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To learn how the whole brain works, it doesn’t do to just record from one neuron—you want to know what every single neuron is doing every millisecond. Now scientists have invented a technique that can actually capture the 3D activity of an entire brain milliseconds at the time—possibly the most complete picture of brain activity…
A few months ago, we published a set of shocking photos from the shores of the heavily polluted Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro—which also happens to be the site chosen for water sports at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Well, the situation is clearly even worse when seen from the air. https://gizmodo.com/shocking-photos-from-the-water-sports-site-of-the-rio-o-1506442186 Global Post…
In September of 2013, a giant wildfire dubbed the “Morgan Fire” burned through Mount Diablo State Park in California. It left thousands of acres of bush and forest charred, but researchers at URS have embraced the opportunity to study how the local ecosystem responds and recovers from the disaster, using crowdsourced timelapse images. Collecting the…
These tiny little speedsters are Anki DRIVE, the awesome 21st century take on the classic slot car. They use your iPhone as both a remote control and an artificial intelligence brain, so you can race against human or a computer opponent. And did I mention these cars also have laser guns and tractor beams? At…
An aeroponics system called the Replenishing Tower is living in our kitchen, and it just gave me fresh-from-the-roots lettuce and basil for a sandwich. Fresh vegetables are within reach all year long in the future. For the uninitiated, aeroponics is a soil-free self-watering gardening system that you pretty much can’t screw up, even if your…
My Time Warner internet went down at home today. This isn’t unusual, because it goes down all the time. But it’s a problem, given that I work at home. And it’s starting to feel personal because my neighbor, Lifehacker Whitson Gordon, has the same shitty internet provider, but his service rarely goes out. I called…
Remember Twitter Music? Probably not. The ill-fated recommendation service started as We Are Hunted, which was a great independent service until Twitter bought it, tanked its music ambitions, and killed it. Now there’s a rumor Twitter has its roving eye on SoundCloud. We really hope history isn’t about to repeat itself. SoundCloud has sneakily become…
With the release of Dropcam’s Pro webcam last fall, the company set the scene for some interesting wireless accessories with the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth LE. With an API it hopes to get other companies to make accessories too, and to encourage development the company has just revealed its own official accessory: a cheap motion…
This is “Thief,” by BJ Crawford, an old but fantastic animation that was made for a competition which challenges animators to use a predetermined audio clip and tell a compelling story in only 11 seconds. The site, 11secondclub.com, runs monthly competitions, and winners receive a critique of their work from the folks at animation mentor.…
According to leaked documents provided by Edward Snowden, you can’t make a phone call in the Bahamas without the NSA listening. The Intercept reports that the agency “is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving [for one month] the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas.” Every. Single. One. Just…
If the first Guardians of the Galaxy trailer was pretty damn fun, this one looks even better. It’s better because it has more of Rocket Racoon and I can’t get enough Rocket Racoon. I can’t wait to see this space opera. Oh, and Glenn Freaking Amazing Close too. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome…
NASA recently asked kids to draw what the future looks like to them. This being a question from NASA, many of the drawings are, of course, focused on space travel. But beyond the question of space travel, they also provide a look at the hopes and fears of American kids. The NASA LaRC contest was…
Those of us raised with the English language were taught to read sentences in a straight line. But then when it came time to decipher clocks, we were expected to suddenly be able to read in a circle. It’s no wonder we’ve all switched to digital displays, and why designers Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto…
$10 for a tiny, pocketable charger is a great deal, and $15 for a 10,000mAh behemoth is even better. It might be worth grabbing both, since they would each be more useful in different situations. [iEnjoy 2600mAh Charger, $10 / Breett 10,000mAh Charger, $15] http://www.staples.com/iEnjoy-MyBolt-Portable-USB-Flash-Charger-Black/product_860315 Amazon runs specials on the Kindle Fire fairly often, but…
Who’s spending the most to win the hearts and minds of Congress in the war on net neutrality? Verizon and AT&T, of course. Followed by—guess who?—Comcast. In other words, the companies that stand to lose money if the internet remains free and open are trying to shut it down. The Sunlight Foundation recently published a…
The Rubik’s cube is 40-years-old today. It’s one of the most popular toys in the history of mankind, one that has obsessed kids and adults alike, making them compete to be the fastest and do the weirdest things with it. Here are a few examples: Rubik’s Cube World Record by a human Dude solves three…
“The Heron is the absolute state-of-the-art in tactical attack and defense vehicles,” says Jason Torchinsky at TruckYeah!, “and for those of us not in charge of SWAT teams or small armies, it’s pretty amazing to see what these things are like.” https://jalopnik.com/meet-the-heron-darth-vaders-terrifying-swat-team-schoo-1577019794
The National September 11 Memorial Museum opens to the public this Wednesday, May 21st. It’s an important place of remembrance for the thousands of innocent people killed that infamous day in 2001. It also has a gift shop full of tasteless kitsch. The purpose of the 9/11 museum shop is to raise money for the…
The latest SNL Digital Short features ex-cast member (and last weekend’s SNL host) Andy Samburg as a world-famous DJ who doesn’t do anything but press a single button on stage. It’s a hilarious parody, but it also tells the stark truth about DJs: Once they’ve put in the hard work of producing a track in…
These hot red Sennheiser Momentum headphones used to live in the bedroom of the future and now they live on my head. I picked them up a few days ago and haven’t been able to take them off. In fact, here’s a Vine to prove it. “Living” in this Home of the Future the past…
