Inside the Song Machine: How Today's Hits Are Manufactured
Who are the hit makers? They are enormously influential culture shapers—the Spielbergs and Lucases of our national…
War Robots Don't Have Minds of Their Own
War, as structured state-sponsored fighting and dying, has given rise to venerated professions to manage its risks and…
In Jonathan Franzen's New Novel Purity, the Internet Is the Villain
Is Jonathan Franzen trolling us?
RIP Oliver Sacks: 7 Must-Read Books and Stories About Our Beautiful Brains
In the past day you may have seen the internet lighting up with appreciations for the writer and neurologist Oliver…
NeuroTribes Is the Best Book You Can Read to Understand Autism
An epidemic. A vaccine-induced scourge. A curse. Or: The reason Steve Jobs was so focused. The thing Bill Gates had…
Exclusive: Read Julian Assange's Introduction to The Wikileaks Files
This essay by Julian Assange is taken from the introduction to The Wikileaks Files: The World According to the US Empire
How Lycos Almost Won the Search Engine Wars
It was exhilarating to be back in the game again, a 20-year-old college dropout with stock options, working at the…
How We'll Live on Mars: A Manifesto for Colonizing the Red Planet
For more than century, humans have imagined building colonies on Mars, and now settling the Red Planet is no longer a…
This 1990s Guide to Using the Web Is Delightful
Once upon a time you didn’t just use the internet, you were a “nethead” who “surfed the web” and “sailed data streams.”…
The Boy Who Built A 500 Million-Degree Nuclear Fusion Reactor
The following excerpt is from The Boy Who Played with Fusion by Tom Clynes. The book, released today, tells the story…
Get a Sneak Peek at XKCD Creator Randall Munroe's New Book
We’re big fans of xkcd here at Gizmodo (who isn’t?), and also of learnin’ about things, so we’re pretty excited for…
Ask The Dark Net Author About the Internet's Underworld, Here Right Now
The darknet is often sensationalized as a digital haven for crooks, perverts, freaks, and anarchists, but it’s also a…
How Much Do Skyscrapers Actually Move?
The night Hurricane Alicia struck Houston in the summer of 1983, shattering high-rise windows downtown and stacking…
Behind the Sordid World of Online Assassination Betting
I have heard rumors about this website, but I still cannot quite believe that it exists. I am looking at what I think…
Join Us For a Live Chat With Neal Stephenson Right Now
Neal Stephenson, author of the acclaimed novels Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Anathem, is here to talk about his…
Read the First Chapter of Neal Stephenson's New Novel, Seveneves
The following excerpt is chapter one from Neal Stephenson’s new novel, Seveneves. Stephenson is also the author of the…
Martin Ford, Author of Rise of the Robots, Is Here to Answer Questions
As robots in the workforce proliferate, will our automated future lead to a glorious age of leisure or a new class of…
The Rise of Automated Cars Will Kill Thousands of Jobs Beyond Driving
Perhaps the most important thing to understand about a future in which your car is fully autonomous is that it probably…
Ask an Expert Your Itching Questions About Bed Bugs Right Now
We all have at least one question about the formidable bed bug: How do I avoid having this goddamned pest infest my…
Why Is the Paper Clip Shaped Like It Is?
When you think of paper clips, you immediately think of a specific form—the familiar round-ended, double-loop design.…