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Amazing Landforms Shaped By Animals

Humans have their dynamite; wind and water have time on their side; but animals, too, can reshape their landscape on a massive scale. None of these are the work of a lone gopher or even a single mighty elephant, but generations and generations of animals slowly chipping away. Mima Mounds Photo courtesy of Arthur M.…

The Heroic Parachuting Dogs of D-Day

On the eve of the Normandy invasion, three planes carrying the members of Britain’s 13th Battalion took off for France. In addition to the 60 men aboard, each plane carried one dog. The story of how these paratrooping canines got there — and what happened next — is nothing short of remarkable. Lazar Backovic has…

Flying man in wingsuit flies deathly close to the ground like Superman

He’s Superman. Actually, I take it back. I don’t even think Superman would fly this impossibly close to the ground because it’s just ridiculous. Insane, really. That didn’t stop wingsuit pilot Brian Drake from zipping mere feet from the ground though. Look at him tear through the gully and marvel at death being defied. So…

Six Amazing Books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and Others, For Just $6

This is a pretty sweet deal — there’s a Fiction Bundle on offer right now, that includes six books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and other great authors, for just $6 or whatever you choose. If you pay $10 or more, you get a second Pratt book! Top image: The Godmakers by Frank Herbert, art…

Geologists find diamond-producing rocks in Antarctica

For the first time ever, geologists working in Antarctica have found a type of rock that’s known to bear diamonds — a discovery that could expose the polar continent to opportunistic prospectors. Called kimberlite, it’s a volcanic rock named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-carat (16.7 g)…

Christmas Tree Lane Hosts The Oldest Holiday Display In The World

They’re perfectly conical, with long draping boughs and a citrusy fragrance: Your search for the perfect Christmas tree ends here. Unfortunately, you can’t chop down any of the 132 historically protected cedars that line a street outside of Los Angeles called Christmas Tree Lane. The Cedrus deodara, a native to the Himalayas commonly known as…

The Apocalyptic Vision of Sol Yurick, Author of The Warriors

Sol Yurick’s novel The Warriors became one of the most colorful post-apocalyptic movies of all time, in which elaborately costumed gangs fight in the ruins of New York. But where did it come from? Gizmodo has a fascinating interview with Yurick, who died earlier this year. https://dailygrid.kinja.com/conic-sections-an-interview-with-sol-yurick-1485686382

This is not a glitch. It’s Mars.

Light and shadow play on the ridges of sand dunes that lie cloistered in an impact crater in Mars’ Noachis Terra region. “Sand dunes are among the most widespread aeolian (wind-formed) features present on Mars,” write HiRISE researchers Alfred McEwen and Ginny Gulick in their description of the planet’s continually morphing features. ” Their spatial…

Ultra-Simple Titanium Tools That Tackle Any Task With Style

Who says a multitool has to be some monstrous device overflowing with foldout blades and screwdrivers that’s too large to comfortably carry in your pocket? The Portland-based design team at Industry takes a less is more approach with this pair of Solid: Series One tools that can be used however you want—and should survive any…

Who’s the most unfairly maligned character of all time?

Today’s discussion of Sansa Stark raised some good questions about why certain characters are or aren’t hated, and how much that hate is actually warranted. Which character do you think gets way too much hate and grief from people? To start the Open Channel, let’s take a look at the proto-Sansa — Dawn from Buffy…

Taming Adrenaline for Better Workouts

Do you have trouble sticking to workout regimens? Maybe you start off strong for the first couple weeks, but then you start missing them here and there until, eventually, you realize there’s a you-shaped cavern in your couch. You’re in good company. But there’s a tool that our own bodies produce that might just be…

Today Is The Last Day To Holiday Shop From Amazon, Without Prime

If you’re not a Prime subscriber (and you should be), then today is your last day to do your holiday shopping on Amazon without having to pay for expedited shipping. With Prime you can order as late as the 22nd and still get your free shipping, or pay the discounted Prime rate for one-day shipping…

Watch a Story Literally Unfold From the Creases of this Kids’ Book

The Adventures of a Village begins like many stories do—by setting the scene. In this case, a small cluster of snow-covered buildings are intersected by winding train tracks. That’s it. What happens next is a clever play on the old Choose Your Own Adventure books—but, instead of turning pages to read ahead, their corners are…

Astronomers may have detected the first moon outside a star system

Good news, everyone! We may have detected our first exomoon outside a solar system. It orbits a gas giant 1800 light years away from us, and it’s half the size of Earth—just like the famous Yavin IV from which the Rebel Alliance launched its attack against the Death Star. It’s a really weird moon too.…

The New Oscars Logo Is Illuminati Catnip

Trying to “fix” the Oscars with branding is a fool’s errand—just you try and put lipstick on a grotesquely excessive, four-hour-long pig. But local creative agency 180LA has done an admirable job, giving the Academy a new look that’s as smart as it is simple. Before and after. The focal point of the job is…

New DNA sequence shows that Neanderthals liked incest

Berkeley scientists just generated a pristine genome sequence of Neanderthal DNA—the most complete ever created—and what they found might gross you out. It might also blow your mind. The DNA sequence came from a 50,000 year old Neanderthal bone, a woman’s toe to be exact. The scientists compared it with DNA from modern humans as…

Gifts for the Discerning Coffee Enthusiast You Like to Call a Snob

You don’t have to have a mustache and dress like it’s the thirties to take pleasure in the craft and science of coffee. All that is required is attention to detail, a few minutes of your time, and tastebuds. Here are a few gift ideas for your brew-loving acquaintances. If you’ve got any ideas you’d…

DARPA Tried to Build Skynet in the 1980s

From 1983 to 1993 DARPA spent over $1 billion on a program called the Strategic Computing Initiative. The agency’s goal was to push the boundaries of computers, artificial intelligence, and robotics to build something that, in hindsight, looks strikingly similar to the dystopian future of the Terminator movies. They wanted to build Skynet. Much like…

Watch the epic first 3 minutes of Big Ass Spider right here, right now

Oh Big Ass Spider, you are the new Sharknado — but instead of being an unwatchable shark-filled tornado flick, you are a highly enjoyable giant-spider movie that knows exactly what it’s doing. So check out the first three minutes of the wondrous movie that is Big Ass Spider (set to a fantastic cover of the…

Here are Nature magazine’s 10 people who mattered in 2013. They range from engineers making breakthroughs in cloning and solar cell efficiency, to a scientist who studies sexual assault trends and a diplomat who called attention to global warming. These are the people who are changing the world of science.