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The Search for the King of the Original Narnia

In the twelfth century, a letter started circulating around medieval courts. This letter was from Prester John, the ruler of a utopian Christian nation with utopian societies and perpetual miracles. It was one of the first fantasies about stepping through a special passage to a magical land. For three centuries, European monarchs sought out the…

Scientists Found a New Way to Turn Plastic Bags into a Supermaterial

Have you ever had a roommate who saves plastic grocery bags just in case they ever have the need to reuse the dang things? Like, hundreds of plastic grocery bags? Well, thanks to some Australian engineers, those extra bags can not only have a purpose, they can become technology of the future. A team from…

How much science does Breaking Bad get right? Way more than you think.

Breaking Bad is almost over. As the end grows nigh, let’s take a few minutes to recognize some of the real science that’s gone into making it one of the best shows on television. Donna Nelson – University of Oklahoma chemistry professor and Breaking Bad chemistry advisor – will be our guide. https://gizmodo.com/the-stage-is-now-set-for-breaking-bads-final-act-1371363273 https://gizmodo.com/the-10-most-bad-ass-chemistry-scenes-from-breaking-bad-5853550 When…

How Jeff Bezos Made Amazon Everyone’s Everything All of the Time

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is probably the defining salesman of our time. But in a sit-down with a small group of journalists yesterday that was ostensibly about new Kindle hardware, it became more clear than ever that his company’s success has come not from any individual product line, but from one impossibly ambitious strategy: Be…

The Two-Year Plan To Demolish San Francisco’s Old Bay Bridge

It’s been almost a month now since the brand new eastern span of the Bay Bridge officially opened for traffic—24 years and nearly $6.4 billion since 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed a section of the original. Now they stand side-by-side, but not for (too) long; a “construction and demolition” plan is underway to completely raze…

Pakistan’s new island was created by a ‘mud volcano’

As we reported yesterday, a new island measuring 40 feet high and about 200 feet across suddenly appeared off the coast of Pakistan following a devastating 7.7 magnitude quake. Geologists now say that it formed after the temblor triggered a mud volcano. https://gizmodo.com/7-7-magnitude-quake-in-pakistan-just-created-a-new-isla-1377964003 The new island, which is likely temporary, now sits about 2,000 feet…

All This Game Boy Luggage Needs Is a Konami Code Seat Upgrade

If you were a kid who grew up with a Game Boy, aside from school, you took that portable console everywhere you went. But now that you’re a smartphone-toting grown-up traveling all over the country for business, you can trade in your Game Boy for ThinkGeek’s adorable Travel Boy carry-on—no batteries required. https://gizmodo.com/a-beach-towel-game-boy-that-never-runs-out-of-batteries-841323116 Designed to…

No, Game of Thrones Is Not Worth Ending a Friendship Over

Normally I deliver mail throughout post-apocalyptic America for food, trade goods, or even sex with Olivia Williams. Seeing as I need (most of) these things to survive, it’s a system that works pretty well. So I have a message to whoever created those “Forever” stamps the Post Office has to take at any time no…

Good news for globetrotting Apple users: AppleCare+ now covers service in other countries. Seems the plan, which used to apply only to the country of purchase, now lets you get the coverage offered wherever you are. [TechCrunch]

Gooey bomb: Fried chicken, mozzarella sticks and cheese sauce sandwich

Jack in the Box has new improvised explosive caloric devices in its menu. Check out this disgusting—and probably delicious—fried chicken sandwich with mozzarella cheese sticks and white cheese sauce. https://thisiswhyyourefat.kinja.com/jack-in-the-box-exploding-cheesy-chicken-sandwich-1384005267

7 Ways Our Cities Will Change According to TED’s Urban Experts

Silent parks. Designing for disabilities. Human-powered data. Garbage anthropology. World-class sidewalks. Floating favelas. Paint as infrastructure. These are the keys to the cities of the future, according to the most recent TED conference, City 2.0. Last year, for the first time, the TED Prize went to an idea—the future of the city—and a million dollars…

YouTube just launched a library of royalty-free songs you can use in your videos. The generic-but-not-bad tracks let you add some audio spice without risking a copyright-related takedown. [YouTube via Verge]

3D-Printing Fine Art Fakes Is Here to Stay

Not willing to let Fujifilm own the 3D-printed fine art reproduction market, Canon’s Océ Group—responsible for the company’s professional large format printers—is working with Dutch researcher Tim Zaman on a similar approach to accurately duplicating famous paintings. https://gizmodo.com/3d-printing-and-scanning-can-now-produce-near-flawless-1201525111 Working with the Kröller-Müller and Rijksmuseum museums in the Netherlands, Zaman developed a photographic scanning system that’s…

21 Muppets Find a Much-Deserved Home at the Smithsonian

Thanks to a donation from the Henson Foundation, on Tuesday, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, and 19 other Muppets and well-loved characters gained their rightful place in history, entering into the collection of the Smithsonian Museum. As Kermit would say—hi-ho! There was a special ceremony to mark the Muppet’s induction yesterday, which would have been…

President wannabe Ted Cruz impersonates Darth Vader, talks Green Eggs

Ted Cruz—a rabid anti-Obamacare Republican Senator from Texas and 2016 Presidential candidate wannabe—has been talking non stop for more than 20 hours in the Senate, in a futile try to stop a bill he supports. In the process, the multi-talented Cruz is saying a lot of things, like “my father invented Green Eggs and Ham,”…

Is Richard Dawkins a science fiction writer? Former Pope Benedict XVI thinks so. He just wrote a letter to mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, in which he explains, “The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a classic example of science fiction.” Read more about this mysterious assertion at The Telegraph.

What Will the Classroom of the Future Look Like?

From slates and chalk all the way to laptops and videogames, schools reinvent themselves for every generation. Today, we want to know what you think the classroom of the future will look like. Will pens and paper become completely obsolete in favor of tablets? Will the rise of online tutorials like Khan Academy make home-schooling…

Glove Bucket Lets You Avoid Stuff You Don’t Want To Touch

Even if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty now and then, some tasks involve harsh and dangerous chemicals you should probably avoid contact with. And while it doesn’t guarantee you won’t catch a whiff of a fume here or there, the Glove Bucket does provide a simple and safe way to keep harsh cleaning…

Which former Disney star allegedly passed out from drug overdose?

The National Enquirer has allegedly scooped a photo of this actor? singer? former Disney star passed out in the Thompson Hotel last January, after an overdose of Oxycontin aka hillbilly heroin. https://jezebel.com/zac-efron-passed-out-from-an-oxy-overdose-and-some-jerk-1382787491

Check out the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron promo from Comic-Con!

It’s short, it uses old Avengers movie dialogue, and features no footage whatsoever — and yet this promo for the Avengers: Age of Ultron sequel that aired at this year’s Comic-Con is still completely badass. See Ultron’s iconic visage and the movie’s title reveal, and hear how the crowd completely freaked out. [Via Nerd Bastards]