Gizmodo

Scientists have previously run experiments teaching rats how to play hide-and-seek. Now researchers at the University of Richmond in Virginia have managed to teach 17 rats how to drive tiny electric cars around in pursuit of food, with the rats apparently loving it.

It’s always been evident that cryptic malevolence lurks beneath the blasted “Johnny Johnny no Papa” TikTok meme. That peril may be national security risks.

We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.Read more...

First, it was Ninja, and now it’s Shroud, as Microsoft has inked a deal that will have yet another one of Twitch’s most popular streamers switch exclusively to Mixer.

The veritable parade of Trump administration officials facing scrutiny of their use of personal email for official business continues, this time with Commerce secretary and walking corruption scandal Wilbur Ross.

You can get comprehensive lists of everything coming to streaming services anywhere. But half of those titles you don’t care about, and the other half are terrible. Where’s the good stuff? io9 is here to help.

Displays on older models of Tesla electric vehicles are bricking because of shoddy flash memory, according to reports in Inside EVs and Motherboard.

Twitter is never, ever going to ban Donald Trump for reasons ranging from the self-apparent (he’s the president, and a conspiracy-obsessed one at that) to perhaps the cynical (whether or not his incessant tweeting helps the company’s bottom line).Read more...

Batman. Spider-Man. Superman. Captain America. The Teen Titans. The X-Men. Whoever your superheroic comic star of choice is, odds are they’ve been around for decades and countless creative teams have come and gone in their stories, creating endless versions of characters that have otherwise lived ongoing lives on the…Read more...

At a time when the Star Wars movies and tie-in materials are now more than ever questioning the legacy of the Jedi—and what it means to be a Jedi—there is a certain irony to there now being a literal dictionary definition of what a Jedi is.

Nature can be glorious, miraculous, and sometimes downright brutal. Not all of us get to witness the amazing feats of the natural world happening in the flesh, though. Luckily, we have wildlife photographers who’s riveting images can help bring the wilderness into our living rooms.

When it comes to campaign ads on Facebook, you can lie or be racist—but don’t you dare cuss or stick a button in the ad. In the first half of October, Facebook has removed over 160 ads from the Biden, Warren, Sanders, Steyer, and Trump campaigns but for reasons that mostly pertain to design, according to a review by…Read more...

Amazon is marketing its facial recognition software to Florida police departments that are currently partnered with its home surveillance company, Ring—arrangements that allow police to request access to video footage captured by homeowners.

Roku users are about to get two times the Apple—beginning today.

Gestures on a smartphone aren’t exactly new tech, but they are new to Google’s Pixel 4. Thanks to a teeny tiny Project Soli radar, you can now wave at a Pixel 4 to poke Pokémon wallpapers, as well as control your music, timers, and phone calls.Read more...

A knife, chisel, arrowheads, and other gear belonging to a Bronze Age warrior have been uncovered on a 3,300-year-old battlefield in Germany.

Taco Bell stealthily yanked heaps of beef following a report that a diner found metal in their Mexican-inspired fast-food cuisine, angering customers across the country.Read more...

In an effort to broaden the public’s understanding of the challenges faced by local officials ahead of the 2020 election, Democratic lawmakers traveled to Gurnee, Illinois, on Tuesday to hear testimony from leading election and cybersecurity officials. The meeting also served as an opportunity for the Democrats to…Read more...

The Pixelbook is the best Chromebook you can buy, but it’s also one of the most expensive Chromebooks you can buy. The big pitch for the Pixelbook Go is that it takes a lot of what you like about the Pixelbook and Google’s aesthetic in general, and charges only $650. That’s a damn fine idea, but my limited time with…Read more...

The Voyagers 1 and 2 spacecraft measured the Sun sending a pulse like a “tsunami” into the interstellar medium, according to a new paper.Read more...

JoAnna Wendel is a science cartoonist and writer in Washington, DC. She loves space, planets, rocks, and her cat, Pancake. You can find her work at joannawendelcomics.com and follow her on Twitter at @JoAnnaScience.

In a somewhat unconventional spectacle that included a fireside chat about the company’s environmental initiatives and photographer Annie Leibovitz dropping by to talk about smartphones, Google’s Pixel 4 event in New York today included few surprises, and at times, even fewer details on its new hardware.Read more...

On Monday, Reuters scored an exclusive interview with Ben van Beurden, the CEO of the Shell Oil Company. During the sitdown, he decried people demonizing oil and said it’s “entirely legitimate to invest in oil and gas because the world demands it” and that “we have no choice” but to keep investing in dirty fossil fuel…Read more...

The return of The Expanse feels like a reunion, but there’s a “fresh face” in the mix in the form of Torchwood’s Burn Gorman. In a one-on-one interview with io9, Gorman shared details on Adolphus Murtry, whether he’s actually a villain, and why Doctor Who and Expanse fans aren’t so different in the end.Read more...

Archaeologists in Cambodia have used jungle-penetrating laser to confirm the location and layout of an ancient capital city associated with the early stages of the Khmer Empire.

Final numbers are still rolling in, but it seems safe to say that Gemini Man is not the hit anyone involved might have hoped it would be. Ang Lee’s science fiction action movie, starring Will Smith as both an aging assassin and his younger, stronger, faster clone, landed in third place at the box office this weekend…Read more...

The toxic class of so-called “forever chemicals” is finally getting some much-deserved attention from government officials. The Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General will be evaluating the military’s use of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that the military has used in firefighting foam and have now…Read more...

Less than a month before multiplex film juggernaut Disney is set to launch its streaming service, the largest theater operator in the world has released its own on-demand online movie store.Read more...

As we saw last season, and as we’ve known for decades thanks to Stephen King’s interconnected stories, Castle Rock is a grim little town—there’s no way one odd outsider is gonna change the status quo too much. But of course, Annie Wilkes still manages to stir up some chaos.Read more...

Google has been working up to this for more than four months, but now it’s here, so say hello to the Pixel 4.

Made by Google 2019 is finally here. And thanks to the Pixel 4 getting leaked to the point of exhaustion, we had a pretty good idea of what to expect heading in. But the tech titan still managed to unveil some surprises on the Google Assistant front, with new applications and integrations across Google’s devices.Read more...

We’ve seen plenty of leaks of Google’s latest Pixelbook, but the company finally showed off the actual thing today, a reasonably small Chromebook with a reasonably small price tag for a Google-made product.

The original Google Wifi promised reliable and fast internet across your entire home using a series of identical mesh nodes positioned around your house. It’s the same approach that’s used for the company’s new and renamed Nest Wifi. But now, a central router is employed with satellite nodes that double as smart…Read more...

As one of the search giant’s most popular hardware products, Google isn’t tampering with the design for its next-generation Home Mini smart speaker, first introduced back in 2017. But in addition to a name change, it’s now easier to put the new Google Nest Mini exactly where you want it.

Apple has AirPods, Samsung has its Galaxy Buds, and Microsoft has its Surface Earbuds. Not to be left out, Google announced today its Pixel Buds 2.Read more...

Beats just announced the all-new, noise-canceling Solo Wireless headphones, and they are, by many measures, beautiful. These represent the first Beats headphones to be completely redesigned under the supervision of Apple. (The new Powerbeats Pro were the first earbuds.) That Apple oversight goes a long way.Read more...

Samara Weaving joins the G.I. Joe reboot. Hold on to your butts, Doctor Sleep is gonna be a long one. Taron Egerton says plans are underway for a third Kingsman, beyond the new prequel. Get a look at Tom Cavanagh’s Pariah for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Plus, new Frozen II footage, and what’s to come on Black Lightning…Read more...

Google is holding it’s big annual phone event today and here’s how to watch it. Although, okay, most of it has already been leaked—or Google has announced the stuff outright. Still, there could be some surprises in store!

After months of leaks and Google just tweeting all the big stuff out with zero fanfare, the Pixel 4 is finally being officially announced today. We’ll be getting a new phone, but we still don’t know the extent of the camera wizardry Google could be packing into the device. There are also plans for a new Chromebook,…Read more...

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Protests by climate activist group Extinction Rebellion has continued to roil cities around the world, including London. And after shutting down parts of Central London, police banned the group from conducting protests anywhere in the city on Monday evening. The move comes after eight days of protests centered on…Read more...

President Donald Trump’s official Facebook page has been running a series of ads that feature an anti-Native American slur, according to the social media company’s archive of political ads. Trump can be heard referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren by the name “Pocahontas” in the ad, which started running on October 11.Read more...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Massachusetts attorney general’s office are investigating exactly who spammed millions of bot posts promoting e-cigarettes while downplaying or misleading viewers on its effects on human health.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly poked his head out of his gilded panic room on Monday to address reports that he ran a quiet lobbying campaign to reassure right-wing critics of his company that he shares their concerns. In his view, he’s guilty of nothing more than “hearing from a range of viewpoints” and…Read more...

No wonder those pilots spend most of their time outside of the cockpit with these things off. They’re heavy.

Just over a year after Microsoft started cracking down on toxicity on Xbox, the company will now help users crackdown on the toxic interactions that are just considered par for the course when gaming online.Read more...

In Northern California, utility PG&E cut power to hundreds of thousands amidst a wildfire weather threat. Southern California’s main electric utility didn’t, and now it appears its equipment could responsible for sparking last week’s Saddleridge Fire.Read more...

A new study out Monday seems to confirm an unpleasant reality: Potentially toxic algae blooms in the world’s freshwater lakes have become more intense over the last 30 years. And while climate change may not be the only reason why blooms have gotten worse, rising temperatures are likely making it harder for lakes to…Read more...

Physicists have uncovered a way to access physical information that had been hidden to science for 140 years, according to a recent paper.

The Bat has found his Cat.