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The largest mud volcano eruption has been raging in Indonesia since May 29, 2006. At its peak, 180,000 cubic meters of mud flowed daily from a site near a heavily populated region of Java—enough mud to completely fill the Empire State Building every six days. Almost 60,000 villagers have fled since then, and it’s still…
This morning we learned an important new detail about the troubled on-again, off-again beau of Kourtney Kardashian. That’s right, people: Scott Disick loves Bitcoin. This gives Disick the ignominious distinction of being the first Keeping Up with the Kardashians regular to weigh in on cryptocurrencies on Twitter—and yes, we checked. Two of the five cryptocoin…
Researchers from Sweden made headlines last week after claiming to have found the Arabic characters for “Allah” and “Ali” woven into Viking burial costumes. The discovery suggested a more intimate cultural relationship between the Vikings and the Arab world, but some experts are now questioning key assertions made by the Swedish researchers. Before we delve…
Budget cuts, privatization, and drastically shrinking protected areas are just a few of the ways the current administration is threatening the country’s national park system. If you’re not convinced these are terrible ideas, filmmaker Taylor Gray’s remarkable timelapse footage of Denali, and other parks, will make you realize these ares are truly national treasures. Shot…
The Israeli government is cancelling its plans to set up a database of all Jewish college students in the United States (roughly 350,000 people) to market them Israeli content, Haaretz reported Tuesday. Using targeted advertising techniques, the planned purpose of the database was to galvanize interest among Jewish American students in Israel, Judaism, and Israeli activities.…
Astronomy has entered a new era, one where light and gravity both play a role in understanding the Universe’s craziest phenomena. On August 17, 2017, over 70 observatories around (and above) the world, including ones like LIGO and the Hubble Space Telescope, all spotted a flash of energy. This light came in many different flavors,…
Google is rolling out a fancy new security feature today that’s designed to protect users who face significant risk of having their accounts hacked—election and campaign officials, victims of intimate partner violence, and others seeking additional security. It’s called the Advanced Protection Program, and it’s designed to ensure that no one but you can access…
The arrival of pumpkin spice jokes is often seen as the first sign of fall, but a trampoline full of gravity-defying dead leaves is a far more satisfying way to welcome the arrival of cooler temps and gourd-flavored coffee. Jumping into a pile of dead leaves is a seasonal rite of passage for most kids,…
Get ready, because rumors are saying that Apple, Samsung, and others have plans to bring actual bendable phones to market within the next few years. But before than can happen, there’s some important prep that needs to get ironed out first. That’s where the dual-screen ZTE Axon M comes in. Featuring 5.2-inch full HD screens…
Microsoft is finally dragging its ambitious Surface Book line into the present day, refining the striking design and making this a laptop you can covet for reasons besides that funky hinge. The surprise launch of the original Surface Book back in 2015 might have left critics thunderstruck, but it hasn’t transformed the computer market like…
We all do it. We text our partners when they’re in the next room. We take an elevator for just one floor. And we FaceTime with the stovetop to make sure water isn’t boiling over while we watch TV in the other room. Well, maybe we don’t all do that last one. But this guy…
The most useful place for a voice-activated digital assistant isn’t your office, kitchen, or living room. It’s in your car, where your hands and eyes should be pre-occupied with driving. So Garmin put Amazon’s Alexa in a new bare-bones navigation device that will ensure you’ll never get lost, and never get lonely, on a long…
It’s understandable that UAV enthusiasts might be tempted to grab amazing footage of ongoing disasters like the northern California wildfires—providing a unique perspective of a climate change-fueled catastrophe which has now killed at least 41 people, burned down thousands of buildings and laid waste to hundreds of thousands of acres of land. But with over…
The Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency that provides investigative support to legislators, will look into the Federal Communications Commission and its chief Ajit Pai’s dubiously supported claims that a cyberattack took down the FCC’s public commenting system earlier this year. In May, the FCC claimed that downtime on its Electronic Comment Filing System,…
This summer, people got really frothy about the super-hyped Essential Phone from Android co-creator Andy Rubin. Then, Essential screwed up one thing after another, tainting the phone’s reputation as the company seemingly couldn’t get its shit together. And now, Essential is being sued. Keyssa, a wireless technology company backed by iPod creator and Nest founder…
When Apple debuted its new facial recognition unlock system, Face ID, in September, the company faced questions about how it would sidestep the security and bias problems that have undermined similar facial recognition systems in the past. Senator Al Franken was one of the many people curious about how exactly how Apple was going to…
Technology experts have been insisting for over a century that when the robot revolution finally succeeds, everyone will have a life of abundant wealth and leisure. That hasn’t been the case. But it hasn’t stopped plenty of people from still insisting that it will happen, even here in the year 2017. A new article in…
It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, or in the case of the southeastern United States, it’s an alligator-eat-shark kind of a world, according to an unsettling new study from Kansas State University scientists. The American alligator, also known as Alligator mississippiensis, is an “opportunistic feeder,” which is exactly what it sounds like. These gators prefer…
The Trump administration is now pushing federal agencies to finally adopt basic security protocols designed to protect government emails against spoofing and phishing attacks. Reuters reported on Monday that a senior cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that the agency will issue a “binding directive” which requires the implementation of…
London’s famous Piccadilly Circus is getting an immense and terrifying new video display called Piccadilly Lights. According to its maker, the enormous screen (which is almost the size of two professional basketball courts) can detect the vehicles, ages, and even emotions of people nearby, and respond by playing targeted ads. Imagine New York’s Time Square…
