Latest

Beware Exploding Hoverboards This Christmas

Self-balancing skateboards are taking the sidewalks of the U.S. by storm. But aside from the potential damage to your public image, they pose another, very real danger: burning your house to the ground. Many of the hoverboards/Swagways currently on sale for cheap have something in common: they’re made by knock-off Chinese companies that don’t pass…

Construction Permits Revoked on the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawaii

It’s a clash of gods, science, lava, stars, and the law for the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawaii. The would-be new largest telescope on the planet just had its construction permit yanked by the Hawaii Supreme Court. The construction of the 30-Meter Telescope on the flanks of Mauna Kea volcano has been the topic of fierce…

Do Digital Typefaces Really Need To Be Different Than Print? Not According To This Designer

There’s been plenty of talk lately about why certain typefaces are better (or truly awful) for our increasingly screen-based reading. A new typeface by celebrated typographer Tobias Frere-Jones is designed to elegantly bridge what is perceived to be a growing gap between print and digital worlds. After a very public split from longtime business partner…

This paper plane model of an Airbus A380 is so ridiculously detailed

Singapore Airlines got artist Luca Iaconi-Stewart to build a paper model airplane of one of their Airbus A380s and it’s so impressively detailed that all the tiny paper seats on the model airplane can do everything that the real life version can do in real life. We see how Economy seats compare to Premium Economy,…

Here’s How You Transport a 200-Foot Rocket: Very Carefully

Having an Antonov AN-124 Ruslan, one of the largest cargo airplanes in the world (only the Antonov An-225 Mriya is bigger) is a key part of this operation. This photo above, taken from a distance, shows perfectly how huge the Ruslan really is. Look at the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 stage—about 60 meters…

A Fantastic Looking Star Wars Art Exhibit Is Set to Open in France

Did you hear? There’s a new Star Wars movie coming out. And one of the ways Lucasfilm and Disney are choosing to spread awareness (along with millions in TV commercials) is officially licensed art exhibits. There was one in Los Angeles last month and, later this week, a second will be opening in France. It’s…

Android Creator Andy Rubin Reportedly Wants to Make His Own Android Phones

Andy Rubin, estranged father of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, is reportedly gearing up to launch his own Android hardware startup. Andy Rubin making smartphones! It could happen! According to The Information, Rubin has been trying to raise money to start a hardware company to produce phones. As the report points out, the…

Millions of Climate Refugees Have Already Lost Their Homes

When your town is continually threatened by floods or your village’s fields become too dry to grow crops, there are two options: move on, or stick around and try to make things work. At the Paris climate talks, there’s a swell of opinion to encourage the latter. In a session at the Conference of Parties…

Bill Nye Explains Everything You Need to Know About Earth’s Changing Climate

You’d have to live in an underwater cave to have missed the news that human activity is warming the planet. But climate change is a really complex issue, impacting everything from our atmosphere to our oceans in ways that aren’t always obvious. Still, it’s important that we all try to understand the basics. Thankfully, a…

In This Week’s Manhattan, the Most Crucial Bomb Is the One That Doesn’t Go Off

The scheming and manipulation on the Hill intensify, just as the end of the war seems to be in sight, on this week’s episode of Manhattan. Various parties are seeking to insure their future prosperity once they return to civilian life, leading to a brilliant unexpected double-cross. Spoilers below… It’s a big day at the…

Ta-Nehisi Coates Reveals The Early Concept Art of His Black Panther Comic

Today is apparently a day large enough to contain not one, but two different reveals for T’Challa, the Black Panther. In a column for the Atlantic, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has given us our first scintillating look at Brian Stelfreeze’s art for his Black Panther series, and Black Panther has never looked so good. Coates included…

Mork and Mindy Was One of the Most Unlikely Miracles in the History of Television

Groundbreaking sitcom Mork and Mindy was always doomed to fail. This weird comedy about an alien and his human pal reached a U.S. audience of 60 million viewers every week, and launched Robin Williams’ career. And then, it tanked. We talked to the show’s writers and director, who told us the fascinating story of the…

Paramount’s Adaptation of The Stars My Destination Finally Gets a Writer

We first heard that Alfred Bester’s intense The Stars My Destination was being made into a movie back in March. And it looks like Paramount and Disruption Entertainment are full-steam ahead, finally figuring out who has the chops to adapt this sucker. Deadline reports that David DiGilio (Traveler) has been picked to write the screenplay.…

Your Pet Desperately Needs This Astronaut-Inspired Backpack

“Who’s the greatest catstronaut in the United States? It’s you Champer-damper. It’s you!” That’s the song I would sing to my pet cat if I had a pet cat and carried it around in one of these amazing ventilated carrying cases from U-Pet. Each of the cases comes with three different options for your pet’s…

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The Making of Mork and Mindy

For one year, Mork and Mindy was arguably the most successful science fiction TV show ever made. The comedy about an alien and his human best friend turned Robin Williams into a global sensation. How did this miracle happen, and why didn’t it last? To find out, I talked to the people who made the…

The Tech Community Still Can’t Figure Out Who Wrote This Book Making Fun of It

In June a handful of tech writers received a slim sendup of startup culture by an anonymous author. Six months later, still no one knows who wrote it. Now Iterating Grace has been published by an actual book publisher, so you can buy a copy, and perhaps even help solve the mystery. The very short…

Drop Dead Laughing at This Gloriously Gory Short Horror Comedy

In horror-comedy short Invaders, a pair of bickering robbers (played by Jordan Woods-Robinson and Ricky Wayne of The Walking Dead) cycle through a series of disguises before deciding to barge a stately home wielding axes and wearing Pilgrim masks. Bad move, guys. Baaaaad move. Props to writer-director Jason Kupfer, who looks to have set some…

How Scientists Study Wasp Stings Without Getting Stung 

Wasp researchers have come up with a cheap device that can be put together to measure how many times wasps sting. They found out that wasps sting a lot, especially if something already has wasp venom in it. The researchers wanted to see how viciously wasps would attack under different conditions, but didn’t want to…

Your Complete Guide to the Comic Book Heroes in Legends of Tomorrow

Legends of Tomorrow is hitting in a big way—we saw the awesome trailerlast week, and the current Arrow /Flash crossover is setting up this spin-off to those two shows. While some of the characters have appeared on TV already, some of the Legends are still strange and mysterious. Here’s our guide to who’s who! The…

Target is paying $39.4 million to banks and credit unions that lost money reimbursing fraudulent claims and otherwise cleaning up the mess made by the 2013 hack affecting 40 million customers. The big-box retailer already agreed to pay $10 million to customers affected by the data breach.