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Scientists Unlock the Secret Recipe for Indestructible Roman Concrete

Teams of scientists in the US and Europe have finally discovered the secret recipe for the legendary Roman concrete, which is capable of standing in good shape for thousands of years. Modern concrete can only survive an average of 75 years without repairs. The formula: “a specific mixture of lime and volcanic rock.”

Pavement: The Sutcliffe Catering Song

The days are getting longer, the weather’s getting warmer. It’s this time of year that anyone and everyone could use some killer strollin’ music to strut to. Might I suggest the hidden Pavement not-exactly-a-classic-but-damn-well-should-be “The Sutcliffe Catering Song”? You just have to like it. The final track off the second disc of the enhanced version…

The super ladies of DC don hipster fashions on their days off

Elizabeth Beals puts DC’s female heroes and villains in fashionable street clothes inspired by their spandex work outfits. Now she just needs to tell us wear Harley Quinn buys her clothes. Beals has created ten of these illustrations, giving Wonder Woman a lasso purse strap and Starfire a somewhat less naked look. Even the shoes…

The Ballpoint Pen Turns 75 Years Old Today

You’ve probably never used a fountain pen, or accidentally spilled a jar of refil ink and ruined your favorite pants. And for that, you have the ballpoint pen to thank. The handy gadget is having its 75th birthday today, so go sign away your rights to something to celebrate! Back in 1888, a guy by…

Forgotten arcade games let you shoot space men and catch live lobsters

Classic arcade games conjure up images of Joust, pinball, and Pac-Man, but pay-to-play games predate the video game cabinet, and some tested more than your hand-eye coordination. From machines that tested your lung capacity to claw machines with live lobsters, here are a few largely forgotten arcade games. The first commercial video game, Computer Space,…

Get lost in the hypnotic swirl of this simulated black hole

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center gives us a peek at the workings of a black hole—or at least a simulation of one. This supercomputer simulation is helping astronomers better understand how X-rays travel around a black hole. This research is being led by NASA astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman, and includes astronomers from Johns Hopkins and the…

Scientists Have Found the Ancient Secret of Indestructible Concrete

For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it’s…

If bees go extinct, this is what your supermarket will look like

Over the past decade, bee populations have been dropping, partly as a result of a disease called colony collapse disorder. This is very bad news for humans, because bees are a crucial part of the reproductive cycle of many of our favorite foods, including apples, onions, avocados, and more. This incredible data visualization shows what…

This marvelous student film is as polished as a feature cartoon

Iker Maidagan and Dana Terrace created Mirage as their School of Visual Arts thesis film, but it could easily be mistaken for a studio-produced short. A young Inuit boy and his dog go fishing and stumble on an unexpected bit of magic. Maidagan came up with the concept for Mirage and created the layouts, and…

Great news: half our senators skipped out on a briefing about NSA snooping so they could get home sooner!

Oh God, What’s a Good Last-Second Gift for a Dad?

Well, tomorrow’s Father’s Day and while it’s almost too late to get a gift, it’s not late enough to brush it off entirely without at least spending a minute or two trying to come up with something quick. Whaddoya got? Last year we hit you with a list of last-minute winners, but we’re always game…

The Powerpuff Girls battle the Pink Robots in cartoon/album mashups

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup enter the world of Flaming Lips when they prepare to take down the pink robots. Courtney Bernard is just one of the artists putting cartoon characters (and Muppets) on classic album covers. These pieces were created for the Cover the Cover exhibition showing at the Lunch Box Restaurant & Tiki Room…

Watch One of Cinema’s Wildest Drug Trips in a Minute of Crazy Animation

The folks at 1A4STUDIO have hit most of the main sci-milestones with their animation distillation, like A New Hope, The Matrix, Back to the Future, and Aliens. But now they’re tackling a whole different kind of weird. Behold, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in just 60 seconds of chaos. https://gizmodo.com/watch-star-wars-episode-iv-distilled-down-to-60-awesom-5995140 Finally, a chance to…

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Monsters that Crashed the Prom

Depending on where you live, prom season might be just coming to a close, and in this gymnasium, prom included a few special guests. What happens when a flood of horrors comes to boogie down? This is an older piece by artist Sam Bosma, via The Art of Animation. So does this end in blood…

Everything Shown at WWDC, The DRM-Free PS4, Flat-tastic iOS 7 and More

There are big weeks, and then there are huge weeks. This week was both, times two. WWDC brought us a new OS X, a new iOS, and a new Mac Pro, and E3 brought us all the details on the next generation of gaming. Between the two, we’ve got a lot to cover, but you’ll…

Keep your guinea pig protected with a rodent-sized suit of armor

If your guinea pig routinely dashes off into armed combat (or just likes the look of scale mail), you might want to outfit him or her in this handsome suit of armor, perfect for rolly-polly rodents. After Lucky, the original owner of the armor and model for these photos, passed away, eBay seller mightys0x decided…

A page from The Walking Dead incredibly recreated in cross-stitch

We’ve seen enough geeky cross-stitch projects to know that this craft has moved far beyond alphabets and “Bless this mess” signs. But few cross-stitch projects are as remarkable as this cross-stitched page from the Walking Dead comic. Cross Stitch Ninja posted this remarkable piece to the Sprite Stitch forum. If you take a look at…

Airborne Laser Scans Just Uncovered a City Lost for a Millenium

Forget trowels and tiny little brushes. The new must-have tool for archaeology is lasers. Just last month, researchers in the Honduran rainforest used them to find a lost city of gold, and now archaeologists in Cambodia have found a forgotten city that’s even older. Welcome to Mahendraparvata, a metropolis unknown for the past millenium. https://gizmodo.com/how-lasers-may-have-revealed-a-legendary-lost-city-of-g-507460219…

Facebook, Microsoft Disclose How Many People Were Spied by the NSA

According to Facebook, government agencies had access to between 18,000 and 19,000 user accounts in six months. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft admitted 6,000 to 7,000 user data requests by the NSA and other law enforcement organizations during the same six-month period.

Continuum reveals the most unexpected drawback of changing the future

In Continuum, at this point, almost everybody seems to accept that traveling back in time from 2077 to 2012 will allow them to change the past, creating a new and different version of 2077. So at this point, everybody’s just trying to put his or her own stamp on the future. Except there’s one major…