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A Scary-Lovely Dress That Can Defend You from Unwanted Attention

It’s called the Spider Dress, and it clings to your body like an exoskeleton. If anyone gets too close, parts of the dress can lash out at them with what seem to be skeletal appendages. Who doesn’t love what 3D printing and microcontrollers have done for fashion? Writes dress designer Anouk Wipprecht: Aptly called the…

The hilarious ridiculousness of the new Star Wars’ crossguard lightsaber

Like the rest of us, Machinima Happy Hour wondered what would happen after the crossguard lightsaber scene in the new Star Wars trailer. Unlike the rest of us, they created this hilarious animation imagination of how ridiculous that fight would be because adding light sabers to just anything is just crazy. We’re talking about a…

2014 Had The Lowest Movie Ticket Sales Since 1995

Final data isn’t in, but it looks as though overall U.S. box office was down in 2014 from 2013 — although the major studios still made over $10 billion domestically. Most significantly, the number of tickets sold dropped 6 percent, to the lowest amount since 1995. Top image: Raymond Shobe/Flickr. The good news? There’s no…

Dawn On Alternate Approach To Ceres After Cosmic Ray Hiccups Ion Drive

After 14 months at Vesta, the Dawn spacecraft swung around for its second mission target: Ceres. After a rogue cosmic ray jumbling the best laid plans in September, the spacecraft is in its approach phase to slip into orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015 just a half-day behind schedule. Top image: Artist’s concept of…

How the Pineapple Express Killed the Donner Party

Californians have spent December experiencing the effects of the Pineapple Express. For the most part, we’ve been happy to get all that rain. But in 1846, the Pineapple Express had a quite different effect. It contributed to the horrible fate of the most infamous California-bound party in history. To be fair, a lot of things…

The Complete Twilight Zone Marathon Viewer’s Guide

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! New Year’s Eve might be a garbage holiday, but at least we have Syfy’s Twilight Zone marathon to console us. Below, a list of when you can watch each episode during this year’s festivities. And for all you cordcutters, we’ve added links to Netflix (and Hulu for…

An epic supercut of explosions in movies

Nothing rings in the new years like explosions and fireworks and countdowns and mind sacrificing hangovers earned during silly festivities. This supercut video by Screen Junkies has most of that from movies like Star Wars and Tropic Thunder and more. You can save the hangover for tomorrow. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on…

Video Essay Dissects The Influence Of Video Essays, Because Meta

Long time video essayist Kevin B. Lee asked, “What Makes a Video Essay Great?” Then he attempted to answer said question via video essay. It’s more observational and thought-provoking than explanatory, but it does give a great overview of a few featured video essayists. And if you would like to watch what this creator considers…

The Natural Phenomenon That Explains Why Your Reception Is So Bad

When your satellite reception goes out there can be any number of things behind it: Distance, weather, human error. But there’s also an astronomical phenomenon that (at least a couple times a year) is responsible for some of those temporary outages we experience. In response to this thread asking you to spill the hidden secrets…

What Happened to These Notorious Crime Scenes?

Some buildings that bear witness to heinous crimes are transformed into tourist attractions (you can spend the night in Lizzie Borden’s house!) Others get a change of address, or are completely torn down. Here’s the current state of five famous crime scenes. Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment building At the time of his 1991 capture, cannibal killer…

Projected Lights Turn An Ordinary Forest Into Avatar‘s Pandora

The organisms in this forest aren’t bioluminescent, but they look that way thanks to the lights projected onto plants, fungi, and animals. It evokes the glowing world of James Cameron’s Avatar for a fraction of the budget. Inspired by actual bioluminescent organisms, artists Friedrich van Schoor and Tarek Mawad created this faux bioluminescent forest using…

Coulson’s SHIELD Agents Arrive In The Real Marvel Universe Tomorrow

Given that tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, it shouldn’t be surprising that there are barely any comics being released this week. There are a few exceptions, however — none of which should excite you more than SHIELD #1, which finally brings the TV show’s team to the Marvel comic-verse. • Abigail and the Snowman #1…

The Most Amazing Meteorological And Space Observatories Ever Built

As much as we admire the stunning images and incredible data we get from observatories, the buildings themselves are works of art in their own right. It’s hard not to admire them as they sit high above cities and nestled into mountain peaks. What a view. Sphinx Observatory, 11,716 ft (3,571 m) above mean sea…

Musician’s Recreation of Ancient Sumerian Songs Will Haunt You

These songs are examples of how art and science can come together to create something incredible. Musician Stef Conner learned to read several ancient Babylonian and Sumerian tablets written in cuneiform script, using historians’ research to figure out likely pronunciation. Just listen to the results. Conner is accompanied here by Andy Lowings, who recreates ancient…

Why The Best Fantasy Stories Include Mundane Everyday Life

Anne Leonard’s fantasy novel Moth and Spark comes out in paperback today. To celebrate, Leonard’s written us an essay about how the “mundane” and everyday things are even more important to include in a book about dragons and heroic quests — because without them, you’ll never understand the scale of magic. When Ursula K. Le…

Parasitology Student Once Tried To Kill His Roommates With His Research

Roommate disputes can have some pretty gruesome consequences, but there is one case from 1970 in which one man was accused of using his research against his hated roomies. His weapon: Ascaris suum, the parasite that he was studying in school and which he allegedly used to make his roommates very ill. Discover Magazine points…

Salt Storage Warehouse Collapses, Chicagoans Unfazed

If you’ve spent time in Chicago, you’ve likely seen the gigantic Morton Salt warehouse nestled into the industrial north branch of the Chicago River. It’s hard to miss its corrugated roof, which is painted with the company’s dancing-in-the-rain child and its slogan: When it rains, it pours. Today, it was the salt that poured. This…

Shake Shack’s new fried shallots burger looks like crunchy deliciousness

Shake Shack, very probably the world’s best burger chain, is introducing a new burger to their vaunted lineup: the ShackMeister Burger. It’s a 100% all-natural Angus beef cheeseburger that is topped with crispy marinated shallots and their famous ShackSauce. It’s like a cheeseburger with fancy onion rings in it. I’m in. The burger—which I’m going…

It’s hard to determine what the WORST anti-science bullshit was over the past year, but Mother Jones has done it. In this list of the most egregious examples of climate denialism, the venerable magazine will remind you why a high school science education should be mandatory for all politicians.

Play-Doh Is Sorry It Sold Your Child a Toy Penis

You know that excited, blissful feeling on Christmas morning? When you scramble downstairs with a bounce in your step and a sparkle in your eye? And then you hunker under the tree to greedily unwrap your new penis-shaped Play-Doh dispenser? Because after this holiday season, a whole bunch of kids and parents do. And Hasbro…