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It might look like the surface of the Sun, but this is actually the complex simulated fluid dynamics of streamlines in turbulent liquid mercury. The fine golden lines actually show how liquid mercury moves across the bottom plate of heated cylinder. The motion, known as Rayleigh-Bénard convection, is a result of the distribution of temperature…
Building a safe spacecraft is in some ways like building a safe car: If you don’t want your astronauts to die, you need to test the vehicle thoroughly. And just like cars, that means using crash test dummies. In these photos you can see NASA engineers at Langley Research Center installing suited-up test dummies–the same…
It’ll soon be time to toss out your dusty old memory cards. The SD Association has announced that the next generation of cards will support 360 degree, 3D, and 8K video, all at write speeds of up to an amazing 90MB per second. The update, which will take us up to version 5.0 of SD,…
North Korea isn’t happy. According to Reuters, Kim Jong Un has told the country’s military to assume “pre-emptive attack” mode and be prepared to use its nuclear weapons at any time. The news, released via North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, is a sign of increasing tension between the country and the rest of the…
Want to see what the future looks like? Sony plans to help with the creation of a new research and development wing called the Future Lab Program, which intends to share the company’s early prototypes with the world in order to refine its ideas. The Lab apparently “aims to co-create new lifestyles and user value…
I just watched the last five minutes of the last episode of House of Cards, season 4. In the interest of keeping you current with pop culture (nay, ahead of your friends, family, and coworkers), I’m about to explain what happens in the last five minutes. We no longer have to wait (remember waiting?) for…
Yesterday, DARPA unveiled the latest concept design for its new vertical take-off and landing craft. And hell this electric airplane look impressive. DARPA has in fact awarded the second phase of its design contract to the concept, which has been created by Aurora Flight Sciences. Called X-Plane, it will use a 4,000 horsepower engine—actually the…
Trying to explain dyslexia falls into the same category as describing color to someone without sight, or Donald Trump to a non-American: technically possible, but not likely to be pretty. This letter-shifting website helps solve that problem. The website works by shifting the letters in words around continuously. If you concentrate and really focus on…
Swearing has an important place in our language, but it’s not always the most elegant form of speech. So for producers of family-friendly movies, it’s always difficult to fill the gaps where an adult-size f-bomb would go. This supercut showcases some of the more creative fillers from over the years. Contact the author on Twitter,…
San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos has an, um, unusual take on why Apple should assist the FBI by creating software to help unlock a suspect’s iPhone: If Apple doesn’t, he argues, the county may never know if it is threatened by a “dormant cyber pathogen.” “The iPhone is a county owned telephone that…
Marco Rubio is the candidate normally accused of sounding robotic—but is Trump himself even more formulaic? Read the AI Trumpbot’s tweets, and try and persuade yourself you’re not listening to the great hairdo in person. @DeepDrumpf is the work of Bradley Hayes, a postdoc from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. He figured that…
In the latest salvo of the ongoing Apple vs FBI salvo, Florida GOP congressman David Jolly has introduced a (doomed) bill banning the federal government from purchasing unpatriotic, terrorist-loving iPhones. Taking this logic to the extreme, here’s a more complete list of products that should be boycotted. By the deadline for filing amicus briefs today,…
It’s really hard to make a good remake of a good movie. And yet Hollywood keeps on trying. Here is a lovely side-by-side comparison of famous movies and their not always so successful remakes. Jaume R. Lloret stitched similar scenes next to each other to show how movies can give off a totally different feel…
A few years ago, the only FDA-approved coral snake antivenom in the United Statesgot discontinued. The antidote was rarely used and expensive to make, so few companies had an interest in producing it. A new technique could cut the cost for making this and other antivenoms, and may make staying alive a little cheaper. Up…
Tonight the four remaining Republican hopefuls for President of the United States take the stage in Detroit. And you can have the pleasure (“pleasure”?) of watching it, even if you don’t have cable. Here’s the deets (that’s what the kids these days call details, because it saves time and effort for all involved): Time: 9pm…
On last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Morgan Freeman was asked to narrate live footage of tourists on Hollywood Boulevard. As one might assume, some of them are holding selfie sticks. At first, it’s funny, with Freeman’s signature voice of God trying to come to terms with the nascent technology. And then he closes with a…
Play with your food. That’s the moral of the story from Crazy Russian Hacker. He put marshmallows in one of those vacuum food containers, pumped out the air, and watched the squishy little white puffs balloon into ginormous monsters. It’s all silly fun. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Update, March 5, 12:47 a.m. EST: Amazon contacted Gizmodo with the following updated statement: “We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring.” Apple has made no bonesabout where it stands in the legal face-off with the FBI over privacy and encryption. And most of Silicon Valley…
The other day I saw a video of a guy who was pumped as hell to own a cycloid drawing machine. “What a cool thing!” I thought, “too bad it costs almost a thousands bucks!” This browser replica is free and almost identical, and that’s the bad news. This thing is ridiculously complicated! The letters…
Life already has too many serious moments, so when the opportunity to enjoy a simple pleasure like a slide presents itself, you just have to take it. It also doesn’t hurt when that slide is a giant mountain coaster in Switzerland surrounded by some of the most breathtaking scenery you’ll ever see. [YouTube via Taxi]…
