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Get Great Book Recommendations From Interesting People

You’ve read millions of good books, so what do you recommend when people ask you, “Uhh, what should I put in my brain next?” A new website, Just One Book, hosts a collection of such recommendations from interesting people. Founded by Gizmodo alums Joel Johnson and John Mahoney Just One Book contains a dozen selections,…

FDA may begin seizing home DNA testing kits

The FDA has given personal genetics company 23andme 15 days to comply with health regulations, before the federal agency begins seizing the company’s DNA testing kits. The FDA says 23andme is offering an untested “diagnostic” device in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. For $99, 23andme will send you a DNA collection…

Timothy Leary Once Thought Orgasmic Brain Radios Would Replace Drugs

Counterculture icon Timothy Leary was a longtime advocate of drug use as a way to expand minds. “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” became one of his most popular phrases in the 1960s. But in 1987 Leary predicted that people of the 21st century wouldn’t need “old fashioned” drugs anymore. Instead, we’d all be using…

All the Funniest One-Star Reviews for Time Bandits

Most of us either love Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits or have a lot of fondness for it — but Captain Max and Jinx have collected all of the movie’s most scathing one-star reviews from Amazon.com, so you can peer into the minds of people who feel very differently. https://observationdeck.kinja.com/1-star-movie-reviews-time-bandits-1470210020

This Week’s TV: Who lives and who dies in the Walking Dead finale?

There’s tons on television this week. Like Lady Gaga and the Muppets! A new Star Wars special! Dean Winchester becoming a virgin! Bizarre TV movies! A MST3K marathon! The Walking Dead midseason finale! But we still want to put in a special plug for a must-watch show: Nikita. Seriously, if you’re not watching Nikita in…

This Blinding 502,165 Christmas Light Display Is in Someone’s Home

Ready for a big number? 502,165. That’s the number of LED lights the family of David and Janean Richards in Canberra, Australia has decked its home in order to clinch the 2013 Guinness World Record for most Christmas lights in one display. Whoa. This is actually the second time the Richards have earned the title—they…

Self-tickling is impossible even if you think someone else is doing it

New research has revealed that tickling yourself is impossible, even if you’re fooled into thinking that someone else is doing the tickling. The surprising result casts considerable doubt on what scientists think they know about the neural mechanisms of tickling. https://gizmodo.com/why-cant-you-tickle-yourself-5936290 Top photo by Sham Hardy via Flickr. The new study – conducted by Jakob…

First-person videos of pilots ejecting will make you hyperventilate

I’ve seen pilots ejecting from fighter planes in extreme situations. It looks scary, but it’s nothing compared to listening to the minutes prior to the ejection. That’s when you start to hyperventilate just by watching them. https://gizmodo.com/combat-pilots-ejecting-after-aircraft-crash-5177025 The video on top shows a pilot landing an F-15 aircraft with a burning engine—only to discover that…

Jony Ive’s RED Mac Pro Sold For Almost $1 Million This Weekend

Chris Martin and Bono played a duet on a $1.6 million piano, Jenna and Barbara Bush worked the room, and a computer was sold for $977,000. Though Vanity Fair contends that Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s Sotheby’s auction on Saturday was “unlike the typical Sotheby’s auction,” it still sounds like pretty typical rich people stuff…

4 Concepts For The Future Of Healthcare

Healthcare has been making headlines for the past few weeks—less because of a sudden interest in good health and more because of the government’s recent glitch-tastic bummer of a website launch. But the very idea of well-being continues to change in a lot more ways than just the introduction of an online health exchange. Last…

How Catching Fire Fixed All the Worst Mistakes The Hunger Games Made

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire made all the money this weekend, raking in a record-topping $161.1 million. But that’s not all this YA sequel did for the movie franchise. Catching Fire actually goes about unchecking our long list of problems with the first Hunger Games film, resetting the franchise both for die-hard fans and people…

The World’s Biggest Jet Engine Is Brawnier Than Alan Shepard’s Rocket

The Wright Flyer took off in 1903 powered by a measly 12 horsepower straight-four. Little did Orville and Wilbur know that just 110 years later, their pokey engines would eventually lead to a power plant with more horsepower than The Titanic and Shepard’s Mercury-Redstone 3—combined. The GE90 series of aero engines from GE Aviation are…

Cary Elwes is writing a memoir about the filming of The Princess Bride, to be titled As You Wish. It’s due out late next year, and will feature interview with the rest of the film’s cast. Honestly, I’ll never get tired of reading about the time during the movie André the Giant racked up a…

Rocks rain over Sumatra as terrible volcano keeps erupting

The situation in Sumatra is getting worse: Mount Sinabung erupted eight times in just a few hours on Sunday. The volcano’s continuing eruptions cover everything with ash and now officials have reported rocks raining down over a large area, forcing thousands to flee their homes. These new images show the ongoing drama. https://gizmodo.com/this-insanely-gigantic-volcano-explosion-just-happened-1465189438 The Indonesian…

23andMe Must Stop Selling DNA Tests, Says FDA

Something’s not quite right about 23andMe’s DNA analysis kits, and the Food and Drug Administration is on it. The agency ordered 23andMe to stop selling the kits until the Google-backed company can prove that they actually work. Sounds reasonable. The government didn’t mince its words in a November 22 letter to 23andMe. “FDA is concerned…

This Maze Mug Seems Like a Great Way To Kill Time/Spill Your Drink

If you’ve already tired of the hundreds of games on your smartphone, here’s another way to kill time on your long morning commute—and possibly even finally beat your caffeine addiction. This double-walled insulated mug features a series of mazes on the outside that has you skillfully piloting a ball bearing through the various corners and…

The second Eye of God is 310 million light-years from Earth

The first Eye of God is the Helix Nebula—NGC 7293—just 650 light-years from Earth. The second Eye of God—NGC 4921, pictured above—is much farther away: 310 million light-years from our planet. It’s an espiral galaxy like our own Milky Way, seen right from the top. https://gizmodo.com/the-eye-of-satan-is-watching-you-from-space-5871531 Don’t zoom in and look at the hundred galaxies…

Confirmed: Apple Bought the Company That Made the Original Kinect

Your iPhone could be getting some serious new capabilities soon, following the news that Apple has acquired the 3D-sensing technology company PrimeSense. This is the same Israeli company that built the original Microsoft Kinect sensor. But that doesn’t mean Apple’s planning an Xbox competitor anytime soon. What the acquisition does suggest is that Apple’s finally…

How whales made the dramatic evolutionary shift from land to the sea

All whales and dolphins are descended from terrestrial mammals, ancient creatures that were very similar to the modern hippopotamus. Now, a fascinating new genetics study shows the incredible evolutionary changes these animals had to experience to become the perfectly adapted marine animals we see today. Biologists aren’t entirely sure which creature modern cetaceans (dolphins, whales,…

Here Is Your Self-Driving Car! But Do You Want It?

So long, jetpacks! Our self-driving car has arrived. Burkhard Bilger has a rundown of the fascinating build-up to the self-driving car and its future in the New Yorker — and in this case the future is now. Now, the question is, are we really ready to start using it? “Of the 10 million accidents that…