Latest

Lego ends Shell partnership after Greenpeace campaign

The Guardian is reporting that Lego will not renew the US$100m marketing contract with Shell, which has existed since 1966, after sustained pressure from Greenpeace. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the Cheif Executive of Lego commented: We continuously consider many different ways of how to deliver on our promise of bringing creative play to more children. We…

Transparent, the first truly good Amazon original series, just got renewed for a second season. The series chronicles Jeffrey Tambor’s late-in-life gender transition, and it is excellent. [h/t @KateAurthur]

Watch a Japanese Pop Star Hologram Performance on Letterman

Last night, David Letterman’s musical guest was an enormously popular Japanese pop star who has opened for Lady Gaga and racked up an estimated 88 million views on YouTube. She performed her song “Sharing the World.” She is also not human. She’s also a vocal synthesizer software with no corporeal form, the VR personification of…

iRobot Now Has One App to Control All Its Badass Bots

Shoot, it used to be you’d have a whole team of iRobot robots, to man your factory or diffuse your explosives, but each one required its own joystick controller. That’s a lot to carry for a robot operator. But not anymore! Now iRobot has one Android app to man all its defense and security bots.…

An Utterly Bonkers Short Pulp Film About A Boxer Brief-Wearing Renegade

Who runs around in boxer briefs fighting the evil schemes of Dr. Monocle? He’s Renegade, and you can watch his utterly ludicrous, 1940s pulp-inspired adventures in less time than it takes to escape a trio of flesh-eating sirens. Kevin Van Witt directed Renegade, and it’s a great, goofy send-up of those henchmen-punching action heroes, one…

First Look At The TV Version Of The Flash’s Archnemesis

Call him the Reverse-Flash or call him Professor Zoom, but either way the Flash’s most dangerous supervillain has been spotted on the set of the new (and pretty damned good) TV show. Get the first look at his outfit here, and see him kicking Barry’s ass, too! The yellow top and black pants combination is…

The Dragonball Z: Battle Of Gods Movie Needs A Divine Intervention

The first new Dragonball Z animation in 17 years, the Battle of Gods movie seems to have so much going for it: it’s the first in-canon DBZ movie, creator Akira Toriyama worked deeply on it for the first time, and the nostalgia factor. But fans looking for the classic DBZ experience in BoG will likely…

A Staple-Free Stapler That Doesn’t Leave Ugly Holes Behind

The staple-free stapler isn’t a new idea; they’ve been around for decades, locking pages together without the need for tiny metal clips. But older designs use a method where an unsightly hole is punched through your documents, unlike Kokuyo’s clever new Harinacs stapler which simply crimps the corners to keep up to five pages securely…

What You Need To Know About Ear Wax

What it is, why it’s there, and why q-tips are a bad idea. Photo Credit: Travis Isaacs | CC BY 2.0. Ear wax, or cerumen, is a naturally occurring substance produced in the ears of many mammals, including humans. Despite popular beliefs about its uncleanliness, it helps keep our ears clean by filtering dust, debris,…

Lego will end its Shell partnership in light of Greenpeace activism

Greenpeace’s long protest against Lego over its association with Shell seems like it’s finally paid off: Lego have announced that they do not intend to renew their agreement with the energy company when the current deal expires. Greenpeace have been holding Lego-themed protests this year to highlight the brand’s association with Shell and to protest…

The 5 Best Architectural Photographs Taken This Year

Earlier this week we reported on the photograph that won this year’s Arcaid Architectural Photography Award for 2014. But it was only one of five award-winning images chosen by the jury—and in some ways, the other entries are even more interesting than the overall winner. Over the past decade or so, architectural photography has gotten…

This is why horror films hurt so good

The guys at Cinefix reviewed some of the most famous horror films in history to try to figure out what is it that makes us enjoy them so much. At first glance, the fact of getting pleasure by being terrified seems uncanny, but apparently there’s a scientific explanation for that behavior and here it is:…

Undersea Archaeological Sites Hold Crucial Clues To Early Humans

During the ice ages of the last one million years, sea levels dropped as much as 400 ft., increasing the land area of Europe by 40%. That terrain, once home to early humans, is again underwater, and archaeologists have identified artifacts at 2,500 sites. But all of it is threatened by erosion and offshore projects.…

“The Dirty Dozen In Deep Space” TV Series Coming To Fox

The Dirty Dozen is possibly one of the most consistently name-checked films in the Hollywood development process. However, if Len Wiseman (Underworld, Sleepy Hollow) can actually pull this “Dirty Dozen in deep space” series off, that would be pretty awesome. Deadline is reporting that Wiseman and Scott Rosenbaum (V, Chuck) have received a put pilot…

Good morning Paris

Paris. One of the most beautiful places in the world. They call it the city of light, and, above all, the city of love. I always had a really good time when I visited Paris. It might not be on my top ten cities to go party, but who cares when the food is so…

The Eye of the Sahara Is An Enigmatic Desert Landmark

The desert creates gorgeous structures, and the Eye of the Sahara is no exception. The stunning structure of bare rock peeks out from a sea of sand, forming a beautiful landmark for astronauts overhead. While circular usually means impacts or eruptions, the eye emerged from differential erosion. Top Image: The Richat Structure in Mauritania as…

How can you tell a real video from faked footage? You could analyze the footage itself, you could confirm it with a second source, or you could depend on something much harder to fake: Physics. Over at Dot Physics, there’s an analysis of the major ways you can scientifically separate the real from the forged.

These Amazing Autonomous Trains Are the Future of London’s Subway

Underground train lines may be dark and gloomy, but the rolling stock that uses them needn’t be. These sleek autonomous trains are what London plans to ferry its inhabitants in within the next ten years. The New Tube for London trains are the result of a collaboration between design studio PriestmanGoode and Transport for London.…

What If You Awoke One Morning Transformed Into A Robot?

Acclaimed Japanese director Oriza Hirata is releasing a stage production of Kafka’s surrealist classic The Metamorphosis. But in this production, our tortured protagonist does not wake to find himself transformed into a bug. Instead, he’s an android. And remarkably, an actual robot gets to star in the show. In Kafka’s original story, traveling salesman Gregor…

Tell Us Some Six-Word Science Fiction Stories!

Can you spin just six-words into a whole story? We hope so, because we want to hear your best (and shortest!) science fiction epics. You may choose to focus on an underground alien civilization that’s decided it’s time to meet (Europa probe conclusive: something’s drilling up. — ManhackMan), or flip the script on a classic…