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The UN adopts official guidelines for protecting Earth from asteroids

The United Nations has approved a set of measures to protect our planet from the dangers of incoming asteroids. The recently-adopted guidelines will correct a number of outstanding issues, including global coordination and an actual response plan. Indeed, this has been a long time coming. The guidelines were developed back in 2008 by the Association…

Space Age Plastics Reinvent the 19th Century Penny-farthing

BASF, the largest chemical company in the world, has finally put its materials knowledge to good use: By creating a ridiculously over-engineered penny-farthing, the big-wheeled bike of the 19th century. This conceptual velocipede might never make it to the local bike shop (in fact, it definitely won’t), but that doesn’t make it any less fun…

The Exact Moment Witches of East End Made Us Fling Shoes at The TV Set

Last night’s Witches of East End managed to spin its wheels — and to blow unsatisfyingly through a couple of storylines. How did it do this? By killing people. On the other hand, Freddie Prinze, Jr.’s character is still alive, and allergic to shirts. Spoilers ahead. After last week’s mostly enjoyable outing, “A Few Good…

A Tiny Letterpress Printer Made By a 3D Printer

The letterpress was a huge leap forward for mass communication when Johannes Gutenberg perfected the moveable type machine way back in the 1450s. These days, it’s considered a specialty craft. But this tiny letterpress is thoroughly modern: It’s assembled with parts printed on a standard 3D printer. Whoa. This meta-machine was designed by Technifico and…

McDonald’s sandwich made from every Dollar menu item is gross

That yogurt parfait is a nice contrast to the grilled onion cheddar burger but, sadly, all the elBulli-worthy innovation is completely destroyed by the chocolate chip cookie. Or maybe not. https://thisiswhyyourefat.kinja.com/mcdonalds-everything-dollar-menu-sandwich-1453570026

See Wolf Children, from the director of Girl Who Leapt Through Time!

Holy cow, Wolf Children looks like an amazing film. From Mamoru Hosada, the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, this is the story of a woman struggling to raise her half-wolf children after she falls in love with a wolfman. And you can arrange a screening in your town! Wolf Children is available…

Five Pumpkin Carving Tools Everybody Should Own

You want a jack-o-lantern that looks like it was carved by a 6-year-old, by all means stick with the spoon and kitchen knife combo that you’ve been using since you were a kid. But if you want a jack-o-lantern that will terrify the neighbors until mid-November, you’re going to need a better tool set. Scrapers…

This week’s DVD and Blu-ray releases: Pixar’s Monsters University, the unofficial True Grit sequel R.I.P.D., and Neil Jordan’s excellent vampire film Byzantium, starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.

That time when Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat helped a gambler

Blaise Pascal was 17th century genius who invented the mechanical calculator. Pierre de Fermat is famous for a theorem that took three hundred years to prove. What could bring these two minds together? A washed up gambler, down on his luck. Once upon a time there was a French nobleman named Antoine Gombaud. He lived…

Good news for Dexter fans looking to relive the show’s former glory: Netflix is getting exclusive rights to all eight seasons of the show. The first four will be available starting October 31, and that should keep you plenty busy until the second four hit on January 1.

It’s Going to Be a Whole Lot Easier to Get Google Glass Soon

You might get a chance to get your hands on Google Glass sooner than you expected. The Financial Times is reporting that Google is making “tens of thousands” more pairs in the next few months. Now, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to run over to the Glass store and buy your own unit anytime…

Noam Chomsky has officially become a science fiction character

This is a documentary about nothing less than how we perceive reality. It’s from Michel Gondry, who directed the mind-melters Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, and it stars controversial linguistics professor Noam Chomsky. Called Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, the movie is also animated by Gondry, with…

The Original Penn Station Was Demolished 50 Years Ago Today

Penn Station now? Gross, ew, there’s a Sbarro, and everything is ugly. But the original Penn Station was a marvelous piece of Beaux Arts design. Its story is also one of the most tragic tales in architecture—50 years ago today, it was torn down to make way for Madison Square Garden. The original Pennsylvania station—named…

Coffee Mastery Lives in Counter Culture’s Geared Out Training Center

Behind the veneer of bearded hipsters that floods the world of high-end coffee lies an intricate field of science, gadgetry, and taste requiring years of experience to master. Counter Culture is at the forefront of coffee education, and their new NYC training center is the apex of techniques and technology. We visited the beautifully designed…

Get your hopes up, because Sam Raimi may direct Army of Darkness 2

Last week, Bruce Campbell announced that Army of Darkness 2 was in the works, but the internet — having heard so many rumors about a sequel for so many years — dared not to let themselves get too excited. But now the Evil Dead’s remake director Fede Alvarez has announced that Sam Raimi will be…

Introducing GizShorts: All Our Best Videos In One Place

We’ve made a lot of videos over the years—sometimes absurd, sometimes insightful, sometimes just to embarrass and torment our staff. For the productions we work extra hard on, the ones that probe the depths of tech & design, we are introducing a new moniker. Apart from being greeted by our lil GizShorts logo at the…

What was the most memorable game you ever played?

The best role playing game campaigns create stories you’ll be telling around the gaming table decades later. But what’s that magic ingredient that takes a game from great to once-in-a-lifetime? We talked to gamers, game designers, and authors to find out what makes a campaign truly memorable. One thing stood out among the various tales…

16,000-Brick Lego Hack Reveals Yoda or Darth Vader Based on Light Angle

Google Switzerland spent 10 hours and used 16,000 bricks to create this light installation for the Google Zurich office. Depending on the angle of the light, the pattern of the Lego bricks either reveals Yoda or Darth Vader. It’s called “The Force”, and it’s a pretty amazing Lego hack. [John Mueller] You’re reading Leg Godt,…

Incredible Remote Lost World Discovered With Never-Before-Seen Species

For the past few millennia, the dewy rainforests of Australia’s Cape Melville have remained totally isolated from human interference. That is, until a team of scientists from James Cook University took humanity’s first steps into a land untouched by time. What they found there was almost beyond belief. Calling the unprecedented discovery a “lost world,”…

Tech company claims “major breakthrough” in developing AI

A company called Vicarious sent out a press release last week claiming they had a technology that could be the bedrock of a true artificial intelligence system. Is it a breakthrough or a bunch of hype? Right now, Vicarious’ technology is just an algorithm that breaks CAPTCHAs, those online tests that require you to read…