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Now THIS Is a Badass Feathered Tyrannosaurus Rex

Don’t mess with old feather-head. That’s what they say, and you can see why. This illustration of a feathered T. rex is by R.J. Palmer, and you can see more of his awesome monstery work on his Tumblr.

Where Are All the Female Science Fiction Heroes in Picture Books?

Amanda R. Von Der Lohe maintains a Goodreads page on science fiction picture books, and after looking at hundreds of books she made a depressing discovery. Less than 15% of these books featured a girl protagonist. Illustration from Boy + Bot Jason Boog, author of Born Reading, interviewed Von Der Lohe for Galleycat, to find…

Apple and IBM Will Make It Easier For Your iPhone to Be Your Work Phone

Apple and IBMhave just announced an unprecedented partnership to bring the iPhone to enterprise customers. In other words, you’re actually going to be able to use your iPhone for work. The surprising partnership comes after years of tense relations between the two companies, but now, the two will be working together to “help companies deploy…

How To Write About Sex Without Being Boring

Sexuality is one of our most basic drives, but it’s also fundamental to our identities as people. Which means sex is the subject of a million cliches, and tons of terrible writing. Not to mention, stupid prejudice. The good news? Science fiction and fantasy writers have a special opportunity to look at sex afresh. Here’s…

A controversial new study suggests we choose our friends because they share our genes. An analysis of nearly 2,000 people shows that our friends are as genetically similar to us as our fourth cousins. But critics say other factors could affect the results, such as ethnicity or other types of population stratification.

All About Big Hero 6, Disney’s First Marvel Superhero Movie

The first full trailer for Disney’s upcoming superhero movie, Big Hero 6, came out today. If you’re like me, it raised all sorts of questions. Questions like “What is this?” Here’s a rundown of the basics so you can be a Big Hero 6-pert when it comes out in theaters November 7. Didn’t Disney already…

See How the First Moon Photos Are Being Recovered In an Old McDonald’s

Earlier this year, the internet was collectively tickled at the reports of how NASA was conducting the recovery of some of the first photos of the mooninside an abandoned McDonald’s. This new video takes a closer look at how this surreal research lab came to be. The doc comes our way from the Carnegie Museum…

The Biggest Misconceptions About How Movie Novelizations Are Written

The novelizations that accompany popular movies and TV shows may not be written quite the way you think they are. In response to our call to correct the errors that people have about your profession, writer Greg Cox told us about the three biggest misconceptions people have about how he writes novelizations, which have included…

The Plan to Store Wind Energy In Giant Underwater Air Bubbles

Weather is annoyingly fickle, and so is the wind. If massive offshore wind farms are going to become reality, we need better ways to store the extra energy from windy days for the windless ones. One a bizarre-sounding idea floating around: giant balloons of compressed air stored deep underwater. Like many good ideas, the seeds…

Real-Life Futurama Is Gorgeous

Wow. Artist Alexey Zakharov has created a lovely 3D-animated “test shot” of the exceedingly complicated 31st-century world of Futurama, starring the Planet Express ship and Mom’s Old-Fashioned Robot Oil. It’s just… wow. On his website, Behance, Zakharov has posted a collection of videos and gorgeous pieces of concept art that brings the Futurama world to…

An Aurora Dances in the Latest Vine from Space

I haven’t mentioned astronaut Reid Wiseman in over a week. Clearly, that means it’s time for him to spring a new bit of beautiful, soothing, incredible timelapse video of an S-curve aurora dancing above the southern hemisphere. This is a six-second loop I am completely content to leave on repeat for the next unconstrained period…

Twin Peaks And The Muppets Go Together Weirdly Well

Justin DeVine comes up with a mashup that seems pulled straight from a Black Lodge dream. In his illustration series, the furry and felt Muppets become the oddball residents of Twin Peaks. Head over to DeVine’s Tumblr to see the rest of the series, including a grim shot of Piggy as the deceased Laura Palmer,…

Why Potholes Happen (And How to Get Them Fixed)

They’re the bane of modern interstates and countryside roads alike: Potholes cost American drivers nearly $6.5 billion dollars in flat tires, blown shocks, and cracked rims in 2013, according to AAA. Save your car this beating by learning to recognize the early warning signs of developing potholes and how to get them fixed before they…

These Homemade Tanks Are Tough Enough To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

Need an armored vehicle to roll through the hordes of undead but can’t get access to a military tank? Take some inspiration from these homemade tanks, with the guns and plating you’ll need at the end of the world. A Megatron tank replica, built by a Chinese designer in 2011 (via zcool) The Sham II,…

Extraordinary photos capture the true spirit of New York City at night

French artist and photographer Franck Bohbot has the ability to make New York City look even more cinematic than it normally does by manipulating color very carefully. According to him, he plays with melancholic light and hues to create an “enigmatic atmosphere with a documentary-style approach.” It works. I’ve never seen the city more beautiful…

This Is Why I Love Your Selfies

I’m not really into taking pictures of myself, but I love seeing your selfies. I don’t care whether you’re posing with some weird food item or standing next to that guy who kind of annoys me. That’s because your Snapchat pic of a barf face is fulfilling an ancient biological urge that I share with…

Nike’s New Baseball Glove Comes Already Broken In

Nike’s new Vapor 360 fielding glove is specially designed to be used “straight out of the box,” according to Nike. Forget stashing it under your mattress for weeks until the leather loosens up—this glove is broken in from day one. The key to the Vapor 36o’s ready-to-play design is the perforated leather on the palm,…

A Great Way to Listen to Those Mysterious “Number Stations”

For decades, shortwave radio enthusiasts have been stumbling upon mysterious stations that broadcast a looping noise, such as a nursery rhyme, occasionally punctuated by someone reading a string of numbers. The most popular theory is that these are coded messages—and now, an online shortwave radio lets you listen in. Shortwave is an ideal medium for…

Google was originally called BackRub

The domain Google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. But before that, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had another name for their search engine: They called it BackRub. From Google’s company history: 1996: Larry and Sergey begin collaborating on a search engine called BackRub. BackRub operates on Stanford servers for more than a year—eventually…

Shame Bathroom Slobs That Don’t Wash Their Hands With This DIY Alarm

Here’s the deal: If you use a public bathroom for any reason, you need to wash your hands before you leave. Don’t try and debate it, don’t get defensive, just do it, or else you might be publicly shamed by this DIY alarm that lets everyone know your hands are probably a cesspool of disgusting.…