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All the Details that Prove Ender’s Game is a Unique Space Adventure

Tons of futuristic books are being turned into movies, but there’s still only one Ender’s Game. When we visited the set during filming last year, we saw tons of signs of just how different this film is from all the other space adventures we’ve seen lately. Check out the complete lowdown on our Ender’s Game…

Scientists Have Grown Tiny Human Brains in Test Tubes

For the very first time, scientists have managed to create tiny, embryonic brains in test tubes. Say hello to baby Frankenstein. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science have successfully created “cerebral organoids,” little balls of brain just a few millimeters in size that actually have the same distinct,…

The Dinobots are going to star in Transformers 4 (probably)

Transformers 4 just got a bit more interesting. After myriad rumors that the Dinobots might be making their live-action movie debut, two documents have seemingly confirmed their appearance. GRIMLOCK APPROVE. First is a callsheet for the movie which clearly mentions great many people needed to perform “Dinobot Stunts.” This seems pretty clear cut to me;…

You’d Be Crazy Not to Buy This Straitjacketed Wine

Picking out the right bottle of wine to take to a dinner party is too often a tough task, so many people go with the pick-the-pretty-label approach. And of course, you want to send the right message. With Vino Loco, that message is loud and clear: You crazy. This Spanish-designed bottle of wine comes wrapped…

Is this the most obnoxious, sexist, cringeworthy personal ad ever?

It’s almost impossible to read this Craigslist personal ad—if you could get past the first three paragraphs without punching the screen—and not wonder which kind of personality disorder affects the man who wrote it. It’s so weird that it may actually be a diabolic plan to troll Jezebel’s writers. https://jezebel.com/insanely-detailed-craigslist-personal-ad-has-a-28-quest-1212317513

Watch How Every Dumb Tech Commercial Is Exactly the Same

People finishing each other’s sentences. Indie rock. Video editing that’s way too fast. CollegeHumor is spot-on in its demonstration of how every tech commercial is exactly the same. This is yet another instance of “funny because it’s true.” In fact, it’s so right that you could basically change the text of this faux commercial to…

This Titanium Watch Can Tell You When It’s Losing Accuracy

To watch collectors and aficionados, mechanical movements are particularly desirable since they best represent the fine craftsmanship and precise engineering that has gone into watch and clock making for centuries. But ironically, even with today’s technology, mechanical movements don’t keep perfect time. They gain and lose seconds as they lose power, so Urwerk has created…

Take a Tour of California’s Insane Solar Thermal Energy Plant

Sometime in the next few months, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System will flip the switch on the largest solar plant of its kind in the world: A 377-megawatt, 3,500-acre solar thermal energy system. It’s located in California’s Mojave Desert near the Nevada border and it’s ridiculously big. I would suggest going to check it…

What’s being done about all those damn feral cats?

There’s no denying that cats can be adorable. But feral and stray cats are wreaking havoc on the global ecosystem. Here’s why it’s bad to leave domesticated cats running free — and what scientists and management officials are doing about it. https://gizmodo.com/domestic-cats-are-destroying-the-planet-5979891 People have long believed that domesticated cats got their start in ancient Egypt,…

Google Hangout video chats have been quietly upgrading to 720p HD, and the mothership says all users should have high definition soon. The quality boost is part of a long-term upgrade that has Hangout moving toward a system that won’t require installing any plugins, but that’s still down the road. [Gigaom]

Watch NASA Crash a Helicopter on Purpose Right Here, Right Now

Want to watch a copter crash live and guilt-free? Of course you do. Well you’re in luck: NASA is serving one up right now. Today the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will be dropping a 45-foot-long CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter fuselage—complete with 13 unlucky crash dummy passengers—and watching it smash into the ground. NASA’s…

Would Never Going Outside Really Be That Bad For Us? Sadly, Yes

When you think about all the forms of indoor entertainment available to us—the internet, cable TV, video games—it’s no surprise that the outdoors is having a hard time competing for our attention. But it turns out that a little exposure to the sun is not just beneficial, it’s actually vital to our health. Ultraviolet rays…

An imaginary city that changed the twentieth century

Before he invented the safety razor, King Camp Gillette was a futurist. In 1894, he published plans for a porcelain, hexagonal city with transparent sidewalks. Why do so many innovators dream of building the perfect city? Following Christopher Nolan’s movie Inception, we might say that citiscapes are places where people hide secrets and memories, but…

An Endangered Animal Sperm Bank Will Let Us Bring Pandas to Space

Whether or not you think that certain endangered animals are worth all the fuss— *cough*pandas*cough*—judging by the internet’s recent, excited tittering over a potential panda pregnancy, the majority of people are very much pro-animal kingdom diversity. So much so, in fact, that a team of Japanese scientists has begun freeze-drying certain endangered animals’ sperm in…

Could the Governor be leaving The Walking Dead for another show?

David Morrissey is one of the best things about The Walking Dead as the one-eyed martinet, the Governor. But now Morrissey has been cast as the lead in a new AMC science fiction series, Line of Sight. Could this mean he’ll disappear from the zombie wasteland? According to Deadline, which broke the news, Morrissey can…

Warrant or No, Cops Can Use Aluminum Foil To Block Smartphone Wiping

The legal debate over whether police need a warrant to search a suspect’s cellphone is more than just raging on — it’s headed to the Supreme Court. But even if the nation’s highest court decides a warrant is needed, the authorities could still block you from remote-wiping your phone while they wait for the legal…

Awkward: Nintendo’s new portable console doesn’t fold

Behold the new Nintendo 2DS! Its oversized slim wedge shape looks awkward but, according to Kotaku it’s “more evenly balanced than the 3DS, making the overall feel of holding the unit comfortable.” Unlike the foldable 3DS, the 2DS has no 3D display. It’s really weird. https://kotaku.com/introducing-the-nintendo-2ds-no-thats-not-a-typo-1214807721

New Monopoly Cat Token Review: Me-Ow

You may remember that earlier this year Monopoly announced its plans to sacrifice one of America’s beloved tokens in favor of adding some new blood. But it was ok! Because they were letting us (the internet) choose which icon of our childhood to kill and which hot young thing to replace it with. Given the…

A Hybrid Braille Font Lets Visually Impaired Kids Read Any Book

To make kids living with visual impairments able to share the same experiences as their friends and peers, a new series of children’s books was created. The Storybook For All Eyes each feature a custom-designed font that incorporates both braille and english letters into a single typeface so they can be shared and enjoyed by…

Quantum Cryptography Could Make Your Phone Uncrackable Someday

As the world of cybersecurity becomes increasingly volatile, more advanced solutions to problems like encryption couldn’t come soon enough. This is why everybody’s excited about a team of British physicists’ testing a method that would put quantum cryptology in everybody’s pocket. Quantum cryptology is a slightly complicated but ultimately gamechanging thing. Put simply, it’s practically…