When Tod Kurt of ThingM recommended these reversible Micro USB cables, I bought a 3-pack. They work! Both the USB A plug and the micro plug can be inserted without regard to the orientation, like a USB C plug. There is no "right side up." I bought another 3-pack. Why aren't all USB cables made […]

I carved and gifted the "Terminator pipe" to Arnold birthday and he sent me a photo. from r/nextfuckinglevel Master carver u/RadonLab made a cool Terminator pipe for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who thanked him by sending him a signed photo.

Step right up to see Chico, the singing parrot that lives at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Lincolnshire, England. The 9-year-old, Yellow-crowned Amazon made headlines singing Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" but also covers Katy Perry, Gnarls Barkley, and Lady Gaga. Follow @chicoparrot (Instagram)

Sandie Crisp (AKA The Goddess Bunny) is a Los Angeles drag queen, actress, and model. Transgender and born with polio, she labels herself as the last glamor star of Hollywood and has been an inspiration to many to never give up no matter the odds. In 2020 Crisp announced her candidacy for President of the […]

German artist Katharina Grosse has a current exhibition called "It Wasn't Us" that turned the Historic Hall of Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin into a giant colorful form that spills outside. Turn on CC for English subtitles. Via Art at Berlin: The artist's latest in situ painting disregards the boundaries of the […]

Art Insider profiled Adam Fu, aka Adam Fukujita, a spray paint muralist who has really figured out the trick to spray paint that looks like neon. Check out his Instagram for more recent projects. Image: YouTube / Art Insider

Adding a few autonomous vehicles into traffic can reduce traffic jams and create safer, greener driving conditions, according to a study conducted Dr. Amir Goldental and Prof. Ido Kanter, from the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University. The researchers suggest guidelines for efficient regulations, such that AVs can cooperate and significantly enhance traffic flow even […]

This robot, named Model-T, is now stocking shelves at a FamilyMart convenience store in Japan. For this trial use, the alien-looking robot is controlled by an operator in a remote location. According to robot firm Telexistence, Model-T will enable stores to "operate with less number of workers and enable them to recruit employees regardless of […]

Sheets of paper and cardboard boxes can become electronic user interfaces thanks to the work of researchers at Purdue University. "This is the first time a self-powered paper-based electronic device is demonstrated," said Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering and in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue's College […]

Insect photographer Andreas Kay shot this remarkable golden tortoise beetle. They are not only beautiful, but they also have a number of impressive evolutionary traits. Their feet are really good at gripping leaves, so they can seal their elytra (their hard wing coverings) so they are flush to the leaf's surface, making it hard for […]

The two Tom the Dancing Bug books, Tom the Dancing Bug: Into the Trumpverse, and The Super-Fun-Pak Comix Reader, are now available. Information about the books, including how to order, and special offers here. "Ruben Bolling's craft and commentary are as powerful and as pointed, as capable of making you laugh while breaking your heart as they were […]

Barely a year-on from the award-winning "de-aged" Robert DeNiro of The Irishman, it seems clear that deepfaking it creates a superior result—one so good it not only shows how the original effort fell short, but what it is about age that simply cannot be smoothed away. Deepfake the whole thing release it on pirate bay! […]

You can't make this stuff up. These are real promotions from Target. Go ahead, complete your virtual statement look: Thanks, Phil! screengrab via Target

Mario Lopez appeared on Golden Magic to demonstrate some nice sleight of hand work with a cigarette and other props. Whoever in the control booth decided to cut away to the inattentive and generally unimpressed audience is probably rethinking that choice. Image: YouTube / Nam Anh Nguyễn

14 years after unleashing the internet classic Shoes (described in Vice as the "First Great Viral Music Video"), LiamKyleSullivan yesterday posted a sequel called Masks. Footwear-obsessive Kelly has moved on.

This video is a funny and quite disturbing masterpiece of applied fakery (but not deepfakery), showing how adeptly computers can not only animate faces from a single photographic source but fall into a sweet spot between realism and animation's squash and stretch. As amusing as it is, the trivializing charm of it will please far-right […]

This is no time to just assume that everything will be fine. This is a time for plans…and backup plans. We all want to think that our employers are looking out for us and our interests. And maybe they are. But maybe, they aren't. Your company or even your career could be impacted and irrevocably […]

Lycopodium spores repel water so strongly that you can dip your spore-covered hand into water and it will stay completely dry. The hydrophobic spores are highly flammable, too, so they are often used to make fireballs in theatrical performances. Steve Spangler does some pretty good pyrotechnics with it here: Image: YouTube / Phil Cook

And now for some good news: Facebook says it is going to make less money when Apple releases iOS 14. I have no idea what "Audience Network publisher revenue" is but can only hope it represents a major part of Facebook's revenue. From MacRumors: Facebook warns that ‌iOS 14‌ could render Audience Network ineffective in […]

The Action Lab looks deeper into why strange-shaped objects like this octohedron can roll. A lot of it is about friction, or lack of slipping. Part of the issue is probably materials as well, as an object has to be sufficiently dense for the rolling to continue. These heavier objects just need a shove of […]

Most people will recognize actor/musician/writer Daveed Diggs from his fast-rapping turns as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. But Diggs' resume doesn't stop there. Among other things, he's also part of the experimental sci-fi-tinged hip-hop group clipping., along with producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes. The group received a Hugo Award nomination for […]

Teslas have UV coating on the roof, and when condensation or other moisture builds up, it turns an iridescent orange tint. Here's a closeup of how pretty it is: Image: YouTube / Dave M.

A Taiwanese Medtech company called Brain Navi has a new plan to speed up COVID-19 tests around the world: automated sinus swabs, adapted from a robot originally designed to prep patients for brain surgery. Here's how The Verge explains the roboprocess: To begin the procedure, a patient dons a nasal clip that the machine uses […]

The Natural History Museum, London, has released a selection of gorgeous "Highly Commended" images from their Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Seen here are some of my favorites. The overall winners will be revealed in October. Above: "Amazon burning" by Charlie Hamilton James, UK. Below: Large male gharial and its offspring by Dhritiman Mukherjee, […]

RADVAC, the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative, is a group of scientists who first got together in early March to experiment with potential coronavirus solutions … on their own bodies. From their website: Beginning early in the 2020 pandemic, we designed, produced, and self-administered several progressive generations of nasal vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. As of August 2020, […]

Visionaries Mark Mothersbaugh and Beatie Wolfe have a request: Please send hand-decorated postcards STAT. Their mail-art challenge, Postcards for Democracy, is described as "a demonstration to support the 225 yr old U.S. Postal Service & the right to VOTE." It's easy to play: Just make & mail your original postcard creations (you can also recycle […]

Oecophylla weaver ants create nests from up to 300 leaves, then expand their colony with far-reaching outposts on the borders. To hold their homes together, they affix the leaves with the sticky silk produced by their larvae, then use more silk inside the leafy nests to create chambers. This is the third in Kurzgesagt's ant […]

Jez Burrows edited this "supercut of video game characters taking a break from solving crime or shooting people to enjoy a meditative minute of miserable weather." "It's Rain in Games, Part I" (via Waxy)

On Sunday, an American Airlines pilot reported "a guy in a jetpack" flying beside them above LAX. The sighting was confirmed by another commercial pilot. From the air traffic control discussion you can hear over at Fox11: American Flight 1997: "Tower, American 1997, we just passed a guy in a jetpack." Tower: "American 1997, OK, […]

A man returned to his home in Brisbane to find two carpet pythons, measuring 9.5 feet and 8.2 feet, falling through the kitchen ceiling. CNN reports that snake catcher Steven Brown, of Brisbane North Snake Catchers and Relocation, removed them from the property. Received a call to Laceys Creek after customer found 2 very large […]

In this video, Mike Augustine demonstrates a fun effect: get a pair of refractive glasses and look at fireworks. His had a heart shape in the refraction, which caused an amazing burst of hearts with each explosion. You can get them with any kind of refraction. Legoland offers them with a LEGO brick lens: Here's […]

Eddy Grant filed a lawsuit against the Trump campaign for using his song "Electric Avenue" (1983) in a "bizarre animated ad posted on Twitter by Trump's campaign on Aug. 12 which depicts a cartoon version of Trump's White House rival, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, driving an old-fashioned train car while a speeding train […]

By way of our friend Rachel Barry (Science Communication Strategist at ISS Research) comes this announcement: In celebration of 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station, STEM on Station will fund five payloads to the station, including return, through the Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS). Teams of collegiate students […]

Dichroic and trichroic prisms have interesting qualities that make them useful in certain kinds of image capture systems. They are also cool to play around with in the dark. Here's another nice demo: This one even includes the unboxing: If you'd like your own, I used this set of three to nice effect in a […]

Reuben Wu of English band Ladytron is also a photographer, and his Aeroglyphs blew me away: "an ongoing series of large temporary geometries traced by light carrying drones in space. " Prints are available in his online shop, and he's just been profiled by National Geographic. The idea was born from a mistake. One night […]

8bitdo makes the only game controllers I like, and they just announced a proper six-button Arcade Stick [Amazon] for October release. It works on Nintendo Switch and Windows, connects via Bluetooth or USB Type-C, and supports custom mapping and macros. The list price is $90, it's 30x20cm, and they make a point of its mounting […]

Sometimes in our research we come across stories that are regarded as true but that we can't fully verify. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll share two such stories from the 1920s, about a pair of New York fruit dealers and a mythologized bank robber, and discuss the strength of the […]

In the latest issue of my newsletter, The Magnet, (subscribe here), I wrote about a book I bought in 1984 — Forrest Mims' Getting Started in Electronics, which he hand-lettered. It remains one of my favorite books. The instructional content is excellent, but the main reason I like it is because of its stupendous design. […]

Earth has changed quite a bit in the past 750 million years or so. Due to plate tectonics—the shifting of the Earth's surface—the location of your city is likely far from where it is today. Computer scientist Ian Webster created this stunning interactive "Ancient Earth Globe" that pinpoints your city where it was located at […]

I wasn't sure I'd enjoy an animated short featuring Bearded Sky Man controlling a flat Earth inhabited simultaneously by humans and dinosaurs. But Tales From The Multiverse was funnier than I expected.

From grocery stores populated by anthropomorphic insects to an extraterrestrial encounter, each of lito_leafart's gorgeous paper cut style leaves invites us into a standalone narrative. The artist's bio shares that the creation of these cute and meticulous scenes is the result of channeling their ADHD into something positive.

Countdown is a long-running UK gameshow featuring various alpha-numerical challenges. One round gives constestants 30 seconds to figure out the longest word from a series of random letters distributed between vowels and consonants. This result in annoyingly suggestive sets such as TINEYATPH, which seem to promise (but do not actually provide) full-length anagrams. The longest […]

Japanese firm SkyDrive released a video demonstration of their prototype flying car. It's an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle that operates similarly to an oversized quadcopter drone, although the SD-03 flying car has eight motors and propellers. According to SkyDrive, the SD-03 flew at an altitude of ten feet and stayed aloft for […]

At a kite festival in Taiwan yesterday, a 3-year-old girl was accidentally swooped high into the air caught in a huge kite's tail. She was flying for around 30 seconds before she fortunately was brought down to terra firma. From CNN: She was immediately rushed to the hospital with her mother and festival staffers, but […]

The acoustics at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England's magical megalithic structure, were phenomenal, according to new archaeological research. According to research from the University of Salford's Acoustic Research Centre, the placement of the stones in the circle not only naturally amplified voices and music played there, but the sound would not have projected out far outside the […]

The New York Times's Kevin Roose says that Facebook has become "a completely parallel universe, in which Trump's response to Covid-19 has been fast and effective; in which these riots in Portland and other cities are the biggest news story in the world." He dived in to the data and was shocked by what he […]

2020 still has a few months, so the mashup of Karens and an impending zombie apocalypse does not feel out of the question. The metal music is a ::chef's kiss:: touch, too. The Karen mask is shaping up to be a top costume for Halloween this year, which is of course extra-ironic, because many Karens […]

"With a population of 328 million in the United States, it may require 2.13 million deaths to reach a 65 percent threshold of herd immunity, assuming the virus has a 1 percent fatality rate, according to an analysis by The Washington Post." Impeached President Donald Trump's new top medical adviser is leading the White House to adopt a "herd […]

That's an interesting take from a dead guy. A now-deleted tweet from Herman Cain's Twitter account says COVID-19 isn't as deadly as everyone thought it was. Herman Cain died of COVID-19. That's it. That's the blog post. [h/t Aaron Rupar]

Moscow police said on Monday they have begun a criminal investigation into the beating of opposition activist and political blogger Yegor Zhukov, longtime foe of the Kremlin. An image of Zhukov bloodied and beaten outside his home circulated on social media this weekend. Fellow Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny remains in a medically induced coma […]