Artist Phillip Stearns’ A Chandelier For One of Many Possible Endings is a custom light fixture containing 92 elements, each connected to a Geiger counter and each representing an electron in a Uranium atom. They light up in response to radiation, creating a haunting pattern. According to the artist: Lights flash in response to the … Continued
It’s not a biography, it’s a bibliography, but a new book about J.K. Rowling is so detailed the author herself calls it “slavishly thorough and somewhat mind-boggling.” The reference volume aims to be the definitive publishing history of the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013 is described by publisher Bloomsbury as “the definitive … Continued
What’s up with all the “fossils” on Mars? They are figments of our imaginations, driven by our interest to be there – on Mars – and to know that we are not alone. Altogether, they feed a multitude of web pages and threads across the internet. The dinosaur on Mars, the Face in Cydonia, the … Continued
Joseph Kahn’s excellently dark Power Rangers fan film is once again available for online viewing after a brief dispute with the franchise’s copyright holder. All it took was a disclaimer (on the NSFW Vimeo version) and an age restriction (on the “safe” YouTube version). View both here! https://gizmodo.com/holy-hell-this-power-rangers-reboot-is-dark-as-f-ck-1687689958 Update…yes, another update. The NSFW version has … Continued
Doodle-driven Canadians have been cleverly defacing their five dollar bills for years, turning the portrait of former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier into the pop-culture figures he eerily resembles: Spock (seen here) and Harry Potter’s Severus Snape. Though the bills that so wonderfully lend themselves to this practice are on their way out of circulation … Continued
Where should you flee when the inevitable zombie apocalypse pops off? A group of statistical mechanics students at Cornell University did the legwork and came up with a pretty appealing answer, since it happens to be a place we’d like to visit anyway: the Rocky Mountains. The project takes its cue from more traditional disease … Continued
A Southern California murder trial would be just another tragic tale of neighbor shoots neighbor, except the accused believes that he is a werewolf … and he believed his victim was a vampire, according to the testimony of a forensic psychologist. Reports the San Luis Obispo-based Tribune: The District Attorney’s Office says Mark Andrews, 51, … Continued
This week, Archer meets Lana’s parents (well, technically he’s met them once before, but …) on a wild trip to Berkeley that turns into a Bullitt-inspired car chase through San Francisco. And how’s this for voice casting: Keith David and CCH Pounder as Dr. and Dr. Kane! Spoilers follow. No case this week, and no … Continued
Mad scientists have existed since the beginning of cinema, and The Lazarus Effect has zero problem borrowing from earlier films. It also snatches crumbs from The Exorcist and Paranormal Activity, among others. But! It’s got an unusually good cast, fast pacing, and some decent frights. Minor spoilers follow. The obvious comparison here is Joel Schumacher’s … Continued
Well, helllooo! Meet one of the only arachnids that we’d actually call “cute,” a newly-identified species of peacock spider dubbed “Sparklemuffin.” Another new discovery, “Skeletorus” (which is also pretty cute, with added mod-meets-goth flair), is pictured below. The petite spiders were discovered in southeast Queensland, Australia, by UC Berkeley grad student Madeline Girard, according to … Continued
Last year, we found out that sharks have social personalities. Now comes evidence that they can identify shapes and optical illusions — and remember what they’ve learned for a full year, and maybe even longer. https://gizmodo.com/do-sharks-really-have-social-personalities-1641619317 In a new study published in Animal Cognition (read the full scientific paper here), Institute of Zoology researchers from … Continued
Food habits are getting worse around the world, even in countries with traditionally healthy diets. The reason, according to a new series of obesity studies, is Western junk food. And since the makers of said junk food specifically target children with advertising, the problem is only likely to get worse. Reports the New York Times: … Continued
It’s a long-held belief, not just among stoners, that marijuana is the safest drug. A new scientific study comparing the risks associated with various drugs backs this up, and proves that weed might even be safer than we thought. The study looked at alcohol, heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, meth, and cannabis; the way they appear … Continued
Daniel Loxton is the editor of Junior Skeptic, a periodical aimed at kids that’s bound into every issue of Skeptic magazine. He’s also an artist (the image above is from one of his three books about dinosaurs), a cryptid enthusiast, and a passionate advocate of the skeptic movement. We caught up with him right after … Continued
Materials scientists studying beavers have discovered why the crafty rodents never get cavities: the enamel in their teeth is rich in iron. Iron, they found, resists acid more effectively than fluoride. Scientific American reports: If you zoom way in, tooth enamel looks almost like the weave of a basket “where each thread is made from … Continued
Well, this is exciting: cult-beloved Japanese director Takashi Miike is planning a live-action adaptation of popular manga Terra Formars, described as “a crazy, bloody, adrenaline-pumped action-sci-fi-horror series.” Yes. We like that. All of that. The manga is set in the year 2577, when the first six humans land on Mars … which has spent the … Continued
In Southeast Asia, the malaria parasite has been steadily building resistance to the drug that’s used to treat it. This scary news, but even worse: the resistance is on the verge of spreading into densely populated India. This data comes from a new study in infectious diseases publication the Lancet (read the scientific paper here). … Continued
On his Bad Astronomy blog, Phil Plait puts forth a novel theory about the mysterious location of Springfield, hometown of the Simpsons. His come-to-Homer moment springs from the recent episode that featured Elon Musk (“The Musk Who Fell to Earth“), specifically a scene, pictured below, in which the SpaceX CEO is staring up at the … Continued