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Good News: After a Zombie Attack, We'll Have Enough Frozen Turkey for...
A hypothetical zombie (flickr/lisaragland)Let's just say that zombies attacked America on October 31, 2014. And this particular brand of zombies began their marauding with the nation's turkeys. And...
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5 Intriguing Things: Thursday, 11/28
Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station, finished station (René Robert/International Polar Foundation)1. Contemporary architecture in Antarctica. "Belgium's Princess Elisabeth is the first...
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In Honor of the Chinese ADIZ, Today's Novelty Aviation Footage
This is not part of the Chinese ADIZ. [See update below.] The planning behind, and consequences of, China's expansion of its Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, in the East China Sea remain...
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HP Lovecraft on Big Data
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it...
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Here's a Climate-Change Fix: a Giant Solar-Power Plant on the Moon
Victor R. Caivano/APShimizu, a Japanese architectural and engineering firm, has a solution for the climate crisis: Simply build a band of solar panels 400 kilometers (249 miles) wide (pdf) running all...
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5 Intriguing Things: Monday, 12/2
1. China launched a vehicle, the Chang'e-3, to the moon. "The Rover will be the first spacecraft in 37 years to make a soft landing on the Moon after Russia's Luna 24 mission in 1976. The Rover weighs...
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The Anatomy of a Cyber Monday Hustle
Last year, my wife received a fancy blender as a thank-you gift for delivering a lecture. The Breville BBL605 XL is a nice blender with a built-in smoothie setting and everything. When my dad came to...
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The Shipping Container
Busan New Port, South Korea (Reuters).At the world’s ports, rows of stacks of shipping containers in an array of colors create a rich metallic vibrancy. On construction sites they are used as storage...
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Why Birds Can Sleep on Branches and Not Fall Off
Ars AnatomicaYou ever see a bird clutching onto a branch high in a tree and wonder, "What happens if it falls asleep? How could it hold on?" The avian talon works through a "pulley system of tendons,"...
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How Scientists are Using Drones to Fight the Next Big Oil Spill
A drifter, deployed (CARTHE).More than three-and-half years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster spewed millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists are launching drones and...
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Researchers Discover the Hot New Technology: Throwing Javelins
A homo heidelbergensis skull (José-Manuel Benito Álvarez)iPhones, staplers, aluminum foil. Humans are surrounded and defined by their technologies. We might even say: Technology makes us human. But...
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A Drone Delivery Expert Answers the Big Questions About Amazon's Plans
AmazonTwo and a half years ago, Andreas Raptopoulos founded Matternet, a company devoted to creating a network of drones that could deliver lightweight packages. It's starting with medical...
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5 Intriguing Things: Tuesday, 12/3
1. The drone of the future. "It isn’t the law that is struggling to catch up to drone technology; it’s us. Like it or not, the NextGen computerized autonomous national airspace is coming. It’s not a...
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Congratulations, Ohio! You Are the Sweariest State in the Union
MarchexThere's a relatively long tradition, in the field of data visualization, of tracking the way we swear. This makes sense. Not only is it fun to track, but cursing is also conveniently specific as...
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Love on Death Row
Darius KazemiThe website is black. White words fade in and out at the top of the screen. I love you all I love you Israel I'll always remember you, and love you forever Yes, Love you mom, love you...
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The E-Reading Software That's Better Than Kindle or iBooks
Some old Penguin titles (Garry Knight/Flickr)Want to read books on a screen? Up to now, two large companies would make that easy for you. Option #1: Apple’s iBooks system. Chipper and colorful, iBooks...
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Here's Why Developing Countries Will Consume 65% of the World's Energy by 2040
ReutersThe Energy Shift now under way is as much geographical as it is technological. Case in point: By 2040, the developing world will account for 65 percent of the world’s energy consumption,...
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Why Are Glasses Perceived Differently Than Hearing Aids?
A common example of assistive technology (Patrick Murphy/Flickr)Without technology, the human body is a pretty limited instrument. We cannot write without a pen or pencil, nor eat hot soup without a...
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Norway Decided to Digitize All the Norwegian Books
Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Reuters)The National Library of Norway is planning to digitize all the books by the mid 2020s. Yes. All. The. Books. In Norwegian, at least. Hundreds of thousands of them....
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A Drone Scholar Answers the Big Questions About Amazon's Plans
After Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced that his company wanted to deliver packages with small unmanned aerial vehicles, many people have questioned the viability and wisdom of the idea. Yesterday, we...
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