Tech News

This Smartwatch Detects Gestures By Watching the Muscles Inside Your Arm Move

Your smartwatch’s incredibly tiny touchscreen isn’t necessarily the easiest way to navigate its interface. So to make hand gestures more reliable and more robust, a team of researchers has created a strap that can see inside the wearer’s arm and track the movements of the muscles instead. The various muscles in your arm that make…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

This 13-Year Old Girl Hunts Bears

Kerigan Disorda wants to become a wildlife biologist when she grows up, in order to learn more about her favorite animal: the black bear. Follow along as she hunts one of those in Vermont. There’s obviously some shots of a dead animal here. If seeing that is going to bother you, maybe don’t watch the…

Tech News Wes Siler

Pixar’s Dino Design Kicks It Old School in The Good Dinosaur

The cosmic shock came out of nowhere. One day, circa 66 million years ago, a chunk of space rock about six miles in diameter struck the Earth in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula, sparking the fifth mass extinction in Earth’s history. But what if the massive bolide had missed? What would life be like…

Tech News Brian Switek

Inside the Song Machine: How Today’s Hits Are Manufactured

Who are the hit makers? They are enormously influential culture shapers—the Spielbergs and Lucases of our national headphones—and yet they are mostly anonymous. Directors of films are public figures, but the people behind pop songs remain in the shadows, taking aliases, by necessity if not by choice, in order to preserve the illusion that the…

Tech News John Seabrook

The Unlikely Story of One of the Biggest Blackouts In US History

Fifty years ago this evening, at roughly 5:15pm, every light connected to New York’s power grid flickered out–along with those of 30 million people throughout the Northeast. Chaos didn’t ensue, oddly enough. Today, blackouts are scary, for the flashlight prices and cab fares if not the threat of crime. But the great Northeastern Blackout of…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

Your Cheatin’ Heart? More Like Your Cheatin’ Brain.

Some people cheat on their partners. Others wouldn’t dream of it–the risk is too huge. A new video from ASAP Science lays out how genetic differences in the neurotransmitters that promote risk-taking and social bonding might influence people’s willingness to stray. And while the video focuses on “extra-pair matings” in humans, it’s worth pointing out…

Tech News Diane Kelly

What Happens When Your Dad Is Killed While Staying In an Airbnb

With over one million unregulated listings globally, critics of Airbnb have long said it’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt at one of the startup’s rentals. The most nightmarish scenario possible happened to a writer who is now coming forward: On Thanksgiving Day 2013, his father died from injuries sustained at…

Tech News Alissa Walker

Shark Attacks, 1,600-Foot Falls, 1 Million Coywolves Invade Northeast: What’s New Outside

America has a new predator, and it’s thriving in the northeast. Meanwhile, the outdoor economy is starting to throw its weight around in Washington DC (also home to coywolves) and an engineer has busted a popular survival myth with math. This is What’s New Outside. New FOURSEVENS Lights: Our favorite flashlight brand just released a…

Tech News Wes Siler

The Perfect Auction Lets You Pay the Second-Highest Bid

You bid, you win, you pay the amount that you bid. That’s the rule for auctions, right? And that’s why you want to make the lowest bid you think will win. One type of auction, though, takes the guesswork out of it with economic theory. The Vickrey Auction isn’t an alternative to the typical speed-talking,…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell

Can We Turn Stem Cells Into Eggs?

Northeastern University biologist Jonathan Tilly is certain he’s found egg-making stem cells in adult mice. If he’s right, it would refute decades-old work that showed female mammals finish making all their eggs before or shortly after birth. This might make it possible to grow new eggs inside the ovaries of older women. In a feature…

Tech News Diane Kelly

Are These Ice Volcanoes on Pluto?

Pluto is home to a pair of spiky mountains with holes on the top. That sounds an awful lot like we just found a pair of cryovolcanoes on the distant frozen world! The informally-named Wright Mons and Piccard Mons look like cryovolcanoes we’ve found on icy moons around the gas giants, volcanoes driven by the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon

Oh Crap, Some Dudes Invented a Flame-Throwing Drone

The world has already seen a drone that shoots paintballs and a drone that shoots bullets. Now, thanks to a research team from Nebraska, there is a drone that shoots fire balls. But don’t freak out—it’s for a good cause. The newly patented fire-starting quadcopter looks like any other drone. Developed by engineers from the…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

The official selection for the Sploid Short Film Festival 2015: Vote now with your YouTube likes

We’ve laughed and cried and seen crazy visions of the future. Robots fell in love, assassins from the future came back, and one minute time machines were used. Here are all the official selections for the Sploid Short Film Festival 2015. Tell us which ones you loved, which ones you watched over and over again…

Sploid Casey Chan

So This Is What a $1500 Android Wear Watch Looks Like

With rumors stretching back over a year, Tag Heuer finally showed off its $1,500 Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch, Android Wear’s answer to the high-end, gold-plated Apple Watch. It’s luxe. It’s Swiss. And it’s actually not a crazy idea. Let’s talk a bit about the watch for a second. Tag Heuer Connected ticks off a bunch…

Tech News Darren Orf

This Was One of the Largest Landslides Ever—So How Did No One See It for Months?

How big is this landslide in China’s Tonzang valley? Big. So big that it created many (many!) new lakes. So big that, at just one of its three major points of origin, it shifted 395 million (million!) tons of earth. But it didn’t just happen—it actually occurred back in July. So why are we only…

Tech News Ria Misra

Watch How Designers Re-engineered an Island to Make a Park in New York City

Parks aren’t always built just so we can enjoy the trees. On Governor’s Island in New York City, a truly unique public space will bring nature back to a former military base–and it’s engineered to withstand the catastrophic storms that climate change will bring. It’s called The Hills, and in this documentary, we talk to…

Tech News Michael Hession

I Have a Few Questions About This New “Tinder for Fighting” App [Update]

I’ve never been in a fight. I’ve been on the receiving end of a number of punches, but engaging in physical violence has never been my thing. That’s just one of many reasons I’m puzzled by Rumblr, a matchmaking app for face pounding that launches today. (Update: It’s fake! See details at the bottom of…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Crushing and breaking open a slag pot skull basically unleashes hell fire

The deskulling of a slag pot is pretty damn epic because once you crack that thing open, the hot molten hell material burns and glows so bright it’s like staring straight at the Sun. The slag is the crap leftover from metals during the smelting or refining of ore. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow…

Sploid Casey Chan

This Breakdancing Alien is the Funkiest Piece of Alien Merchandise

In space, no one can hear you scream—and they most certainly wouldn’t hear your perplexed laughter after you came across a breakdancing alien monster menacing your spaceship, either. This goofy little figurine of the original Alien’s “Big Chap” monster design is just one of six pre-posed toys Japanese manufacturer Kotobukiya are releasing as blind-boxed figures…

Tech News James Whitbrook

A Robotic Worm Is Your Only Device In This Incredibly Strange Vision of the Future

For most people in 2015, “one device that can do it all” is a tablet that also has a keyboard. For interaction designers at MIT, it means a shape-shifting soft robot that switches from phone, to watch, to flashlight, to charging cable. The device is called Lineform, and it’s detailed in a new paper by…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

This Smartwatch Detects Gestures By Watching the Muscles Inside Your Arm Move

This 13-Year Old Girl Hunts Bears

Pixar’s Dino Design Kicks It Old School in The Good Dinosaur

Inside the Song Machine: How Today’s Hits Are Manufactured

The Unlikely Story of One of the Biggest Blackouts In US History

Your Cheatin’ Heart? More Like Your Cheatin’ Brain.

What Happens When Your Dad Is Killed While Staying In an Airbnb

Shark Attacks, 1,600-Foot Falls, 1 Million Coywolves Invade Northeast: What’s New Outside

The Perfect Auction Lets You Pay the Second-Highest Bid

Can We Turn Stem Cells Into Eggs?

Are These Ice Volcanoes on Pluto?

Oh Crap, Some Dudes Invented a Flame-Throwing Drone

The official selection for the Sploid Short Film Festival 2015: Vote now with your YouTube likes

So This Is What a $1500 Android Wear Watch Looks Like

This Was One of the Largest Landslides Ever—So How Did No One See It for Months?

Watch How Designers Re-engineered an Island to Make a Park in New York City

I Have a Few Questions About This New “Tinder for Fighting” App [Update]

Crushing and breaking open a slag pot skull basically unleashes hell fire

This Breakdancing Alien is the Funkiest Piece of Alien Merchandise

A Robotic Worm Is Your Only Device In This Incredibly Strange Vision of the Future

Tesla Goes Ahead and Admits Its Robotaxis Are Sometimes Fully Human-Controlled

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

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