s this cool Fire Bucket. And whoa, it can do double duty as a planter. Neat! Norm Architects designed the piece in powder-coated stainless steel to weather whatever crazy seasonal elements you’ve got going…

This full-size human skull is made out of cocaine

Dutch artist diddo created this full-scale sculpture of a human skull made with street cocaine. The piece is entitled ‘”ecce animal.” The artist even took the cocaine to a research lab in order to verify its authenticity. The sculpture intends to provoke thought and conversation about the nature of man, particularly our participation in society…

An adorable lion cub waves hi to a GoPro camera

Well, it looks like a hi and then it winds into a gentle smack. But still, the lion cub who stumbled upon this GoPro camera is just so adorable that I wouldn’t mind getting pawed around by the little prince of the jungle. The footage was captured by photographer Chris Bray on a photo safari…

November 1942: An operator in London sending a picture by radio to Cairo. Back in the 1930s and 40s, radio transmission of photos was supposed to be the next big thing. Even your daily newspaper was going to come via radio! [Getty Images]

Rdio Copies Spotify, Goes Totally Free On the Web With Ads

Earlier today, Spotify removed listening caps from its web-based music service. And so the struggling Rdio streaming music service has decided to follow with its own announcement: Free on-demand music forever on the web—as long as you’re willing to listen to some of the company’s newly conceived advertising. Yup, everybody’s shaking in their boots over…

How would a dolphin and a human swimmer compare in a race?

Obviously dolphins are far better swimmers than humans. They would totally hand us our asses in a race. But just how lopsided would the contest be? A recent experiment shows it’s not even close — and dolphins are even stronger in the water than we thought. The reason for the experiment dates back to 1930.…

The Tomorrow People held a vote about whether Stephen is the chosen one

This is unprecedented in the history of Chosen Ones, at least as far as I know. They actually put it to a vote. Democracy in action. Is this guy the magical savior whose dead dad holds the key to everything creamy and delicious? And guess how the Tomorrow People voted. Spoilers ahead… That’s right. They…

Looks Like Russians Were Behind the Target Hack

A U.S. government report finally offers up some details about the series of hacks that led to theft of the debit card information for 40 million people and the personal information of 70 million. Based on chunks of computer code written in Russian, it appears our old Cold War foes may have been the culprits.…

This medieval manuscript curses the cat who peed on it

What happens when a cat sneaks over and pees all over the precious manuscript that you’ve spent months of your life inscribing? If you’re this 15th century monk, you leave a note cursing the cat and move on with your writing. The blog medievalfragments explains that this manuscript was inscribed by a Deventer scribe around…

Watch a concrete WWII bunker get cut in half

In 2010 a Dutch WWII bunker was sliced in half to create one of the most unique war memorials in the world. This video documents the transformation of bunker 599 into a work of art. The sculpture, designed by Dutch studio RAAAF and Atelier de Lyon, recently won the Architectural Review Award in 2013 for…

How to shelter from fallout after a nuclear attack on your city

Terrorists have detonated a low-yield nuclear warhead in your city. How long should you hide, and where, to avoid the worst effects of radioactive fallout? We talked to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory atmospheric scientist Michael Dillon to find out. Yesterday Dillon published a paper on this topic in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.…

In 1961 The Future of Firefighting Was Heat-Seeking Missiles

Need to put out a forest fire? Why not bomb it with chemical-filled missiles? At least that was the plan in 1961. The September 17, 1961 edition of Arthur Radebaugh‘s Sunday comic strip “Closer Than We Think” imagined that in the future, firefighters would rain down missiles from the sky. Needless to say, it’s hard…

This trailer for the Winter Olympics invokes a terrifying ice world

Winter (and the Olympics) are coming in this new trailer that nods in Westeros’ direction with eerie icescapes, long trudges across snowy mountains, and Charles Dance (a.k.a Tywin Lannister) narrating. https://observationdeck.kinja.com/after-the-red-wedding-here-comes-tywin-lannisters-nex-1502750109

Australia Is Outfitting Thousands of Bees With Tiny Tracking Backpacks

Bees populations are mysteriously dying worldwide, and that’s a problem: one-third of the world’s crops are pollinated by the black and yellow fellows. To try and figure out what’s causing the bee decline, Australia’s national science agency is strapping RFID tags on bees’ backs to detect changes in their movement. It’s the beenternet! The tiny…