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Rocket-wielding rebels attack Disney in new Banksy video

Street Artist Banksy has just released a short film in the middle of his month-long, guerilla-style art residency in New York City. In response to the film Banksy wrote on his website,“I’m not posting any pictures today. Not after this shocking footage has emerged.” Thoughts?

The 12 Best Cops of Science Fiction

They are the peacekeepers. They uphold the law. They protect us from those who would do us harm. And they do it all with nothing more than a badge… and a robot… or perhaps a spaceship… or maybe even superpowers. These are the dozen best fictional police officers in the universe, and we appreciate them…

Yes! Leaked Screens Show SMS In Google Hangouts Is Almost Here

Google’s been leaky lately, first with Android 4.4 Kit Kat screens, and then with a whole manual for the Nexus 5. Now, some screens from Android Police are showing off the best upcoming feature on Android: SMS in Hangouts. Yes! Finally! Of course, as with any leaked screenshots this could be fake, but SMS for…

It’s official: A “number of” previously missing Doctor Who episodes have been “returned to the BBC,” and we’ll find out how many, and which ones, later this week.

How a German Scientist Invented the Perfect Coffeemaker

The Chemex Coffeemaker, a pour-over apparatus invented by scientist Dr. Peter Schlumbohm 70 years ago, hasn’t changed a bit since it was designed. It’s the very definition of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So how did this quiet little device gain such a following? Shlumbohm was responsible for the creation of more than…

Five Things You Should Know About the Nobel Prize Winner’s Higgs Boson

Analysts said it would happen. Professor Stephen Hawking said it should happen. And now it has. Peter Higgs, the man who first predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, or ‘God particle’, has been given a Nobel Prize for his efforts along with Belgian physicist Francois Englert. It’s been a long time coming. For Peter…

Disney 3D Prints a Curved Display To Completely Eliminate Distortion

There are many reasons the displays in all of your devices are as flat as a pancake, including the simple fact that curves result in distorted images that are hard to correct. But taking a design cue from nature, researchers at Disney have created a curved display that manages to avoid warping altogether. Instead of…

9 Fascinating Objects That Illustrate the History Of Los Angeles

Like many major metropolises, Los Angeles has an international reputation, but the preconceived notions that surround the southern California hub seem to be consistently skewed. Sure, the weather’s nice—but it’s vapid, and too sprawling, and you need a car, and what about the traffic, and where’s the culture?? In honor of the city’s 232nd birthday…

Oh good, there’s a Salmonella outbreak while the government’s shut down

With many of America’s federally employed food-safety personnel on furlough (thanks, government shutdown), it’s a good thing there isn’t a major foodborne-illness outbreak unfolding across the country! Oh, wait. Above: Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella typhimurium. The strain implicated in the current outbreak is Salmonella Heidelberg, the nation’s third most common strain of the…

Meet Nest’s Protect, a Smart Smoke Detector That’s Actually Exciting

What home appliance do you hate the most? Odds are good it’s the smoke detector—that incessantly chirping, totally inconsistent mess of beige plastic that we can only hope actually works when needed. That may be about to change: Today, Nest Labs unveiled Protect, a Wi-Fi connected alarm that lets you keep tabs on your home…

Our very first glimpse of the Moon’s far side

Exactly 54 years ago, the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 Probe opened its camera shutter and snapped the first pictures of the lunar far side — a sight that had eluded human eyes since the beginning of time. Top image: The first photo of the lunar far side taken by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 on…

The Pacific Rim Gag Reel Is Insanely Charming

Not that we had ANY doubt that working on a big-budget monster movie with Guillermo del Toro would be the most charming and amazing experience ever, but this gag reel just sealed the deal. Watch GDT’s favorites flubbed lines, the cast muggings for the camera and everyone being generally adorable. This is presumably from the…

This Pressure Picture Reveals Why Jellyfish Are So Damn Efficient

Jellyfish are amazing creatures, travelling in massive blooms and pulsating mesmerically to drive themselves through the water. But how does that simple motion manage to push them through the water so quickly? While the contraction of the jellyfish’s bell is pretty, the act of expelling water in such a way doesn’t actually provide that much…

This mammal is dying to have sex. Literally.

Some animals, like certain insects, spiders, and plants, die immediately after mating. But what about mammals? A new paper shows that the males of certain mouse-like marsupials face imminent death after having sex — an evolved trait that arose on account of extreme promiscuity. Photo by Mel Williams. Biologists call it suicidal reproduction, or semelparity…

Seems the wait may almost be over if you’re lusting after an HTC One Max—the company has a launch event planned for October 15th.

Bong Joon-ho has seen the U.S. edit of Snowpiercer and he hates it

Remember how everybody said Bong Joon-Ho’s Snowpiercer was great? And remember how Harvey Weinstein wanted to re-edit it for stupid Americans? And then remember how Bong said Weinstein’s cuts were light? Well, screw all that, because now the director is pissed about the U.S. version of Snowpiercer. Bong Joon-Ho recently presented his original version of…

Where Would You Like to Time Travel To?

Time marches on in one direction at a steady rate, but today, we want to know where in time you would travel to if given the choice. Would you go back into the past or move forwards into the future? Or maybe you’re already living in exactly the right moment in history and would choose…

The He-Man movie gets a new writer and a new director

The Hollywood Reporter reports from Hollywood that the long-in-development Masters of the Universe has a new scriptwriter — namely Terry Rossio, the co-writer of big-budget movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger and the Zorro films — but G.I. Joe 2’s Jon M. Chu is no longer attached to direct. After the surprise…

There’s a Massive US Salmonella Outbreak Amid the FDA Shutdown

Be careful what you put in your mouth: a public health alert has been issued by the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) surrounding a massive salmonella outbreak. It comes on the back of the recent FDA closure because of the Government shutdown. The outbreak relates to chicken to produced at three Foster Farms…

Higgs Boson Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Physics

The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs, for their work on the theory of the Higgs boson a.k.a. “The God Particle” a.k.a the elementary particle thought to explain why some other particles have mass a.k.a. the fundamental particle whose discovery Stephen Hawking bet against – a bet…