Gizmodo

It’s a far cry from the badass cyborg who served and protected the people of Detroit in the movie RoboCop, but this bizarre extending robot can assist with traffic stops and promises to help make such roadside interactions safer for both police officers and motorists.

NASA has found its loss of two 92-foot Taurus rockets—as well as the climate-monitoring satellites they were carrying—in 2009 and 2011 was due to a supplier that falsified test data about frangible joints that were supposed to split and release the rockets’ fairings, according to Quartz.

Researchers working off the coast of Mexico have discovered evidence of arsenic-breathing life in oxygen-starved waters. These resilient microbes are a vestige of Earth’s ancient past, but they could also be a sign of things to come under the influence of climate change.

The Russo brothers may think Avengers: Endgame spoilers are fair game starting next week, but toy companies disagree. Today, both Hasbro and Funko released images of toys based on some of the movie’s most spoiler-filled moments and they range from adorable to sad, and everywhere in between. Only continue if you’ve…Read more...

Police from around the world shut down the biggest active black market on the dark web this month, according to announcements from law enforcement agencies in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands released on Friday.Read more...

Pour one out for old Arctic sea ice, because it’s basically a goner.Read more...

With an entire line of its planes grounded following several, likely preventable air disasters that cost hundreds of passengers their lives, Boeing has decided to kick itself while it’s down by engaging in what three ex-workers are calling retaliatory firings.

Brands—they’re just like us, only thirstier. Just last night, Pornhub sent out a press release claiming it was “extremely interested” in buying Tumblr, the distressed blogging platform Verizon is reportedly looking to unload.Read more...

In China, powerful systems are already being used to target entire minority populations, illustrating how a nation’s discriminatory leanings are exacerbated by the use of technology. Now, a new report indicates how this unsettling reality is also true for something as seemingly innocuous as booking a place to stay on…Read more...

Apple Computer was an innovative and nimble company in 1987, so it makes sense that people at the tech giant would imagine a world dominated by Apple ten years into the future. And that’s precisely what it did when it released this goofy video from the perspective of the year 1997.

The anticipation leading up to a product’s launch can be a magical time for gadget nerds. But with Google’s Pixel 3a, the company might as well just flash a giant screen reading “We Know You Already Know” at its I/O conference on Tuesday.Read more...

Despite how you might feel about its ties to the Chinese government, Huawei has undeniably made some of the most technologically advanced phones of the last three years. Huawei released the first handset with triple rear cameras and reverse wireless charging, while also beating its biggest rivals Apple and Samsung to…Read more...

When Adobe switched from a flat price for its software products and updates to a subscription model a few years ago, many worried it could be used to discreetly introduce dramatic price increases down the road. Adobe claimed this wouldn’t be the case, but this week some users discovered that the cheapest Creative…Read more...

Jay Inslee, the first presidential candidate running on climate change, has a plan to deal with, uh, climate change. After laying out four guiding pillars for his candidacy, Inslee released the first major piece of his policy platform on Friday. One of the most striking aspects is a call to phase coal out completely…Read more...

After weeks of speculation, SpaceX has finally admitted that a Crew Dragon capsule was destroyed during a test of system’s abort thrusters on April 20. No cause was given for the anomaly, nor were any new details disclosed about possible delays to NASA’s languishing Commercial Crew Program.

In Sarah Funk’s YouTube video about Cyprus’ Mitsero Red Lake, her partner joked, “This is what murder episodes are made of.” He probably didn’t realize how spot-on he was.Read more...

Twenty-six years after it first debuted, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is now seen as one of the franchise’s finest entries. The series was a dark examination of the moral push and pull on Starfleet’s finest ideals in a time of war, that examined the, at times, bitter cost of maintaining Star Trek’s grand utopia. But it…Read more...

A new award-winning board game asks you to do a seemingly simple task: build the perfect planet for wildlife.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the Monarch external Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (eTNS) system, a medical device that provides mild brain stimulation to treatment attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children ages 7 to 12.Read more...

Rideshare drivers across the Atlantic have plans to sign off the Uber app and spend their time protesting in four major metro areas. The message, coordinated around Uber’s plans to go public, is a clear rebuke of the company’s IPO plan, which will make many employees wealthy overnight, but leave drivers in the same…Read more...

If you’ve never been to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, you have to go. And there’s no better time than this year, as the museum opens up a new exhibit of vehicles from TV and movies that looks cool as hell.Read more...

I think most of us can safely agree that there are few things consumers want to engage with less than ads. We certainly do not want ads that require us to actively speak to them. But the future is now, baby! And if this sounds like hell, now might be a good time to upgrade your free Spotify subscription.Read more...

Researchers this week say their work should upturn the conventional narrative of how Alzheimer’s disease happens. They argue the progression of Alzheimer’s is driven by a very specific form of two proteins that play a crucial role in the disease, and these forms should be considered prions—potentially infectious…Read more...

If you missed out on all the Super Bowl TV sales, don’t fret. This 55" 4K Samsung is on sale for $400 and, if you want one that’s a little smaller, this 50" unit is $50 less at Walmart right now. To be clear, these are not Samsung’s best TVs, but both include smart apps, HDR, and even a clean cable routing solution…Read more...

Facebookcoin, or whatever we’re calling it, is reportedly getting even closer to becoming a reality.Read more...

Love it or hate it, Denver is turning to Uber to make navigating public transit a little smoother for anyone with a smartphone.Read more...

Peter Mayhew, the kind-hearted, lovable actor who brought Star Wars’ Chewbacca to life for almost 40 years, died this week at the age of 74.Read more...

The latest episode of Game of Thrones bought the war to end all wars crashing down on Winterfell, with a surprisingly dramatic conclusion to one of the show’s biggest threats. It’d be exciting, if only had it not brought with it a tide of completely ridiculous fandom nonsense.

Using robotic and animal models, researchers have shown that some dinosaurs were already flapping their rudimentary wings as a side effect of running, prior to evolving the ability to fly. The finding offers a unique perspective on the origins of flight, but experts say more evidence is needed.Read more...

One of the most recognizable animals of the sea, the narwhal, is even more unique than their looks would suggest, according to a new study of their genetics released this week.

Six years after being acquired for an astonishing $1.1 billion, blogging platform Tumblr and its 550 million monthly users are reportedly on the auction block with no indication of who might be in market to buy it.Read more...

A 28-year-old man in Oklahoma tore a vertebral artery in his neck that leads to his brain, causing him to suffer a stroke, ABC affiliate KOCO News reports. According to the news outlet, Josh Hader of Guthrie, Oklahoma ruptured the artery simply by cracking his neck.Read more...

Spoilers be damned, a local Philippine cable station has invited the fury of theaters and fans by airing a pirated version of Avengers: Endgame just one day after the film premiered in the country.Read more...

Update: A few hours after this story was published, the NBA terminated the relationship with the local company responsible for this tweet according to NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum. The story has been updated.Read more...

Facebook announced today that it is banning a number of far-right political figures on its platforms, including InfoWars founder Alex Jones, former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopolous, and InfoWars contributor Paul Joseph Watson, among a host of others.

The transformation of Beto O’Rourke into a legit climate change candidate took another turn on Wednesday night when he announced he was pledging to turn away donations from fossil fuel executives.Read more...

Digital assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri are easier to use than ever. Not only are they built into smart speakers, these days you can access them via your phone, TVs, and even your smartwatch.

A small fish somehow evolved resistance to the heavily polluted water of the Houston Ship Channel by mysteriously acquiring genes from another fish from thousands of miles away, according to a new paper.

A pair of objects, each more massive than the Sun but only as wide as a city, have once again produced ripples in spacetime that were picked up by sensitive gravitational wave detectors on Earth. But this time, scientists think they may have measured something even weirder the usual.

Update: Last day to get in on this offer before a new Humble Monthly month starts!Read more...

It’s hard to imagine a video game dominating more screen time than Microsoft’s Solitaire has since first introduced with Windows 3.0 in 1990. It’s been the go-to distraction for procrastinators for almost three decades, and it’s finally being honored with a rightful place in the World Video Game Hall of Fame.Read more...

A ship owned by the Church of Scientology that serves as a critical vessel for a religious retreat has been quarantined in the island nation of St. Lucia after it was confirmed that a female crew member aboard had contracted the measles.

Bones from an extinct short-faced bear and a wolf-life carnivore are among the many fascinating remains pulled from a submerged cave in Mexico. The discoveries provide a glimpse into the kinds of animals that lived in Central America during the last Ice Age.

Cyclone Fani is bearing down on India and has forced the largest evacuation in the country’s history as millions flee from the coast.Read more...

About 20 minutes into my screening of Avengers: Endgame, I started losing my mind. It was a befuddlement not necessarily caused by what was happening on screen and what it meant for the plot of the film, but because what I was seeing unfold felt like it shouldn’t exist. Or that it arguably can ever exist in another…Read more...

In these gadget-filled times, it’s likely that you’re going to have to shift some of your used tech every now and again, either to make room for an upgrade or to fund a different purchase. There’s a range of options on how to do this, but whether you go for eBay or Craigslist, these are the mistakes to avoid making…Read more...

Three days after a 9-year-old Connecticut boy started to hear a strange buzzing sound in his ear, his parents took him to a doctor at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

By 2020, researchers estimate that the world’s digital archive will weigh in at around 44 trillion gigabytes. That’s an astounding amount of data that isn’t necessarily being stored in the safest of places. Most storage mediums naturally degrade over time (if they’re not hacked or accidentally destroyed) and even the …Read more...

Right now MSI’s MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDRR6 256-bit VR Ready Graphics Card is down to $800 on Drop (formerly MassDrop.) This latest-generation unit offers a ton for not very money.Read more...

Back in December 2017, I was innocently catching a late-night screening of I, Tonya when somebody in the theater screamed, “He has a gun!” What ensued was mass panic as the entire theater stampeded toward the exit. In the confusion, I lost my coat, backpack, shoes, and most devastatingly, my iPhone.Read more...