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Crazy Brits Made a Real Car Change Color Like Hot Wheels

As a kid, my favorite Hot Wheels toy cars were the ones that changed color in cold or hot water. Tons of fun in the bathtub! But eventually, we all grow up and accept the fact that real cars don’t change colors (or jump through waterfalls). Or, you could hang on to those childhood dreams…

I Can’t Stop Watching This Plasma TV Get Beautifully Electrocuted

Want to watch an expensive, dangerous, and mesmerizing fireworks display in your living room? It’s easy. Just buy a plasma TV and then hook it up to 2000 volts. OK so you’re not going to do that because you are not insane. Fortunately, Aussie50 is, and he filmed his ludicrous experiment. So just sit down,…

It’s arbitrary to call it autumn just because one planet has a festival

They call it Fall Fest on some worlds, and Autumn’s Progress on others. Everybody flocks to the northern hemisphere on our planet and celebrates a new season. Even though most of them come from tidally-locked worlds where they’re on continents that’re always in deep summer. I guess people just want an excuse to party. Sergey…

90% of America’s nuclear safety staff will be furloughed tomorrow

Sure, our chicken is full of salmonella and kids with cancer are being turned away from hospitals. But at least someone’s keeping an eye on those nuclear power plants during this government shutdown. Right? Starting tomorrow as many as 3,600 employees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be furloughed. That’s 90% of the agency’s staff.…

This Brilliant Interactive Site Lets You Tour London’s Symphony Up Close

An evening at the symphony is an amazing experience, but you only ever get to see the timpani-hitting, double bass-plucking, tuba-tooting action from a fixed position—seated facing the stage. Well, the interactive design wizards at London studio Sennep have put together an incredible site for their city’s symphony orchestra, offering unprecedented close-ups on the musical…

The EU on track to meet its 2020 climate goals

A recent report from the European Environment Agency, a watchdog group, confirms that several countries are making good on their promises to reduce emissions and switch over to green energy. The AFP reports: By the end of 2012, the EU had reduced its output of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by nearly 18 percent compared to the…

Almost All of America’s Nuclear Regulators Are About to Be Furloughed

That pesky government shutdown is still causing all kinds of problems, and this one’s a doozy. Starting Thursday, some 90 percent of the workers who watch over America’s 100 nuclear reactors will be furloughed. Since these guys are sort of the first line of defense in a nuclear disaster, that’s really bad news. Thankfully, a…

Comment of the Day: Hush, Hush Edition

In today’s comments, we tossed around some unorthodox investment solutions, speculated on the whereabouts of lost lab animals (right behind you), and got some key insight into the writing process. Inhis Q&A on writing and his novels, author Max Barry shared his thoughts on the power of strategic silences in writing: The more I write,…

You Can Run Full Android Apps on the Galaxy Gear If You’re a Masochist

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is basically a tiny phone on your wrist. It already has its own apps like Snapchat and Pocket (whyyy?) but if you’re really insane,you can make it run real Android apps too. Ron Amadeo showed off the trick over at Ars Technica and while it’s certainly impressive, it comes with a…

The Only Acceptable Way To Shovel Food Into Your Mouth

Your parents probably weren’t too keen when you were cramming food in your mouth at the dinner table like a feral child. But you’re all grown up now; you can eat however you want. And if that includes the use of a spoon that looks like the heavy-duty scoop you’ll find on a construction site…

The Smell of Peanut Butter Could Diagnose Alzheimer’s

On the heels of the recent discovery thataccelerometers could be used as indicators for Alzheimer’s disease comes yet another potential diagnostic tool, one that most of us already have in our pantries: peanut butter. Alzheimer’s often impacts the olfactory cortex first and, as such, compromises our sense of smell, specifically in the brain’s left hemisphere.…

Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle! We’re used to judges quoting Star Trek in their judicial opinions — but a judge gets extra credit for quoting both Trek and the Tom Swift novels. And did you know Taser originally stood for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”?

The Moto X Is $100 Cheaper On Amazon Right Now

The best Android phone for most people is 50% off on Amazon right now on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Here’s the Gizmodo Review. It’s even better after the recent update to the camera. Moto X [AT&T] | $100 Moto X [Verizon] | $100 Moto X [Sprint] | $80-$100 Get in touch with Shane on Twitter…

What ever happened to the “advanced civilization gone barbaric” story?

It used to be a mainstay of science fiction: the story where we visit a barbarian society that turns out to have been highly technologically advanced in the past. You saw this story all the time on Doctor Who and Star Trek, and in the pulps. And now, it’s more or less vanished. What happened?…

Google Maps Adds Multiple Destinations, Events, and Reservations

Getting to one destination and then having to input your next destination manually? Who has the time? Years of your life have been wasted with this arduous task. But now, finally (or, rather, once again) you can add multiple destinations all at once in Google Maps. You simply type in your first destination, hit the…

Beautiful art celebrates anatomical oddities

As fans of all things medically weird and anatomically odd, we’re all about this eldritch illustration by Chicago-based artist Cloey Zikmund. Equal parts creepy and cute, the piece draws its inspiration from the unique collection of specimens housed at the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam. Check out more of Zikmund’s work on her tumblr, or do…

33 People Hiding in This Iconic Photo of Gettysburg Who Aren’t Lincoln

Thanks to a discovery made by one Lincoln-loving professor from North Carolina, the subjects in this classic photo taken at Gettysburg have been called into question. Is that really Lincoln? Or is that other guy Lincoln? And most importantly—what else might be lurking in those creased sepia shadows? Fortunately, you all were more than happy…

Sympathy for the pickup artist on Person of Interest

Except for some insane action with Root, this episode of Person of Interest was like getting a TMI report from your college-age cousin about his dorm room sexual exploits. Stalking doesn’t have to be bad, OK? Seriously, Person of Interest, we didn’t need to know you felt that way. So the number this week was…

Listen to a brain seizure turned into music

Yikes, this is all kinds of creepy. Stanford scientists recently took the EEG signals from a person experiencing a convulsive seizure and converted them to tones that fell within the acoustic spectrum of the human voice. The results will send chills up your spine. The scientists/artists responsible for this “piece” are Josef Parvizi and Chris…

This Wild Wallpaper Turns Your Home Into a Natural History Museum

Ever had the urge to turn your home into a life-sized curiosity cabinet? Would you love to surround yourself with full-scale lions, oversized insects, and realistic depictions of human skeletons? Do you often construct your own personal Night At The Museum-style fantasies? If you’ve got a taste for the strange but are a bit short…