Only about half of Americans say that they’d like to get vaccinated for the new coronavirus if or when a vaccine becomes available, according to a new poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll, which was conducted between May 14-18, is a troubling sign that Americans may…Read more...
Twitter, amid a controversy over its inaction on Donald Trump’s baseless tweets asserting that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is a murderer, has for the first time begun attaching fact-checking links to some of the president’s posts.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) late Tuesday withdrew his support for a House amendment aimed at curbing the FBI’s ability to collect the internet search and browsing records of Americans without a warrant.
by Beth Elderkin on io9, shared by Tom McKay to Gizmo on (#53YVK)
Alex Trebek may not understand what nerdcore is, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome. The music subgenre dedicated to everything geeky is just one of the many realms of music celebrating nerds. We’ve put together a list of some of our favorite nerdcore, nerd-folk, and otherwise genre-loving artists that you…Read more...
An alleged snake-and-monkey duo has stirred up some controversy at a Trinidad and Tobago hospital. The Port-of-Spain General Hospital does not deny that a monkey broke into its operating room. But contrary to a video purporting to show a monkey and a “big snake” (with footage of said monkey) in the O.R., the North…Read more...
by Tom McKay on Earther, shared by Tom McKay to Gizmo on (#53YZ2)
The energy minister of the Canadian province of Alberta, Sonya Savage, told listeners to an oil trade association podcast that the coronavirus pandemic was the perfect time to move forward with the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion due to bans on large protests, the Canadian Press reported.
The Wikimedia Foundation has been asked by its board to overhaul its safety and compliance standards to better address “harassment and incivility” on Wikipedia and related Wikimedia communities.Read more...
A small study suggests that women who contract covid-19 while pregnant may be at higher risk for complications. Compared to uninfected women, women with covid-19 had a greater chance of injury to their placenta, the study found.Read more...
Marine biologists, with help from Inuit whalers, have assembled an unprecedented collection of narwhal vocalizations, offering fresh insights into the behaviors of these near-mythical creatures.
by Charles Pulliam-Moore on io9, shared by Kaitlyn Ja on (#53YPS)
Charlie Brooker was quite right when he said that now really isn’t the time for new episodes of Black Mirror. But the fact that so many of us are self-isolating at home in the midst of a pandemic that’s made it so we can’t physically touch one another makes now a particularly excellent time to go back and (re)watch…Read more...
Long before Spotify was a thing, I collected music on my computer during my college days. That collection, which had everything from Cradle of Filth to Dashboard Confessional, to Reverend Horton Heat, easily surpassed 10,000 songs by the end of my first semester as a freshman. By the time I graduated, I had close to…Read more...
There are a few norms that constrain the behavior of newsgathering, one of which is to at least try, for any given story, to get the perspective of all parties involved. Many company PR teams abuse this constraint by providing journalists with spin or misinformation, which a reporter may or may not infuse with the…Read more...
by Dharna Noor on Earther, shared by Brian Kahn to Gi on (#53YFP)
New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Tuesday shows that the climate crisis may be seriously messing with North American birds’ migration patterns, and the consequences could be dire.
by Ash Parrish on Kotaku, shared by Kaitlyn Jakola to on (#53YMQ)
The covid-19 outbreak created an economy of scarcity. Overnight, goods such as toilet paper, cleaning products, and hand sanitizer became valuable commodities. Meanwhile scalpers seized upon the opportunity to hoard and resell those items at ridiculous mark-ups. But as stocks are replenishing, one item that hasn’t yet…Read more...
Just days before the official launch of its new streaming service, HBO seems to want to clear up any confusion about the difference between its services Go, Now, and soon-to-launch Max—and buddy, I’m not sure it’s working.Read more...
by Jordan McMahon on The Inventory, shared by Gabe Ca on (#53YFR)
For those committed to getting work done on an iPad, you probably have some sort of keyboard case for it. If your keyboard of choice is either the Apple Magic Keyboard or Logitech Combo Touch, then you’ve already got a trackpad and a solid way to navigate iPadOS without having to touch the screen. If you’re using…Read more...
Archaeologists working at a rockshelter in northern Australia have discovered a trove of unusual miniaturized rock art made using stencils. This rare form of rock art may have served an ominous supernatural purpose—or it might be whimsical doodles made by children.
I sit here typing on Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is somehow both an incremental and radical upgrade over the 13-inch MacBook Pros of recent years. The Pro I bought in 2017 sits to my left, and while the two look similar, the experience of using them is completely different. My 3-year-old laptop sports the …Read more...
Facebook announced today that it would be completely rebranding the wallet for its long-anticipated cryptocurrency—perhaps in an attempt to shake off its troubled reputation.Read more...
The global coronavirus pandemic has sparked a wave of health tech companies seeking to find innovative solutions to combat covid-19. That includes everything from using smartwatches and thermometers to track symptoms, to crowdsourcing apps designed to learn from your coughs and self-reported symptoms, to building …Read more...
Maybe this will finally move Twitter to do something about its troll king? In a heartrending letter, a widower wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, pleading with him to remove Trump’s tweets about his late wife Lori Klausutis’s death. In a neurotic salvo aimed at “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, Trump has been…Read more...
After three days of negotiations, House lawmakers have struck a deal on an amendment to protect innocent Americans from being spied on by their own government online.
In a time of social distancing, a giant teddy bear giving enormous hugs sounds like a great way for people to safely cope with isolation. But Arizona State University’s robo-bear, which can learn to hug by observing humans, looks like it’s ready to give you the last embrace you’ll ever feel.Read more...
by Beth Elderkin on io9, shared by Kaitlyn Jakola to on (#53Y66)
The only country that’s seemingly halted the spread of the novel coronavirus could screw it up—for Avatar. New Zealand’s economic development minister revealed under questioning that he’s been using little known powers around the country’s strict foreign travel ban to issue hundreds of exemptions for “high value…Read more...
Motorola’s rebooted Razr with a flexible screen hasn’t even been on sale for a full six months, but according to new rumors, there could be a new model due out before the end of the year with significantly beefier specs, updated software, and even 5G support.Read more...
by Yessenia Funes on Earther, shared by Brian Kahn to on (#53Y32)
Michael Moore’s Planet of the Humans is a trash film that contains massive amounts of disinformation and dabbles in ecofascism. Turns out it also contained copyrighted material.Read more...
DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have become popular tools for YouTubers wanting their videos to look more professional, but for inexperienced shooters, the complexity of those cameras can be overwhelming. Sony’s new ZV-1 aims to flatten the learning curve with streamlined features that promise to help make aspiring…Read more...
by James Whitbrook and Gordon Jackson on io9, shared on (#53XZR)
Frank Marshall wants more directors to come in and shake up the Jason Bourne franchise. Jason Blum says there’s been movement on the long-in-the-works Spawn movie. Watch Legends of Tomorrow trap its heroes inside Friends and Downton Abbey. Plus, a preview of the Rick and Morty season finale, and Judy Greer gets a…Read more...
President Donald Trump has threatened to move the upcoming Republican National Convention out of North Carolina if the governor doesn’t guarantee its convention space can ignore social distancing guidelines. The convention is scheduled to occur from August 24 to 27 at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center, which can seat over…Read more...
The World Health Organization (WHO) is temporarily suspending clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as an experimental coronavirus treatment amid mounting safety concerns. Surprising no one, it appears the antimalarial drug might not be the “miracle” covid-19 treatment that President Donald Trump has hyped it up to be.
A brood of periodic cicadas not seen since 2003 is expected to emerge this year in parts of the United States. Farmers are being told to plan accordingly, as the insects pose a threat to fruit and ornamental crops.
by James Whitbrook on io9, shared by Alyse Stanley to on (#53X83)
Sometimes, you’re just in the mood to dive into a fantastical world because you want swords and sorcery, magical creatures, or an excuse to escape from reality. There’s so much of it though, we thought to offer you a much more specific subgenre of fantasy media to dive into: fantasy via the medium of...musician…Read more...
It’s a small thing that only people building and upgrading their own PCs will appreciate but to the delight of AMD enthusiasts, the company recently announced that it would make its future Zen 3 architecture compatible with the older X470 and B450 motherboards, and it would be sticking with its AM4 socket too.…Read more...
The world is filled with disturbing creatures that slither, crawl, and scuttle. But few things are more dreadful to the imagination than the animals, fungi, and other assorted organisms whose sole purpose in life is to invade and feed off the lives of others. Here are some of the creepiest parasites in the animal…Read more...
by Germain Lussier on io9, shared by Alyse Stanley to on (#53X22)
There’s no way The Vast of Night is made by a first-time filmmaker. There’s just no way. It’s so beautifully constructed. So expertly shot. So tactfully acted. It’s the work of a talent with years and years of experience under their belt, right? Wrong. And io9 had a chance to speak with the person behind it all.Read more...
by Brian Kahn on Earther, shared by Brian Kahn to Giz on (#53WVV)
Jacinda Ardern has won a lot of rightful praise for New Zealand’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The nation has stood as an outlier with cases that have stayed low, and the country is beginning to reopen in what it hopes is a safe way. So maybe we should also be paying attention to what their ideas are for a…Read more...
Humans and other animals are quite alike—we all just speak different languages. For humans, it’s about the spoken word. With animals, the language may have nothing to do with the auditory sense. It could be gorgeous, like Caribbean reef squid that communicate through color patterns. Other times it’s tactile, like the…Read more...
If you’re choosing a new tablet, or a new tablet that can turn into a laptop if you attach a keyboard to it, then you’ve got three choices: iPadOS, Windows, or ChromeOS. One dedicated tablet OS, recently split from the iPhone, and two converted desktop OSes doing double duty on tablets. Which one is best for you?
According to multiple ads I’ve seen, we are in this thing together. “Together we will prevail,” the ads say. You lay there—alone, in a shirt stained with who can say what—and think: nothing. What is there to think? If you were going to have an interesting thought, you would’ve had it weeks ago. Better to wreck…Read more...