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Are Blood Bricks the Future of Building?

Take the blood of a freshly slaughtered animal. Mix thoroughly with preservatives and sand, pour into square molds, and bake for one hour. Allow to cool—then build your home from the result. No, really. At least, that’s what Jack Munro, an architect with a passion for material research and experimentation, would like us to do.…

Apple Had to Acquire Its “Lightning” Trademark From Harley-Davidson

Apple’s controversial Lightning connector has a name that nicely matches up with the Thunderbolt data connection. But its name caused Apple some trouble—because it had to buy the trademark from Harley-Davidson. https://gizmodo.com/whats-changed-in-apples-new-8-pin-lightning-dock-connec-5942555 The EU Patent & Trademark Office has published trademark applications for Apple’s Lightning connector, reports Patently Apple. But what’s interesting about them is…

How That Football Field Was Blown Up in The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises was pretty incredible for many reasons. But one of the most jaw-dropping bits was when Bane blew-up an American football stadium right at the start of a game. Here’s how they actually did it. Raised turf with holes for people to fall into, pyrotechnics galore, a myriad of stunt personnel—and then…

US consumers spent over $1 billion online on Black Friday, for the first time ever. Good shopping, guys. [Bloomberg]

Best of the Week: November 17-23, 2012

IS THERE LIFE OUT THERE? SPRAY ONCE FOR YES | The best chance for finding life on other planets may be hoping that extraterrestrials are spraying CFCs into their atmospheres, just like we did. Artist’s conception by Lynnette Cook via NASA. https://gizmodo.com/hairspray-and-air-conditioners-could-reveal-life-on-oth-5962935 Scientists claim to have discovered something “earthshaking” on Mars https://gizmodo.com/scientists-claim-to-have-discovered-something-earthsha-5962240 The Mars Science…

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals List Categories

We know, we know. Our lists have gotten so big that they’re tough to navigate without filters. We’re definitely going to get that in place next year. For now, though, here is a list of all the categories available, so you can use Find (CONTROL+F or COMMAND+F) to jump right to them. We promise to…

Watch This Adorable Horde of Intelligent Swarm Robots Play Piano

Sometimes robots can be better than humans at playing instruments. Sometimes they’re just cooler at it. This herd of little swarm robots—which divvy up the playing between themselves automatically—is the latter. https://gizmodo.com/this-crazy-bass-guitar-robot-shreds-like-a-total-machin-5963023 Developed by researchers at Georgia Tech’s GRITS Lab, these intelligent swarm robots are given a piece of music to play, but are not…

These 19th-century diagrams were one man’s attempt to illustrate human consciousness

Could you represent the stages of human consciousness with a diagram? In the late 19th century, New Zealand psychologist Benjamin Betts tried to apply mathematics to the problem of visualizing human consciousness. What he produced were striking, almost floral designs that he believed represented the shape of out consciousness for a given activity. Maria Popova…

Minus the Bear: Get Me Naked 2: The Electric Boogaloo

This Thanksgiving, I did something a lot of us do on most holidays; I took a long drive. It’s always key to have the right soundscape for your holiday travels whether it be podcasts, audiobooks, or music. If you’re looking for driving tunes, Minus the Bear’s “Get Me Naked 2: The Electric Boogaloo” is up…

All You Need Is Kill Photos from WENN.com

Photo via WENN.com Photo via WENN.com Photo via WENN.com Photo via WENN.com

Clone Wars reveals why kidnapping Jedi isn’t such a terrible idea after all

On last week’s episode of Clone Wars, it looked like Hondo, the pirate who just won’t go away, was pretty thoroughly boned. He had just attempted to hijack a ship full of Jedi younglings, then kidnapped and promptly lost Ahsoka. And, after that incident in which he kidnapped Count Dooku, he can’t exactly turn to…

Awesome New Air Conditioner Fends Off Both Heat and Mosquitoes

Air conditioners are truly a technological marvel, cold-campfires of the modern era, or something. But they don’t have to be limited to just keeping you cool. A new model LG is rolling out not only cools air but also keeps mosquitoes at bay. While mosquitoes are mostly just a nuisance here in the states, they’re…

Animals Are Literally Being Dissolved Alive Because of Acid in the Ocean

The next time you’re having a bit of a bad day, consider this: in a part of the Southern Ocean, sea snails are literally dissolving day by day, thanks to the increasingly high amounts of man-made acidification. Being a little late to that meeting beats being dissolved alive, eh? Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic…

Five-person Voltron cosplay is the best Voltron cosplay

We’ve seen some spectacular (and adorable) Voltron cosplay, but this crew of mecha fans takes it to the next level. Each member of the group dresses as one of the series’ five robot lions, and their costumes assemble to form Voltron. https://kotaku.com/the-comic-con-dawww-of-the-day-lets-go-voltron-force-5925666 The voltron5 team explains on Instructables how they put their mega costume together,…

This Robotic Water Snake is Both Graceful and Utterly Terrifying

Do snakes freak you out? How about the idea of being hunted down and killed by robots either of their own accord, or on orders from someone else? If you said yes to either of those questions, chances are you’ll find this video a little freaky, but enthralling nonetheless. The little guy featured in this…

RNA-based vaccine could wipe out the flu forever

While traditional vaccines can offer annual protection from the latest flu strains, the viruses mutate and evolve so fast that we’re right back where we started the following year. That’s where a revolutionary new vaccine could change everything. Vaccines currently work by essentially teaching our immune systems to recognize a pair of key proteins, known…

Webcomic Gift Ideas for People Who Don’t Read Webcomics

Every year, I try to buy a few of my Christmas gifts from webcomic creators. It’s a great way to support independent artists and you can end up with some cool and unusual gifts to dole out. But what do you do if the people in your life don’t read and love the same webcomics…

Congressmen Want The FBI To Shut Down Hamas Twitter Accounts

Twitter has moved far beyond just being a network you use to tweet about your lunch, and along with the many useful services it’s a platform for, it can also be a tool for terrorism and violence. At least that’s how seven House Republicans see it, and that’s why they’re asking the FBI to shut…

What’s Your Favorite Travel Gadget?

Whether you’re driving, flying, taking a train, taking a bus, or just walking several hundred miles, chances are you’re doing some traveling today. Tech makes just about everything better, and travel is no exception. What’s the one travel gadget that makes your arduous trips a little less annoying?

Self-filling bottle borrows beetle’s trick of harvesting water from the air

The Namib Desert of southern Africa is a brutal a place to live, even for a beetle. To survive, the Namib beetle farms moisture, using its back to condense the water and then storing the water to drink later. It’s a remarkable adaptation to the arid conditions, and a team of recent MIT graduates are…