Science

DNA Testing Data Is Disturbingly Vulnerable to Hackers

Hidden within our genetic code is a vast treasure trove of personal information about our health, relationships, personality and family history. Given all the sensitive details that a DNA test can reveal, you would hope that the people and programs handling that information would be vigilant in safeguarding its security. But it turns out that’s…

Tech News Kristen V. Brown Aug 10

These Climate Scientists Think House Science Chair Lamar Smith Has No Idea What He’s Talking About

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the Republican chair of the House Science Committee who also happens to believe global warming might actually be a really good thing, flew off the hook this week. The cause? The New York Times publicized a draft version of a federal scientific report which climate scientists worry Donald Trump’s administration is…

Climate Change Tom McKay Aug 10

Report: Monsanto Edited ‘Independent’ Roundup Herbicide Safety Reviews

You’d probably be uneasy if you heard that your food had been sprayed with something meant to kill other plants. Maybe you’d be even more uneasy if the WHO released a report saying the chemical was a potential carcinogen, but wasn’t certain. If an independent review of the data found the herbicide was safe, you…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 9

How to Watch the Best Night Sky Fireball Show of the Year This Weekend

On Sunday, Daenarys and her dragons will be burning everything to ground on Game of Thrones. But the best fire show this weekend will actually be happening in real life, in the sky, no HBO password required. All you have to do is look up. Seriously, though, whoever is using my family’s ShowTime account to…

Tech News Rae Paoletta Aug 9

StarCraft Could Be the Next Game AI Destroys Us At

My experience with StarCraft was probably the stupidest possible: I really liked the books. Sure, I played the games, but mostly I played single-player because I was not very good, and enjoyed the story. But for some reason, it was Sarah Kerrigan’s tale told through the novelization that resonated with me the most. Anyway, I…

Artificial Intelligence Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 9

Motorhead’s Lemmy Will Live On as a Vicious Prehistoric Crocodile

When much-beloved Motörhead frontman Lemmy left our planet for a more metal one back in 2015, the world mourned. But now, the iconic musician has been immortalized in a way we know he’d approve of—by getting a prehistoric beast named in his honor. Recently, scientists studying the fragmentary skeleton of a marine crocodile relative at…

Tech News Rae Paoletta Aug 9

Don’t Get Too Excited About Alien Life on Tau Ceti

Mildly encouraging news for Earthlings hoping to escape the scorched ruins of our own planet: A team of astronomers has found evidence for four Earth-sized (ish) worlds orbiting tau Ceti, a Sun-like star located just 12 light years away. Two of these planets, the researchers say, might barely be on the edge of the habitable…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Aug 9

Mammalian Ancestors Went Airborne Earlier Than We Thought

The origin of flight remains a perplexing topic in the scientific community, as tends to be the case with any origin story. Flight probably evolved multiple times in different groups. Insects probably started flying over 300 million years ago, and pterosaurs, large flying reptiles, evolved 230 million years ago. Add gliding and the complex origins…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 9

Did Scientists Just Discover the Last Common Ancestor of All Apes?

Fossils of ancient apes are even rarer than those of ancient humans, so very little is known about these important evolutionary missing links. The unexpected discovery of a 13 million-year-old infant ape skull in Kenya is offering a tantalizing glimpse of a new species that lived well before humans and apes embarked upon their very…

Tech News George Dvorsky Aug 9

Newly Named Titanosaur Was the Largest Land Animal Our Planet Has Ever Seen

Four years after six specimens were discovered in Argentina, scientists have finally given a name to what is now considered the largest animal to ever have walked the Earth. Say hello to Patagotitan mayorum—a Cretaceous-era dinosaur that weighed an astonishing 152,000 pounds. Before we get into the details of the new study, published today in…

Tech News George Dvorsky Aug 9

Could This Squishy Robot Be the Future of Robotics?

The phones in our pockets might be getting more and more complicated, but many researchers advancing the field of robotics are actually engineering simpler bots designed to reliably perform very basic tasks. So instead of one day facing a terrifying future filled with terminators, these squishy rolling donuts might be our biggest threat. Yoichi Masuda…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Aug 9

Einstein’s Theory Passes a Massive Test

The most basic physical laws you’ve learned—those drafted up by Isaac Newton in the 17th century—don’t work for everything. Once you try to applying them to really fast things moving nearly at the speed of light or things heavier than stars, they start to fall apart. That’s where Albert Einstein’s expanded theory of motion and…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 9

New Horizons’ Next Mission to a ‘Provocatively’ Shaped Object Just Got Weirder

Two years ago, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, capturing never-before-seen views of the dwarf planet and its icy heart. Since then, the intrepid spacecraft has been speeding toward a reddish object in the Kuiper Belt known as MU69 (nice). It’s set to rendezvous with its next target in less than two years. But…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta Aug 8

These Jelly-Like Critters Form Serpentine Chains to Become Incredible Swimmers

Jellyfish-like salp are amazing swimmers, converting their gelatinous bodies into efficient undersea propulsion systems. But these tiny creatures can move even faster and further when banding together to create long, snake-like chains. Researchers have finally figured out how this unusual configuration makes salp even better swimmers. Salps are tiny, barrel-shaped marine invertebrates that move through…

Tech News George Dvorsky Aug 8

There’s a Freakishly Large Fire Blazing Across Western Greenland

In news that is making the recent Pacific Northwest wildfires look downright ordinary, scientists have spotted a large wildfire raging across western Greenland, a place better known for its enormous glaciers. Satellite evidence of a “sizable fire” about 90 miles (150 km) northeast of the town of Sisimiut was first detected on July 31st, according to…

Tech News Maddie Stone Aug 8

Canadians Are Now the First to Eat Genetically Modified Salmon

A US company has sold nearly five tons of genetically-engineered Atlantic salmon fillets in Canada, marking the world’s first sale of GM fish for human consumption. Skeptics of the futuristic food are crying foul, citing ecological and health concerns, but government scientists say folks eating the modified fish have nothing to worry about. Late last…

Tech News George Dvorsky Aug 8

RIP Chantek, the Signing Orangutan Who Was Just Like Us

There is no permanent good in this world. One minute, everything seems fine. The next minute, the forces of darkness steal away Chantek, the beloved, 39-year-old signing orangutan. Zoo Atlanta Reports: The Zoo Atlanta family is saddened to announce the passing of Chantek, a 39-year-old male orangutan, on August 7, 2017. Although his cause of…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 8

Man Develops Rare Neurological Disorder From Denture Paste

In a bizarre case from the UK, a 62-year-old man developed a severe neurological disorder, and doctors learned it probably had something to with his dentures. Or at least, with the stuff keeping them in place. Published on Monday in the online journal BMJ Case Reports, the man had described pain and numbness in his…

Health Bryson Masse Aug 8

Men Have Always Used ‘Science’ to Explain Why They’re Better Than Women

On Saturday, Gizmodo published a 10-page-long screed written by Google software engineer James Damore blasting the company’s diversity policies. In the now-viral document entitled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” Damore asserts that women are biologically ill-equipped to handle the rigors of the tech industry. The encouraging news is that Damore has now been fired from Google,…

Tech News Rae Paoletta Aug 8

The FDA Is Cracking Down on the Doctor Marketing 3-Parent Babies

John Zhang, a New York fertility doctor, wanted to push the boundaries of science and fertility by giving women at risk of passing on serious genetic conditions a chance at healthy kids through an IVF technique that uses the DNA of three people. But on Friday, regulators at the Food and Drug Administration issued a…

Tech News Kristen V. Brown Aug 7

DNA Testing Data Is Disturbingly Vulnerable to Hackers

These Climate Scientists Think House Science Chair Lamar Smith Has No Idea What He’s Talking About

Report: Monsanto Edited ‘Independent’ Roundup Herbicide Safety Reviews

How to Watch the Best Night Sky Fireball Show of the Year This Weekend

StarCraft Could Be the Next Game AI Destroys Us At

Motorhead’s Lemmy Will Live On as a Vicious Prehistoric Crocodile

Don’t Get Too Excited About Alien Life on Tau Ceti

Mammalian Ancestors Went Airborne Earlier Than We Thought

Did Scientists Just Discover the Last Common Ancestor of All Apes?

Newly Named Titanosaur Was the Largest Land Animal Our Planet Has Ever Seen

Could This Squishy Robot Be the Future of Robotics?

Einstein’s Theory Passes a Massive Test

New Horizons’ Next Mission to a ‘Provocatively’ Shaped Object Just Got Weirder

These Jelly-Like Critters Form Serpentine Chains to Become Incredible Swimmers

There’s a Freakishly Large Fire Blazing Across Western Greenland

Canadians Are Now the First to Eat Genetically Modified Salmon

RIP Chantek, the Signing Orangutan Who Was Just Like Us

Man Develops Rare Neurological Disorder From Denture Paste

Men Have Always Used ‘Science’ to Explain Why They’re Better Than Women

The FDA Is Cracking Down on the Doctor Marketing 3-Parent Babies

Ozempic Shreds Bones? How a Small Study Turned Into a Big Health Myth

Anker’s Soundcore Translation Earbuds Are Now Nearly 7x Cheaper Than AirPods Pro 3 After a Sudden Price Drop on Amazon

Volkswagen Shuts Down Tennessee Plant’s EV Production at the Worst Possible Time

Using Emojis at Work? You’re Not Going to Like This Study 😮

A Terrifying Invasion Feels Eerily Familiar in This Short Horror Story

Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum at 51% Off Quietly Undercuts Dyson’s Stick Cleaner Prices

Tubi Manages to Turn People Against Recommendations With Bad AI Branding

Gizmodo’s Favorite Photos From NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission

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

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

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