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Our Effect on Earth’s Water Cycle Is Both Fascinating and Terrifying

Initially, access to water defined where humanity could grow and develop. But now the opposite is true, and we’re the ones directing the future of our global water system. Watching that transition unfold is as sobering as it is stunning. This three minute video, created by Felix Pharand for the opening of the Bonn meeting…

Elementary Demonstrates the Right Way to Update a Classic Hero

Elementary has gotten some flak for being the “lesser” modern-day Sherlock Holmes. But now that its first season is over, we’re realizing this show understands the Arthur Conan Doyle canon — it’s just not afraid to ask questions. Here’s why Elementary is the Sherlock Holmes we never knew we always needed. Warning: Spoilers for season…

A humbling map of real-time wind patterns in Tornado Alley

“Wind Map” is a stunning interactive datavisualization that presents wind patterns across the continental U.S. in real time. Picture above is what it looked like last night at 10:59 CDT, in the aftermath of yesterday’s devastating Oklahoma tornado. https://gizmodo.com/a-mesmerizing-real-time-map-of-us-wind-patterns-5897402 http://gawker.com/death-toll-continues-to-rise-after-devastating-oklahoma-509022768 Tornados have been observed on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica – but no…

Yahoo Internet Life Magazine Is an Awesome Relic of the Dot Com Era

Yahoo yesterday announced that it’s bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion to communicate to millennials cool, hip, relevant, and that it understands what GIFs are. But back in the early ages of the dot com-era, the company was saying that through a monthly publication called Yahoo Internet Life Magazine. https://gizmodo.com/its-official-yahoo-is-buying-tumblr-508846808 From 1995-2002, Yahoo’s glossy was published…

Kinect Is Going To Watch How You Browse, Not Just What You Buy

There are endless metrics a store has access to when it comes to when, what, and who is buying merchandise. But surprisingly, there’s not a heck of a lot of data on why a customer decides not to buy something. So Fujitsu is hoping its new Kinect-based research tool provides more insight into how customers…

The longest continual satellite scroll of Earth you will ever see

Get ready to take a trip. Your 6,000 mile (9,000 km) long journey will start in Russia and extend down to the northern tip of South Africa — and you’ll see it all from a height of 438 miles (705 km). It’s called The Long Swath — a 19-gigapixel filmstrip of the Earth produced by…

It’s Time To Kill Google Voice

Even if it’s not quite as amazing as it could be, Google Voice does some wonderful things. That’s what makes it hard to admit the truth: It’s time for Google Voice to die. A Problem Child When Google Voice launched in 2009, it was straight-up awesome. The concept of re-inventing the basic systems of telephonery…

IBM’s Watson Has a Boring New Job Answering Phones

After you’ve used your crazy robot intellect to crush puny meatbags definitively in a game of Jeopardy, it would seem like the world is your oyster. But Watson’s not taking trying to take over the world or anything, no. After a trying out medicine and inventing a pastry, he’s settling for a boring job in…

Spotify’s getting a little more granular with its data; starting today, you’ll be able to see the top 50 most-played and top 50 most viral songs on the streaming service right here. You’ll be able to see total playcounts (rolling out over the next few weeks), filter by country, and embed a delightful widget on…

Giant Boner Space Hotel? No Thanks, Says Barcelona

Pop quiz: what does a country on the brink of economic collapse, with dozens of unfinished buildings dotting its countryside, really need? A monstrous, phallic space hotel, of course! Meet the 984-foot tall hotel proposed US-based firm Mobilona for an artificial island off the coast of Dubai Barcelona. Reachable by a walkway from the mainland,…

Lars von Trier’s movie Nymphomaniac puts the SFX in sex

When you finally get to see the graphic sexual content of cinematic auteur Lars von Trier’s upcoming film Nymphomaniac, you need to know that’s not really Shia La Boeuf graphically fucking Charlotte Gainsbourg. It’s half of him, thanks to some completely insane VFX. Via The Hollywood Reporter: …Nymphomaniac producer Louise Vesth provided a sneak peak…

Nothing Beats Cookies Fresh From the (Cardboard) Oven

Thelma’s, an Iowa-based cookie delivery service named after the founder’s great-grandmother, contracted Saturday MFG. to create this utterly brilliant packaging that not only keeps the treats warm, but also gives the impression that they’re fresh from the oven. It’s almost impossible to look at that box and not crave a batch of Thelma’s snickerdoodle cookies.…

The Wolverine trailer reunites Logan with the X-Men (sort of)

Finally a familiar face! The latest Wolverine reveals a little bit of plot behind Wolvie’s fancy Japanese vacation. Plus, there’s a sneak peek at the final level big boss Logan will most likely have to fight with his shirt off. Anything we missed? The Wolverine hits theaters on July 26th.

A Dead Satellite Could Ruin Weather–And Tornado–Prediction For Years

While extreme weather events seem to come and go more often than ever, our ability to forecast them does at least help us minimize risk to human life. But an impending weather satellite outage could make events like yesterday’s devestating tornado even harder to predict—for up to three years. http://gawker.com/the-biggest-most-destructive-tornado-in-history-just-508956719 The US relies on two…

Watch these zombies parkour around a post-apocalyptic wasteland

The undead are definitely upping their game, there’s no question about it. And as if to prove the point, these parkouring zombies will happily show you how they’ve taken their stalking skills to the next level. The Zombie CBR stunt team consists of Chris Romrell, Robert Bennett, Christain Russell, and Devon Bardole. More about this…

10 of the Year’s Most Beautiful Science Images

Who knew an artificial neural network could be so pretty? The winners of Princeton’s annual science photography contest, Art of Science, were announced a few days ago. And boy, are some of these images beautiful. Every year, a jury of Princeton professors gets together to hum and haw over the thousands of images its students…

Ghostbusters 3 is all about Columbia students destroying our dimension

Guillermo del Toro discusses the potential story for Pacific Rim 2. Damon Lindelof explains why Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland really is all about Disneyland… sort of. Ellen Page discusses her return as Kitty Pryde for X-Men: Days of Future Past. David Fincher’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea hits a fresh setback. Spoilers right now! Top image…

Disney Teaches Its Animatronics Not to Be Classless Brutes

In an effort to make how robots move and interact with humans feel less awkward and uncomfortable, Disney Research, working with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, are developing a more natural approach to the problem by thoroughly studying how humans interact. In fact, using motion capture suits, the study was taken one step…

The Next Xbox: Everything We Think We Know

We’re finding out about the new Xbox in just a few hours. But that doesn’t mean we have no idea what’s coming. Here’s a rundown of everything we know, or think we know, about the next Xbox. The Specs We are pretty sure we know what the guts of the new Xbox look like. It’ll…

NASA’s Next 3D Printing Frontier Is… Pizza?

Forget guns, here’s a 3D printing development that can’t be overhyped and pretty much anyone with the munchies can get behind. NASA’s sinking a chunk of change into 3D printing food—starting with the humble pizza—in a new project aimed at evolving the future of food for both space and back here on Earth. It’s not…