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Everything That’s Wrong with HealthCare.gov

The HealthCare.gov launch did not go so well. Some people paid the website a visit only to be greeted by a blank screen. Others found error messages or talked to misleading call center reps or had their personal information compromised. The whole thing is borked, and everybody knows it. It’s been less than a month…

Bundle of Tentacles gives your gaming group a dose of eldritch horror

Obviously, you need some creepy horror RPGs to play this week. The Bundle of Tentacles lets you get entangled by a ropy, squirming mass of them, including Trail of Cthulhu and several Call of Cthulhu supplements. Bundle of Tentacles is a pay what you want ($7 minimum) collection of RPG PDFs. The base set includes…

Make a Spooky Smoke Waterfall Using Sticky Notes and Fire

Here’s an awesome experiment you can try if you’re looking for a last minute way to decorate your cubicle or house for Halloween. It’s particularly great if you have one of those tiny relaxing waterfalls at your disposal, since replacing the water with cascading smoke is sure to have everyone thinking you’re some kind of…

The NASA Engineer Who Made iPads the Future of Halloween

Two years ago, NASA engineer Mark Rober blew YouTube’s mind with a video of his Halloween costume: a hole in his chest. Or at least it looked like a hole in his chest. In fact, it was an optical illusion made possible by two iPads, a little duct tape and a lot of ingenuity. Well,…

Look at this witch screaming in space

Because it’s Halloween, NASA has published a new view of the beautiful Witch Head Nebula taken by their Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. Beautiful even when you realize the witch profile that gives this cluster of new stars surrounded by dust its name. Astronomers say the billowy clouds of the nebula, where baby stars are brewing,…

Babies can actually learn lullabies before they’re born

A new study has proven that infants can recognize a lullaby heard in the womb — and they can remember it for several months after they’re born. But more than that, fetuses exposed to music during the final trimester may experience neurological benefits as a result, including boosts to memory and language. It’s well-documented that…

There’s No Escaping These Pack-Hunting Soviet Assault Choppers

Sure the MI-24 Hind packs a wallop, but it’s big, heavy, and cumbersome to fly. So, to penetrate enemy territory, Russia designed and built the agile and deadly Black Shark assault chopper. All it’s missing is a frickin’ laser. https://gizmodo.com/mi-24-hind-the-flying-russian-crocodile-can-fight-and-507543530 The Kamov Ka-50 “Black Shark” grew out of the Soviet V-80Sh-1 project in the late…

Will somebody please buy me this gorgeous, $1,650 anatomy text?

16th Century anatomist Andreas Vesalius’s seven-volume opus on the human form, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, secured his status as the founder of modern human anatomy. Now, the foundational text has been translated and annotated in a beautiful (and exorbitantly priced) two-volume set. The world’s first annotated English translation of Fabrica will set you back $1,650…

Discover Musical Instruments Everywhere With This Tiny Synthesizer

London-based duo Dentaku have made digital instruments out of beer bottles, text messages, and color-sensing robots. But, for their latest trick, Yuri Suzuki and Mark McKeague want to let you make music. Meet Ototo, a tiny synthesizer that lets you make almost anything—from oranges to origami—into an instrument. https://gizmodo.com/little-robots-turn-marker-squiggles-into-sound-1197408065 Ototo means little brother in Japanese,…

You’re now free to use your phone during all your flight, says FAA

Once all airlines are certified by the end of the year there will be no more annoying flight attendants asking you to turn off your phone, tablet, computers or game console at take off or landing. It’s official: The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the usage of all electronics for…

A Haunted House Filled With DIY Tricks From Disney’s Haunted Mansion

Haunted houses have gone over the top in the quest for guts, gristle and gore. But the Alvarado Caverns and Mystery Theater in Los Angeles offers a clever, DIY twist on scare tactics. Its fascinating—yet still freaky—lo-fi haunting techniques are cribbed from one of the country’s original spooky addresses: Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. https://gizmodo.com/behind-the-scenes-of-blood-manor-one-of-nycs-scariest-1451588825 Alvarado Caverns…

Scientists are hiding under your bed

Do you hear a scritch-scritch-scritch sound coming from under your bed? Don’t worry. It’s just a scientists down there, recording your uninteresting, “egocentric” chatter and preserving it forever. Ah, the 1930s were an invigorating time for science! They combined the beginnings of modern equipment and methodology with a complete lack of anything resembling ethics. For…

Check out the world’s first bitcoin ATM

If there was any doubt that bitcoin — a distributed peer-to-peer digital currency — is seriously on the way in, this new ATM at a Vancouver cafe should put those reservations to rest. The new machine, which converts bitcoins to Canadian dollars and vice versa, is the first of four ATMs to be opened across…

For Those About To Rock: A Cool 3-String Guitar You Build Yourself

Do you dream of shredding away like a righteous axe-master, but fear you’ve missed your window of opportunity to actually, you know, learn how to play? Loog, a little electric guitar designed for newbies and kids, minimizes the intimidation factor by giving you just three strings to work with. Part of the fun is that…

What is the Best Halloween Movie Ever Made?

Happy Halloween! Whether you fall more on the treat (break out the bowl of candy!) or the trick (break out the bowl of assorted dental floss!) side of the holiday, we want to know your pick for the perfect movie to watch on Halloween. Tell us in the comments what your favorite Halloween movie is…

How Much Would a Pumpkin the Size Of Your House Weigh?

The wonderful world of genetic engineering has given us gargantuan pumpkins the size of compact cars. But don’t think it’s going to stop there. In addition to spreading Halloween cheer and giving local evening news something to cover, giant pumpkins could eventually be grown to the size of a house and used as a cheap…

Transylvanian university scientists create working artificial blood

It may sound like a Halloween prank, but the Balkan News Agency claims that a team of scientists in a Transylvanian university has created artificial blood. The researchers say that they have successfully tried it on mice. If human tests work, this could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in modern medicine. Scientists have been…

Orson Scott Card will not be seeing any profits from the Ender’s Game movie. According to The Wrap, his deal was a straight payment for the movie rights, and that’s it. So seeing or boycotting Ender’s Game doesn’t affect him or his money at all. Just FYI.

Victory! You Don’t Have to Shut Off Your Electronics On Flights Anymore

After years of will they or won’t they, the FAA has finally given permission for airlines to allow passengers to use personal electronics for the entirety of their flights. Translation: You don’t have to shut down your phone anymore. Finally. https://gizmodo.com/nyt-faas-new-electronic-device-rules-to-go-into-effe-1369885400 The decision couldn’t come soon enough. The ill-conceived electronics ban started back in 1991…

We’ve Finally Figured Out Why Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold

For centuries, scientists have puzzled over a counter-intutive observation: hot water, for some reason, seems to freeze faster than cold. Fortunately, now a team of physicists has worked out why it happens. Known as the Mpemba effect—after a Tanzanian student who noticed that hot ice cream mix freezes faster than a cold—it was in fact…