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Why we should reboot the Biosphere projects

The last Biosphere 2 project ended 18 years ago. Correction: The failed Biosphere 2 project ended 18 years ago. That’s right, our only real attempt to create an artificial, materially closed ecological system ended in complete failure. As it stands, we still do not know how to create a viable self-sustaining ecosystem — a frightening…

How Your Cameraphone Can Beat a dSLR

Yeah, it was Boston. So, if you were wicked smart enough to guess Beantown as the location of the mystery photo, you could be walking away with an Intel-Inspired Ultrabook™ of your own. Every summer, Boston comes out to play. Shut-ins seep into the streets, the city’s parks brim with ballers, and the town’s unmarked…

What the heck is going on with Saturn’s rings in this photograph?

NASA’s Cassini orbiter just beamed back its latest batch of images of Saturn and its various satellites. They are, as usual, gorgeous, but this stunning view of the planet — photographed from below the plane of its rings — really captured our attention. Our immediate reaction: what has become of the planet’s rings? A split…

Samsung Might Bring the Galaxy S III to Windows Phone

According to the Verge, Samsung is going to announce a new 4.8-inch Windows Phone today at IFA. And it looks almost exactly like the Galaxy S III—which is a really good thing. The reported specs break down like this: 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED Display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.…

The Pair of Space Probes That Will Finally Demystify the Radiation Surrounding Earth (We Hope)

Concentric rings of highly charged radiation encircle our planet, and we know surprisingly little about them. But once NASA completes a $686 million mission to launch a twin pair of space probes into the eye of this solar storm, the Van Allen belts should be much less of a mystery. The Van Allen belts were…

Okay guys, we’re clear of the Sony deluge, back to your regularly scheduled blahging.

Sony MDR-1 Headphones: Big Sound, Premium Design, Sleek Looks

Along with the rest of Sony’s announcements at IFA 2012 come the MDR-1 headphones, which are Sony’s new top of the line headphones for consumers. Along with their big 40mm neodymium drivers, these closed back cans have an impressive response range of 4Hz-80kHZ, designed to handle the lowest bass frequencies and highest treble pings. In…

Thermometer Spatula Monitors Food Temps While You Stir

Designed for recipes that are finicky about the temperature of the ingredients—like fudge, candies, and jams—this silicone spatula has an internal temperature probe that helps prevent whatever you’re stirring from overheating and burning. Not surprisingly the Thermospatula is heat-resistant up to 428 degrees fahrenheit and is capable of displaying temperatures in celsius or fahrenheit from…

Watch This Fiery American WW2 Bomb Exploding In Munich Yesterday

Put up your headphones and pump up the volume, because you need to hear the sound while watching this American 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb exploding in Munich, Germany. Can you imagine thousands of these falling and exploding all over the city? Hell on Earth. And this was a small one—the US Army Air Force dropped…

Scientists have solved the 200-year-old mystery of this “monstrous” creature

For almost two hundred years, Cerataspis monstrosa — the otherworldly looking “monster larva” pictured here — has been turning up in the guts of everything from dolphins to tuna. But for as widely known as this larval creature is, its adult counterpart has managed to remain a mystery. Now, with the help of DNA analysis,…

Sony’s 84-Inch 4k TV Is Mammoth and Beautiful and We Want It Now

Sony just dumped one of the most monstrously gorgeous sets we’ve seen in some time—an 84-inch Bravia LCD with four times the resolution of today’s top HDTV. It could be in your living room by the end of the year. The 4k (3840 x 2160) set, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai explains, will be able to…

Augmented reality chestburster t-shirt pops a xenomorph out of your torso

This incredibly well-done augmented reality image will superimpose upon you a baby xenomorph bursting out of your rib cage. Watch this perfectly painless demonstration. You can purchase the t-shirt for at Fingerfunk or simply download the image and the app and try it out for yourself, right here and now. It’s available in Android and…

Sony’s New Vaio Duo 11 Should Give Surface Plenty of Competition

Sony’s got a new transformer tablet/laptop hybrid, the Vaio Duo 11, which is a sliding converter with a stylus. It looks pretty darn good. The Duo 11 has an 11.6-inch “full HD” touchscreen (16:9, 1080p), and will have current-gen Intel Core Ivy Bridge processors. The screen in particular, just judging by specs, should be pretty…

Sony’s New GoPro Killer Might Be the Most Badass Action Cam We’ve Ever Seen

Sony might just have one-upped every other action camera out there by jamming the best features of all into a three-ounce package including battery. So small. And yet so powerful! https://gizmodo.com/the-best-action-camera-5919942 The new Sony Action Cam’s billboard feature is HD video recording at 1280 x 720, 60 or 120 fps (for slow motion) or 1920×1080…

Sony NEX-5R: Sony’s Touchscreen Mirrorless Monster Gets Improved Autofocus and Wi-Fi Connectivity

Sony has been releasing new, tweaked versions of its NEX cameras every year to impressive results. Today we got our first look at its latest, the Sony NEX-5R—the follow-up to last year’s NEX-5N, which is one beast of a mirrorless camera. The new shooter introduces a new “Fast Hybrid” autofocus system, WI-Fi connectivity and a…

Sony’s Xperia T Serves Up a 4.6-Inch Display, 13-Megapixel Camera and NFC Functionality

Sony’s latest flagship Android Smartphone is the Xperia T: a 4.6-inch, 1280×720 Bravia-powered smartphone equipped with not only a 13-megapixel camera, but also an NFC receiver for quickly connecting the phone to accessories and services at home and away. The flagship Xperia T is the latest phone to be added to Sony’s roster since its…

Sony Xperia Tablet S Hands-On: Still Weird. A Little Better. Let’s Hope Somebody Buys It This Time.

It’s been exactly a year since the original Sony Tablet S debuted. It was unique, and a lot better than the terrible Tablet P, but it never got to be all that popular. This year’s Tablet S returns with the Xperia moniker and a set of improvements that should fix the flaws from the first…

Amazing Image of Hurricane Isaac at Midnight

This image of hurricane Isaac illuminated by moonlight as cities glow in the middle of the night is unique and strangely beautiful. It was captured on August 28, 2012, at midnight. Down there, things are bad. Isaac is now seriously testing the new levees of New Orleans, a city still scarred by the Katrina nightmare.…

A Bluetooth Keyboard With a Backup Battery or Vice Versa?

In a “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” type paradox, this multifunctional smartphone accessory has mysterious origins. Did someone slap a backup battery on a mediocre Bluetooth keyboard as a redeeming feature, or was a Bluetooth keyboard added to a backup battery for added value and more incentive to carry it around? As…

Watch a Blade Runner-inspired short movie directed by Ridley Scott’s son

As a collaboration with the designers of RED cameras, Luke Scott (the son of Blade Runner director Ridley Scott) has directed the 20-minute science fiction film Loom. This short, which stars Giovanni Ribisi as a laboratory grunt in a dystopian future, aims for atmospherics and openly acknowledges a stylistic debt to Blade Runner. Somewhat NSFW…