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What really causes that amazing “after the rain” smell?

After a rainstorm, especially a rain storm that breaks a long dry spell, the world smells different. What causes that strange, clean, earthy smell? A few things that aren’t so clean. One of the benefits of living in California is the extraordinary smell you get after the first rain of the fall. Generally it’s in…

What Happens When You Stick Your Head Into a Particle Accelerator

Today I found out what happens when you stick your head into a particle accelerator. Exhibit A: Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian scientist who has the distinction of being the only person to ever stick his head in a running particle accelerator. Shockingly, he also managed to survive the ordeal and, all things considered, came…

Amazon’s Bundling Conde Nast Print and Digital Subscriptions for Cheap

Internet juggernaut Amazon and print media juggernaut Conde Nast are debuting one-click print and web subscriptions to some of Conde Nast’s most popular magazines today. Buy a print subscription through Amazon All Access, and you’ll get immediate access to the web version, with six-month print plus digital trial subscriptions starting at three bucks. For now,…

Boost Your Typophile Street Cred With These Beautiful Font Flashcards

Whether you’re an old pro or just beginning to take an interest in type, Fontspotting—a downloadable font flashcard game—is so jam-packed with typographical details that you’re pretty much destined to learn something new. And the best part? It’s totally free. Of course, you’re more than welcome to make a donation to the Australia-based duo behind…

How do “Citizen Scientists” stack up against the experts?

Anybody can contribute to the progress of science! There are plenty of “Citizen Scientist” projects that let you help with scientific research. But one question lingers: How reliable are the results produced by non-experts? A new study provides some good news. The new research, which was published last month in the open-access journal PLOS ONE,…

NSA surveillance scandal: Major legal site shuts down over spying

A legal website used by attorneys to privately discuss case law is shutting down after 10 years because the owner no longer feels the site’s users are protected from government spying. After federal threats led to the closure of several secure email providers, the publisher of Groklaw closed her own operation last night, saying she…

Real-life Rapunzel has enough hair to drop down a four-story building

Is your hair driving you crazy? Be thankful you aren’t this lady, who has hair so long it could be used as a rope to climb up a four-story building. What made this Atlanta resident decide to quit getting haircuts back when Ronald Reagan was president? https://jezebel.com/meet-the-woman-with-55-foot-long-dreadlocks-1169935017

10 Influential Movies (Where Everybody Copied the Wrong Thing)

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that changes everything. A film that rewrites the rules and influences a generation of film-makers. But all too often, the people who imitate these ground-breaking movies miss the point. Here are 10 science fiction and fantasy movies from which everybody copied the wrong thing. https://gizmodo.com/19-science-fiction-movies-that-could-change-your-life-5963166 1)…

Watch Sony’s PlayStation 4 Gamescom Press Conference Live

While we already know pretty much everything there is to about the PS4, there are still a few precious details left to reveal. Here’s a stream Sony’s Gamescom press conference, which should be starting any minute now: Live streaming video by Ustream

iOS Is Getting a Fancy New YouTube App Too

You know how we said you’d have to wait and see for an iOS version? Well the wait is over, and the see should be happening a little later today. SURPRISE! https://gizmodo.com/youtubes-getting-a-functional-makeover-on-android-1168594630

Incredible Footage From a Time When Film Ruled High-Speed Photography

Digital cameras and high-speed photography go hand in hand today, with many models letting you easily adjust the frame rate to capture your own high-speed footage. But believe it or not, high-speed digital cameras are actually a relatively new technology. Up until recently this was another area of photography where film still reigned supreme. In…

Two months after announcing that it would cut back, Barnes and Noble now says that it will continue to manufacture the entire line of Nook devices. You can also expect a new Nook for the holidays. [CNET]

New high-res maps of Earth’s surprisingly inconsistent gravity field

Though it seems hard to believe, Earth’s gravitational pull is not the same everywhere you go. And as these gorgeously detailed maps now show, these variances are much greater than we thought. Top image: The low gravity atop Mount Everest (credit: GGMplus/Curtin University). Gravity varies on our planet owing to a number of factors. It’s…

This Glowing Train Is Bringing Art, Music, and Yurts to Middle America

The best music and art festival of 2013 isn’t happening in a park or on a boat. It’s taking place on a moving train. Profiled in Wired’s forthcoming Design Issue, artist Doug Aitken is packing a slew of artists and bands onto a train, crossing from New York to San Francisco over the course of…

Mike Tyson wins first combat in a decade—against his own Nintendo game

“Pum! Pum! Pum! Oh, up your ass, dude! Take this! take this!” That’s Mike Tyson winning his first combat since 2001, playing his own Nintendo game for the first time. Look at him—he’s just like a little kid with a new toy. So cute. https://kotaku.com/watch-mike-tyson-play-mike-tysons-punch-out-for-the-f-1170599272

iPhone 5S Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know

Apple’s rumored to be dropping its next iPhone September 10. Sure, year two of an iPhone design cycle typically means an incrementally improved upon device, but it could be a bigger launch than anticipated—and not just because of the rumored iPhone 5c. https://gizmodo.com/report-apples-next-iphone-coming-september-10th-1095267379 The flagship iPhone should see some significant updates as well. Here’s everything…

The gut-wrenching, organ-puréeing truth about the death care industry

In one of the most compelling reddit threads we’ve come across, an anonymous funeral-director has spilled the grisly, swindle-tastic beans on his/her entire profession. “It hasn’t always been like this,” s/he writes in this scathing tell-all diatribe, “but with the corporatization of the death care industry, the almighty dollar is the only consideration anymore.” Top…

Why Kolab Might Be the Best Secure Email Service Still Standing

The digital carnage continues as yet another online service shuts down rather than face NSA scrutiny. Fearing for its email security, the legal site Groklaw shut its doors on Tuesday, but not before offering a very valuable recommendation: An email service that’s out of reach of government goons. https://gizmodo.com/essential-legal-site-groklaw-shuts-down-rather-than-fac-1171125087 If you’re worried about the spooks…

Terrible accident of a truck jumping over guardrail caught on video

Rich kids Instagramming their ostentatious antics, killers Facebooking photos of victims, and now people using Vine to trivialize terrible accidents. This all-connected all-singing all-vomiting world just gave us a new pearl today. Alex Stack was using Vine to capture the precise instant in which a truck jumps over an overpass’ guardrail into the abyss, then…

Best look at the live-action Gatchaman‘s awesome superhero suits

You’ve seen a glimpse of them in action, but Toho has put the bird-themed superhero outfits of the live-action Gatchaman movie’s new team outside the 109 Men’s department store in Shibuya, and my god, are they fantastic. https://gizmodo.com/see-the-all-new-live-action-gatchaman-team-in-action-530345244 They’re updated without being overdesigned; they’re clearly indebted to the originals without being beholden to them; they’re…