Latest

When will the universe end?

Robert Frost famously noted that,”Some say the world will end in fire / Some say in ice.” Lucky us! We’re pretty sure we know the answer: it’s ice. But how long do we have until the end of time, and what will it look like? In this week’s “Ask a Physicist,” we’ll find out. Reader…

NASA’s view of a brain in the sky and other dead things in space

NASA has released three Spitzer telescope images for Halloween, showing dead things in space. From left to right: the Exposed Cranium Nebula—I see the brains—the Ghost of Jupiter Nebula—I see the resemblance—and Little Dumbbell Nebula—I can only see a pair of boobs. NASA’s descriptions: Exposed Cranium Nebula The brain-like orb called PMR 1 has been…

Russian Authorities Seize Goods from China Implanted with “Spy” Chips

A weird thing happened in St. Petersburg last week. The Russian press reports that local officials intercepted a shipment from China that contained home appliances with “spy” microchips capable of spreading malware to wi-fi enabled devices within 200 meters. Tea kettles were apparently the chief culprit. Specific details of the dodgy shipments remain shady. It’s…

The Most Inaccurate Headline in the History of the Universe

Whoa, did The World newspaper ever get it catastrophically wrong on the morning after the sinking of the Titanic. Shockingly, they weren’t the only ones. These stunningly inaccurate newspaper scans were dug-up by Retronaut. Below are headlines from The World, The Vancouver Sun, and the Vancouver Daily Province. Many British papers got it wrong, including…

Sol Republic Tracks Air: Sweet Bluetooth Headphones at a Nice Price

A good pair of on-ear Bluetooth headphones is surprisingly more expensive than you want it to be. Tack $100-$150 onto the price you’d ordinarily pay for a certain level of quality, and that’s the price you’re going to pay for Bluetooth. And yet Sol Republic’s excellent, budget-friendly Tracks headphones, liberated from their wires, come at…

Ben Kingsley’s secret Marvel Project revealed?

Last week, Sir Ben Kingsley spilled the beans that his time with Marvel was definitely not over. And now everyone is speculating on where his character, The Mandarin, will appear next, and this particular theory makes the most sense. According to Latino Review, the secret project Kingsley was talking about was the next Marvel One-Shot…

New Instant-Fix Fabric Is 100x Stronger Than Duct Tape

It’s joked that duct tape can be used to fix almost anything. But a new product called FiberFix might very well be the only tool you’ll ever need for emergency repairs. And the secret is its special resin adhesive that hardens stronger than steel as it cures. Unlike duct tape which is just a peel…

NASA Releases Eight Stunning Never-Before-Seen Images of the Cosmos

In honor of American Archive Month, NASA has selected eight images from a group of unique celestial objects taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. It’s the first time these images have ever been seen by the public — and they’re as freaky as they are gorgeous. All images and captions NASA/CSC/SAO. The Chandra Data Archive…

Are these the best Halloween costumes of 2013? Most probably

I agree with ViralNova: these green army men ares one of the cleverest, best executed Halloween costumes I’ve ever seen. From the plastic finish of the clothes and weapons to their perfect posture, they are perfect.

This Metallic Sphere Will Some Day Carry Martian Samples Back to Earth

This little spherical container may look more like a rejected R2-D2 prototype than a piece of cutting-edge technology, but is in fact the vessel in which the European Space Agency hopes to ship Martian samples back to Earth in. The little ball weighs almost 5 kilos, measures 23 cm in diameter, and is designed to…

Big, 100-Million-Year-Old Bird Tracks Discovered in Australia

The oldest bird footprints ever discovered in Australia suggest there were birds – big ones – soaring over the continent as long ago as the Early Cretaceous Period. How do researchers know these birds were flying, and not just walking? Science! Above: Drawing of bird and prints by researcher Anthony Martin. The prints were found…

What On-Screen Characters Are Secretly Terrible at Their Jobs?

Sorry, movie paleontologist brushing aside a light layer of dust to reveal a fully articulated Velocirapter fossil, we’re on to you. Today, we want to know your picks for the most egregious examples of bad on-screen work habits. Is it a research scientist with terrible lab protocols, a doctor who doesn’t ever crack a medical…

Why Samsung’s Curved Smartphone Display Isn’t Just Hype

A new generation of curved displays for Smartphones and TVs has just been launched. While there have been curved screens around before, they were actually just flat displays with a curved cover glass on top. This time the displays themselves are actually curved and that makes a significant difference. Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies…

Beloved Halloween horror story Trick ‘R Treat (by director Mike Dougherty) is getting a long-awaited sequel! Finally! [Via Badass Digest]

Start your week off right with these excellent stories from the urban world. This week: baseball economics, a ghastly smelling tour, Canadian sewers, radical policing tactics, and more. Why World Series tickets cost 81 percent more in Boston than they do in St. Louis. [Next City] “30 million people in the American West depend on…

The X-Men fight history itself in the first Days of Future Past trailer

Professor X sends Wolverine to the past to enlist the help of the young, bitter, hippie Professor X to stop Bolivar Trask and the Sentinels (presumably) in this first trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past. I’m afraid young Xavier is going to get even more upset when he learns he’s going to go bald,…

How a Genome Hacker Made a Family Tree With 13 Million Branches

What happens if you let a genome hacker—a kind of computer scientist-turned-biologist—loose on the world’s online genealogy sites? The world’s biggest family tree is what, which shows how over 13 million people are related. The work of computational biologist Yaniv Erlich, which he presented at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in Boston…

Amazon’s Kindle MatchBook Service Is Now Live

In this modern age of tablets and e-readers, it’s always a little bit tough to decide whether to buy the hardcopy of a book or just go for the e-book. Now, you don’t have to choose with the newly launched Kindle MatchBook service that offers cheap e-book versions of hardcopy books you’ve purchased on Amazon.…

Spectacular rescue of a drowning surfer trying to break a world record

Yesterday, 26-year-old professional surfer Maya Gabeira tried to break the world record for the largest wave ever surfed. That record was set on the same beach—Nazaré, Portugal—by Garret McNamara on January 2013. Unlie McNamara, Maya failed and nearly died in the process. What followed was an spectacular rescue that almost failed. Maya fell and couldn’t…

A Self-Powered Treaded Skateboard That Can Plow Through Any Terrain

The smallest rock can topple even the most skilled skateboarder. And if your town is devoid of smooth, safe skateparks and half-pipes, maybe it’s time to upgrade your gear? With a set of spiked treads and a four-stroke engine, Dan Baldwin’s Ungoverned will happily plow through gravel, dirt, snow—pretty much any terrain you can think…