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Meet the Valkyrie that was almost in Thor: The Dark World

While the Marvel heroine Valkyrie has been rocking it in Defenders comics off and on for over 40 years, the Norse warrior goddess has so far been absent from the Marvel movie-verse. But as this new concept art reveals, Brunnhilde almost made her debut in Thor 2: The Dark World! The designs come from excellent…

Supervolcanoes Are Even Scarier Than We Thought

Do you have a cute and cuddly stuffed animal near you? If not, you might want to find one because what you’re about to read will scare you silly. And not the good kind of silly either. We’re talking The-End-Is-Coming sort of silly. Two studies published in Nature Geosciences describe new findings on supervolcanoes, the…

The Bitter Feud That Gave Us the Brontosaurus

Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were not nice men. For the most part, their not-niceness was taken out on each other. Occasionally, though, it was taken out on the innocent science of paleontology. If their feud hadn’t built paleontology into what it is today, they might not even be remembered as fondly as…

The New JVC Everio Brings Rugged Water-Proofiness to an Old Friend

Water-proof video cameras are nothing new. The explosion of the action-camera market is evidence that not only have they been around, but there’s a demand for them. But while action cameras are becoming popular for their versatility in mounting, there still something to be said for class form-factor: The camcorder. JVC’s new Everios are camcorders…

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has announced that the McAfee brand name will be phased out in favor of a new name, Intel Security. John McAfee said of news: “My elation at Intel’s decision is beyond words.”

Will a “controversial” chapter make you curse at George R.R. Martin?

A certain character from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is going to be having a shocking twist in his next book, The Winds of Winter. Yes, that sounds like every character in his books — but apparently, this one will be extra “controversial.” Spoilers ahead… Now that you’ve agreed to…

It Was So Cold in Canada, the Ground Exploded

Even before the polar vortex put large swathes of the US into a deep freeze, subzero temperatures in Canada were causing frost quakes. A few nights ago, residents around Ontario woke up to mysterious booms—like an explosion or falling tree. Turns it was just the cold. Like a glass jar of water in the freezer,…

Stan Lee will have a “big role” on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Playing “spot the Stan Lee cameo” is a tradition when watching Marvel movies, but in an upcoming episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he’ll be getting more than a brief shot and a quippy line. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the comic book creator will have a “big role” in an episode that will likely air…

The NYTimes.com Is Relaunching By Putting Your Face on the Front Page

The New York Times already gave usa preview of its brighter, cleaner, and all around more beautiful website earlier this year. But starting tomorrow, the redesign will be here to stay. And to celebrate, the New York Times is showing off just how customizable (and GIF-able) it’s new homepage will be. Conference attendees can take…

​8 Cold-Powered Villains Who May Be Behind All This Crappy Weather

Goddamn it’s cold outside. Whether your location is currently at 23 degrees or 23 degrees below zero, chances are you’re experiencing cold weather and a harsh winter like the world has rarely seen. But is it really just a fluke… or is it a concerted effort by one of the world’s many ice-themed supervillains? Here…

Mio Is Bringing Heart Rate Monitoring to Your Wristband

Mio, which was one of the first companies to make a watch that could accurately measure your heart rate without an additional chest strap, has decided to downsize. They’ve taken the brains of the Mio Alpha, then they shrunk it and got rid of its face. What we’ve got left is a pulse reading wristband…

Which Superfoods Aren’t Actually Super At All?

It’s way more fun to finish off a big ol’ bar of dark choco when you can convince yourself it’s good for you. Because c’mon, science says so… in all those random studies you’ve seen floating around the internet… right? Well, surprise surprise, it turns out there are a bunch of false facts out there…

‘Amateur paleontologist’ Newt Gingrich says global warming is A-OK

Speaking on CNN’s Crossfire last night, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich argued that a hotter planet may be just fine — because dinosaurs and perpetual Caribbean vacations. Describing himself as an “amateur paleontologist,” [ahem] Gingrich rhetorically asked Crossfire co-panelist Van Jones what the right temperature of the planet should be. “Assume for a minute that…

8 Massive Tunnels Being Built Right Now Under A City Near You

Now that we know it was an eight-inch steel pipe that brought the world’s largest-diameter tunneling machine to a halt up in Seattle, we can no longer fantasize about Bertha unearthing a five-story-tall buried locomotive. But we can look at something almost as fascinating: The other giant holes that are currently being churned through the…

Vimeo Secretly Launches an Improved, Super Fast HTML 5 Player

Vimeo is officially launching a new default HTML 5 player that’s 50 percent faster than the the flash module that came before. In fact, you may have already been using it for months as the service has been slowly rolling it out to users. Sneaky, sneaky! Pretty much the only way you’ll use the oldness…

Casio’s Sporty Bluetooth Watch Lets You Glimpse Your Fitness App Stats

Smartwatches might seem like a recent fad, but countless companies have been trying to improve your wearable electronics for well over a decade. Including Casio, who were one of the first to integrate a Bluetooth connection into its watches letting it mirror notifications from your smartphone. And the company’s latest model, the STB-1000, is even…

Kid turns three years of self-portraits into one amazing music video

Matt Perren has vision, patience, and good taste in music. The result of these talents is the above video, which features Perren transforming three years of self-portrait photos into a music video where he lipsyncs Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” while aging three years in less than a minute… and then back. I’m giving him…

Just Flipping This Wireless Switch Is Enough to Power It

You might think that the humble light switch is so simple that it couldn’t really evolve much further—but you’d be wrong. Because this wireless switch, designed to work with the new breed of wireless bulbs, can harvest all the energy it needs to function from a button press. Developed by NXP, the switch uses NFC…

Why Using Refrigeration Less Now Will Make Us Safer In the Long Run

The developed world has a love affair with refrigeration that spreads way beyond the domestic chiller: It’s the backbone of the world’s food supply industry, keeping food fresher for far longer than mother nature intended. But it could be about to ruin us. Nicola Twilley has written a wonderful feature for Modern Farmerabout the dangers…

Japanese “Spiral Top” makes zero-gravity light paintings aboard the ISS

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata is using some of his time aboard the International Space Station to create art, namely spiral light paintings made utilizing the station’s microgravity and a spinning top. Wakata has been tweeting his most recent light paintings. First, he showed off the “Spiral Top” designed by light artist Takuro Osaka. The top…