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A Visual Breakdown of How Iran Censors the Internet

What does a hierarchy of online censorship look like? In Iran, a lot like this. Design studio Hyperakt worked with the Iran Media Program to make this graphic of all the ways Iran suppresses information on the internet. Beyond the complicated propaganda network, the other thing that stands out is the “20 to 30 percent”…

No, Joss Whedon is not going to Kickstart a Firefly movie… for now

You know you’ve already wondered, and rest assured Joss Whedon has already been asked. I imagine it took less than 10 minutes after the Veronica Mars Kickstarter reached its goal for someone to wonder aloud about using the service to renew the adventures of Captain Mal. Unfortunately, Firefly isn’t taking off anytime soon. As Whedon…

The World’s Fastest Computer Is Being Slowed Down By Too Much Gold

Last November, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Titan supercomputer was named the fastest in the world. But it turns out that a few tests were skipped along the way—and now too much gold on its motherboards means it can’t run at full tilt. https://gizmodo.com/americas-titan-supercomputer-is-the-fastest-in-the-worl-5960055 The computer made it to the top of the list despite the…

The science of male pattern baldness

The average human body is covered in millions of hair follicles, and follicle density is particular dense on the head. Whether those follicles are actively pushing out medulla, cortex and cuticle, however, is another story entirely. In the latest installment of AsapSCIENCE, Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown explore the genetics and heritability of hair loss…

Samsung’s saying it’ll have its first high-end Tizen phone out as early as this August. Take that, Google. [Bloomberg]

First a baby, now 14 adults “functionally cured” of HIV

Earlier this month, doctors announced that a baby had been cured of an HIV infection. Now, using a similar technique, it appears that 14 adults have likewise been successfully treated for the disease. The trick, say the scientists, is to tackle the infection early. The research was conducted by Asier Sáez-Cirión of the Pasteur Institute…

High Roller Takes Casino For $33 Million With Security Camera Hijack

Australia’s biggest casino was taken for $33 million, when its own security cameras were used against it by a high-roller who managed to hijack the surveillance systems. The man behind the scam, who was apparently staying in an “opulent villa” reserved for VIP guests, was given access to the cameras by a staff member. Unsurprisingly,…

The Iron Man 3 Relationship You Never Saw Coming. Plus Why Man of Steel‘s General Zod Isn’t a Villain!

Guardians of the Galaxy finds its Drax the Destroyer, for real this time. Kevin Feige explains why Pepper Potts and a 10-year-old boy are both crucial to Iron Man 3. The Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending gets a release date. An Amazing Spider-Man 2 cast member is already done filming. Plus an Evil Dead clip, two Knights…

You’ll Waste Your Entire Morning With This Brilliant Face-Swapping iOS App

If you’ve ever watched the movie Face/Off and desperately wanted to try the same thing—minus the implausible surgery and John Travolta—now’s your chance. Yahoo Japan has released Face Stealer, an endlessly amusing iPhone app that uses augmented reality to replace your face with someone else’s. And despite being free, it works surprisingly well. The app…

SwiftKey has announced that its software powers the Galaxy S 4’s native keyboard. No need to download that app, then!

Samsung Preparing Docking Bluetooth Game Pad for Galaxy Range

While we didn’t see anything thrilling or innovative in Samsung’s safe Galaxy S4 launch last night, it did have an interesting piece of hardware to show off backstage: an official Samsung wireless game controller. According to Samsung’s S4 accessories teaser page, the Samsung game controller is currently know as the Game Pad, simply offering a…

Brain Scans Can Now Reveal Who You’re Thinking About

For the first time, scientists have been able to use data from brain scans to identify who patients are thinking about. Researchers from Cornell University have been analyzing data from functional MRI scans in an attempt to reconstruct what memories people are recalling. But now they’ve gone a step further, by trying to deduce the…

Were You Disappointed By the Samsung Galaxy S IV?

So, following last night’s Samsung announcement, it’s fair to say that we’re a little underwhelmed. While we’re reserving final judgement until we review it properly, the new Galaxy S IV doesn’t seem to be quite the super phone we were expecting. Our very own Brent Rose explains: [A]lready the S IV feels like a missed…

Now Eric Schmidt Is Headed For Myanmar

Look’s like Eric Schmidt has the travel bug. First he jetted off to North Korea, and now the Wall Street Journal reports that he’s headed for Myanmar. https://gizmodo.com/eric-schmidt-visiting-north-korea-for-some-reason-5972574 Schmidt’s trip will kick off on March 22nd and, as the newspaper points out, it will be “the first by a high-level executive from a U.S. technology…

The Science Inside Your Blender

You might think that your blender is just a glorified mixer—but you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, your blender exploits some interesting scientific concepts to break down your food, and these slow-motion videos help explain how it works. Flip the switch, and the blender’s blades create a suction effect, pulling contents down before throwing…

Google Translate now lets you save favorite snippets in a Phrasebook so you can go back and learn ’em easily.

Will you be having a pi party?

Do you feel like having a once-every-thousand-year party? You only have a couple of years to set it up. Some of us will be planning 2015 Pi Parties — in some cases because we like math, and in other cases because we want an excuse to eat pie for breakfast. Let us know if you’re…

Debunking 50 Common Misconceptions

All the things that you thought you knew? Like that Vikings wore helmets with horns. Or that rice causes birds to explore. Or that Marie Antoinette said ‘Let them eat cake’. Yeah, never happened. John Green of Mental Floss created this video that debunked 50 common misconceptions. Your brain might explode after watching it all.…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Jazz That Nobody Asked for

While not as deadly as the Ceti Eel or as painful as Bore Worms, ear worms can be just as vicious. These snippets of sound, catchy riffs or effective jingles, can lodge themselves in you brain for days. And the more you try to ignore them the louder they get, as this awesome animated short…

Samsung now has THREE Co-CEOs. They must all like giant smartphones but enjoy different sized tablets.