Tech News

Berlin’s Creepiest Abandoned Amusement Park Burned Down Over the Weekend

Sorry, fans of ruin porn, creators of would-be Saw-sequels, and demented Walt Disney wannabes: The famous abandoned amusement park in Berlin named Spreepark wasdestroyed by two separate fires over the weekend. Arson is suspected. Over a decade after it was closed, the dilapidated park was put up for sale this spring and then taken over…

X-Ray Reveals Real Human Teeth in 300-Year-Old Jesus Statue

During an otherwise routine restoration, researchers at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (NIAH) made an unprecedented discovery. As it turns out, the 18th century statue of Christ they’d been X-raying was fitted with actual, 100% human pearly whites—totally intact all the way to the roots. Historians will often X-ray old works of art…

Americans Have Taken 23 Million Bike Share Rides and No One Has Died

With 36 cities across the country now hosting their own systems, bike share is almost becoming an American institution. According to a new report, it’s estimated that Americans have taken 23 million rides since 2007 (wow!), but here’s the most amazing part: Not a single death has been attributed to a bike share system in…

This cyborg arm is the first step to a badass Lego mech suit

At some point in your nerdy childhood, you surely imagined what it would be like to build an entire exoskeleton out of Lego. How much fun would that be to have a Lego creation you could actually climb inside and drive around?! Well, award-winning Lego enthusiast Diavo Voltaggio is well on his way to that…

The Creators of Siri Are Building a New AI That Programs Itself

Siri was a forward-thinking addition to iOS when it was introduced in 2011. Then Google and Microsoft implemented their own (better) contextually aware virtual assistants to help navigate you through your day. But there was always room for improvement, and the original creators of Siri think they take it even further. Today’s Wired profile is…

A Spirograph Pancake Machine Makes Breakfast Beautiful

Believe it or not, pancake art has become a trendy way to spice up breakfast, with talented chefs showing off their golden brown creations online. But none can match the intricacy of Nathan Shields’ batter-spewing spirograph machine known as the Pangraph. It’s a work of engineering art unto itself, but the pancakes it produces are…

Confessions of a Colorblind Photographer

I’m colorblind. There it is, I said it. I’ve been holding it back for years, before I even knew I wanted to be a photographer and it feels good to put it out there. I’ve told exactly two photographers about my handicap before tonight but I feel like its time to put it out there…

These Enormous Caverns Below NYC Are Starting To Look Like Train Tunnels

It’s been several months since we last checked in with New York City’s perennially delayed, incredibly expensive infrastructural wonder: The East Side Access project, a plan to build a new station beneath Grand Central station that will connect Manhattan and Queens. Deep below the city, work continues—and now, the MTA has given us an update.…

The Xbox One Could Soon Stream TV Straight to Your Phone

Just a few months ago, Microsoft pushed out an update that lets you use your phone or tablet as a remote for your TV thanks to Xbox’s SmartGlass app. Soon, it’ll let you use your phone or tablet as a TV, with live streaming straight to your pocket. The new update, which will allow users…

A Computer Has Finally Proven the Answer to a 400-Year-Old Math Problem

Way back in 1611, Johannes Kepler suggested that the most efficient way to stack spheres—like arranging oranges for sale—was in a pyramid formation. Sadly, he couldn’t prove it, but now a computer has finally verified it to be true, settling centuries of debate. In fact, Thomas Hales of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, developed a…

11 of the Most Embarrassing Government Websites

Just yesterday, the White House launched the US Digital Service, a new initiative with the express purpose of saving federal websites from imminent disaster/themselves. And after a brief audit of the state of our (unfortunate) digital affairs, we can officially say—well, they’ve got their work cut out for them. It’s no secret that our various…

YMCA music-less video make the Village People look even more ridiculous

Mario Wienerroither has been pretty busy lately doing his hilarious videoclips without music. This time it’s the turn of the Village People and their hit song YMCA. If you thought the original video was ridiculous, watching these guys dancing without music will make your brain explode. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join…

The Powerful Equations That Explain the Patterns We See in Nature

Where do a zebra’s stripes, a leopard’s spots and our fingers come from? The key was found years ago – by the man who cracked the Enigma code. In 1952 a mathematician published a set of equations that tried to explain the patterns we see in nature, from the dappled stripes adorning the back of…

First Light for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory

The new Orbital Carbon Observatory successfully launched, made it into orbit, slid into place at the head of the A-train, and now returned its first data. Soon, we’ll be able to track how carbon sources and sinks vary with time all over the planet. The initial data is very thin: it’s first light for the…

How Air Conditioning Struggled to Make Its Way Into Your Home

When air conditioning first appeared—a technology initially developed for use in textile factories—it was feared by many as unhealthy. So how did it make it into virtually every home in the country? In fact, resistance to the technology came from the Open Air Movement—a major trend in thinking in the early 20th century. Supporters believed…

Ever wondered what air-to-air refuelling looked like up in the night skies? Thanks to the UK’s Royal Air Force we can show you: this is what a Lockheed C-130 Hercules crew sees when refueling at night. So, quite a lot like Tron, then. [Cpl Neil Bryden/Royal Air Force/Facebook) Bonus daytime shot: A Hercules C130K and…

Watch these guys remove the antenna atop the John Hancock Center

These guys are working on the top cap west antenna of the John Hancock Center—a 1,127-foot-high (344 meters) building located in Chicago. I know they are wearing the mandatory security equipment and it’s very unlikely that they could fall, but watching them do their job makes my stomach clench. In case you are wondering what…

Stinky Landfills Might Soon Generate Clean Energy

Hydrogen can be devastating, but in the right hands, it can also be awesome. When burned, for instance, it emits only water vapor instead of nasty carbon dioxide that’s responsible for much of the climate change we see today. Now, researchers have discovered a way to convert methane — the same gas that makes landfills…

Some Simple Software Could Help Charge Your Phone in Minutes Not Hours

Modern phones aren’t renowned for their battery life—and to make things worse, they can take hours to charge, too. Now, though, a simple piece of software could help charge them in minutes, without any need for hardware tweaks. Technology Review reportsthat a startup called Qnovo is developing software that constantly monitors and adjusts the flow…

No, this isn’t an alien forest, but a collection of organisms called rangemorphs. One of the first complex organisms ever to exist on Earth, around 575 40 million years ago, a new study reveals that their strange structure evolved to maximize the quantity of nutrients they could absorb from their aqueous surroundings. [PNASvia New Scientist]