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DNA Is The Linux Of The Natural World

We probably all vaguely assume that computers will overthrow us someday, which may be why it’s so unsettling to learn that computer code is evolving much like genetic code. By comparing bacterial genomes to Linux, researchers have found “survival of the fittest” acting in computer programming. Sergei Maslov of Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook…

Star Trek and Doctor Who unite over… sugary cereal?

In reference to the battle between Star Trek and Doctor Who for television supremacy in this year’s March TV Madness, reader Christopher Spencer reminds us via email that “they are both sweet,”and includes this box-art throwback to a simpler time – a time when Honey Smacks went by the more appropriate name of Sugar Smacks,…

What If The Sun Just Totally Disappeared?

This is actually a pretty great thought experiment. At first it might seem kind of pointless to talk about what would happen if the sun vanished, but it doesn’t actually result in the immediate destruction of everything. Which is weird. Vsauce walks through a pretty nuanced description of how earth’s natural systems would slowly fail,…

How to murder someone with bananas. And also bees.

Ah, the things that science teaches us! It reveals the far reaches of the universe. It guides us toward a better understanding of ourselves and our history. And it lets you murder people with fruit, by turning into an apiary beast master. Another day, another way to use knowledge to kill, kill, kill. In this…

The New York Times fails miserably in its obituary for rocket scientist Yvonne Brill

Last Wednesday, acclaimed rocket scientist Yvonne Brill died. To honor her, the New York Times’ obituary opened by remarking on her “mean beef stroganoff.” [Ed.: The obituary has since been changed with no mention of revision. See below for a comparison between the edited and original versions] Brill is a big deal in the world…

2009’s Fastest Supercomputer Goes Dark Today

The world’s fastest supercomputer isn’t the world’s fastest super computer anymore, so it’s getting turned off today. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, IBM’s Roadrunner is being replaced by a faster, cheaper and more energy efficient computer, Cielo. https://gizmodo.com/ibm-roadrunner-tops-cray-as-the-official-worlds-fastest-5090737 The $121 million Roadrunner supercomputer was the first to consistently compute a Petaflop, or a quadrillion mathematical…

The studio did not want to let James Franco and Seth Rogen play themselves in This is the End

This is the End is a comedy in which Seth Rogen, James Franco and a host of celebrities play themselves, facing the end of the world. Does that sound like a weird concept for a film to you? It certainly sounded weird to studio execs, who fought hard against letting a host of famous people…

64GB HTC One will be an AT&T exclusive. Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon will only have 32GB.

Drones Could Replace Eager Youths On Paper Routes (Updated)

Innovation in newspaper delivery techniques hasn’t really seemed like a priority in awhile because of the whole death of print thing and whatever. But since drones categorically improve all situations, a local French postal service is turning paper routes into air routes. http://gizmodo.com/5965109/30-more-buyouts-coming-to-the-new-york-times?tag=newspapers The postal service “La Poste Groupe” is using Auvergne, France as a…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Legend Of The Golden Egg Warrior

Hahahaha, your Shaolin Rooster style is most impressive. But it is no match! For my Little Bunny Wu Shu! *lips keeps moving* [Crush]

Is Clara the new River Song on Doctor Who?

Way back in the prehistoric era when David Tennant still piloted the TARDIS, we met a woman whose whole existence was a mystery. And then she died, right before the Doctor’s eyes. Now, the Doctor’s found a new woman whose existence is, once again, a mystery. And once again, he’s seen her die. Is Clara…

Meteor Strike: The Complete Story of Russia’s Cosmic Fireball

Thanks to the crazy prevalence of dash-cams in Russia, we got an amazing, multi-viewpoint look at last month’s monster meteor strike just hours after it happened. But there’s more to see than just the flashes in the sky. PBS’s Nova dug in deep to figure out the details of the incident, and the disaster it…

Nine Inch Nails: The Day The World Went Away

It’s always good to have some tunes on tap that sound their best at ear-shattering volumes, and if you’re in the market, Nine Inch Nail’s “The Day The World Went Away” deserves a spot at the top of the list. Off the “band”‘s 1999 classic The Fragile, the perplexingly titled “The Day The Whole World…

These astonishing photo compositions contain thousands of naked bodies

Using the naked human form as his medium, Italian artist Angelo Musco creates some of the most spellbinding large-scale photographic compositions this side of reality. Over at Laughing Squid, EDW Lynch describes the artistic process that gives rise to Musco’s pieces – some of which contain thousands, or even millions, of human bodies: The time-consuming…

Javier Grillo-Marxuach says there’s more Middleman in the works!

Javier Grillo-Marxauch – co-creator of Viper Comics series The Middleman and the short-lived television series by the same name – says the much-loved series is slated to return! In what form? Who knows! All we’ve got is his assurance that something is, in fact, in the works, that it will not be a movie (à…

The new Evil Dead movie could lead to a crossover, where Jane Levy’s Mia meets Bruce Campbell’s Ash!

Bruce Campbell held court here at Wondercon, holding a huge auditorium full of people in his rugged manly hands, while showing us just how disgusting and insane the new Evil Dead really is. The glee on Bruce Campbell’s face was palpable as he said things like, “They put the inverted umbrella in back of her…

The nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards have been announced!

Earlier today, the nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards were announced simultaneously at four science fiction conventions in the US and UK. This year saw a record breaking 1,343 valid nominating ballots cast. The winners will be announced on Sunday, September 1, 2013, during the Hugo Awards Ceremony at LoneStarCon 3. Here are this year’s…

These Awesome Floating Vases Are Practically Invisible

An expensive, ornate vase can be as much of a centerpiece as the flowers that are in it. These floating vases designed by the Japanese group oodesign take things in the opposite direction by making them look like water ripples. The vases themselves are just discs of clear plastic, but the design idea behind them…

Scientists Built a Fake Virus Shell to Make a Sterile, Zombified Vaccine

Vaccines beef up your immune system by giving it a little taste of a weak—or dead—version of diseases. Now researchers in the UK have developed an alternative approach: build a synthetic doppelganger and let your body crush its hollow husk. Not technically viruses but rather virus-like particles, the vaccine developed by researchers from the U.K.…

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments has become a movie that has EVERYTHING in it

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments novels have a huge following of teenagers and adults, but how will they translate to the big screen? We saw a smidgen of new footage here at Wondercon, which drove home the fact that this movie basically has everything in it. There’s enough stuff for 10 movies. Spoilers ahead… So we…