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Graphite Alien chestburster explodes from an unsuspecting pencil

Apparently humans aren’t the only ones who have something to fear from Alien xenomorphs. deviantART user cerkahegyzo shows us what happens after a pencil has gestated an Alien to its bursting stage. In addition to this wonderfully intricate carving, cerkahegyzo has several other inspired pencil sculptures, including a few that reimagine pencils as medieval weapons.…

The Galaxy S IV’s New Oldness, Making Power from Nuclear Waste, Nerd Jokes, And More

This week we finally got a glimpse of the long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S IV in all its glory(?), and salivated all over its competitor, the HTC One. On top of that, we learned all about how the future of nuclear power is nuclear waste, saw mind-bending water-bending tricks, collected some incredible home theaters and one-man…

Sculptures of dying people double as wondrous star projectors

Mihoko Ogaki‘s sculpture installations are a poetic interpretation of Carl Sagan’s assertion that we’re all made of star stuff. She sculpts dead and dying figures that beam pinpoints of light from the inside, turning them into the origins of glorious galaxies at the moment of death. Ogaki’s work often reflects a fascination with both the…

Sheesh! Kermit the Frog finds himself trapped in Carbonite

When Frog Solo joined the Rebellion against the Empire and the evil Animal Vader, he had to know there would be consequences. James Hance, the artist behind so many sweet and expected Star Wars mashups, created a life-sized sculpture of our favorite froggy stage manager as the trapped Han Solo. It’s worth checking out the…

Grimm reveals the many, many reasons psychotic werewolves shouldn’t rob banks

Last night’s episode of Grimm wasn’t as strong as last week’s mid season premiere, but I don’t mean that as a criticism. Premieres and finales always get the good stuff; it’s the in-between episodes where a show proves its worth. And while I may have a nitpick or two, I have no real complaints about…

Thieves Steal Entire Bridge, The Whole Bridge, For Scrap Metal

The days of casually crossing a creek are over if you live in the Gölçük district of Kocaeli province in western Turkey. Which maybe you don’t. But the point is that someone stole a 22-ton, 82-foot-long bridge from there. It’s just gone. Police suspect that the bridge was cut into sections and removed on a…

What futurists in 1988 imagined Los Angeles would be like in 2013

With the year 2013 a quarter of a century away, the Los Angeles Times in 1988 asked 30 futurists and other experts what they thought life in their city would look like in 2013. They may have overshot the sophistication of our robots, but many of those predictions for 2013 have come true—or at least…

What if Fred Savage’s grandpa read him A Game of Thrones instead of The Princess Bride?

In The Princess Bride, Fred Savage’s grandfather cheers him up by reading a humorous tale of adventure and romance with a happy ending. But what if instead, Grandpa read him the much darker story of the battle for the Iron Throne? Season/Book One spoilers. [via Tor]

The Human Cells We Use For Research Are Kind of A Genetic Disaster

It turns out that the human cells scientists have studied the most and used in research for more than 60 years have some unexpected and pretty intense genetic mutations. Good thing they weren’t used as part of 60,000 published papers. They were? Oh geez. The cells, known as HeLa cells (pictured above), come from a…

Saturday Webcomic: Plume is a rollicking tale of supernatural revenge in the Old West

“My father once told me that revenge was like a plume of black smoke,” says Vesper Grey at the beginning of K. Lynn Smith’s Plume. “It seems tangible, but when you reach for it, you’re grasping nothing but air.” But that doesn’t stop Vesper from seeking revenge against a crew of artifact thieves who attack…

How to Not Get Ripped Off by Your Mechanic

Even if it doesn’t come with 470 HP and Wi-Fi connectivity, your car is the biggest and most expensive gadget you own. And unless you trade your vehicle in as often as your MacBook, keeping that ride in peak operating condition is absolutely vital to keeping repair costs down over its lifespan. https://gizmodo.com/hey-atlanta-let-us-buy-you-some-beer-and-give-you-a-s-5988876 That’s not…

Aperture R&D is like Better Off Ted set in the Portal universe

What went into designing all of those guilt-inducing turrets and malevolent AIs lurking in the Portal games? Wayside Creations‘ new web series Aperture R&D takes us deep into the bowels of the premiere mad science corporation and shows us what it takes to become Lab Team of the Month. Work is certainly more interesting—and more…

For the first time, scientists have grown the embryos of an extinct species

Just a few days ago, we were asking if de-extinction was possible, and today, we’re a huge step closer to bringing recently extinct species back to life. Researchers have announced that they’ve grown early-stage embryos of the gastric-brooding frog, a species that has been extinct since 1983. At yesterday’s TEDxDeExtinction event, University of New South…

Dropbox probably paid a cool $100 million to pick up Mailbox. Ain’t no small potatoes. [TechCrunch]

Watch These Real-Life Supermen Wingsuit Dive Into Their Metropolis

When you go sky-diving, there’s that all-important business of making sure you don’t slam into the ground, but you also have to make sure you don’t slam into anything protruding out of it. This pair of urban wingsuit daredevils who dove into Rio de Janeiro came damn close to the latter when they zipped through…

The End of Green Lantern: The Animated Series?

This week in the world of cartoons, we see what are very likely the final episodes of Green Lantern: TAS and Young Justice: Invasion, two daring comic book-based cartoons. It appears as if the pair will be replaced by two new DC shows, a new take on Teen Titans Go! and Beware the Batman. The…

Dogs Need A Place To Be Hipsters Too, Right?

Look, it’s just a given that people love their dogs stupid a lot. They also love Instagram effects and cute animals, broadly defined. We know this. But somehow Pack is only showing up now. Social media for dogs has existed before, of course, but never with so much aggressive simplicity. The site is currently invite-only,…

New Game of Thrones Season 3 trailer reveals the scandalous future for our favorite characters

A brand new trailer for Game of Thrones Season 3 actually shows some frakking plot! Watch as a few of our favorite George R.R. Martin creations lay out their motives for the new year. We cannot wait for March 31st!

These Photographs of Children with Their Favorite Toys Are Fascinating

A fire truck. This swamp thing action figure. My Ninja Turtles Shellraiser. Those were my favorite toys growing up—I loved ’em so much that I still remember them to this day. That’s why it’s so interesting to see the toys that kids give special attention to. They’re going to remember it for life. Italian photographer…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: A Story About Robots

It was only as he slowly wound down did the robot finally realize, “What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt…me no…mo…” This heart-breaking animated short film was conceived and created by Alfonso Fulgencio and Jose Luis Farias of Paramotion Films. The duo first shot the background scenes with a Canon 50D, then animated…