Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
In 2016, a new kind of space shuttle will rise to the skies atop an Atlas V rocket. Developed by a private company—the Sierra Nevada Corporation—it would be able to ferry seven astronauts to orbit and back. Its name is the Dream Chaser and this video shows its (spectacular) development progress so far. A fine…
Boy, this kid is fearless. Actually, I’m not sure Kahlei Stone-Kelly from Australia is even old enough to be called a kid. He’s just a baby. A two-year-old toddler in diapers who’s already better at skateboarding that many full grown human adults. Just look at him go and display excellent balance, a little bit of…
I squinted my eyes and covered the screen and looked away when I was watching this video by Tom Scott because I don’t want to have colored vertical and horizontal lines ingrained in my vision because my brain got fried from staring too long at the images in the video. So I suggest you do…
When you get swallowed by the waves of the biggest sea monster in the world (also known as the wonderful ocean), there’s not much you can do but protect your head and hope you know which way is up. It’s like being trapped inside a water tornado. This footage, captured by pro surfer Mark Healey,…
Game of Thrones is one of the most beautiful shows on television because of its expansive sets, elaborate costumes (and lack thereof), obsession with detail, intimidating weather and anything dealing with the world of Westeros. It’s such a magnificent place that even if the characters disappeared I could watch the golden glow of King’s Landing…
Airports are often terrible places to be. There are too many people rushing somewhere combined with too many cranky folks leaving somewhere mixed with annoying obstacles in the form of TSA security and rolling luggages. But it’s just like that for us normal folk. For first class flyers? It’s like being a rock star. One…
As far as behemoth man-made objects, few things are more dwarfing than a cruise ship. That’s why it’s so incredible to see such a thing in the process of being taken apart. This striking timelapse video, posted at FStoppers, shows off the entire process. The ship is the Balmoral, a ship owned and operated by…
Done with this book? No need to get another one because you can just open it a different way to reveal another book. Done with that one? Well, just open it another way and you’ll have another story. And again. And again until you do it 6 times. Because you see, there are six books…
Step 1: Line up 23 Dutch lunatics in the middle of a road. Step 2: Get someone to drive a 62.3-ton Leopard tank at full speed on that road only to activate the emergency brakes just a few meters from the 23 lunatics. There’s no step 3. Just pray that you don’t end up with…
Humans have always dreamed about being invisible, especially the military, who have been trying to get the perfect camouflage since the beginning of war. This is the story of that quest and a look at where we are headed. https://gizmodo.com/the-history-of-invisibility-and-the-future-of-camouflag-1487381235
For the first time in history, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have captured how our brain makes memories in video, watching how molecules morph into the structures that, at the end of the day, make who we are. If there’s a soul, this how it gets made. Before this, Japanese…
I nominate Serious Eats’ J. Kenji López-Alt for fast food genius of the year for this clever hack: turn a leftover pizza slice into a delicious snack using a waffle iron. Oh gods of the junkgourmandize, simplicity can be truly beautiful and succulent indeed! Just add toppings, fold into a triangle, trim the excess, and…
I’m loving these photos at an oblique angle from the International Space Station. Most Earth photos from space look so flat, but these have such a three-dimensional quality. This one in particular, showing clouds over the Western Sahara Desert also feels painted with delicate brushstrokes, thanks to the lighting and the surface’s palette and textures.…
Another ‘very strong cold front—one that will be stronger than before—is coming from the North!’ says the National Weather Service. No problem, says National Public Radio: ‘move to Alaska!‘ It’s warmer there. According to Accuweather: [On] multiple dates this month, temperatures have been warmer in Alaska than they have been in Texas, Louisiana and much…
Photovolcanica has captured a tremendous pyroclastic flow that happened last week at Mount Sinabung, Sumatra: “A close-up of the lava lobe is shown including the collapse of the lobe front leading to a pyroclastic flow. Movement of the lobe prior to collapse is just about visible.” That thing was really huge—it looks like the lava…
At last, someone put together a cool compilation of the best wingsuit flight videos. It’s full of crazy people flying through tight mountain holes and gliding dangerously close to sharp rocks at full speed. Optional: Turn off the audio to avoid the horrible tecno track. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us…
Google has acquired a London-based artificial intelligence company called DeepMind for $500 million to add it to its existing AI division. DeepMind is dedicated to find “the best techniques from machine learning and systems neuroscience to build powerful general-purpose learning algorithms.” One step closer to apocalypse or utopia. https://gizmodo.com/googles-buying-an-ai-startup-called-deepmind-for-500m-1509664408
Screw the Grammys. The only thing I want to see tonight is this tiny short by Wayne Unten showing the imagined takeoff of Olivia Wright in 1903, “the first to pilot the great grasshoppers of North America.” While taking my kids to the playground, I shot live-action footage of a grasshopper, using my iPhone. This…
This is one of the coolest buildings I’ve seen in a long time: a structure designed to turn everyone into Spider-man by allowing people to climb all over its interior and exterior. It kind of feels like a glitch in the Matrix: a computer-generated mountain that needs more polygons and some textures. And that seems…
It’s amazing to see how different the sun looks depending on the filters you use. Here you can see it in ultraviolet light, looking as evil as the darkest pits of Mordor. I imagine those sinuous filaments are nefarious serpents made from the souls of dead evil people. Shown in ultraviolet light, the relatively cool…
