Three Great Reasons Not To Defend Beyonce's Sampling of the Challenger Disaster
Challenger's first mission, STS-6. Photo via Department of Defense Brace yourself: I'm going to give Beyoncé more press. But it is in the name of all things noble and righteous, I promise. As you may...
View ArticleThis Eerie Game Was Made by Artificial Intelligence
If there’s one human characteristic that’s difficult to emulate in artificial intelligence, it’s creativity. We like to think our ability to imagine, design, and create is inimitable. Sure, a robot...
View ArticleThe Mathematical Reality of Reality: An Interview with Cosmologist Max Tegmark
The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, recording the "deepest-ever view of the universe." Image via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Flickr. Max Tegmark has a theory about reality. According to Max, who is...
View ArticleDrones Are Spying on Chinese Mountain Yaks
Photo via Flickr/CC. Hostels around Shangri-La sell themselves by telling tourists: “It will be just you and the Yaks!” One hostel in particular, the Lao Shay Youth Hostel, is known for its yak...
View ArticleOne Woman's Quest to Bring Bitcoin to Botswana
Alakanani Itireleng, Botswana's "Bitcoin Ambassador." All photo credts: Alakanani Itireleng Alakanani Itireleng, 36, believes in Bitcoin. “I love the prospect and the possibility that Bitcoin might...
View ArticleThe Revolutionary Power of Shrooms: Talking Radical Mycology with Peter McCoy
Peter McCoy at a Radical Mycology mushroom cultivation workshop (Image: Jorie Kennedy) Back in 2006, Peter McCoy and Maya Elson started Radical Mycology, a collaborative network of mushroom and fungal...
View ArticleIs a Toothbrush Really the Most Exciting Thing at CES?
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a chance to get a glimpse of the technologies of the near future; the awesome gadgets and gizmos you could soon get your hands on, for a price. This year’s...
View ArticleIf Driverless Cars Really Are the Future, the Government Might Have to Pay...
Image via RAND Corporation The crystal ball predictions about the future of driverless cars keep on rolling in. The latest is from a highly publicized study last week from IHS Automotive, which...
View ArticleLiteral Meatspace: Tech Firms in China and America Want to Rule Agriculture
via Surian Soosay/Flickr There’s something sort of charming and maybe a little sad about the founder and CEO of the world’s largest telecom-equipment maker waxing about how he would’ve probably been...
View ArticleChina's Historic Ivory Crush Is a Good First Step, But Only That
Ivory goods seized by Chinese customs in October, courtesy the Chinese government This morning, China crushed a 6.1 metric ton stockpile of illegal ivory, a big step for a country that's been labeled...
View ArticleMexican Cartels Are Using Firetruck-Sized Drillers to Make Drug Pipelines
Cartels are using horitonzal directional drills like this Ditch Witch JT8020 to carve out literal drug pipelines into the US, via MTI Equipment. In the beginning, they used catapults, dune buggies,...
View ArticleThis 'Invasive' Cockroach Was Just Trying to Come Home
Does "fives" still count if you wait 49 million years to come back? Photo: D.S. Shcherbakov A group of allegedly “invasive” species of cockroach may in fact be able to lay claim to their current North...
View ArticleWe've Been Going to CES for 800 Years
A medieval trade fair, the first CES. Image: Wikimedia A new consumer electronic product debuts every ten minutes over the four days of the Consumer Electronics Show; eventually the 3,000 attendant...
View ArticleThe Problem with Obama's New Public Privacy Advocate
Image via Wikimedia Commons If libertarians are right about any large politico-philosophical issue, it is that more bureaucracy hardly ever helps, especially over time. And so it's likely to be when...
View ArticleThe Best 'Simpsons' Episode in Years Was About Piracy
Last night, Fox aired the best Simpsons episode in at least a few years. I’d know, because I’ve been watching most of them. Unlike most people, I don’t think The Simpsons should go off the air. Of...
View ArticleThere Is a Ron Paul Coin, Because Obviously
Image via Ron Paul Coin During Ron Paul's run for presidency, one of his key planks was his plan to repeal the 16th amendment, close the IRS, and return to the gold standard. Now it's Ron's son Rand...
View ArticleCars Will Now Come With Pandora Radio—And Its Ads
Image via flickr Surprise, surprise, Pandora is one of a long list of web companies that monitors your online activity and sells your identity profile to brands so they can sell targeted ads to you. On...
View ArticleWhat the Kindle Has Over the iPad (and the Kindle Fire)
If you can’t see the upside to an e-reader, you’re welcome to come help me move. When I last moved, to a deluxe 4th floor walk-up, my cadre of sweaty, aching friends made me vow to either buy a Kindle...
View ArticleThe Mysterious 'Cicada 3301' Challenge Is Back for Another Year
The internet mystery that’s confused cryptographers, codebreakers, and puzzle enthusiasts since it first appeared at the beginning of 2012 is back with a new instalment. The Telegraph, which last...
View ArticleThe Pacific Ocean Isn't Dying Because of Fukushima
Rare is the scientific press release that hits the exact necessary gravity of the research: They tend to either be mind-numbingly complex, unnecessarily boring, or so sensational as to be unbelievable...
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