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The Sharknado trailer is the greatest thing you’ll see all week

“Sharks. Tornado. Sharknado. ‘Nuff said.” claims the very basic equation at the heart of the trailer for Syfy’s latest masterpiece, Sharknado. Suffice it to say, it does what it says on the box, which is present us with a movie about tornado full of goddamned sharks. Honestly, I don’t know what I love most: That…

The Science Behind the Perfect Apple Pie

The New York Times has finally called in the experts to explain why so many apple pies turn out so badly. This great visualization is based on comments from Amy Rowat, a biophysicist at UCLA who teaches a class that covers the delicate science of apple pies. That might sound ludicrous to some, but it…

Meet North Korea’s Bizarre English-Language Social Media Strike Force

The North Korea YouTube account is the country’s officially recognized, premier means of reaching Western audiences. It’s also utterly insane. But it starts to make a little more sense once you meet the people behind it. The odd first thing you’ll notice about the North Korea YouTube page—created specifically to win the hearts and minds…

This Is the Poster for the Ashton Kutcher Steve Jobs Biopic

This psychedelic take on an iconic photo is the official poster for jOBs.

This Convenient, Compatible Camera Is Your Mirrorless Deal Of The Day

The fine folks at B&H Photo are heavily discounting the Canon EOS M 18MP Mirrorless Camera for a limited time. $300 gets you the camera body with the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Lens, and you also have the option of bumping it up to $350 to get a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens instead. These…

Dark Horse is adapting Hour of the Dragon, Howard’s best Conan story

A few weeks ago at the comic shop, I stumbled across a new Conan series. But not just any Conan series. Dark Horse is adapting the only Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon, over two six-issue runs. I had to check it out. So is it any good? Yeah, it’s really good. The Hour…

This Awesome Mac Pro Glass Is All I Want

I love the Mac Pro. I love its simplicity and its ingenious engineering. And I would like it even more if it were encapsulated in glass, like in these 3D renderings created by our friend Martin Hajek, who painstakingly modeled its guts following Apple’s transparent prototype displayed at WWDC 2013. Of course, there a couple…

A 5,000 year-old pyramid has been completely levelled in Peru

A pair of construction crews have utterly flattened a 5,000 year-old pyramid near Lima, Peru. A similar incident happened in Belize this past May, prompting archaelogists to ask, WHY THE F*CK IS THIS BEING ALLOWED TO HAPPEN? Just to refresh your memories, a construction crew demolished a 2,300 year-old Maya pyramid several months ago in…

Sky Flowers: The Explosive and Deadly History of Fireworks

As you kick back under a glittering shower of high-production-value pyrotechnics on Independence Day this year, take a second to remember how the modern firework started out: As a tiny, but startling, accident. In China, roughly 2,200 years ago, the first firework was just a reed of bamboo roasting over a fire. And just like…

Curious how Ouya measures up as a gaming console? Check out the full review from our bleep bloop brethren over at Kotaku. [Kotaku]

Douglas Engelbart, Developer of the Early Computer Mouse, Dead at 88

Douglas Engelbart, an internet pioneer and developer of the early computer mouse, passed away early this morning at the age of 88. Engelbart was involved in the development of the ARPANET—the precursor to the modern internet—and showed off hypertext long before most people had interacted with a computer, let alone touched a networked computer. On…

An Army of Beatboxing Cameras Is One Expensively Awesome Drum Kit

As far as entry costs go, a drum kit can be a little expensive compared to a beater guitar or bass. This Nikon shutter percussion symphony takes it to a whole new multi-thousand-dollar level. Photographer Benjamin Von Wong got the idea from for this Nikon symphony watching a video that compares shutter sounds from different…

Researchers uncover key clues in the mystery of limb regeneration

Why do some salamanders regenerate limbs faster than others? A team of biologists has identified genetic factors that may dictate the rate at which limbs and organs re-grow in these incredible amphibians, shedding much-needed light on one of the most remarkable physiological feats in the animal kingdom. Few biological traits are more enviable than the…

How military sonar may be harming endangered blue whales

Scientists have known for years that mid-frequency sonar can harm deep-diving toothed whales, such as by driving them from feeding grounds. Research now shows that the naval noise even elicits stark behavioral changes in blue whales, which communicate at frequencies far below sonar frequencies, suggesting that the detrimental effects of sonar may be more widespread…

Ford’s New Prototyping Machine Turns Sheet Metal Into Custom Parts

A modern assembly line can churn out a new vehicle every few minutes, but when carmakers want to build and test a prototype, it takes weeks to produce the dies and moulds needed to stamp out a custom one-off part. So Ford has developed a fantastic new prototyping machine that functions kind of like a…

Now it all makes sense: Prince Charles is a Dalek!

The British royal family visited the Doctor Who studios today, and Prince Charles took advantage of the chance to use the Dalek voice effects and yell “Exterminate.” Who producer Steven Moffat says the Prince of Wales has a job if he wants one. After Prince Charles showed off his Dalek voice skills, Moffat told the…

The New York Times has confirmed that Samsung has acquired streaming TV company Boxee. It’s not a monumental deal, but if anything the purchase will probably help Samsung slightly improve its connected TV interface.

What science fiction scared the crap out of you as a kid?

Timing is everything. A Stephen King book read in college may be a fun, suspenseful time, but if you read it in junior high it would give you nightmates. A banal movie like E.T. may bore you now, but you might have seen sinister undertones in it when you were a kid. The world is…

NYT: The Government Is Tracking All Your Snail Mail Too

Your email and phone call metadata certainly isn’t private, but maybe you were holding out hope that good old fashioned snail mail somehow avoided big brother’s living gaze. The Smoking Gun broke the bad news a month ago, and now the New York Times is confirming that nope, that’s all being tracked too. Surprise surprise.…

How Did It Take So Long to Make a Star Trek Phaser Laser Pointer?

Combining a simple red laser pointer with a Star Trek phaser toy seems so incredibly obvious, but apparently it’s taken this long for a clever entrepreneur to put those pieces together and come up with thisadorable keychain that actually fires a glowing blast. That, or it’s taken years to negotiate the Star Trek licensing rights.…