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Wizards and Jedis are two of the highest-ranking imaginary characters known to man. But between the two, who’s the most powerful? The Madcap Brothers tried to answer that question by pitting a lightsaber-wielding amateur Jedi against a fireworks-blasting pretend wizard. There’s no clear winner in this pretend battle, but we’re beyond impressed by this Jedi’s…
On August 3rd, researchers discovered a dead mink whale floating belly up off the coast of Cape Cod. The next day, the same carcass was spotted again; ravaged almost beyond recognition. Its tongue, internal organs, and most of its skeletal muscles had been ripped off, leaving “little more than the spinal column and skull.” According…
Chili peppers in Australia have been turning black and rotting on the vine, seemingly without explanation. Now researchers have finally identified just what’s been killing these poor chillies. Initially the ailment looked a lot like a disease called anthracnose, which manifests itself as a series of black, sunken spots that frequently result in death. But…
Now that Niantic has taken a lot of the fun out of Pokémon Go, you have even fewer reasons to feel guilty about finding out-of-the-box ways to improve your game play (translation: cheating). A clunky 3D-printed smartphone case is one solution, but a finger-guiding invisible screen protector is a much better way to go. Invented…
Hulu will soon kill its free, ad-supported TV service, focusing its efforts on its paid subscriptions. But you’ll still be able to watch free TV online. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hulu will start telling customers about the death of free TV in the coming days. Those who have been using the free service will…
What do bong-ripping Olympian Michael Phelps, artisanal snake oil saleswoman Gwyneth Paltrow, and chicken aficionado Jessica Simpson have in common? If you somehow guessed “they’ve all tried the scientifically dubious practice of cupping,” congratulations! You get a gold medal! Last night, as the aforementioned Phelps won his 19th gold medal, Olympics viewers may have noticed…
Google Maps has been available for more than 10 years now, and since its launch, a huge swatch of features and functions have been added to the service. Are you sure you know all of them? Here are our favorite tips and tricks for getting more out of Google’s mapping service. 1) See all of…
Today is Earth Overshoot Day—the day when humanity has consumed more natural resources than the planet is able to generate in a single calendar year. Disturbingly, this date is happening earlier with each passing year. According to the Global Footprint Network, an international think tank concerned with environmental sustainability, Earth Overshoot Day is today, August…
Like Nascar, hydroplane racing seems like one of those sports where fans only watch in hopes of seeing a spectacular crash. Making over-powered boats race at speeds of over 200 miles per hour might not be humanity’s best decision, but it makes for some impressively terrifying highlight videos when things go wrong. We’ll just stick…
Did you know there are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways to scramble the 54 colored squares on a Rubik’s Cube? So how do those record-holding geniuses manage to solve them so quickly? As Mike Boyd discovered, there are some clever tricks you can use that take less than a day to learn. There are a series of algorithms…
Have you ever clicked a Gizmodo post and wondered whether it was written by a 17-year-old? Are you the commenter who recently wrote “fuck this site is gizmodo run by children? fuck this shit and fuk all of yu” ? As a matter of fact, Gizmodo employs only one bonafide teenager. But this week, we’re all…
When they appear in the wild they can be devastating, but in a controlled environment fire tornadoes are not only mesmerizing to watch, it turns out a new iteration might also provide a more eco-friendly way to deal with man-made disasters like oil spills. Researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of…
Delta Airlines flights around the world have been indefinitely delayed this morning following a major “computer outage” affecting all of the carriers flights. The company made the announcement early this morning in a statement: 5:05 a.m. ET UPDATE: Delta has experienced a computer outage that has affected flights scheduled for this morning. Flights awaiting departure…
After NSA whistleblower and millennial sex symbol Edward Snowden tweeted a mysterious string of characters on Friday afternoon, conspiracy theorists and concerned fans feared he might be dead when Sputnik, a Russian news site, reported the now-deleted code might be a “dead man’s switch,” which is apparently something Snowden could have set up “if he…
While Pokémon Go has proven itself massively popular (duh) all over the world, some countries aren’t getting in on the action, or haven’t yet. However, one country announced today that it won’t be participating at all. According to the BBC, Iran has outright banned the app, but while other Middle Eastern countries have spoken out…
On Nov. 27, 1944, 4,000 tons of bombs went off at RAF Fauld, a munitions facility in the English countryside near Hanbury, Burton. The explosion was so great that it caused a mushroom cloud and could be felt as far as Morocco. It left a giant crater and you can see what it looks like…
Harvesting the edible parts of any plant in a timely manner usually requires some very specialized tools. Poppy seeds get hoovered up by a giant old-timey lawnmower. Potatoes take a shovel escalator before ending up your plate. And currants—those tasty little berries that usually get made into jam—well, they get this wonky thing The Samson…
With the Olympics officially starting and the swimming events guaranteed to set a few more records, you have to wonder how swimmers can continue to improve? Haven’t we reached the pinnacle of a human’s physicality by now? If we get any more good at swimming in the water, we’re going to continue doping, or we’re…
Centuries-old theories surrounding human height as it correlates to evolution have stated two things: those closer to the equator were more linear and longer, while people who lived closer to the poles were wider and shorter, but generally bigger. This is according to Allen’s Rule and Bergmann’s Rule, which were both proposed during the 19th…
Robots already have the potential to be creepy (those cold, dead eyes and unmoving faces only just add to the uncanniness of it all), but have you ever seen them dance? What about over 1,000 of them? According to Guinness World Records, Ever Win Company & Ltd, which produced the robots, broke the previous record…
