Laughing Squid

In a really insightful video by Vox and accompanying article by 99% Invisible, video producer Christophe Haubursin, 99% Invisible creator and host Roman Mars and digital director Kurt Kohlstedt also of 99% Invisible, explain the scientific, philosophical and design challenges of creating enduring, understandable symbols that warn against danger and dangerous situations. Chances are you...

Eric Paulos, an associate professor at UC Berkeley and friend of Laughing Squid, made a dramatic impression upon the astonished students of his Critical Making class when he suddenly threw his laptop across the room, smashing it into pieces. Paulos was making a point about leaving expectations and proverbial baggage behind. On the first day...

In 2016, Dean Anderson captured footage of a troop of young, somewhat friendly foxes who had made their home underneath the industrial sized storage containers in a lot where Anderson worked. The kits were scavenging for food and seemed to have found something of interested that had them piling on top of each other. These...

Robert Irwin, the incredibly amiable son of the late Steve Irwin returned to the Tonight Show for a third time and per usual, brought along animals that both delighted and terrified host Jimmy Fallon. Included in this visit was a hungry beaver, a testy tarantula, a high flying hyacinth macaw and an absolutely adorable baby...

In an effort to settle a relationship issue, YouTuber Oscar Fury and his partner each took turns asking their Google Home how to accurately spell the word color/colour. When she, an American, asked, the response was in an American accent that omitted the “u”. When he, a Brit, asked the response was appropriately British and...

The startup tech company, Robomart, has created a brilliant self-driving store on wheels that is capable of driving a wide variety of fresh produce to a consumer’s front door. The fully electric autonomous stores, which use NVIDIA’s Inception program to control the fleer, can travel a total of 70 miles on a full charge and...

After a certain expletive was uttered in Washington, DC regarding certain countries, talk show host Conan O’Brien decided to visit Haiti, one of the countries named, to find out for himself whether it was accurate. What he found instead was a lively classroom of very smart elementary school children at Ecole Nouvelle Zoranje. O’Brien danced...

SpongeBob SquarePants animator Sean Charmatz released episode 19 of his amusing video and photo series, The Secret World of Stuff, that features all sorts of adorable objects expressing their emotions in the real world through anthropomorphic animations. A post shared by sean_charmatz (@sean_charmatz) on Nov 11, 2017 at 9:35pm PST A post shared by sean_charmatz...

This blog post was originally published January 25, 2018 on John Law’s personal blog. Carrie at the 1st Atomic Cafe 1989 “Oh Death, where is thy sting?” This was the quote from Corinthians that was chosen out of dozens suggested by the 40 people crammed into Gary Warne’s Circus of the Soul bookstore on Judah...

While walking her dog a few years ago, redditor crazyperson15‘s mother captured footage of Boston Dynamics taking their Atlas robot on a brisk walk through the woods in Lincoln, Massachusetts. via reddit The Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot Walks Through the Woods in a New Balance and Movement TestA Bleak Remix of the Boston Dynamics Atlas...

Bradford, UK film critic Ross Fearnley of The Unusual Suspect has created a wonderfully edited video of The Proclaimers classic song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” being sung using clips from 127 movies. Here is the original song. ‘Lost Dog’, A Touching Budweiser Super Bowl XLIX Ad That Features a Lost Puppy Trying to Find...

The Ketchup and Mustard Cake by Shared Food is exactly what it claims to be. A fluffy red cake made with ketchup and other traditional items that’s topped with an icing made from mustard and other ingredients. Although the combination seems odd for a cake, the resulting confection appears to be appetizing. You might want...

Juggling expert Josh Horton of Jake & Josh set a new Guinness World Record for the most samurai swords juggled on November 3rd, 2017 at The ART Factory warehouse in Paterson, New Jersey. He was able to juggle a total of four dangerous swords. The same day, Horton also set the record for the most...

Upon hearing his human in the hallway, a beautiful rescued tuxedo named “GentlemanCat” whose back legs are paralyzed,

For part four of their The Super Slow Show, Gavin Free of The Slow Mo Guys runs and jumps through glass in super slow motion. Crashing Through a Wall in Super Slow MotionSuper Slow Motion Video of Air Pistol Pellets Shooting Through Old Spice Deodorant SticksWater Droplet Bouncing on the Surface of Water in Super...

Adult Swim UK posted a compilation of some of the funniest and darkest Sesame Street moments featured Robot Chicken. Stevie Wonder Performs ‘1-2-3 Sesame Street’ in an Classic Clip From 1973The Top 10 Stop-Motion Animated Star Wars Scenes From Robot ChickenLuke Skywalker’s Funny ‘Face-to-Helmet’ Moments With Darth Vader on Robot Chicken

HBO Sports and WWE released an electrifying new trailer for their upcoming documentary, produced by Bill Simmons, all about the life and career of professional wrestling legend André the Giant. The trailer takes a look at how “The Eighth Wonder of the World” was truly larger than life is all aspects of his wrestling career....

The Boring Company, Elon Musk‘s company that is working on creating a network of underground tunnels to cut down on traffic congestion, has built 20,000 fully functional flamethrowers to sell off and raise enough money to dig a small tunnel. They are available to pre-order from The Boring Company website. They are also selling a...

A robot lamp attempts to use a Sani-Hut porta potty at Burning Man 1996. The lamp was a constant companion to the motorized couch that cruised around the Black Rock City that year. Recently I’ve been digitizing and uploading a bunch of video I shot at Burning Man 1996. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to...

In a clip from the three part PBS series “Animals With Cameras“, a rescued chimpanzee named Kimbang was outfitted with a camera and sent along to climb some trees so that her caretaker could assess her diet and ensure she was making the right choices before being set out into the wild. When Kimbang began...

A post shared by Gerard Mas (@gerard_mas) on Feb 7, 2017 at 9:20am PST Spanish artist Gerard Mas has created a gorgeous series of busts that are sculpted in the Renaissance style but reimagined with some very humorous, surprising and modern twists. These additions include sporting tan lines, blowing a bubble with gum, wearing customer...

A post shared by Twiggys Lagoon (@twiggyslagoon) on Mar 2, 2016 at 9:47am PST A tiny squirrel named Twiggy is quite the party animal. She and her human travel arounds the world in order to showcase her incredible talent of waterskiing. Making appearances at such events Toronto Boat Show, The X Games and The Richmond...

Wired UK went inside the High Voltage Laboratory at the University of Manchester to witness first hand the incredible lightning that they create indoors via Tesla coils to test electrical equipment and predict failures within the electrical grid. The lab works to predict failures on the electrical grid and protect it from blackouts. To do...

Pink Donut has created the RokBlok, a small wireless record player that instantly plays music when you place it on top of a vinyl record. The RokBlok is currently out of stock, but the next batch being made is available to reserve from the RokBlok website. Rock out to your favorite records with RokBlok’s built-in...

A pair of very limber Staffordshire bull terriers named Cooper and Emma leaped to great heights in a cooperative effort to keep a red balloon aloft in the air. These two adorable canine siblings do absolutely everything together and don’t limit themselves solely to red balloons. A post shared by Cooper & Emma (@cooperandemma) on...

Filmmaker Hani Dombe and visual artist Tom Kouris of Tom & Hani Animation have created “Lili,” a stunning ten-minute stop motion animated short about a young girl who fights a huge sandstorm to hold on to her childhood. via Neatorama Paper War, A Stop-Motion Animated Short About Two Hand-Drawn Boys Fighting Over a Girl‘Foxed!’, A...

Great Big Story went inside the driving force of London, The Knowledge Point Taxi school and the legendarily difficult exam they administer to hopeful taxi drivers. These students study for at least four years in order to become a human GPS, learning every corner of the city and memorize over 25,000 street names. Imagine a...

Alvaro Gracia Montoya of MetaBallStudios created a great visualization that compares the sizes of known galaxies by light years. Fascinating Facts and Figures About the Milky Way GalaxyBeautiful Space Images From NASA’s Chandra X-ray ObservatoryThe Hubble Space Telescope Captures a Smiley Face Galaxy Cluster Thanks to Strong Gravitational Lensing

The On-Set Facilities (OSF) teams in UK and Madrid built a fascinating real-time visual effects set-up that allows filmmakers to get a live look at actors interacting with a virtual environment while still on the set. OSF used a huge green screen, camera tracking, color correction software, game engines, and hardware compositing tools to bring...

A post shared by Alexandra Dillon (@alexandradillonartist) on Jan 21, 2018 at 12:15pm PST Los Angeles surrealist artist and sculptor Alexandra Dillon has painted a unique series of portraits on all sorts of worn paintbrushes. She also paints amazing faces on axes, shovels, cleavers, and many other found objects. A post shared by Alexandra Dillon...

A tiny baby greater one-horned rhinoceros who was born on January 4, 2018 at the Toronto Zoo gleefully splashed around in the very first shower he took all by himself. Seen here on January 14th, at 11 days old, was the first time we saw him frolicking, jumping, rolling on his side and tummy, and...

Identical twins Camille and Kennerly Kitt, also known as the Harp Twins, performed an awesome cover of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song.” Here is the original song. A post shared by The Harp Twins (@camillekennerly) on Jan 25, 2018 at 5:21pm PST Identical Twins Camille & Kennerly Perform Cover Songs on the HarpThe...

A traditional table of produce prepares for takeoff after ignition in yet another brilliant stop-motion film by PES entitled “Still Life“. LEGO in Real Life, A Boy Prepares a Breakfast of Eggs and Toast Made Entirely Out of LEGO BricksScrabble 60th Anniversary Stop-Motion Animation by PesPrank Call by PES

Marek Gibney of the AI company Global Network Of Discovery (GNOD) has created a really clever interactive music map that plots through search terms, the name of an artist and those artists that are closest in style to the artist searched. The closer the other names are to the original artist, the closer they are...

Writer and director Rian Johnson posted a magical video of John Williams conducting the opening theme song for Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in December 2016 at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Nothing I can type will set this up well enough, so I’ll just say: John Williams. https://t.co/KpPnDMcOoL — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson)...

Cineplex has created a wonderful supercut video highlighting the 2018 Academy Award nominees. The Oscars also posted a video of Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis announcing the 90th Academy Awards nominees. Supercut of the Early Roles Played by 2014 Oscar Nominees and WinnersThe 17th Annual Webby Awards Nominees Have Been AnnouncedClever Poster Designs for the...

On a speedy episode of their Frontiers series, Great Big Story travels to Japan to chat with robot designer and builder Takahiro Ito about Robot Sumo. The lightning fast sport features two competitors who place their little custom built robots in a circular ring to battle for mechanical supremacy. The robots quickly smash and ram...

For part three of their The Super Slow Show, Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy of The Slow Mo Guys strap on jerk vests and crash through a wall in super slow motion. Super Slow Motion Video of Air Pistol Pellets Shooting Through Old Spice Deodorant SticksSuper Slow Motion Video of a Dog Running and Leaping...

While visiting the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, digital strategist and political activist John Aravosis engaged an active game of virtual fetch with a playful sea lion from behind the plexiglass of the aquarium. Aravosis stated that he got the idea when watching the seal following the finger of another visitor until the very...

Zebra Corner has inserted a “Real Person” named Mahk into a Chevrolet‘s new J.D. Power Dependability Award commercial that takes place on a busy highway. A ‘Real Person’ Named Mahk Is Inserted Into the Blind Panel of Chevy’s ‘More Awards’ CommercialA ‘Real Person’ Named Mahk Is Inserted Into a Commercial for the 2017 Buick EnvisionA...

In a fascinating Ted talk, George Steinmetz, photographer for National Geographic and climate change/global food supply documentarian, spoke about his amazing experience of capturing absolutely gorgeous aerial shots of various parts of Africa from a motorized paraglider aka a “flying lawn chair“. Steinmetz explained how his flying lawn chair worked, how high he was comfortable...

The Mermen playing at sunset just before the burn at Burning Man 1996. Legendary art car artist Tom Kennedy (who we lost in 2009) can be seen driving by at the beginning in Max the Daredevil FinMobile. La Contessa vs. The Whale at Burning Man 2003HELCO at Burning Man 1996 by Chuck CirinoWeird America’s Video...

In a heartwarming episode of Today I Found Out, host Simon Whistler explained the origins and history of the legendary Sriracha chili sauce by Huy Fong Foods, the origins of the iconic rooster on the bottle, the number of knockoffs being made by big companies due to a lack of trademark, despite an unchanging market...

In 2012, we wrote about the “Song Map”, a whimsical road map by British design group Dorothy, that reimagined all roads and locations with names taken from song titles (e. g. “Highway to Hell” and “Heartbreak Hotel”). Since that time, the designers have updated the map to include 150 new songs that have come out...

A post shared by emmanuelle moureaux (@emmanuellemoureaux) on Dec 27, 2017 at 6:58pm PST Emmanuelle Moureaux, a French architect and designer who lives and works in Tokyo has created “Color of Time“, a beautiful installation that features hanging numbers that use the changing color of the day to mark the passage of time over the...

In 2012, digital artist Massimo Pietrobon created “PANGEA POLITICA“, which takes a look at the world as it once was before all the tectonic plates shifted, as the supercontinent Pangaea, but with the country borders of modern age. With this map, Pietrobon also posited whether or not the countries of the world would come together...

A fascinating map posted by redditor Georgie Washington shows that more people live in the 304.8 square miles of the New York City’s five boroughs, which is more than a large swath of the midwest and northwest United States put together including parts of Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and...

In a truly informative piece for Vox, foreign video editor Christina Thornell very succinctly explains the history of Puerto Rico, how it became a commonwealth of the United States, how that status differs from that of a state, what governmental representation a commonwealth has and what the future holds for the American citizensof Puerto Rico....

On January 20, 2018, photographer Gary Cranfield and a friend went out into the snowy cold of Oswego, New York to look for animals they could photograph. They were just about to give up for the day when they spotted a beautiful snowy owl perched upon a sign, but by the time they were able...

Great Big Story visited with Dewi Tjahjadi, the proud proprietor of Warung Selasa (Indo Java), an Indonesian grocery store in Elmhurst, Queens that turns into one of New York City’s tiniest restaurants every Tuesday. The very amiable Tjahjadi explained that she and her family opened the store in order to provide people with Indonesian groceries...