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Allen’s rule and the physics of evolution

A century-and-a-half-year-old theory holds that transplanting a species into a cold climate does more than make them grow a fur coat. It might change the dimensions of their bodies. We still think that theory might be right -— but for the wrong reasons. Joel Allen was a zoologist at what must have been an intoxicating…

This Bobbing Display Lets You Read While Running On a Treadmill

There’s a recent fitness trend that sees people switching from a traditional desk to working on a treadmill to maximize their physical activity. The problem is that at anything more vigorous than a casual stride, it’s difficult to read a static display while on a treadmill. At least until researchers at Purdue University commercialize their…

French scientist claims bras are useless (for some people)

Last week, an obscure French sports doctor named Jean-Denis Rouillon went on a student radio station and said that bras were useless, or maybe even harmful to muscles that support breasts naturally. After 16 years of studying the busts of some 300 women, Rouillon had concluded that women should consider going bra-less, lest their breasts…

Buyers of Night Shade Books Also Acquiring a Great Horror Publisher

Underland Press has put out some amazing books in the “scary and strange” genres, including horror and the “new weird.” And now it’s being bought by Skyhorse and Start, the same two companies that are buying Night Shade Books. Top image: Cover art for Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar, by John Coulthart.…

LG’s New Robo Vacs Come When They’re Called

One of the biggest joys of owning a dog is that if you spill food on the floor, you can call them over and have it taken care of in no time. And that has to be what inspired the latest version of LG’s RoboKing voice-activated vacuum cleaners. Besides getting a promised 10 percent boost…

Jamie Foxx’s Electro feels (and looks) blue on the Spider-Man 2 set

The first pics of Jamie Foxx as Electro have slipped out from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 set, and let me assure you he is not wearing normal Electro’s awesome lightning bolt-starfish headgear. If you consider this sort of thing a spoiler, then spoiler warning, I guess. Huh. I assume this will be augmented with some…

Snapchat is now handling almost four times Instagram’s load at over 150 million photos a day—that’s a lot of dick pics.

New magnetic putty video hypnotizes as much as it horrifies

Magnetic putty is on the prowl again, but this time its terrifying powers can be seen in this stunning new hi-def video put together by FX artist Joey Shanks. As we’ve shown you before, magnetic putty — that is, putty embedded with millions of micron-sized ferromagnetic particles — bursts to life when placed near an…

First Picture of Patrick Stewart on set for X-Men: Days of Future Past

Ben Kingsley reveals what to expect from the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Anthony Mackie explains the Falcon’s role in Captain America 2. Learn how the music in Star Trek Into Darkness reflects the movie’s tone. The only Lord of the Rings actor who didn’t return for The Hobbit says he’d be willing to appear.…

How Tall Can a Human Get?

Humans come in all shapes and sizes, but when it comes to height there seems to be an unofficial limit on how tall someone can be. On average, the tallest of humans measure in at around seven feet six inches, with a few Guinness-worthy cases breaking the eight foot barrier. But why is that? It…

The 12 Best Furniture Designs of the Year

The Design Museum has just announced the contenders for the sixth annual Designs of the Year. And what their furniture shortlist lacks in comfort, it makes up in raw ingenuity. 100 Chairs. Marni designers have reworked the patterns and color palettes of traditional Colombian chairs woven from PVC threads to create a desirable, one-off range,…

Why Your Twitter Friends Are More Interesting Than You

Ever felt you can’t quite match up to the people you follow on Twitter? While you’re tweeting about that lunchtime cheese sandwich, their feeds are full of elegant witticisms, important-sounding conferences and bungee jumps. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault – your Twitter friends are just more interesting than you. Sociologists have long known that…

Declutter Your Lounge and Control Your Lights With These Smart Remotes

Logitech’s announced two new universal remote controls to try and tidy up your cluttered coffee table. Not just that, but they can control your lights and even make use of Wi-Fi. Take that, poor range. The new devices, the Harmony Ultimate and the Harmony Smart Control, are able to connect to another new device called…

Hidden away in Google Glass documentation: developers are prohibited from serving ads or charging for access to its API.

Google Experimenting With Ditching the Black Bar for a New Launcher

There’s a new, cleaner Google web interface being tested out there right now, which does away with the black bar in favour of nicking the Chrome OS and Android grid icon and using it to to populate a nice little white dropdown. If you want to give the alternate Google launcher a shot, there’s a…

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize-Winning Images of the Syrian Civil War

Columbia University yesterday announced the winners of this year’s Pulitzer Prizes—and those for Breaking News and Feature Photography were all awarded for heartrending images capturing the civil war in Syria. In fact, the Breaking News prize was awarded jointly to five different AP photographers who have all been capturing events in Syria. Above is the…

These Wooden Kitchen Knives Look Amazing, But Would You Use Them?

This pair of knives are a concept by FDRL, an Ottawa-based design consultancy. There is absolutely no denying that, resplendent in sleek Maple, they’re beautiful objects—but who the hell would use them? The guys at FDRL explains that the “knife gives the appearance of being lightweight; however their weight is balanced to ensure that they…

YouTube for iOS has been updated to support live streams. Just after Coachella’s first weekend—huh, thanks Apple.

AT&T’s Galaxy S4 page claims that the 16GB phone will ship from April 30th—for $640, or $200 on a 2-year contract.

Some Apple TVs Have Wi-Fi Issues, But You Can Get a Replacement

Apple has admitted that some of its third-generation Apple TVs have Wi-Fi issues—but owners with affected hardware are now able to exchange it for a fully functional replacement. The affected units struggle to locate a Wi-Fi network, are sometimes unable to join a network, and experience dropped or intermittent connections, reports 9to5mac. As Apple explains:…