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How the New York Botanical Garden Digitizes Nearly 300 Plants a Day

The New York Botanical Garden is packed with over 7.3 million specimens from all over the world. And when you’ve got that many plants, you need to get a little creative when it’s time to take their picture. It’s a high tech affair. Popular Science recently profiled the NYBG archival process and explained that the…

Ice climber impossibly survives a punishing fall from ice wall

Ouch. That has got to hurt. Ice climber Mark R. was climbing up a mountain when he was sent plummeting down by a piece of falling ice that hit him. He then basically avalanches down the mountain side and hits every rock down the way. It’s like a scene from Game of Thrones but completely…

This Gorgeous Stained Glass Landscape Is Actually a Rice Field

Who knew growing rice on a mountain could be so beautiful? The Ailao Mountains in Yunnan, China, have been carved into thousands of gradual steps, each a paddy growing red rice. The rice terraces stretch out over some 400 square miles of mountains and valleys. The Hani people moved into the area and began carving…

Family Opens Beats Headphones on Christmas, Finds Tuna Instead

It’s Christmas Day. You’ve carefully wrapped the Beats headphones your daughter’s been dreaming of, and she’s just about to see that dream become reality. Looking on with glee, you watch as she tears the paper from her brand new set of cans only to find that these were cans of a markedly different sort. Tuna,…

These robotic armor leggings will bring out your inner cyborg

Looking for a pair of stockings to give you that stylish bionic touch? Vancouver-based Mitmunk has released a set of bionic-themed printed leggings that will get the job done. These items, among many others, can be purchased here. Via Geeks are Sexy.

Three icebreaking ships were dispatched yesterday to aid a Russian research vessel that’s beentrapped by by dense ice-pack off East Antarctica. Today, the BBC reports the research vessel is close to being saved, as the Chinese “Snow Dragon” icebreakerprepares to cut a safe passage through the ice.

Why you can scratch one spot on your body and feel it somewhere else

Ever scratched your arm and felt a scratch over your ribs? How about pinching your leg and feeling a phantom twinge in your back? That sensation is called referred itch or mitempfindung. And here’s why scientists think it happens. Top image: Shutterstock.com Mitempfindung got its name from Johannes Muller, a German physiology professor who did…

Stonehenge’s New Visitor Center Looks Positively Neolithic

The decrepit old visitor center at Stonehenge has been too small and too old for decades. In fact, it’s been described with typical Brit candor as “disgraceful” and an “embarrassment” to England. Finally, this month, a new, $44 million visitors’ center has opened—here’s a look inside. A lot has changed at Stonehenge since the 1970s,…

The 10 Most-Pirated TV Shows of 2013

Another year comes to a close, and another year of gratuitous television show pirating is in the bag. Who wins the award for the most illicit views? According to numbers from TorrentFreak, Game of Thrones keeps the crown for the second year in a row by a hefty margin. At 5,900,000 downloads, it beats (fantastic)…

New Helix footage gets us excited for the black, gooey death!

We’re pretty excited about Syfy’s new creepy outbreak series Helix. We loved the pilot and can’t wait to see how this icy virus drama unravels, or decomposes. Get a glimpse at some new footage — along with some clever marketing promos for Helix. https://gizmodo.com/first-impressions-helix-is-syfys-best-new-show-in-yea-1480372505 Viral Videos, not actual footage but some clever stuff here:

The 18 Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2013

A lot can happen in a single year, especially in this era of accelerating technological and social change. Here are the most futuristic developments of 2013. 1. Humanity officially became an interstellar species: It took Voyager I 36 years to do it, but the little spacecraft-that-could officially pierced through the heliosphere back in July. The…

A Ticket to the End of the World

If you’ve watched with envy as the internet fills up with endless photo galleries of abandoned buildings in Detroit, perhaps now is your time to get in on the action: for the low, low price of only $45, you can buy a ticket and take locally-run “tours of abandoned factories, churches and schools.” A Detroit…

Target Confirms That Encrypted PINs Were Swiped in Black Friday Hack

After admitting yesterday that some encrypted data had been pulled by the hack potentially affecting 40 million customers, Target has gone on to further confirm that the encrypted data stolen does in fact include PIN information. Whether or not the hackers will be able to extract the PINs from this data, though, remains to be…

These YA Book Sequels Get Better by Going Darker

Three young-adult novels that made a splash in 2012 are back for another helping. But now that so many YA books are spawning trilogies, septologies and sequels, how do these second installments keep your interest? By throwing their protagonists for loops, and revealing some dark truths about their respective worlds. Spoilers for the first books…

The Top 10 Time Capsules of 2013

It was an exciting year for time capsules! Am I allowed to say without getting my lunch money stolen and then violently stuffed into a locker? The oldest known message in a bottle was discovered in Canada. We finally found the long-lost Steve Jobs capsule in Colorado. And a time capsule even left the solar…

4 Essential Apps for Mobile Photo Editing

Post-processing is an important part of photography, and it becomes even more important with smartphone photos that may lack depth of color and and dynamic range. With the advent of Instagram and its imitators, filters have come to rule the day for most casual photogs, but many of us demand more control. Here are five…

Federal Judge Says NSA Phone Surveillance Is Legal, After All

Despite a recent ruling that it might be unconstitutional, a U.S. judge ruled on Friday that the NSA’s telephone surveillance program is in fact legal and does not violate the 4th Amendment. Legality is “ultimately a question of reasonableness,” said U.S. District Judge William Pauley. https://gizmodo.com/federal-judge-says-nsa-phone-spying-is-probably-unconst-1484358756 Pauley did admit, however, that the NSA bulk telephony…

45 Behind-the-Scenes Back to the Future images may teach you something

Every time we re-watch Back to the Future we pick up on something we missed before. This movie trilogy is a multi-layered wonder, and nothing better dissects the insane attention to detail than this crop of behind the scenes images. Seriously did you ever realize that the ice cream store from the future was actually…

You Are Here: The 13 Best Maps of 2013

Maps: Where would we be without them? This was banner year for beautiful, information-dense cartography, which provided a moment of self-reflection like a giant, geographic mirror. Here are our favorite maps from 2013 that helped us find our place in the world. A Map of Who’s Got the Best (And Worst) Internet Connections in America…

This ancient burial box contains the earliest known reference to Jesus

After a 10-year investigation and criminal trial, an Israeli antiquities collector has been cleared of forgery charges. That means the modest limestone burial box pictured above — an ossuary inscribed with the earliest-known reference to Jesus – is the real deal. Back in 2003, skeptics questioned the authenticity of the box, claiming that the owner,…