Experiment

Gizmodo Monday Puzzle: Can You Save the Ugly Duckling from Certain Death?

In this classic brainteaser, the duckling is the center of a lake when he sees the Big Bad Wolf lurking on shore. How can he escape?

Science Jack Murtagh Feb 5

Gizmodo Monday Puzzle: Is the Coin Flip Really Fifty-Fifty?

You and I are going to settle something with a coin flip. Does your call matter?

Science Jack Murtagh Jan 29

Pouring Water on a Magic Marker Stick Figure Magically Brings It to Life

If the lighting weren’t so bad, we’d be inclined to believe this video was the work of a Hollywood special effects studio, because somehow, a simple magic marker doodle of a stick figure appears to come to life with nothing more than some spilled liquid. We’re assuming a non-soluble marker is being used to draw…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Jan 24

Flushing Sodium Down the Toilet Could Be the Last Thing You Do

Grant Thompson does silly stuff with science and when he received a request to flush sodium down a toilet he knew who to call—the man who flushed mercury down a toilet with a hypnotic swirl. All cleaned up, the mercury toilet meets its ultimate demise in a mushroom cloud of destruction. Sodium metal is one…

Sploid Rhett Jones Nov 19

Crazy Falling Man on a Loose Rope Stunt Shows How Physics Works

Here’s the idea: A man is going to be attached to a rope and then fall. The rope is totally loose and not attached to anything but there will be a weight rigged to the opposite end of the rope (the other end holds the man, remember). What happens? Does the man fall straight down?…

Sploid Casey Chan Jan 5

Awesome video shows what it must be like to control and break gravity

Can you imagine if you had a knob you can turn to sway gravity whichever way you like it? Clemen Wirth’s imaginative experimental video, Gravity, just does that. Water can be poured upwards, paint can drip sideways, flying balloons can fly down and the whole world can be bent in any shape you want. It’d…

Sploid Casey Chan Apr 20

Facebook Is Testing Self-Destructing Posts

Spotted by The Next Web, Facebook is testing a new feature that would allow people to schedule a time for their posts to be scrubbed from their timeline. This “Choose Expiration” feature lets you choose a life expectancy from 1 hour up to 7 days, based on user screenshots. Facebook has said they were testing…

Social Media Darren Orf Sep 10

Microwaving Light Bulbs Is Genuinely Useful (And Entertaining)

I love finding new things to put in the microwave. Say, for instance, an incandescent light bulb, which can test your microwave for a number of issues, besides just looking awesome. Even a non-functioning bulb can work, so dig out the dusty old bulbs you have at the back of the closet. First, find a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 31

Supersized science experiment produces a highly satisfying sound

A classic high school science experiment—putting a bit of isopropyl alcohol in a bottle and setting it on fire—is super-sized to produce one very enjoyable and satisfying sound. Enjoy! SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sploid James Baker Jul 4

Spontaneous Stratification of Sand and Sugar

Sorting sand from sugar is a classic chemistry challenge — dissolve the mixture in water, filter out the sand, and evaporate the water to recrystallize the sugar. But spontaneous stratification offers a different, mesmerizing approach. The experiment is simple: sift some fine sand, hopelessly mix it with coarse sugar (colourfully dyed for maximum visual impact),…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jun 15

Kitchen Moon Dust is a Silky Sandpile for Landlocked Playtime

Building sandcastles is one of the fundamental joys in life, irrespective of how old you get. While coastal residents can hop down to play by the ocean any time, landlocked adventurers need to get a bit more creative. Enter Moon Dust, a quick and cheap recipe for sticky sand. Moon Dust is sticky enough to…

Tech News Mika McKinnon May 27

Using a Lava Flow to Boil Coke and Cook Ravioli

What happens when you boil a can of Coke with a lava flow? Or leave tall can of an energy drink to be engulfed in molten rock? Now that your drink is steaming hot, what does it look like to try cooking ravioli with an encroaching flow? Bryan Lowry takes a lot of footage of…

Tech News Mika McKinnon May 25

Crowdfund shark research and a cyberpunk film by Larry Hama

The man who built up GI Joe’s mythology in comics has a new story to tell about Homeland Security’s Cyber Crime Division. You can also help fund documentaries about women in comics and Batman collaborator Bill Finger—or send your dollars toward research into the feeding habits of sharks. What are the feeding habits of threatened…

io9 Lauren Davis Feb 9

Crowdfunding site Experiment lets you support cutting-edge science

With government funding for science dropping to a shocking new low, researchers are looking to the public to support their work. After all, if Rob Thomas can get the Veronica Mars movie made with crowdfunding dollars, why shouldn’t good science do the same? Enter Experiment, the scientist’s crowdfunding portal. The brainchild of several former research…

io9 Annalee Newitz Feb 6

The Best Method of Breaking a Beer Bottle for All Your Holiday Brawls

Let’s say someone has gotten a little sassy at your family’s holiday gathering. Or maybe it’s New Year’s, and not everyone is getting in the spirit. Here’s how to break a beer bottle so it turns into a weapon — using science! Perhaps others are more used to drunken bar fights than I am, but…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 24

The Fastest Way to Cool Down Beer

Beer. I prefer to drink it cold. Unfortunately, sometimes the beer which I have is warm. This usually happens when we are planning a party, because I buy a bunch of beer on pallets at Costco. I mean, I don’t buy it on pallets. It is on pallets at Costco, and I buy one case…

Tech News Rob Cockerham - Cockeyed.com Dec 6

What in the World Is This Creepy Experiment?

I think this is probably the strangest, funniest, most unique historical photo you’ll see today. What the hell is going on? Is this an experiment? Why are these blue-dressed men torturing that poor sitting buddha? What are those scary instruments on his head? Is that the Ewok throne for C-3PO? So many questions! Make your…

Tech News Attila Nagy Nov 27

This Tower Exists Solely for Dropping Things

The 475-foot “drop tower” in Bremen, Germany, is not a rocket disguised as a building, but a giant hollow tube used for experimentally dropping things—letting go of objects, watching them plummet toward the ground, and using those nearly 10 seconds of free-fall as a way to study the effects of weightlessness. Fear not that scientists…

Tech News Geoff Manaugh Oct 1

Of course you want a shaving cream rain cloud in a jar

Ever sat on a seat in the kitchen, or in a bathtub, and wanted to do a little artistic science? How about making it rain food coloring all around you? How about making a localized rainstorm. I’ve been cleaning out my cabinets this week. For me, and I suspect most other people, there are certain…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 12

Watch How Silly People’s Reaction Times Are in Slow Motion

This is fantastic. Distort measured people’s reaction time by making them catch a falling ruler to see how quickly (or slowly) their brains can translate what they see into what they do. Putting the video to slow motion emphasizes how silly our reaction times can be. Some of us are so slow we might not…

Tech News Casey Chan Jul 5

Experiment

Gizmodo Monday Puzzle: Can You Save the Ugly Duckling from Certain Death?

Gizmodo Monday Puzzle: Is the Coin Flip Really Fifty-Fifty?

Pouring Water on a Magic Marker Stick Figure Magically Brings It to Life

Flushing Sodium Down the Toilet Could Be the Last Thing You Do

Crazy Falling Man on a Loose Rope Stunt Shows How Physics Works

Awesome video shows what it must be like to control and break gravity

Facebook Is Testing Self-Destructing Posts

Microwaving Light Bulbs Is Genuinely Useful (And Entertaining)

Supersized science experiment produces a highly satisfying sound

Spontaneous Stratification of Sand and Sugar

Kitchen Moon Dust is a Silky Sandpile for Landlocked Playtime

Using a Lava Flow to Boil Coke and Cook Ravioli

Crowdfund shark research and a cyberpunk film by Larry Hama

Crowdfunding site Experiment lets you support cutting-edge science

The Best Method of Breaking a Beer Bottle for All Your Holiday Brawls

The Fastest Way to Cool Down Beer

What in the World Is This Creepy Experiment?

This Tower Exists Solely for Dropping Things

Of course you want a shaving cream rain cloud in a jar

Watch How Silly People’s Reaction Times Are in Slow Motion

Stephen Colbert Adds Yet Another Genre Voiceover Cameo to His Belt

Turns Out Home Taping Wasn’t Killing Music After All

Wild Experiment Suggests Lasers and Graphene Could Propel Future Spacecraft

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

The New York Times Claims It Finally Unmasked Satoshi Nakamoto (This Time for Real)

Artemis 2 Day 8: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Disney Might Be Rethinking Its Newest ‘Avatar’ Land

Amazon Clears Out Alexa Smart Plug at Its Lowest Price After Selling 10K+ Units

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

Let us help find what you are looking for...