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Drought is spreading across farmland worldwide—and it’s only going to get more intense. New research offers a clue on how we might be able to continue to grow the staples we’re used to but with much less water. A lot of staple crops, like rice and wheat, actually have a defense mechanism to protect against…
Have you ever wondered what Trump might look like as a baby doll? Wonder no longer. Because you can pick up just such a monstrosity on eBay. In fact, you can pick up a lot of Trump-themed art on eBay. And it’s just as horrifying as you’d expect. Let’s go take a peek at some…
Pokémon Go has been keeping some big secrets from you. That should come as no surprise for a game with no tutorial. Thus far player communities have done a marvelous job of sussing out PoGo’s often confusing mechanics. But three of the most important stats are hidden from the player, and they’re the best way…
The Hyperloop One boys are at it again. This time, the company is reportedly countersuing its co-founder and chief technology office Brogan BamBrogan for $250 million, claiming that he and three others tried to stage a hostile takeover and conspired to start their own company. The countersuit comes one week after an explosive lawsuit was…
When you blow up a quarry that’s 65 feet high with 75 tons of explosives, you turn the rock wall into a tsunami wave that sends nearly 400,000 tons of rocks flying everywhere. The blast of the Bremanger Quarry in Norway looks great because it was carefully planned, with explosives planted in 454 blast holes…
An experimental medical device called the Harpoon TSD-5 is proving its worth in clinical trials, repairing heart valves with perfect success—and without the need to perform open-heart surgery. It looks like some sort of torture device, but the Harpoon TSD-5 has the potential to dramatically decrease the need for invasive open heart surgeries to repair…
The board game Operation is a great example of how negative feedback can also negatively affect your performance. But instead of playing in constant fear of that loud buzzing sound, when you touch the sides while playing this sadistic version of Operation, you get blasted with a paintball gun. Sounds like a lot of fun.…
According to Hollywood, time machines can come in any shape and size. And for the latest episode of Super-Fan Builds, two of the most unusual time machines—the iconic DeLorean from Back to the Future and the hot tub from Hot Tub Time Machine—were merged to create an even better way to relax and let the…
A crane collapsed across the span of New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge today, blocking traffic and wreaking havoc on the state’s longest bridge. Photos and video from the scene show the extent of the collapse: The crane collapsed just after noon near mile marker 15, NBC reported. Rockland County Executive Ed Day said three motorists…
You’ve probably played with one in passing while wandering through a toy store, but did you know these expanding plastic spheres have an actual name? They’re called Hoberman Spheres, named after engineer Chuck Hoberman, and they’re now somehow even more relaxing. For an installation called Bits and Pieces, artist Nils Völker hung countless Hoberman Spheres…
Lately some strange radio broadcasts have been coming from North Korea, according to the South Korean government. Number 35 on page 459… Number 55 on page 913… The strange page numbers were heard over the airwaves for just a couple of minutes on June 24th and for nearly 15 minutes on July 15th. But what…
Storage devices have taken many strange forms over history. We’ve seen everything from an old 19th-century loom to massive data centers that power companies like Facebook and Google. But along the way, some truly weird devices tried to change how we save our precious data bits. These technologies were either wonderfully weird, woefully misguided, or…
Americans didn’t invent outdoor advertising. That distinction would probably have to go to the ancient Egyptians who would put up notices offering rewards for runaway slaves. But Americans certainly moved the outdoor advertising art form forward in our own ostentatious way during the 20th century. With the rapid adoption of the car, people were increasingly…
Most people wouldn’t describe spiders as “beautiful.” But have you ever seen a peacock spider? Scientists just found seven new species of these exotic, multi-colored arachnids. Australian scientist Jürgen Otto, known on YouTube as Peacockspiderman, found all seven species along the coast of Western Australia with help of Australian naturalist David Knowles and American spider…
To be fair, whale sharks don’t come in any size other than “huge.” That’s kind of their thing, being that they’re the largest fish species on Earth. How huge are they? How does approximately 40-feet long and 45,000 pounds strike you? Lucky for shark biologist Ocean Ramsay who’s swimming alongside this one, whale sharks are…
Pokémon Go—the game that’s sent Nintendo’s value soaring past Sony—is finally launching in Japan tomorrow, according to a new report from TechCrunch. And as Gizmodo first reported and TechCrunch now confirms as well, it’s also where Niantic will debut “sponsored locations,” starting with McDonald’s. The rumor of a McDonald’s deal started after a number of…
Last night, Melania Trump, wife of The Donald, delivered a speech during the first night of the Republican National Convention. But soon after, some people began questioning whether Melania or her speechwriters had in fact copied part of Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech. CNN reported on the controversy this morning, and the Justice…
So far, Facebook Live’s partnerships with digital publishers has yielded, among other things, an exploded watermelon and a failed interview with the president. Now, new details have emerged about Facebook’s plans to pay not just media outlets and celebrities, but also content creators from Vine and YouTube. And boy, did I ever pick the wrong…
The United States Army’s Special Operations Command is reportedly ditching its slow and clunky Android phones for the faster iPhone with a sharper display. In other words, the Army thinks iPhones are just better. https://gizmodo.com/inside-the-militarys-secretive-smartphone-program-1603143142 According to a source who spoke to DoD Buzz, the Android phone used as part of the special forces tactical…
In the never-ending quest for great mobile photos, it can be tempting to ditch the camera app that comes with your phone for something far more advanced and exotic. However, if you know what you’re doing, you can get some high-quality results from the default camera app on your iPhone or Android device—and here’s how.…
