Latest

Gaze In Amazement At This Image Depicting Thousands Of Galaxies

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies is composed of thousands of galaxies (and billions of stars), just a fraction of which can be seen in this image. It was created in 2006 by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of an initiative to learn how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve. Image via NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage…

You Can Hire a Spell-Caster on Etsy to Improve Your Sex Life

Welcome to Reading List, a weekly collection of great tech reads from around the web. Up this week: how to say “photobomb” in sign language, what it’s like to hire a witch on Etsy, and why women are quitting tech in droves. Enjoy! Overshadowed by artisan crafts and bespoke furniture is a strange niche skillset…

Withings’ Wonderful Watch-Looking Fitness Tracker Now Works With Android

At this year’s CES, we found out that one of the most attractive (and expensive) fitness trackers out there was going to come in an affordable form: the Withings Activité Pop. The catch? It was iOS only. But no more! Withings has announced both the $400 and $150 versions of its watch-based fitness tracker are…

It’s Time to Go Alien Hunting on Titan

Move over Europa, there’s another moon out to claim the title of first place we’ll discover extraterrestrial life. New research from Cornell University finds that alien microbes could, just maybe, eke it out on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. But these critters wouldn’t be like anything we’ve ever seen before—not even close. That’s because Titan, awash…

In Honor of National Pig Day: Pigs in Space!

As much as we love The Muppets, in 1963 a pair of NASA engineers entertained the idea of sending real pigs into space. This is their story. “Little Joe” was the name of the rocket used by NASA to test the launch escape system and heat shield of the Mercury capsule. Developed by pioneering spacecraft…

An Animated Short About A Hard-Fought Battle Between Light And Darkness

Short film Chronemics, by London animation studio Animade, is set in a world where robot-like stick figures who dwell in light and darkness push against each other, with surprising results. The animation is simple, the tone is cheeky, and who knew stick figures could have so much personality?

Huawei TalkBand B2: Half Fitness Band, Half Earpiece, All Bizarre

Huawei is betting (again) on wearables—who’s not! And alongside its new Android Wear watch, the Chinese company has something much weirder: the TalkBand B2. The TalkBand B2 is the successor of the TalkBand B1, with a 0.73 PMOLED touchscreen. Built on a metal dock instead of plastic or rubber, the TalkBand B2 comes in two…

What’s it like to watch Aliens with a group of kids who are seeing it for the first time? Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s essay on the joys of re-watching and sharing favorite films recounts his experiences doing just that (spoiler alert: “It went over well”).

SanDisk Has the First Flash Drive With a Reversible USB Type-C Connector

Remember those rumors about a 12-inch MacBook that ditched a MagSafe connector and traditional USB ports for a single USB Type-C port? If true, SanDisk’s new Dual USB Drive will be the first flash drive that’s able to connect to that redesigned hardware without an ugly adapter. But given it will be a few years…

Samsung Pay Might Finally Let You Ditch Your Wallet

Mobile payments are here, the adoption of Apple Pay is evidence enough. But Samsung thinks it can do smartphone payments even better (of course), and that’s why they’ve created Samsung Pay, a tech team up that will make mobile payments more accessible than ever. Samsung will be equipping the Galaxy S6 with two mobile payment…

SanDisk Squeezes 200GB Into a Tiny microSD Card

Stop for a second and take a look at the fingernail on your baby finger. That’s roughly the size of a microSD card that can now hold a whopping 200GB of data thanks to SanDisk. Remember when USB flash drives with a full gigabyte of storage were mind-blowing? We were so foolish back then. Available…

European Beavers Mate For Life; North American Beavers Prefer Free Love

European beavers mate for life, and remain faithful to their partners. North American beavers? Not so much. What’s the reason behind this discrepancy … and which of the two beaver species has the greater advantage? A new genetic study headed up by Pavel Munclinger, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Charles University in…

Learn Which Famous Authors Coined “Nerd” And “Quark” In This Fun Video

This week’s episode of Mental Floss’ List Show on YouTube, hosted by John Green, breaks down 43 words invented by authors (spoiler alert: they’re not all by Shakespeare … and a lot of them are from scifi books!)

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge Is Awesomely Weird But Weirdly Awesome

For years, a smartphone’s main selling points were faster processors and better screens. But we’re knee deep in diminishing returns these days, and some makers are using out-of-the-box thinking to draw our eye. None more so than Samsung—and the new S6 Edge is the evidence. The Galaxy S6 Edge is basically just a Galaxy S6…

Galaxy S6 Hands-On: Samsung’s Got a Whole New Look

The Galaxy S6 is unlike any smartphone that Samsung has ever made. How, you ask? Let me count the ways. The most insane screen my eyes have ever seen The Galaxy S6 has a Quad HD (2560 x 1440) Super AMOLED display, but on a 5.1-inch smartphone. That means you’re looking at 577 pixels per…

Can You Solve One Of Archimedes’ Most Challenging Puzzles?

Archimedes was the greatest mathematician of antiquity. He was also a lover of puzzles, which he would devise and pose to his contemporaries. This week, we present you with two versions of what is arguably Archimedes’ most challenging puzzle ever. Art by Jim Cooke I am speaking of Archimedes’ Cattle Problem. Said puzzle appears below,…

The Troubled History Of The Foreskin

Common in the US, rare in Europe and now championed in Africa, male circumcision is hotly debated. Are the gains worth the loss? On a recent Saturday morning, Craig Adams stood outside the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was sunny but cold. Adams, who had turned 40 the day…

This Real-Life “Mr. Fusion” Can Turn Leftovers Into Energy

Well, it’s 2015, and right on cue, humanity has apparently invented its very own Mr. Fusion. The s0-called “Biobattery”, designed by German scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Energy and Safety Technology, will eat everything from human waste to coffee grounds and spit out electricity. A press release from Fraunhofer explains the rationale behind…

Vintage Menu Recalls A Time When Pineapple Fruitcake Was Served In Space

Also, Cheese Cracker Cubes, Bacon Squares, “Frankfurters,” Banana Pudding, and PEACH AMBROSIA. Wonder how that tasted in spaced-out form? From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

The HTC Grip: Who Is This Even Supposed to Be For?

It seems like every company out there has a smart band, a fitness tracker, a wearable. And now HTC is coming to the table, but it says it doesn’t want to be just another black band on a shelf, so instead it made the Grip—a big ol’ cuff that’s equal parts unique and perplexing. Unlike…