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Astronomy loves acronyms. Some of them are evocative, charming, and memorable. Others are more laboured in their execution. This is an ode unusual acronyms, from the cleverly complex to the eye-rolling fail. Acronyms are prevalent when talking about astronomy and space science — in the past few months I’ve covered JPL, JAXA, OCO2, ISEE-3, SDO,…
We’ve gotten a peek at some of the other structures being built for the food-themed Milan Expo 2015, from a smog-gobbling facade for Italy to a veggie-growing restaurant for France. Now here’s the American pavilion, which is inspired by three signature food-related structures for the U.S.: A barn, a boardwalk, and—of course!—food trucks. Designed by…
Chris, our photographer, wants to go explore the world and take you along for the ride. Here’s how you can help send him to Iceland, Cambodia and even further. Chris’s story is familiar. He went to a good school, got a good job and was generally headed in the “right” direction. At least so far…
If adorable is the only criteria you look for in kitchen accessories, your hunt for a new pot strainer just ended. Taking inspiration from how a Blue Whale strains the ocean for krill using the baleen in its mouth, Fred & Friends’ $10 Big Blue pot strainer quickly drains a pot leaving only pasta, veggies,…
We see decent deals every now and then for the GoPro Hero3+ Black edition, but less often for the cheaper (but still excellent) Silver model. If the Silver is more in your price range, Best Buy is throwing in a $50 gift card and 16GB MicroSD card with your purchase today. [GoPro Hero3+ Silver with…
Recently spotted by The Wall Street Journal, Twitter is experimenting with a new way to explain some hashtags. Images show Twitter for iOS defining certain hashtags in search in an obvious attempt to notch up reader comprehension a few ticks. A few examples are #oitnb (Orange is the New Black), #manutd (Manchester United), and #rt…
Every year the Institution of Structural Engineers picks out the most interesting pieces of structural engineering out there, highlighting an aspect of design that tends to get overlooked. Today, it announced its picks for 2014—and they range from an Apple store to an ape enclosure. Keep in mind, this is just the shortlist; the final…
Russia’s connection with Crimea is an unsolved geopolitical quandary, but the physical connection to the Russian mainland just got a bit stronger: Crimean ISPs have transitioned over to a new 28.5-mile-long underwater cable connecting directly to Russia, bypassing the old connection through Ukraine. The new internet connection was hastily built. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev…
Looks like you’ll have to wait to furiously click through photos of your ex and her new, stupid boyfriend frolicking in Cabo: Facebook is down for many users. O brave new world that has such people in it, unable to mass invite acquaintances to Candy Crush Saga. In withdrawal? Need help transitioning into this new,…
There’s no guarantee that the USMC’s UHAC next-generation landing craft will ever see the light of day. Until that actually happens, the US military will continue to rely on these nearly unstoppable ship-to-shore hovercrafts. https://gizmodo.com/this-tank-thinks-its-a-beach-storming-hovercraft-1607353122 The Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) is a 87 foot long, 47 foot wide hovercraft employed by both the US…
Believe it or not, the U.S. government actually spent about $1 billion in the 1980s trying to build a program like Skynet from the Terminator movies. DARPA — an agency that’s sometimes called the “mad science” research arm of the Defense Department — worked on developing driverless vehicles, a pilot’s assistant like R2-D2, and advanced…
Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It’s called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can’t explain why. Shawyer’s engine is extremely light and simple. It provides…
As far as smartwatches go, Casio has been taking a relatively simplistic approach with its Bluetooth-equipped timepieces, happy to use its smartphone connection to provide notifications and brief previews of incoming messages and emails. The new GBA-400 goes a bit further, though, by telling you what song is playing right there on its display. A…
I don’t like shaving. In fact, I don’t really know anybody that does. It’s messy. It’s time consuming. It’s sometimes painful. I started using an electric shaver a while back, but I’ve still never been happy with it. The new Norelco 9700 gives me hope. Norelco just announced a new flagship shaver as well as…
When YouTube randomly serves you up a pre-roll ad, the five second wait before you can skip to your video feels like an eternity. But a Providence-based ad agency called Nail might have come up with a pre-roll ad that no one in their right mind would dare skip—lest they electrocute an innocent puppy. (Okay,…
Slingshot, Facebook’s second swing at Snapchat-like ephemera, may be pretty to look at, but until now, it’s suffered from one huge problem: It didn’t make a lick of sense. Thankfully, Facebook’s finally remedied that by getting rid of its absurd reply-to-unlock feature. In other words—you can actually use it to have a normal conversation. Before…
A smartphone in your hand can replace a wallet full of paper notes and receipts, but there are still times when a printed copy of what’s on your phone can be handy; whether it be for sharing a map with someone, or following an online recipe without getting your device dirty. And that’s exactly why…
Last week, we asked you to name the gadgets you love to aimlessly diddle around with—the tools and toys you can just pick up and play with for hours. Here are some of your very favorites. Warning: it’s about to get real nerdy in here. The original question was inspired by my new infrared thermometer,…
Love is tough as an adult but, remember when you were a young teen dreaming about that person at school or in your building, the one who never paid attention to you? That’s the case of the young man in Paper Planes—a sweet short film created by London-based Jamie Childs—and his paper plane love notes.…
If you thought the Moto 360 was beautiful, brace yourself for HP’s luxury smartwatch. For something made by Hewlett-Packard, this thing is surprisingly good. https://gizmodo.com/moto-360-hands-on-this-smartwatch-will-make-you-swoon-1596101326 Due to be released this fall through retailer Gilt, the watch’s looks come courtesy of American designer Michael Bastian while HP provides the guts. The 44-millimeter stainless steel case features…
