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Yeah, What’s The Deal With Clapping?

Sometimes I have an out of body moment where I see myself as an audience member and think about how dumb-looking the whole process is. You sit somewhere. You gape at something and don’t monitor your facial expression because you assume no one is observing you, and then often, you clap. It’s definitely a cultural…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

Venus tried to eclipse the sun. It’s not its fault it didn’t work.

Last year saw the most recent transit of Venus, as our planetary sibling passed directly between the Sun and our planet. It’s an exceedingly rare event—the next one isn’t due until 2117, and that’s actually a bit ahead of the normal schedule. But what exactly is the Transit of Venus? In a sense, it’s just…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

A Million Cockroaches Escaped From A Chinese Farm And Are On The Move

According to the Agence France-Presse, “at least” one million cockroaches escaped a nursery in Jiangsu, China where they were being farmed for traditional medicine applications like cancer and inflammation treatments. The bugs got away because of an “unknown perpetrator” who tampered with the plastic greenhouse where they were being raised. The cockroaches apparently entered the…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

The Most Extraordinary Monorail Designs Of The 20th Century

Today, monorails may be fodder for The Simpsons, but well into the 20th century, the monorail was a glittering symbol of the future of transit. From the 1800s through the 1980s, these are monorail concepts artists and engineers dreamed up. Monorail vélocipedique from the mid-1800s (via Wikimedia Commons) “Fawkes’ Folly,” an experimental monorail car built…

io9 Vincze Miklós

The Laziest Gift In The World Just Got Lazier

The Facebook Gifts feature was supposed to kill Amazon or blow up the world or something. The place reminding you of your best friend’s birthday could also help you get a gift and then publicly show off what a great friend you were for remembering and buying a gift. Genius. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-send-a-facebook-gift-5967486 But Facebook Gifts have…

Social Media Lily Hay Newman

How Do You Scroll On A Trackpad?

On July 21, 2011, the day before Joe Brown began his 1.5 years as editor-in-chief of Gizmodo, he wrote 16 moving and influential words. “Fuck Natural Scrolling. This Is Bullshit. Yours truly, a concerned Lion user. Returning to unnatural scrolling.” https://gizmodo.com/fuck-natural-scrolling-this-is-bullshit-5823588 Lion had debuted almost two months prior, introducing natural or inverted scrolling. Ever since…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

Crowdfund a lens that turns your phone’s camera into a microscope

This tiny cell phone attachment could mean that you’ll always have a microscope handy, with a little help from the crowdfunding public. Also check out a gory point-and-click game set in a mental institution and a new Lovecraftian card game that you can play alone. Micro Phone Lens: Cell Phone Based Microscope Thanks to cell…

io9 Lauren Davis

Cheer up with a music video about space- and time-traveling cats

Need a little audiovisual pick-me-up? Check out Ryan Barger’s music video for “Dreams Are Real” in which the world’s most agreeable cats encounter dinosaurs, soar through space, drive through Tron’s MCP, and, of course, dance. Hank and Buster are the extraordinarily sedate stars of this music video, with production design by Katie Akana. Dreams Are…

io9 Lauren Davis

Cringe-inducing 3D scan of a woman’s foot bones in high heels

We all know that high-heeled shoes aren’t great for the feet, but what exactly are those shoes doing to wearers’ bones? Orthopedic researchers are now using a 3D-scanner to get a better look inside the feet of the high heel fan. The PedCAT machine at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in North London takes global…

io9 Lauren Davis

Is this the most ridiculous beard in sports ever?

This has to be the most ridiculous beard in sports—or at least in basketball. It belongs to Fathi Oukerimi, an Algerian player. Compare it to the one belonging to the Houston Rockets’ James Harden, apparently the previous holder of this coveted title. https://davidmdemaria315.kinja.com/hardens-beard-put-to-shame-at-fiba-africa-championship-1191066990

Sploid Jesus Diaz

Little Robots Turn Marker Squiggles Into Sound

All the little droids zipping around the Star Wars universe seemed sort of frantically aimless. Where were they going? These little robots look similar but their mission is clear. Follow the black circuits and turn untold scribbling into music. Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki created “Looks Like Music” based on a previous project, “Colour Chaser“. The…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

A mesmerizing ballet performed by dead insects and spiders

If creepy crawlies freak you out, you might want to skip this video. But if you’re fascinated by animated films that do something unusual with their medium, take a few minutes to watch The Death of an Insect, an animated dance performed by bits of dead bugs. No critters were harmed in the making of…

io9 Lauren Davis

Six outfits considered for Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor

Now that we know Peter Capaldi is going to be the new Doctor, we’re wondering what his signature wardrobe will be. These photos take us back to the days when Matt Smith’s Doctor was still in development—as was his outfit. Smith’s Doctor went through a couple of rumpled looks before settling into the tweed jacket…

Television Lauren Davis

Google Glass Has The Fashion Bug

We all know that Glass is kind of a big deal for Google right now. Or whatever. The #IfIHadGlass explorer program is going strong, and the product is attempting to prove its usefulness in a bunch of different markets. In fact it may be starting to feel overblown and even tiresome. But if Google is…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

Simpson’s Paradox “proves” smoking is good for you

How do you prove that smoking is beneficial to your health? By employing Simpson’s Paradox, of course. This paradox shows that a large grouping of data can be worth much less than the sum of its parts. If I were at a tobacco company, and I wanted to prove that smoking was good for you,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Dramatic paintings of gathering storm clouds

Clouds are clearly the stars of Michelle Manley‘s landscape paintings. By exaggerating their peaks and curves, and pulling from the full spectrum of cloudy colors, Manley creates ominous scenes of looming, almost monstrous storms. Manley previously created an erosion series of paintings, and is currently working on her storm series and a water series as…

io9 Lauren Davis

Dealzmodo: Last Day To Get $10 Bonus Credit With Amazon Prime

We can’t recommend Amazon Prime enough around here, but we certainly try. Not only is the service a fantastic value, offering fast, free shipping, a streaming service comparable to Netflix, free Kindle books, exclusive discounts, and lots more for only $80 per year, but since many of our deals come from Amazon, it also enhances…

Tech News Shane Roberts

Why are there so many apostrophes in scifi and fantasy names?

Grammarian Mignon Fogarty takes a look at one of fiction’s enduring mysteries: How did all of those apostrophes find their way into the names of aliens, distant lands, and future peoples? Over at Grammar Girl, Fogarty looks at the influence of writers like Anne McCaffrey andRoger Zelanzy, as well as the possible impact of real-world…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

The NSA Has Even Listened In On Encrypted UN Communications

According to documents read by Der Spiegel, the NSA was able to bypass the United Nations’ videoconferencing system in summer 2012 and decrypted 446 internal communications in three weeks for a total of 458. Der Spiegel quoted the documents (translated from German) as saying that the hack had, “a dramatic improvement of the data from…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

Alternate Iron Man 3 ending shows Ben Kingsley’s explosive death

Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin almost got a much messier ending in Iron Man 3. These animatics from the film’s final act reveal the fate he escaped. Spoilers in the video and below. Storyboard artist Federico D’Alessandro shares these animatics from the oil rig sequence, including Rhodey and Tony’s final encounter with the Mandarin/Trevor. He also share…

Movies Lauren Davis

Yeah, What’s The Deal With Clapping?

Venus tried to eclipse the sun. It’s not its fault it didn’t work.

A Million Cockroaches Escaped From A Chinese Farm And Are On The Move

The Most Extraordinary Monorail Designs Of The 20th Century

The Laziest Gift In The World Just Got Lazier

How Do You Scroll On A Trackpad?

Crowdfund a lens that turns your phone’s camera into a microscope

Cheer up with a music video about space- and time-traveling cats

Cringe-inducing 3D scan of a woman’s foot bones in high heels

Is this the most ridiculous beard in sports ever?

Little Robots Turn Marker Squiggles Into Sound

A mesmerizing ballet performed by dead insects and spiders

Six outfits considered for Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor

Google Glass Has The Fashion Bug

Simpson’s Paradox “proves” smoking is good for you

Dramatic paintings of gathering storm clouds

Dealzmodo: Last Day To Get $10 Bonus Credit With Amazon Prime

Why are there so many apostrophes in scifi and fantasy names?

The NSA Has Even Listened In On Encrypted UN Communications

Alternate Iron Man 3 ending shows Ben Kingsley’s explosive death

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