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They’re in charge of keeping an eye on the entire planet with the most advanced imaging technology in the world, and they have an estimated annual budget of at least $5 billion. But right now they have a position for a sign language interpreter that they’re not allowed to fill. Why? Because Donald Trump’s federal…
Just when you thought cell phone plans couldn’t get any more confusing, Comcast just announced its own wireless service: Xfinity Mobile. The service will launch in May or June for Xfinity customers and later this year for everyone else. Unlimited plans start at $65 per month, runs Verizon’s 4G LTE network, and gets even cheaper…
A class of insecticides linked to colony collapse disorder in bee colonies has been detected in US drinking water for the very first time. The amounts are admittedly low, but scientists aren’t sure if long term exposure to these chemicals, known as neonicotinoids, are a threat to human health. Researchers from the US Geological Survey…
Professional fighters have weight classes for a reason: no matter how adept the smaller fighter is, a much bigger one will probably have some sort of advantage. But size is rarely an issue in the snake world if a kingsnake is competing—and the little snake usually eats the bigger snake. So there’s that. A pair…
Much to the delight of Americans who love honesty and competence, Representative Devin Nunes will no longer lead the congressional investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump must be bummed, though. Politico reports that the California Republican will “temporarily step away” from the House Intelligence Committee probe. A trio of Republicans—Michael…
The physical appearance of your bowel movements can already reveal a lot about your body’s digestive health, and color changes can even indicate more severe problems. But scientists at Rice University want to make it even easier to spot medical problems in your colon, by tinting your poop a rainbow of different colors. Brilliant! The…
The stoat—a small, adorable, weasel-like mammal—is the one of the largest ecological threats in New Zealand. It’s a fierce invader with few predators that dines freely on the country’s endangered birds. The stoat did not come to New Zealand via any unfortunate accident. It was brought there on purpose, introduced in the 19th century to…
A lot of the stuff you’ll see online right now is pretty depressing, possibly concerning how the world is falling apart or like how we could randomly go to war at any second. But you know what isn’t depressing? This video of cheetah cubs doing their very best to let out some little roars. The…
Humans have been eating other humans since the beginning of time, but the motivations behind this macabre practice are complex and often unclear. Some anthropologists say prehistoric cannibals were just trying to grab a nutritious snack, but new research shows that human flesh—as tasty as it is—doesn’t pack the same caloric punch as wild animals.…
Yesterday, Facebook’s head of artificial intelligence, Yann LeCun, said that humans have nothing to fear regarding artificial intelligence potentially harming humanity. Why’s that? “We have a lot of checks and balances built into society to prevent evil from having infinite power,” LeCun said. Is that so, Mr. LeCun? We’re glad to see that LeCun is…
Apple forbids consumers from taking their iPhones to third parties for repair, and sometimes even bricks phones as punishment. But Australia has said that’s not cool and is suing the tech behemoth. Or, to put it in Australian, “yeah nah mate, garn git fucked.” Australia’s consumer watchdog agency, the Competition and Consumer Commission, announced early…
The U.S. agency in charge of monitoring icebergs has warned shipping companies that an unusual amount of icebergs for this time of year are drifting into North Atlantic shipping lanes, disrupting a complex international system that affects numerous facets of life. Experts aren’t certain that climate change is to blame but, yeah, it’s probably climate…
In 2014, FBI Director James Comey half-jokingly remarked that the FBI was having trouble recruiting tech talent for its cyber crime division because the best of the best smoke weed. Three years and numerous hacking scandals later, he’s actually floating some ideas on how to fix that problem. https://gizmodo.com/the-fbi-is-struggling-to-hire-hackers-who-dont-smoke-we-1579183208 After he said that his attempts…
YouTube TV—the cordcutting service Google teased six weeks ago—is now available in five cities. If you live in New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Philadelphia, or Chicago, you can sign-up for the $35 a month live TV bundle right now. YouTube TV follows in the footsteps of other so-called “skinny bundles”—bundles that…
Spotting the Northern Lights anywhere in the United States (except for Alaska and the Upper Midwest) would probably be one of most notable experiences in an American space fan’s life. Now imagine if it was China or Japan a thousand years ago and you didn’t know what caused these light shows. Odds are, you’d freak…
On Wednesday, stun gun maker Taser announced that it’s offering free body cameras to every police department in the United States. That’s 700,000 cops across 18,000 departments. Rebranding itself as “Axon” (as in the nerve fibers that connect neurons throughout the human body), the company said in a press release that it’s “going ‘all-in’ to…
This week, President Donald Trump signed the widely–criticized bill repealing FCC ISP privacy rules, which would have required internet service providers to get opt-in consent before selling customers’ web browsing history. The rules hadn’t actually gone into effect, but the bill’s passage was a wake-up call for American internet users, who suddenly realized: Wait, what…
The world was given a slight reprieve from the unbearable antics of April Fools’ Day this year given the festivities fell on a Saturday. But Reddit also did its part to make April 1 a little more bearable with a collaborative art project that saw thousands of users painstakingly creating pixel art, one tile at…
Animals electronically coerced into singing has been one of mankind’s greatest artistic achievements. The internet is now packed full of countless songs performed by countless creatures, but few are as wonderful as these random autotuned animals singing the Duck Tales theme. Insane Cherry’s animal cover is so unbelievably perfect that you’ll wonder why the original…
Donald Trump would like to be known as the Jobs President. But one of his first actions after taking office was to institute a federal hiring freeze. That means thousands of jobs are being left vacant indefinitely until the administration passes a budget that decimates federal jobs for good. Gizmodo has filed over a dozen…
