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There are at least 347 million guns in America. No matter your opinion of them, it is highly likely that you will encounter one at least sometime during your life. This is what everyone needs to know in order to be safe around guns. This is not a political argument. This is not an argument…
It seems like every week brings a new doomsday study about the death of our oceans. But off the coast of Long Island, an underwater farm is demonstrating how sustainable ocean farming can clean the water, give sea life a safe haven, and turn kelp into the “next kale.” Its creators hope the model will…
Over at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the Steinhart Aquarium biologists say that it’s not enough to keep octopuses fed and healthy. The highly-intelligent cephalopods get unhappy if they don’t have things to do with their minds. As you can see in this insanely cute video from the aquarium, there are many…
The love lock, that parasitic form of metal graffiti, has a complicated relationship with urban bridges. A new grassroots campaign is pressuring many cities to go lock-free, but it hasn’t been easy. While the poetic act of picking out a Master Lock together with the love of your life might seem like a centuries-old tradition,…
Trying to rake up an endless onslaught of falling leaves is a terrible way to spend a beautiful autumn day. So take some inspiration from Mike Schreurs and get a drone to do your dirty work for you. A $1,200 DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter is a little pricey compared to a $10 plastic rake, but…
Last week at Buzzfeed News, Dan Vergano described the surprising results of a paternity test–the first known case of a man fathering the son of a brother he didn’t know existed. It’s an example of a rare genetic condition known as chimerism. It all comes down to basic elementary-school biology: fraternal twins happen when a…
This water drop isn’t falling through air. It’s moving through oil. But why is it bouncing endlessly between the top and bottom of the frame, instead of combining with the rest of the water below? The curve at the bottom of the frame is called the meniscus, marking a boundary between the oil and more…
A while ago, I called Revoltech’s Boba Fett figure the best plastic Bounty Hunter around. I might be wrong though—because Medicom has just shown up with an awesome rival figure that might just take the title for itself. https://gizmodo.com/this-might-be-the-best-boba-fett-figure-ever-1692341656 Medicom’s MAFEX Boba Fett is in the 1:12 scale, so stands at around 6.3” tall. He…
The jaw-dropping new Surface Book arrived with a splash of glitter and surprise. It’s so beautiful, so powerful, so— Oh wait holy shit the screen comes off?! Nobody expected this, and that’s exactly how Microsoft wanted it. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-book-review-so-good-i-might-switch-1737680767 The Surface Book’s coolest feature was also its best kept secret. As Wired’s David Pierce explains in…
Remember that traumatizing scene in Final Destination 3 where hapless characters get fried to death in tanning beds? This story is like that, but reversed, and real, and fucking horrifying: A salon manager died inside a cryotherapy chamber last week. Twenty-four-year-old Chelsea Ake worked for Las Vegas cryotherapy salon Rejuvenice, which promises health and beauty…
The movie Steve Jobs bombed at the box office, making a mere $7.3 million. Have we officially reached Jobs overload? That’s Variety’s take on the crappy turn-out for Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, which stars Michael Fassbender as the titular Apple cofounder, Kate Winslet as his long-suffering marketing exec Joanna Hoffman and Seth Rogen as Steve…
My job depends on the internet. Yours probably does too. But for such a vital technology, the US doesn’t have a solid way to expand its internet infrastructure. Now, a pair of congresspeople—one a Democrat and one a Republican—are proposing a new way to ensure the web’s health. The bill is called the Broadband Conduit…
If you want to leave a video or audio message in a time capsule, what medium should you choose? Will people of the future be able to listen to your CD or your mp3? Will the folks of 100 years or even just 10 years hence be able to find a DVD player? Do you…
How many times have you battled a tape measure to try and figure out a if new piece of furniture will actually fit in your living room? With the ProtoPiper—a heavily upgraded tape gun—you can quickly build a full-scale mockup of almost any object and know for sure how big it will be. Developed by…
If there are words and phrases you type out over and over again on your phone—from your email address to “I’ll be five minutes late”—then both Android and iOS include built-in tools to help you communicate faster. Here’s how to get the shortcuts set up and burn through emails and texts messages on your smartphone.…
You can tell Zach Straley means well. The apparently wealthy YouTuber won millions of views when he showed how an iPhone 6s was surprisingly waterproof. Surely scaling that concept up and water testing all 10 iPhone models would win more 10 times that many views… LOL nope. The test was supposed to be simple: Attach…
Why does the tax man need stealth phone tracking devices? The Internal Revenue Service has its own criminal investigation unit, with 2,500 special agents busting tax frauds and other financial crimes, including drug and terrorism-related crimes. And according to a report from The Guardian citing documents from a Freedom of Information Act request, the IRS…
Psychologist Peter Jonason of Western Sydney University is running a study examining who fakes orgasms (or other types of sexual pleasure) and why they decide to do it. They’re looking for volunteers to take their survey. It’s open to both men and women over the age of 18, and asks questions about your personality, satisfaction…
Can a spider spin a web even when torn free of the grip of gravity? Thanks to a research experiment devised by Judith Miles, we know! Each mission to the Skylab space station carried a set of student experiments, a tradition that continues today on the International Space Station. Then-high school student Judith Miles from…
The West African Ebola outbreak is finally starting to approach manageable levels, after nearly 18 excruciating months and over 11,000 lost lives. Here’s what the current situation on the ground looks like and how the battle against Ebola finally might be won. This is the largest and longest Ebola outbreak in human history. At its…
