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Kim Jong-un Airbrushes “Traitor” Uncle From Official Documentary

Given his long, illustrious career as the world’s premier totalitarian Photoshop expert, it should come as no surprise that, after sentencing his own uncle to execution, Kim Jong Un has ordered that the rumored counter-revolutionary be airbrushed out of a state-sponsored documentary. https://gizmodo.com/north-korea-photoshopped-its-hovercraft-fleet-to-make-i-5992609 Reports of Jang Song Thaek’s death came late last week, which means…

Chinese Hospital Opens “Smog Clinic” to Help Citizens Survive the City

As Chinese cities grapple with explosive industrial growth, they also grapple with the side effects, like millions of citizens with pollution-related ills. At Chengdu No. 7 People’s Hospital, those patients are a common sight—and now, the hospital has opened a dedicated “smog clinic” to treat them. Despite the fact that the official party line on…

The definitive collection of secret Nazi weapons

Underwater missiles that could have hit New York, jet-powered bombers that were nearly impossible to intercept, sub-orbital bombers, vertical launch rocket fighters, or infrared visors are just a few of many in this definitive collection of incredible Nazi weapons. Be happy that those bastards never got to mass produce them. Secret weapons of the Luftwaffe…

The Story Behind the Only Sculpture on the Moon Is a Doozy

In 1971, an astronaut placed a 3 1/2-inch aluminum sculpture on the moon, igniting an art world scandal transcending our earthly bearings. The long, bizarre tale of “one of the smallest yet most extraordinary achievements of the Space Age” is recounted by Corey Powell and Laurie Gwen Shapiro over at Slate. If there’s anything to…

Frank Darabont sues the bejeezus out of The Walking Dead TV show

Frank Darabont was instrumental in bringing The Walking Dead comic to television. He helped produce the show, he directed the pilot, and then he was pushed out because the show wasn’t very good. Now that TWD is one of the mostly watched and profitable series on TV, Darabont would like his cut. Which he says…

Sony SD Cards And More Are Deeply Discounted Today Only

Amazon’s Gold Box is bursting at the seams today with SD cards, Micro SD cards, and a few other mobile accessories from Sony. As always, we’ve broken out a few of the best deals below (all representing the lowest prices ever), but be sure to check out the entire list for more deals and different…

At GE’s engine testing site in Winnipeg, Canada, new engines endure trial by ice—a simulated winter gale that batters them with 2,800 pounds of cold air per second and thousands of gallons of freezing water, all at minus eight degrees fahrenheit. [GE;Gizmodo]

The life of the British upper class, 5500 years ago

Roughly 500 years before Stonehenge was erected, the people of the British Isles were already forming vast kingdoms ruled by a wealthy elite. A new study of one ancient British skeleton gives us a glimpse of what it was like to be a king in neolithic England. Researchers unearthed the skeleton from a massive ritual…

Mad Scientists Just Built an Edible Battery Out of Cuttlefish Ink

A few years ago, a whole new crop of crazy medical devices started popping up—things like little robots that could crawl through your veins and clear blocked arteries. Scientists lauded the promise of ingestible electronics, but there was one big problem. How are we going to power these devices? A team of scientists from Carnegie…

Google+ Thinks the Account It Personally Set Up for Neil Gaiman Is Fake

Looks like Google+ is even having trouble keeping their own accounts active. Illustrious author and Twitter savant Neil Gaiman’s page has been suspended under suspicion of being a fake. The only thing is—that’s the page Google made for him. Gaiman took to Twitter today to express puzzlement over the odd turn of events. But that’s…

The Best and Worst Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies of 2013

This was a good year to argue about movies. A lot of films inspired powerful reactions, either positive or negative, among audiences. Some of 2013’s movies are destined to be among our all-time favorites, while others will be reviled forever. Here are the 10 best and 10 worst science fiction and fantasy movies of 2013.…

Nope. Oxytocin isn’t going to become the “trust me” drug.

Oxytocin is often referred to as the “trust hormone,” a claim that was reinforced by a 2005 study in which participants became more trusting after it was administered via a nasal spray. Trouble is, few studies have been able to reproduce this result, prompting at least one neuroscientist to suggest it’s high-time we stop believing…

The Next Generation of DSL Can Pump 1Gbps Through Copper Phone Lines

The last mile issue has plagued ISPs since the advent of the Internet. While projects like Google Fiber can deliver massive bandwidth to your door, they require the installation of an entirely new network infrastructure. Not so with the new G.fast standard. It delivers fiber optic speeds over existing telephone lines. Older iterations of DSL…

Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark Is Awesome: A Treatise

Hey, folks! It’s about that time of the year where I head to an abandoned cabin and have constant sex with Olivia Williams, so there will be no “Postal Apocalypse” next week. My apologies! But get those end of the year questions ready, because “PA” will return on January 1st, 2014! (At Ms. Williams’s discretion,…

Tiny, Intricate Trees Cut From Discarded Shopping Bags

We collectively use about a million plastic bags a minute, a figure that will peak during next week’s holiday rush. As you’re sitting around in a post-Christmas funk next week, consider following the lead of Japanese artist Yuken Teruya, who carves tiny, perfect trees out of the flimsy walls of old shopping bags. Teruya’s trees…

A television screen is inset into an avant-garde cabinet for canned music called the “Kuba Komet” at the Radio and Television Exhibition in Frankfurt, West Germany, Aug. 5, 1957. As well as the television set, the Komet houses a radio, a record player and a tape recorder. The upper part of the assembly swings on…

After the FCC’s decision to consider allowing in-flight phone calls, Delta Air Lines has just announced that calls won’t be allowed on its flights. Apparently Delta CEO Richard Anderson agrees with the FCC Chairman, who himself thinks in-air calls would be super annoying. [Delta via TechCrunch]

Her Review: Loneliness Never Looked So Beautiful (or Futuristic)

On my way to the theater, I asked Siri about the movie Her, and she got confused. “What kind of businesses are you looking for?” Siri replied in her always off-kilter robotic murmur. I barked back some line about Siri being stupid. She cracked some stupid joke. And my phone went back into my pocket.…

Amazing golf shot of the year is more genius billiard trick than golf

I don’t get golf. But I can appreciate the genius billiard-like quality of this shot—”Golf Shot of the year,” experts say—at the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championships at Nailcote Hall Hotel. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us in Facebook

Japan’s new island keeps growing

Back in November, volcanic activity along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” gave rise to a tiny new island in Japanese territory. According to new reports, the island — named Niijima — is still erupting and growing. Niijima is located about 600 miles (1,000 km) south of Tokyo and sits about 80…