Uh-oh. Do you use an ad blocker? You probably do. But if you also like to use YouTube, you may soon have to turn off that handy dandy ad skipper. YouTube is testing taking a hardline against ad blocker usage on its interface, using its own version of tactics other websites employ. Instead of blocking you from viewing page content if you’re using an ad blocker, YouTube could soon block you from viewing its videos. Ads, it seems are at the center of every conversation right now.

YouTube’s Ad Blocker Crackdown Is Ramping Up

As we saw on The Verge, in June, YouTube was running “a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.” This experiment entails warning users that they may no longer be able to watch videos on YouTube if they don’t disable ad blockers. If an ad blocker is active, users will be able to watch only three videos on YouTube before the platform stops letting them watch any more. And, as of October, it seems like this test has been ramped up in scope, with many users suddenly receiving the ad blocker warning.

Gizmodo reports that, initially, warnings against ad-blocker usage on YouTube could be immediately closed or closed after a brief period of time had elapsed. But now, when a user receives these YouTube pop-ups, they cannot close out of them and continue to view videos on Youtube unless the ad-blocker is disabled.

YouTube and Google’s Perspective

Google spokesperson Oluwa Falodun shared with The Verge, “We take disabling playback very seriously, and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube… In cases when viewers feel they have been falsely flagged as using an ad blocker, they can share this feedback by clicking on the link in the prompt.”

Additionally, YouTube communications manager Christopher Lawton noted that using an ad-blocker violates YouTube’s terms of service.

Of course, YouTube taking a stance against ad blockers is one we might have seen coming. One of the perks of YouTube’s paid version, YouTube Premium, is an ad-free experience. If users can get an ad-free experience anyway, they may not be as incentivized to sign up. The company shares, “YouTube’s ad-supported model supports a diverse ecosystem of creators, and provides billions of people globally access to content for free with ads.” There is, however, the fact that YouTube Premium costs $13.99/month, which is no small price to pay, especially as other streaming platforms become more expensive and complex to navigate.

YouTube shares finally, “We want to inform viewers that ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, and make it easier for them to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.” We imagine that is indeed what the platform wants.

Originally published on June 29, 2023.

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I know the old saying “money can’t buy happiness,” but I’m not so sure about that. It’s true money can’t buy certain things that bring me joy. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t pay for lots of stuff that does, though. And you know what would make me very happy after a lifetime of watching sci-fi movies and TV shows like Aliens and Gundam? Owning my very own operational mecha suit, that’s what. Do you have any idea how much I’d like that? Of course you do! It would bring you tremendous pleasure, as well. Now back to the original problem: that giant mecha source of happiness costs three million dollars.

The “transformable” ARCHAX robot from Tokyo’s Tsubame Industries makes science fiction an engineering reality. The machine (which we first heard about at Kotaku) stands more than 14.7-feet tall and weighs an imposing 3.5-tons. It’s impressive as a piece of art, except this is no stationary device. It has two working modes, as it can go from upright robot mode to vehicle mode when a pilot climbs into the steel cockpit inside the four-wheeled device’s chest.

From there the operator can use a joystick and foot pedals to make it go. Pilots can move the robot’s articulated arms and hands, which is when it really comes alive. (Good luck watching that video and not geeking out.) ARCHAX can only get up to six miles-per-hour but, considering its weight, that’s really best for literally everyone.

The air-conditioned cockpit also comes equipped with four monitors attached to nine cameras. They provide a live look at your surroundings, that way you can safely show off your pricey mecha suit to friends and also keep an eye out for rogue Xenomorphs. Honestly, even a monster alien would find this impressive. They might even ask to use it. ARCHAX is somehow even cooler than it sounds.

You and your fellow super wealthy friends can pre-order your ARCHAX now. For three million dollars you’ll also get to choose from one of six colors: Sapphire Blue, Pearl White, Spark Red, Atlantis Green, and Midnight Purple.

No matter the color you opt for, I hope yours brings you much joy. For the record, it would make me feel very good to take your mecha suit out for a test drive if you buy it for three million dollars. Your money can certainly buy me happiness.

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Recently, we learned that a newly discovered type of snake was named after Indiana Jones. Well, after the actor who portrayed him. Now, we’ve got that topped. Because that’s just one snake after all. Thanks to the folks at Gizmodo, we’ve learned that Brazilian scientists from the Emilio Goeldi Paraense Museum have found three new species of spiders, which they are naming after the “Big Three” of Enterprise bridge crews from Star Trek—Captain James T. Kirk, Mister Spock, and Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy. The spiders belong to the Roddenberry genus, which is of course named after Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry.

The scientists discovered these spiders across different locations in Latin America. They found R. kirk in Costa Rica, while they discovered R. spock in Campeche, Mexico, and R. mccoy in Big California Sur, also in Mexico. Co-authors Alexander Sánchez-Ruiz and Alexandre B. Bonaldo identified both a male and female specimen of the spider R. kirk. However, they only discovered a female R. spock and male R. mccoy. Unlike Indiana Jones, they named these spiders after the characters, not the actors. So no R. shatner or R. nimoy in this bunch, sadly.

The original Star Trek series inspired researchers after noticing how the arachnid anatomy resembled that of various starships seen in the iconic franchise. We’re not really sure we see that ourselves at all. Maybe the Enterprise saucer section a bit? But we guess they kind of look like some Klingon ships we’ve seen in the series. We bet these scientists were just super big Star Trek fans, and wanted to immortalize their favorite characters for eternity. We can’t say we blame them. Hey, maybe they discover some new species as time goes on, and we got a few spiders with names like R. uhura, R. sulu, R. scotty, and R. chekov. Get the whole Enterprise bridge crew their own arachnid counterparts.

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It’s official, after over 10 years of the distinctive flat edge, Apple is getting rid of its Lightning cable for iPhones, beginning with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. That’s right, after forcing everyone and their mother to buy Lightning cables since 2012, Apple is finally swapping over to a more universal cord and port for its iPhone products, the USB-C. I guess we must all evolve at some point, even the iPhone. This means that Apple and Android users will finally be charging their phones on the same port. Additionally, Apple is gearing up its iPhone to become a gaming device, one that can play full games like Resident Evil 4.

In discussing the change from the Lightning cable-powered iPhone to the USB-C-powered one, Apple touts the benefits this iPhone 15 evolution will bring to users. In a release, the company shares, “The new USB‑C connector is supercharged with USB 3 speeds—up to 20x faster than USB 2—and together with new video formats, enables powerful pro workflows that were not possible before.” Of course, it doesn’t note the European Union mandate that all phones sold in the region, including iPhones, have USB-C capabilities by December 2024. This mandate stipulates that a standard USB-C charging port for phones will be good for consumers and the environment. And that seems true.

Who among us has not at some point found ourselves stranded without a Lightning cable at the most inopportune moments? Hopefully, this shift from the Lightning port to USB-C port on the iPhone 15 will make a positive change. Given that Apple Watches, Macbooks, and iPads already use USB-C ports, we don’t expect too many complaints about this final sunsetting of the Lightning cord.

In addition, Apple’s updated AirPods Pro (2nd generation) will also swap lightning to USB-C. And new iPhone 15s will allow users to “charge AirPods or Apple Watch[es] directly from iPhone with the USB‑C connector.”

In addition to amending its port, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro is bringing with it updated gaming capabilities. A release shares, “iPhone 15 Pro brings true-to-life gaming to the palm of users’ hands with console titles never before seen on a smartphone, like Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.” These AAA titles will not be mobile versions of the games but a full, playable rendition. According to IGN, the iPhone 15 Pro will run at 30 frames per second. Additionally, games purchased for phones can variously run on newer iPads and Macs. Finally, GameSpot shares that the Backbone controller, which lets you transform your phone into a handheld console for games, will soon work with iPhones as well as Androids.

The Lightning-less, USB-C and gaming-friendly Apple iPhone 15 and 15 Pro will be released on September 22. As a final note for heavy photo-takers, the 15 Pro will have a version that offers 1 TB of storage.

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In May, Sony announced Project Q, a PS5 handheld gaming device, at its PlayStation showcase. Now called the PlayStation Portal, this “remote play dedicated device” has a release window and a price tag… And also some limitations. Here’s what we know about the PlayStation Portal.

Firstly, what is the PlayStation Portal, and what does it cost? A release from PlayStation shares more. It notes, the “PlayStation Portal remote player brings the PS5 experience to the palm of your hand. It includes the key features of the DualSense wireless controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. The vibrant 8-inch LCD screen is capable of 1080p resolution at 60fps, providing a high definition visual experience that’s expected from the high-quality games created by world-class developers.” The PlayStation Portal costs $199.

Basically, the PlayStation Portal is a portable device you can use to play all your PS5 favorite games. Sony suggests you can use it in cases where your TV screen is otherwise occupied… Or if you just want to visit a different room than your console. If you want to play PS5 games in your bed, it sounds convenient. The PlayStation Portal remote device will let you play your PS5 games using Wi-Fi, but you do need to connect to your actual PS5 to do so. It will essentially mirror your PS5.

But without Wi-Fi, you won’t be able to use this device. Much to the disappointment of fans, the PlayStation Portal itself does not have 5G capabilities. It will also not stream games from PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud. Sony notes, “Games that require a VR headset (PlayStation VR or PlayStation VR2) or additional peripherals (other than a DUALSHOCK 4, DualSense, or DualSense Edge wireless controller) are not compatible. Games that must be streamed on PS5 using a PS Plus Premium membership are not compatible.”

Additionally, the Portal device does not have Bluetooth capabilities. Not even Sony’s PlayStation Pulse 3D headset will work with it. In order to hear your audio, you’re going to need wired headphones, Sony’s new Pulse Elite wireless headset, or its Pulse Explore wireless earbuds. These new Pulse products will use Sony’s “new wireless audio technology, PlayStation Link” to function.

The PlayStation Portal will release this year. If you want a slightly more portable way to play your PS5 games, it could be a good deal for you.

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Everyone has a streaming service these days. From Max to Peacock, there are a zillion services to sign up for and just as many things to watch. And streaming services are almost constantly in the news for price hikes and new restrictions, like ad-supported tiers. But we never thought we’d see the day where there is a NASA streaming service. Readers, that day is coming really soon. NASA announced that it will launch a streaming service called NASA+. Unlike many other streaming services, NASA+ will be free of cost and ads, which is awesome because we love to not spend money!

What Kind of Content Will Be on NASA+?

That’s a great question. NASA+ will offer live event coverage (think rocket launches) as well as original video series. No, there will not be alien talk shows nor a continuous loop of Beyoncé’s “Alien Superstar” playing. (Although we would love both of those things.) We don’t know any specifics about its upcoming content but the government agency is pretty stoked about this new offering. “We’re putting space on demand and at your fingertips with NASA’s new streaming platform,” said Marc Etkind, associate administrator at NASA. “Transforming our digital presence will help us better tell the stories of how NASA explores the unknown in air and space, inspires through discovery, and innovates for the benefit of humanity.”

It is all a part of NASA’s revamping strategy, which will include a fresh look to its website as well as the official app. There’s even a beta version of its website that you can browse right now.

How Can I Get NASA+ and What Is Its Release Date? 

NASA+ will be available in the NASA app (on iOS and Android) as well as Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku, and on the internet. NASA’s new streaming service is set to arrive sometime in late 2023.

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We’ve reached a new evolution in food delivery thanks to Domino’s Pizza—and it’s one that makes sense. It’s not quite the instant replicator of our Star Trek dreams, but we have come a step closer to getting food to come to us wherever we are. Hopefully, a sci-fi machine is next, but in the meanwhile, Domino’s has taken the next logical step of the food delivery system. Now, thanks to its new “Pinpoint Delivery” system, Domino’s can deliver pizza to locations that don’t have real addresses, think the beach, the park, or the concert line. Here’s more about how this new Domino’s food delivery system works.

According to a release, customers can just “drop a pin on the map and get pizza delivered virtually anywhere.” Additionally:

With Domino’s Pinpoint Delivery, customers can receive their order at a countless number of dynamically created hyper-local spots without a typical address. Domino’s Pinpoint Delivery allows customers to track their order with Domino’s Tracker^®, see their driver’s GPS location, view an estimated time of arrival and receive text alerts about their delivery. Domino’s will also alert customers when their delivery expert arrives at the pickup spot, at which time they can activate a visual signal on their phone, which will help the driver spot them.

With our phones broadcasting our locations at nearly all times, this seems like the obvious next innovation in food delivery. We can’t always be home when we’re hungry. Of course, we assume the caveat is that a Domino’s location still needs to be in range in order for us to get our pizzas at ephemeral spots. Of course, we’ll also have to have steady phone service in the place we’re ordering from. And obviously, in crowded locations, this could create something of a difficulty at the point of hand-off. Hopefully, those ordering from the beach will think ahead and communicate their locations well. Additionally, cash payments do not function for Pinpoint Delivery, and you cannot change your location once you’ve input it.

Ultimately, this form of food delivery, where food is delivered to a specific point instead of a specific address, will likely need to be iterated. However, it does seem like it’s the natural direction for food delivery to go. Domino’s is pretty good at staying at the forefront of delivery innovation. And we feel certain we’ll see it used as a plot point in a movie sometime soon. Food can often take a leading role, after all.

Domino’s Pinpoint delivery system is now available at “nearly all” locations.

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There’s nothing more untimely than typing out an impassioned speech only to see autocorrect has changed your carefully chosen words into “duck” and “ducking.” Sure, it could bring a laugh in a tense situation. However, the gulf between the word you probably intended and “duck” is most likely large. Telling jokes is not really autocorrect’s purpose. While it may feel like Apple’s autocorrect is there to sanitize your speech, Apple sees the issue. The company will finally make sure the word “duck” will only appear when you’re alluding to the charming animal. If your intention is to swear, Apple’s latest autocorrect update for iPhones and the like will learn that about you and stop bringing out the duck.

Duck yeah, autocorrect! Craig Federighi, the Head of Apple’s Software Engineering, shared this evolution at WWDC 2023. He noted, “In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too.” This new version autocorrect will come to Apple’s products as part of the iOS 17 software update coming in September. Autocorrect will now function using artificial intelligence technology. It will better learn a user’s speech patterns, including when they’d like to swear instead of quack. Although, who knows, some of you may have just adopted “ducking” into your daily lives thanks to autocorrect.

In addition to making autocorrect more swear-friendly, the update will add other enhancements to the feature. Autocorrect will also receive “a refreshed design to better support typing, and sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes. Users will now receive predictive text recommendations inline as they type, so adding entire words or completing sentences is as easy as tapping the space bar, making text entry faster than ever.”

Well, duck. We just hope we won’t start to see autocorrect adding swears in when we’re just trying to appreciate wildlife.

The post Apple’s Autocorrect Update Will Finally Let You Swear, It’s About Ducking Time! appeared first on Nerdist.

Isn’t that what we always dreamed of? Apple’s first new major device in nearly ten years is a new AR or mixed reality headset called “Apple Vision Pro.” This new device is “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, while allowing users to stay present and connected to others.” It sounds like a bit of a headache to us, but on the plus side, it does let you look like a futuristic beetle. Guilty as charged, our eyes are already glued to our iPhone’s much of the time, but we’re not sure if having those capabilities literally on our eyes will hinder or hurt. Here’s Apple’s introductory video for AR headset. Apple released the device as part of WWDC23. Here’s what the Apple Vision Pro can do.

What Is Apple Vision Pro?

According to Apple, Vision Pro “creates an infinite canvas for apps that scales beyond the boundaries of a traditional display and introduces a fully three-dimensional user interface controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice.” And has visionOS, “the world’s first spatial operating system.” The company shares that this will bring digital content into the real world in a whole new way. Apparently it will make digital content look and feel more like it is present in actual reality. But don’t worry, if someone approaches, the device will become transparent—allowing you to interact with the real world if that’s what you want.

Fun with This AR Headset

Among other things, VisionPro also also gives you infinite screen real estate, which, again, sounds vaguely like a threat, and brings all your favorite apps to life around you to allow for even more productivity…

The Vision Pro will also have space for fun, though. The product’s description shares:

With two ultra-high-resolution displays, Apple Vision Pro can transform any space into a personal movie theater with a screen that feels 100 feet wide and an advanced Spatial Audio system. Users can watch movies and TV shows, or enjoy stunning three-dimensional movies. Apple Immersive Video offers 180-degree high-resolution recordings with Spatial Audio, and users can access an exciting lineup of immersive videos that transport them to entirely new places.

Over 100 Apple Arcade games will be available to play on the Vision Pro at launch. And the Disney+ app will be available on Apple Vision Pro from “Day One.” It looks like there will be some new capabilities on the Vision Pro, such as watching games from different angles and learning more information about the content viewed while watching. Users will also be able to access their photos via the Vision Pro and view them at life-size scale. We do smell a Black Mirror episode coming. But we can’t help but wonder will Din Grogu look even cuter via this device?

When Will Apple Vision Pro Release and What Does It Cost?

“Day One,” a.k.a. the release date of Apple Vision Pro, is still uncertain. Apple only shares that it will be available early next year. However, we do know what it costs. If you want Apple Vision Pro, the new device will begin at $3,499. But can you really put a price on forgetting reality exists?

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Pets bring so much joy to our lives. It’s hard to replicate in robotic pets, but companies keep trying. For those who are allergic or kids training for a real dog, robotic dogs have been on the market since 1999. The latest is called Dog-E and it comes with a million possible combinations of lights, eye shapes, and sounds. While that mostly includes pastel colors and shapes like hearts and stars, it still somehow looks unsettling. We’re not sure this is a snoot we want to boop.  

Dog-E certainly has some interesting traits though. Its tail conveys written messages through the same optical illusion used in those spinning wands that were popular in the 2010s. The 10-inch-tall pup has sensors that respond to being pet and a tongue that sticks out. Families can create their own profile with one Dog-E. The dog looks and acts differently based on who it’s interacting with. There are four options for the dog’s main personality: licky and loving, sweet and lazy, protective and hungry, or playful and energetic. If you want to add one to your family, it’s available for pre-order. It costs $80, with shipping expected in September 2023. 

Gizmodo reports that the E-Dog is just one of many headed to the market that were shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Robo-dogs aren’t the only colorful tech to come out of the convention, BMW also debuted their trippy E Ink concept car.

We’ve seen a lot of variety when it comes to robo-pets. In Japan, there’s stuffed animal robots that nip your fingers and dinosaurs that serve ice cream. One company has developed robotic dolphins intended to replace those in captivity in theme parks. And of course there’s the Boston Dyanimcs robo-dogs, some of which work for NASA. Or people who don’t own pets could simply head to the local dog park or cat café to make a new friend.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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As The Last of Us prepares to hit the small screen on HBO this month, Nerdist’s Kyle Anderson got to thinking about zombie apocalypses and which of our favorites from pop culture could actually happen. From I Am Legend to 28 Days Later, find out which of these viruses are the most scientifically possible on today’s episode of Nerdist Now!

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Blowing bubbles (and chasing after them) is a fun pastime that never gets old. That’s why those light-up bubble wands are everywhere. But who knew it could also be a winter sport? Thankfully, a few incredible photographers have taken gorgeous pictures and videos and clued us in to this freezing phenomenon. The bubbles look like a natural snow globe forming before our very eyes. And it’s as simple as using bubble solution in cold weather, or making your own mix of water, dish soap, and glycerin.

The video above, which we saw on Laughing Squid, shares macro photography of the soap bubbles as they ice over. The bubble with tiny snowflakes and fern-like ice coming together are undeniably beautiful. But when the soap bubbles freeze over completely, it’s especially interesting to watch them pop. The thickness and texture of the leftover frozen soap is a definite surprise.

Assuming the -10 degrees the photographer mentions is the temperature in Celsius, that’s only 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Spending some extra time outdoors in that weather seems almost reasonable (even to this Southern Californian) when that much beauty is the reward. Next time it’s freezing outside, you bet I’m going to go and blow some bubbles of my own. 

The Another Perspective YouTube channel is full of other amazing macro photography, including of snowflakes, spiders, and mushrooms. The artist also shoots close-up shots of non-freezing bubbles, which are much more colorful and certainly beautiful in their own way. They uploaded a how to video in case you want to try getting some similar images for yourself. Or there’s a few other ways to get truly ethereal photographs, like light painting time-lapses and choreographing underwater shots. And if you’re looking for more frozen soap bubble content, there’s also video of one that levitates using magnets. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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BMW revealed its latest concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas and it made quite the splash. There’s no door handle or any buttons on the dashboard, and there’s a winking eye where the headlights should be. But the biggest attention-getter is the customizable color-changing technology. Using an app, you can choose from 32 colors. And with 240 different segments, the possibilities are endless. Racing stripes, color blocks, and any other combination you can dream up displays almost instantly across the car’s external palette.

Last year, BMW debuted the iX Flow, which used a similar technology but could only change its exterior color between white, gray, and black. Now that incredible idea is completely overshadowed by this new concept car. It’s called the i Vision Dee. Dee stands for “Digital Emotional Experience.” The huge increase in tint options comes thanks to some familiar colors. Just like a desktop printer, the car uses cyan, magenta, and yellow to create the vast variety of shades. 

The color-shifting conveyance uses E Ink, a name you might be familiar with if you have a Kindle or certain Android phones. The basics of how E Ink works relies on magnetic fields to shift between shades. In the case of an entire car’s exterior, what is essentially a paper-thin electronic coating doesn’t yet hold up to the elements. The video below shows a slow-speed test drive of the i Vision Dee on the Las Vegas Strip, but the car can’t handle much more than that for now. The concept car, which we saw on CNBC, is just that and not actually ready for the consumer market. 

While we wait for our color-changing car, we still have inspiration from the animal kingdom. Some species, like octopuses and squids, can change colors to match their surroundings. Camouflage isn’t a necessary feature for a car though, and actually sounds potentially unsafe. But boy, does it look cool!

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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3D-printing technology has led to humans having almost anything we need in only a few simple steps. That apparently includes scale models of our own internal organs. That way, surgeons can practice on an exact replica of the body they’ll soon be operating on. Which is all well and good, but we’re not sure we could stomach actually watching our own organs go under the knife. Even if it is only a model. But that’s exactly what YouTuber Tom Scott does in the video below. And while it’s not a Voodoo doll, he understandably cringes and grabs his own abdomen while watching the surgery on his 3D-printed organs.  

Scott linked up with the company Lazarus 3D that makes the 3D-printed body parts. After getting an MRI of his abdomen, he literally unboxes a replica of himself. The process recreates the shape and size of his actual organs. But, in this case, the company added a cyst on his left kidney. The surgeon walks Scott through everything, pointing out the arteries, veins, and other odds and ends. It all looks a bit like Silly Putty and Gak, but it’s definitely not child’s play. Thankfully, the dummy Scott’s organs and vessels aren’t filled with the gushing red blood stand-in the company offers.

Scott remains remarkably calm while his faux abdomen and its 3D-printed organs is poked, prodded, and snipped. But then again, he has already seen his body as colorful 3D X-rays in a previous video on his YouTube channel. He also came face to face with a robotic double of himself, which would freak most people out.

Watching the robot respond to the surgeon’s gestures is particularly interesting. The tiny tools move with his hands when he’s explaining things to Scott. Other similar medical advances include experimental robotic surgeries with no human control. Researchers have also created 3D-printed tumors to find helpful treatments and surgeries. All this technology means a higher surgery success rate, but thankfully it doesn’t require you to watch.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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What will happen to your body after you die? It’s a big decision that many people may not really want to think about. And now there’s a new option, an alternative to the usual practices of burial or cremation. Human composting just became legal in New York. It is the sixth state in the U.S. to allow the environmentally friendly practice, following California, Washington, Colorado, Vermont, and Oregon. The body is mixed with wood chips, alfalfa, and straw to naturally decompose over the course of a few months. The process generates about a cubic yard of soil. Your loved ones can use it in their gardens or scatter in your favorite places.  

Recompose charges $7,000 for the human composting service, which we first learned about on Gizmodo. It’s pretty similar to choosing a reusable bag instead of paper or plastic at the grocery store. If you’re looking to do more to help the environment and reduce your carbon footprint, the Washington-based company can help. According to estimates, 5.3 million gallons of embalming chemicals like formaldehyde are buried every year with dead bodies. And cremation leads to the release of about a metric ton of carbon dioxide per person. That’s roughly the same as the average U.S. car produces in three months.

You can donate the soil to the Bells Mountain Forest in Washington state. Based on the image above, it looks like a lovely place to spend eternity. Or family members receive eight cups of soil from each human composting, or can opt to pick up the entire pickup truck-load. They can scatter the soil as they would ashes, or bury it as they would for someone who wants a casket funeral. This isn’t the first environmentally friendly funeral idea we’ve come across. A company in the Netherlands makes coffins out of fungus for sale that help naturally decompose human bodies.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Astronomers recently captured some of the highest resolution images of the Sun ever taken. They show the surface of the Sun in stunning detail, and offer close-up looks at phenomena such as sunspots. Up close, those apparently look like the mouths of sandworms from Dune.

The image of the sunspot above was taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope near the 10,000-foot-high summit of Haleakalā in Maui. The sunspot itself is about 5,000 miles across, and each golden nugget surrounding it is roughly the size of Texas. Remarkably, the telescope can see details as small as 18 miles across. It, along with the probe NASA recently used to collect samples from the Sun, will likely lead to many new discoveries about the star we orbit.

Astronomers utilizing GREGOR, the largest solar telescope in Europe, also recently shared images. They described their work in a press release from the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics (KIS). In the KIS release, which comes via Futurism, the astronomers discussed their paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics outlining how they revamped GREGOR over the last year.

“This was a very exciting but also extremely challenging project,” Dr. Lucia Kleint said in the KIS release. Kleint, a senior researcher and professor at KIS, led the revamp of GREGOR. “In only one year, we completely redesigned the optics, mechanics, and electronics to achieve the best possible image quality,” Kleint added.

The GIF above shows one of the sunspots Kleint and her team captured. It’s unclear how large this particular sunspot is, but they range from roughly 1,000 to 31,000 miles in diameter. In general, GREGOR is able to image details as small as 31 miles in diameter. For reference, the astronomers say this would be “as if one saw a needle on a soccer field perfectly sharp from a distance of one kilometer [or .62 miles].” And, as mentioned above, our ability to image the sun is only improving.

Kleint et al. were also able to capture the “intricate structures of solar magnetic fields” in high resolution. For those unfamiliar, electrical currents inside the Sun generate a magnetic field that surges and ebbs cyclically, causing violent activity on the star’s surface. GREGOR’s close-up image of one of those structures is immediately below.

By studying the Sun’s magnetic fields, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of their influence on Earth. This will be important for guarding our technological infrastructure, including satellites, the astronomers say. No word yet on whether or not anyone has been worthy enough to ride the mighty sunspot.

Originally published September 9, 2020.

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Would you consider living in a top-heavy tower that looks like a Jenga game ready to fall? It may not be among the wonders of the modern world or on the list of biggest skyscrapers in the world, but the 53-story Vancouver House is definitely a marvel. The building fits in a tiny triangular footprint between off-ramps and the Granville Bridge. Most people thought it was an impossible place to put a building, but Danish architect Bjarke Ingels designed one that gets larger the higher up it goes. The result is a trippy “Upside-Down” tower that looks like it’s ready to topple over.  

The video above is part of the Smithsonian Channel’s series How Did They Build That? For those interested in learning about amazing feats of engineering, the channel also shares other clips from episodes of the show on YouTube. There are more wild architectural marvels like bridges, parks, and even an Antarctic base on the list to go along with the upside-down building. Another cool clip shows off the design of the skinniest skyscraper in New York City and how it keeps from blowing over in the wind. Add that to the list of places we would love to see but may be too scared to get into. But that’s just as well since it’s not exactly an affordable place to live.

The Canadian skyscraper is 515 feet tall, the fifth highest in Vancouver, British Columbia. Despite its risky appearance, the building is home to almost 500 apartments. After years of construction, it was finished in 2020. Most of the units, including a three-story penthouse, sold long before the building had even opened. It’s certainly a beautiful place for a home. But we’re not sure we could ever relax knowing there is nothing solid below our feet. The view from the plentiful balconies must be extra terrifying as well. We guess maybe this is one building that would be better in Stranger Things‘ realm of The Upside Down.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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The Perseverance rover on Mars dropped off a tube of rock samples and it looks like it came straight from a galaxy far, far away. There’s (probably) no kyber crystals inside, but it bears a strong resemblance to a lightsaber. Somehow we doubt that the design similarities are an accident. There’s probably a bunch of Star Wars-loving nerds at NASA geeking out over this moment as well. If you’ve seen Apollo 13, you’ll know that NASA is also capable of the same kit-bashing skills that led to the iconic lightsaber hilts.

Whether or not the sample holder is meant to look like a lightsaber, the task of returning them to Earth is a big deal. Each hilt (or sample tube) is filled with a sample collected by Perseverance. NASA shares information about each one, including pictures from the rover of the drill site. Not counting the pet rock it picked up in its wheel while roving around Mars, Perseverance has collected 18 samples. The rover dropped the first one at a potential pickup spot near its original landing site. Next, it took the picture above to make sure the sample hadn’t rolled under the rover’s wheels. It will drop more lightsabers/tubes over the course of the next two months. But it also holds onto duplicates of each sample in case anything goes wrong. 

Returning the samples to Earth is a long term goal. NASA is aiming to put a lander on Mars in 2028 and the samples may not make it back to Earth until 2033. Even then, scientists would preserve some of the the rocks for decades. That way, they can be analyzed with technology that doesn’t even exist yet. Researchers did the same with lunar samples collected by the Apollo program, some of which they are just now studying 50 years later.

If you want your own lightsaber/Perseverance sample tube, you can try kit-bashing your own build. Or put one together on your next trip to Savi’s Workshop at Galaxy’s Edge in the Disney theme parks. That way, you’ll get to choose what color your lightsaber is. We assume all those coming back from Mars will be red.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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The James Webb Space Telescope continues to deliver awe-inspiring images and insights into the universe. Its mirror is six times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been taking stellar pictures since 1990. But it’s not just about size. The new telescope records infrared wavelengths rather than visible light so it can see farther and more clearly. Older stars appear as bright eight-pointed spikes in the Webb telescope pictures below due to the way the images are taken. But it also adds to the ethereal nature of each image as we peer farther and farther into infinity.

A Holiday Galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope shared this festive image just in time for the holiday season. Galaxy NGC 7469‘s spiral looks like a wreath, complete with glowing lights. The large red starburst is actually made up of spikes from the telescope’s hexagonal mirrors caused by the light from the galaxy’s center. The gas and dust shines brightly as it falls into a black hole, but doesn’t it look lovely? Scientists are excited about the star-forming regions they can now see thanks to the telescope’s infrared cameras. But it’s also the perfect image for this year’s holiday card.

An Illuminating Protostar

A new star, “only” about 100,000 years old, is forming in the neck of this cosmic hourglass. The protostar L1527 itself is hidden in this view, but the light it creates illuminates clouds of gas and dust that are being sucked inwards. The vivid pinks, oranges, and blues are only visible in the infrared light of the James Webb Space Telescope. As the star ages, it gathers these nearby materials into its accretion disk, gaining mass and eventually reaching the size and stability of a full star. 

The James Webb Space Telescope Captures the Pillars of Creation

The first image of the Pillars of Creation from the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 is one of the most widely seen space photos. Now the James Webb Space Telescope adds its remarkable abilities to share even more of the wonder that is the Pillars of Creation with the world.

The near-infrared view of this cosmic nursery 6,500 light years away reveals many new details. The red dots seen on the edges of the top pillar are young stars, only a few hundred thousand years old. The red lava-like areas in the other pillars are ejections of hydrogen molecules from still-forming stars. The entire image is eight light years across but represents only a small area of the Eagle Nebula. This image from the James Webb Space Telescope is truly astounding.

In addition, we also got to see a slightly more creepy version of the Pillars of Creation courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope. This rendition was taken with the telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The first image, meanwhile, was taken with the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This second view allows researchers to see concentrations of gas and dust. But it also makes for another amazing, slightly horror-movie-inspired image from the James Webb Telescope.

Dust Rings Around Binary Stars

The James Webb Space Telescope imaged a system with two enormous stars, each 25-30 times more massive than our Sun. Called Wolf-Rayet 140, their orbits bring them close together about every eight years. The gravitational forces push out a huge dust cloud when that happens. Previous images from ground-based telescopes could see two dust rings, but the new image from JWST shows at least 17. Check out this video from JPL for a visualization of the two stars orbiting each other and a comparison to the older images. 

Neptune’s Rings in Focus Courtesy of the JWST

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured the clearest view of Neptune’s ring in more than 30 years. We see the rings and the planet’s fainter dust bands. Neptune system expert and interdisciplinary scientist Heidi Webb said, “It has been three decades since we last saw these faint, dusty rings, and this is the first time we’ve seen them in the infrared.”

Tarantula Nebula

The image above of the Tarantula Nebula is 340 light years across. It introduces us to tens of thousands of stars never seen before because they were lost in the dust of Hubble’s view. The region forms news stars, which appear pale blue. And in case you’re trying to find the eight-legged creature the nebula is named for, apparently it looks like a tarantula’s burrow with silk around the entry, rather than the spider itself. The video below also shows the mid-infrared image from the Webb Telescope. Gases and cosmic dust glow turquoise and purple. It’s beautiful to us casual observers, but adds even more data for astronomers.

The James Webb Space Telescope Reveals the Phantom Galaxy

Also known as M74, the Phantom Galaxy is 32 million light years away in the constellation Pisces. When compared to pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, the image from the James Webb Space Telescope cuts through the gas and dust to show off the star clusters at the galaxy’s core. Stars and other distant objects are also visible through patches in the arms of the spiral. Combining the images from the two space telescopes gives astronomers the best of both worlds. The visible and infrared light spectrums provide complementary insights into the mesmerizing center of the Phantom Galaxy.

Exoplanet HIP 65426 b

Images of this faraway planet are the first of one outside of our Solar System. Different cameras and filters on the James Webb Space Telescope provide multiple views and insights to astronomers. HIP 65426 b is a gas giant nine times the mass of Jupiter, but we don’t know much more about it yet. Scientists are analyzing all the new data from the Webb Telescope. They removed the light from the planet’s sun using a coronagraph. Once the much brighter star was masked, the faint planet could finally be photographed. 

First Images from the JWST

Keep up with the telescope’s Twitter account to see the newest images and research. These include tests taken right here in our own Solar System. Like stunning views of Jupiter, including aurora and some of its many moons. And plenty of distant targets, like the Cartwheel Galaxy and its swirling dust clouds. And of course the first images, including a deep field view that included the oldest and farthest away objects ever photographed.

Originally published September 6, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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A robot on Mars ended its successful science mission with a poignant social media post. InSight, a lander that’s been on the red planet since November 2018, signed off with one final message below. Its solar panel are covered in Martian dust and it cannot recharge or send more messages back to Earth. The goal of this NASA robot was to track marsquakes and learn about the planet’s molten core over the course of two years. The last time NASA was able to communicate with InSight was December 15, 2022, just over four years from its landing. Farewell and congratulations on a job well done, InSight! We won’t worry about you, but we’ll think of you fondly.

The lander also carried names to the red planet. The supporters that list represents are likely not the only ones sad to see InSight sign off for the last time. Its well-deserved retirement is a bittersweet occasion for the science team. It’s also not the first time an anthropomorphized NASA robot has made us sad. Back in 2018, the rover Opportunity signed off with a last message of: “my battery is low and it is getting dark.” That machine designed for a 90-day mission operated for nearly 15 years. And then there’s the Curiosity rover, which sang “Happy Birthday” to itself back in 2013. But InSight’s final message really does hit hard.

InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. The various probes and measuring equipment recorded marsquakes and weather changes over the years. The information about tremors helps scientists understand Mars’ interior, including the planet’s mantle and crust. 

While it’s sad to see InSight sign off, the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are still working hard on the surface of the Mars. The news, which we saw thanks to Kotaku, comes as NASA plans more missions to the red planet. The agency plans to return samples from Perseverance and the Artemis missions to the Moon act as training to land the first people on Mars.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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If we’ve learned anything from pop culture, it’s that the best heists include lasers and can lead to fun and sometimes sexy scenes, like in Oceans 12 and Entrapment. Scientists have also been using lasers to do everything from brew coffee to track space debris. Now there’s a discovery that’s much less fun to learn about unless watching a scientist looking at data while remote-triggering a toilet amuses you. But it’s important science. Apparently, commercial toilets can fling water from the toilet bowl five feet in the air when flushed. And that seems like something we should all know, even if it’s disconcerting. 

The water flushed into a toilet bowl forces some of the contents out into the air, in what the scientific team described as a “strong chaotic jet.” “Even though we expected to see these particles, we were still surprised by the strength of the jet ejecting the particles from the bowl,” says lead scientist and engineering professor John Crimaldi in an article for The Conversation, which we saw on Geeks Are Sexy. 

The researchers published their findings in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. They suggest that designing different toilet shapes or valves could help reduce these plumes of particles. Closing the lid also reduces the spread and height of the toilet water spray, though they didn’t visualize whether some particles still escape or where they all go instead.

There’s more science to do, whether we want to know the truth or not. The researchers performed the experiments in an open room. The presence of stall doors and ventilation could alter the plumes of spewing toilet water. The team didn’t specifically look at disease transmission, but it’s likely that flu and other germs spread this way. The scientists also didn’t include anything but water in the toilet bowl, stating in the article that: “The presence of fecal matter and toilet paper could alter plume dynamics in unpredictable ways.” But, isn’t that kind of important for us to know about too? Guess we’ll stay tuned for the next toilet water study.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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There’s been a lot of buzz hubbub surrounding the recent arrival of so-called “murder hornets” in the US, with factoids and pictures of the relatively large flying monsters terrorizing the internet. But just how frightened should you be of these vicious-looking insect immigrants? It turns out, according to experts and data, not all that frightened. Unless you’re a honeybee.

The Murder Hornets, which are technically referred to as Asian giant hornets, or Vespa mandarinia, are the world’s largest hornets. They are native to temperate parts of East Asia, South Asia, and the Russian Far East, although the reason you’ve only recently heard of them, most likely, is because of the fact that they have now been spotted in the US for the first time ever.

Gary Alpert

While the news is only breaking now, the Asian giant hornets were actually spotted in the US in December of last year, in Washington State. At that time, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) received and verified four reports of the Asian giant hornets near the cities of Blaine and Bellingham. It’s not clear to officials how exactly the Asian hornets managed to make it to the US, but according to Seth Truscott at WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, “Insects are frequently transported in international cargo and are sometimes transported deliberately.”

In terms of how deadly these Asian giant hornets are, the answer is: very. The jumbo arial assaulters are armed with quarter-inch-long stingers that are able to inject large amounts of potent venom into their victims, which are most often other insects, but also—very, very rarely—humans. In the latter, the hornets’ venom can reportedly cause skin hemorrhaging and necrosis, organ failure, and death.

In terms of sheer pain factor, according to wildlife educator and YouTuber Coyote Peterson, a person who’s stung by an Asian giant hornet should expect to feel something on par with famed-boxer Mike Tyson “taking an open shot right at your jaw.” In the below video, you can watch Peterson writhe in agony as he willingly injects himself with some of the hornets’ venom and subsequently enters “the sting zone.”

Despite its deadly venom and sizable stinger, you still shouldn’t fear Asian giant hornets, especially if you live in the US. Not only is the WSDA actively trying to eradicate the known populations of the hornets, but the odds of being stung by one are teensy tiny. As in, there have been zero reported stings by Asian hornets in the US. so far, let alone deaths. And even in Japan, where there is far greater number of the insects, there are only a few dozen deaths a year.

For honeybees, however, it’s a different story. A single Asian giant hornet can kill as many as 40 bees per minute, and a group of 30 hornets can annihilate a hive containing 30,000 bees in less than four hours. It’s not all bad news for the bees though, as they can use a tactic referred to as “heatballing” to literally overheat and kill the monster ‘nets. Check out a quick clip of that fantastic eusocial defense mechanism immediately below.

No Sightings in 2022

Just before the end of 2022, the WSDA announced that they found no murder hornets in the US in 2022. We saw this good news on The Verge. While it takes three years before they declare the pests eradicated, this is certainly a good first step. Since they were first spotted in 2019, the agency has diligently been tracking down and destroying their nests in Washington state. Citizen scientists also got in on the project, reporting any sightings.

Featured Image: Gary Alpert

Originally published May 4, 2020. Additional reporting by Melissa T. Miller.

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We could all use less noise and air pollution in our lives. New headphones offer a solution, but they’ll set you back $949. The Dyson Zone boasts cutting edge acoustics plus an air-filtering magnetic visor. Dyson began development on this wearable version of their air purifiers in 2016. The idea is to create a bubble of clean air just for you as you go through your day. Pre-pandemic, would anywhere wear such a device? Now we’re all used to wearing face coverings and thinking about the air we breathe.

Dyson went through hundreds of prototypes to miniaturize the air filtration and delivery system. The Zone consists of a compressor fan in each headphone that draws air in. An electrostatic filter also in the ear piece collects particles. The purified air is then delivered via the visor to mouth and nose area. It doesn’t touch your face, but blows air at you from a small distance. It will also make you look a bit like Ant-Man.

The Verge tested the Dyson Zone. There are multiple fan speeds to compensate for heavier breathing when working out versus sitting at your desk. At the highest setting, the fans in the ear piece do add some noise even with noise cancellation activated. The size and weight of this first generation technology may be an issue. But there’s no denying that there’s a market for these in our modern world of air and noise pollution.

The Dyson Zone will be available in spring 2023. The battery lasts up to 50 hours when you’re just using the headphones, but that drops to four hours once you activate the air purifier. The magnetic visor is removable when you want to use just the headphones. Or if you don’t want to look like a Benzite from Star Trek. The visor also lowers on a hinge. This automatically reduces the noise cancellation of the headphones so you can conduct normal conversations. But when you’re wearing them, will anyone want to talk to you?

Originally published March 31, 2022.

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Scientists uncovered fossils that have a lot in common with modern-day swimming birds like ducks and penguins. This new dinosaur species fills in gaps about what we know about the aquatic lifestyle of Cretaceous critters. The artist’s recreation below shows off its ability to float on the water’s surface but also dive below and swim after fish. The team dubbed the new dinosaur Natovenator polydontus, which is Latin for “swim hunter many tooth.” It’s those teeth that give the otherwise friendly looking creature an air of danger. Will we see them in the next Jurassic World movie, nibbling at the toes of unsuspecting tourists?

Paleontologists discovered the fossils in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. Sometimes teams only find a few bones and have to recreate complete skeletons based on their best educated guesses. For example, the most complete T. rex skeleton only includes about half of the bones. There’s even some species that are known only from a single fossil. This find, however, consists of a nearly complete skull with many teeth as well as most of the neck, tail and limbs. In the image below, white bones represent those that the team uncovered and studied.

The peer-reviewed journal Communications Biology published the research, which we heard about from ScienceNews. Natovenator‘s streamlined body includes rib and limb bones that are flatter than those of other land-based dinosaurs. They are more similar to aquatic reptiles like crocodiles and turtles.

Though bones can only tell us so much about what animals really looked like, the scientific and artistic renderings of this new dinosaur definitely look like a combination of ducks, penguins, and velociraptors that we wouldn’t want to run into in the wild. It joins the much larger semi-aquatic Spinosaurus, which was also adapted to be an excellent swimmer.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Ever watch James Bond films and feel like being a villain would be more fun? The perks of having your own henchmen, lair, and kitty are pretty tempting. Now you can at least make believe by launching imaginary asteroids at Earth. An interactive website with an asteroid simulator lets you do just that. Just choose the size, speed, and impact angle and decide if the projectile is made up of gold, iron, stone, or carbon. You can even launch a comet, which is mostly ice and dust. So if those scary size comparison videos and doomsday asteroid simulations aren’t hands-on enough, or you just have a god complex, now you can get even more involved. Learning is fun, but most of these scenarios are pretty bleak. You’ll get a list of how many people would die from the various fireballs, earthquakes, and shock waves. 

We learned about this simulator thanks to Boing Boing using the example of the author’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Even though asteroids are more likely to hit water than land, it is somehow more fun (or horrifying, depending on your definition of fun) to hurl them at population centers and rack up your kill count.

When you create a fireball, it tells you how far away people would have to be for their clothes not to burst into flames. But there’s no mention of tsunamis caused by the impact. That would definitely be a huge problem if an asteroid hit the ocean. The simulator also doesn’t factor in elevation. For example, when chucking a small comet at Mount Everest, it says the projectile would disintegrate 1,861 feet above the Earth. But the peak is over 29,000 feet tall, so it would definitely wreak some havoc. 

This also assumes that NASA doesn’t launch a DART spacecraft to bonk your asteroid off-course and save the day. It’s comforting to know they are able to even if none of the killer asteroids on NASA’s radar are coming for Earth anytime soon. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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If silver-tongued devils are people known for flattery, what does that make a golden-tongued mummy? The first thing that comes to mind might be the creepy scene in 1999’s The Mummy when Imhotep takes the eyes and tongue of an unfortunate archaeologist. Thankfully, this story doesn’t take a dark turn. According to an Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Facebook post, archaeologists recently uncovered mummies with tongues made of gold. Historians believe ancient Egyptians practiced this funerary ritual to ensure the dead could speak for themselves in the court of Osiris, god of the underworld.

Researchers found many other adornments with the golden-tongued mummies, including jars, pots, and jewelry. They also uncovered golden scarab beetles and lotus flowers. Those performing the burials placed painted eyes over the eyes of the deceased to help them see in the afterlife. They buried the mummies in wooden coffins with brass nails, pieces of which the archaeologists discovered as well.

The methods used in mummification changed over many years. The golden tongues were a popular practice during the Greco-Roman period that lasted from 332 B.C. to 395 A.D.. The find, which we saw in Live Science, came during an excavation near Quesna, a city north of Cairo. Archaeologists in other areas of Egypt have found golden tongues before. They believe the tongues also help the dead taste all the goods brought with them into the afterlife. Though scientists are still studying the artifacts, they discovered the mummies in rooms that include multiple burial layers, meaning they were likely used over the course of many years.

It’s probably not the best idea to get ancient Egyptian history lessons from pop culture like The Mummy and Moon Knight, but there are some mythological insights in both. Who can forget the hippo goddess Taweret shuttling souls to the afterlife, golden tongues and all?

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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Flipping your fins you don’t get too far, but underwater scooters are designed to zip you around. Hold on tight to the Geneinno S2 for rides up to 2.7 miles per hour. That may not sound that fast but it is about half the top speed of Michael Phelps, who obviously swims much faster than the average person. Dart above coral reefs or dive down 100 feet to look at the world around you, right there on the ocean floor. Maybe you’ll even meet some friendly dolphins who want to play with you. And it won’t cost much, just $359 and you can begin your adventures under the sea.  

We saw this cool personal sea scooter on DesignTAXI. It only weighs six pounds and Geneinno touts it as being only slightly larger than a MacBook laptop at 19 by 10 inches (though it is also six inches tall). That’s still smaller and cheaper than the average personal underwater engines on the market. This one runs for about an hour. It also has a GoPro mount so you can share all your adventures with those poor unfortunate souls back on land. Interestingly, there’s an app that connects to the scooter. It includes a parental control function that can shut down the motors, which seems like a feature right out of a James Bond movie. Here’s hoping there’s no villains in your life waiting to disrupt your underwater plans.

For the well-funded underwater enthusiast, there’s personal submarines shaped like a manta ray or like a giant underwater bubble. Geneinno also sells other ways to document your underwater adventures, like camera drones for $2,400. Or you could always just make a version out of LEGO. If you’re more of an indoor person and don’t actually want to get wet, you’ve still got options. There’s a great selection of underwater video games to spend your time with instead. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Whether everyone likes it, big properties like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe aren’t afraid to use technology to de-age actors for flashback scenes and prequels. So it makes sense that Disney Research Studios has a team working on better processes. The newest breakthrough can digitally re-age faces to be either younger or older. It works in various lighting conditions and when the actor isn’t facing directly at the camera, whereas previous versions glitch out under those circumstances. It’s also production ready, so we could start seeing this better version of re-aging technology soon.

Similar to the system used in The Irishman, which Netflix and ILM developed, this system doesn’t require an actor’s face to be covered in tracking dots. It also doesn’t require visual effects artists to spend weeks erasing (or adding) wrinkles in every frame. The video above shows off the simple interface, where all you have to do is enter the actor’s age and how old you want them to look.

The research paper, which we first learned about on Gizmodo, introduces FRAN, which stands for Face Re-Aging Network. The peer-reviewed journal ACM Transactions on Graphics published the study. More insights about Disney Research’s behind the scenes tech is available on the YouTube channel. The facial recognition and modeling videos that show the leaps forward in animation and machine learning are particularly cool. 

Recent Star Wars shows also use voice de-aging technology. Artificial intelligence program Respeecher made Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian sound like Mark Hamill in the original trilogy. James Earl Jones recently retired, but his iconic Darth Vader performance lives on using the same AI in Obi-Wan Kenobi and future Star Wars properties.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Who doesn’t need a multi-colored armored spine just in time for the holidays? Sure, it makes a good cosplay addition, but it could also be used for other purposes. Perhaps the metallic armor is just the accessory you need to finally sit up straight in your office chair. Cyborgs certainly don’t slouch. You can buy your very own bionic glowing spine for $710-910, depending on the options you choose. What options are there for cyperpunk spines, you may ask. Well, the aluminum structure itself comes in either silver or black and has three sizes. So whether you need a small, medium, or large spine, the Etsy shop BionicConcepts has your back.

We saw this luminous tech on Technabob. The rig comes with a remote control to set the speed, brightness, and colors. And based on the Instagram feed, the designer has been working to improve it for years now. For those who want to incorporate cyberpunk aesthetic elements into their everyday lives, this Etsy artist has you covered from head to toe, front to back. The shop also sells wings, gauntlets, utility belts, and more items that bridge the divide between mechanical and fantastical.

The market for light-up cosplay pieces seem to expand every year as folks add new glowing accessories to their lives. Another great artist we learned about recently is Sophy Wong, who brings a colorful mixture of robotics and art to her 3D-printed pieces. But for those of us not crafty enough to make our own pieces, it’s nice to know Etsy has plenty of shops where we can spend our hard-earned cash on that perfect addition to our wardrobe.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Many of us tackled the egg drop experiment in science class at some point in our childhood. But this former NASA engineer took it to a whole other level. The stratosphere, to be specific. And just like you’d expect a former NASA engineer to, Mark Rober and his team constantly designed and redesigned a rig that would take an egg to space and drop it back to Earth. They had some help from other Jet Propulsion Lab alumni. And even a parachute made out of the same material used on Mars rovers. And just like the best NASA projects, years of trials, failures, and scrubbed launches are necessary steps to this successful project.

After starting the project three years ago, the video above thankfully ends in triumph. And it has over 17 million views in the few days since it was posted! Both the egg in the rocket and the redundant backup egg Rober insisted on including land back on Earth fully intact. Though the rig cut them loose at 100,000 feet (which is “only” about 19 miles up) rather than technically in space (which is about three times that high). The only thing missing is someone breaking the egg at the end to prove it was a regular egg. We’re sure they didn’t hard boil it in advance. But they do mention the addition of a warming device to keep the egg from freezing on the way up.  

Rober jokes about creating the world’s largest mattress and executing the world’s tallest egg drop. Even if those aren’t actual records he’s chasing, he already holds two Guinness World Records. One for highest elephant’s toothpaste fountain and the other for most dominoes set up and toppled in one hour. The Mark Rober YouTube channel has those and other fun but unnecessary feats of engineering, including the increasingly complex mazes he sets up for backyard squirrels and wildly convoluted glitterbomb traps for package thieves.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Alligators that live in the sewers of New York City may just be a myth, but now there’s a new critter to think about scurrying through the pipes. A Japanese company designed robotic spiders to scuttle through the sewers. But why, you may ask (while glancing suspiciously at your bathroom door)? While it may seem like the start of a horror movie, the idea is actually for the robots to inspect the over 300,000 miles of aging sewer lines throughout Japan. The “eyes” are actually LEDs to light the way and there’s a 360 degree camera mounted to the front. Because people cannot fit in the pipes, the robot operators use a game controller. 

We first saw these spider robots thanks to IEEE Spectrum. TMSUK showed off the SPD1 design in a setup with three of the units tethered together. The front sewer spider navigates, the second finds areas of the pipes in need of repair, and the last one makes those repairs with tiny tools. The spider bodies can crouch down, adjusting to different inner pipe diameters. They may not be ready to deploy yet, but “sewer spiders” will likely creep more than a few people out.

This isn’t the first time engineers have used natural designs while building robots to help make our lives easier. There are robots in the shape of lizards that wriggle and move in unconventional ways and some that look like perching birds and are able to grip onto things. There are even tiny versions of arachnid robots already, along with other robotic creepy crawlies like bugs and worms.

Why can’t they all just be cute robotic dolphins that swim with humans in order to save the real animals from a life in captivity? That’s technology we can really get behind.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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For the first time, scientists have simulated how far and fast the Chicxulub asteroid, a.k.a. the one that killed the dinosaurs, impact spread around the globe. Besides wiping out the dinosaurs, it changed much more than that about our planet. The asteroid hit the ocean in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, but it was so powerful that it ejected seafloor sediment and even part of the Earth’s crust miles into the atmosphere. It also caused a wave nearly three miles high. Even 10 minutes after impact, the wave was still about a mile tall and was racing outward, already over 130 miles away from the crater. The video below shows the waves that spread around the world spreading devastation.

The scientific team found evidence to back up their simulation’s version of events in the fossil record. In what is now New Zealand, sediment cores show a very jumbled record of time. Though previously attributed to local earthquakes, scientists now think that the asteroid impact 7,500 miles away caused the disarray. Because even if the tsunami waves were “only” 30 feet high, they disturbed the ocean all the way down to the seafloor.

AGU Advances published the open access, peer-reviewed research project, which we saw in Science Alert. This may be the first scientific simulation of the asteroid’s impact, but there have been plenty of non-scientific ones. The Discovery Channel’s video of the devastation caused by a 300-mile-wide asteroid is essentially a disaster movie no one survives. Or if you want to work your way up to that level, there’s also a size comparison of asteroid impacts, starting with ones small enough to burn up in the atmosphere and ending with world-killers.  

This news comes just weeks after the discovery of a planet-killer sized asteroid in our astronomical neighborhood. But don’t worry, it’s not predicted to cross paths with Earth anytime soon. And even if it did, NASA now knows how to bonk asteroids off course.    

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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After its fair share of delays, NASA’s Artemis I spacecraft is on its way to the Moon! It blasted off from Florida at about 1:47am in a spectacular display. This is the first launch of the Artemis mission, which will eventually return people to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. It’s also a step towards putting people on Mars. For now, the uncrewed spacecraft is heading to the Moon and back to test all of the Artemis systems.

Within minutes, the spacecraft had shed its rocket engines and unfurled solar panels in Earth’s orbit. There’s lots more coverage coming from NASA, including the first photos the vehicle takes of Earth. Artemis I will be on a close approach to the Moon in just a few days and then again when it starts the journey back to Earth. Splashdown back on Earth is scheduled for December 11, 2022. You can track the Artemis I spacecraft over the 26 day mission. A video of the launch is also now available.

NASA scrubbed previous launch attempts on August 29 (engine temperature issues) and September 3 (leaking liquid hydrogen). Teams made repairs on the launch pad on those occasions because moving the rocket back into its hangar is a process that takes eight hours of cautious driving and risks further delays.

But once Hurricane Ian threatened the area, a September 27 launch date was also scrubbed and the rocket was rolled into its hangar for safety. It weathered the dregs of Hurricane Nicole on the launch pad in early November as well.

Instead of a human crew, Artemis I is taking a few dummies, called Moonikins by NASA. Two female moonikins are aboard. One is wearing a radiation vest and one is not, both connected to sensors that track the levels of exposure.  

The spacecraft is also carrying assorted swag on the mission. NASA released a list of flags, patches, and pins, (which we learned about on DesignTAXI). The list also includes seeds, Girl Scout merit badges, and USB drives containing people’s names, essays, and artwork. A plush Shaun the Sheep is also aboard. The popular character posted blogs and photos during training for the mission.

Artemis I will deploy 10 CubeSats near the Moon. These measure gravity, radiation, and other parameters to help on future missions. There’s even one named IceCube that will look for water on the lunar surface.  

NASA recently announced the landing site options for Artemis III, which will be the first crewed mission. Its scheduled to bring the first woman and person of color to the Moon in 2025. The last time people were on the Moon was the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Artemis II launches in 2024 and will see a crew orbit the Moon without landing. 

NASA teams have been testing out lots of new technology to help astronauts once they’re on the Moon, including a backpack that 3D maps the lunar environment and the water-seeking VIPER rover. There’s also a lot of people and NASA facilities involved in tracking and communicating with the mission from back on Earth. We talked to the Artemis team at Comic-Con about the mission and their science fiction influences. Like us, they’re excited about returning people to the Moon, and eventually make it to Mars.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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Assuming you’ve accepted Pluto’s demotion, Uranus and Neptune are the two planets in our Solar System farthest from Earth. That distance means humanity is still learning a lot about them. Some of those discoveries lead to amusing headlines like “Neptune’s ‘Fart Storm’ Is About to Die” and “Probing Uranus Is Our Next Space Exploration Priority.” The size comparison below shows off what we do known about the moons of both planets.  

Uranus has 27 moons and, even though scientists named them over the course of 150 years, most get their monikers from characters in Shakespeare’s many plays. Uranus himself was god of the sky and air, so the planet’s first moons got their names from fairies and sprites. Well-known characters like Juliet and Puck are represented in the list, but there’s also Miranda, a name Shakespeare invented. Most of the smaller moons in the video above belong to Uranus. There are large, spherical moons as well, culminating with the largest, Titania, which is still less than half the size of our own Moon. 

Neptune, named after the god of the sea, has 14 moons. All of them represent Greek and Roman water mythology. The largest moon is Triton, which is nearly as large as Earth’s Moon. The most recently discovered (and also the smallest) is Hippocamp. It is named after a mythological creature that is half fish and half horse. 

Considering that astronomers spotted many of the moons around Uranus and Neptune for the first time in 1989 when Voyager 2 flew by, it’s possible that there’s still more to learn about both planets and their satellite moons and rings as we continue to explore and utilize better technology.

Among the MetaBallStudios YouTube channel’s many other size comparisons are other moons in our Solar System. Saturn has 83 moons and Jupiter has 80, including Titan, the largest in our stellar neighborhood.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post A Size Comparison of Uranus and Neptune’s Moons Reveals Their Epic Names appeared first on Nerdist.

They always said theatre kids were different and now we have the science to back up that claim. Neuroscientists studied actors as they rehearsed Shakespeare and found that they may temporarily lose their sense of self while onstage. The researchers strapped the actors into wearable brain imaging hats and alternated shouting the actor’s and character’s names at random. The part of their brains associated with self-awareness didn’t respond to their own name when they were in character. But when they weren’t onstage, it responded normally. Ironically enough, the experiment took place during rehearsals for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which in itself is a play about losing one’s identity. 

Neuroscientists and language experts at the University College London teamed up with the Flute Theatre, a company that puts on interactive Shakespeare productions for people with autism and their families (as seen in the trailer below). The actors wore a cap with 20 electrodes that collects signals from different areas of the brain. They also sported a full motion capture suit and a strap to monitor heart and breath rate while rehearsing.

The research, published in the open access peer-reviewed Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, also showed that acting partners shared similar brain patterns during rehearsals. Even when their heart and breathing rates didn’t match up, performing scenes together can put people’s minds in sync. The areas of the brain most affected are associated with social interactions and action planning. Future research between the scientists and theatre company will focus on the ways theatre games train the brain and will also include untrained actors as a control group.

If you’re looking to add a little more Shakespeare to your life, don’t forget that Sir Patrick Stewart read sonnets during lockdown, as did Sir Ian McKellen. Or for something less highbrow, you can always put on one of the many teen movies based on his plays.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Science Shows Actors Lose Their Sense of Self Onstage  appeared first on Nerdist.

Would you play a VR game where if you die in the game you die in real life? Well Oculus creator Palmer Luckey is working on a new deadly VR headset to do just that. Dan breaks down all the latest on the Nervegear VR on today’s episode of Nerdist Now!

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We throw around terms like “light year” and “faster than light travel” frequently. But to really understand the scale it helps to feel how fast the speed of light is. The flight simulation video below does just that. As it turns out, it would only take 0.13 seconds to go around the entire Earth at the speed of light. That’s literally faster than the blink of an eye to go nearly 25,000 miles. It also compares that to the speed of sound, which seems downright leisurely in comparison.  

We’ll get briefly into the math, but you’re most of the way there if you’ve ever estimated the distance of a storm by counting the time between seeing lightning and hearing thunder. Every five seconds is about one mile, right? The same calculation puts the speed of sound at about 767 miles per hour. The video above only shows about one minute of the journey; however, it would actually take almost 33 hours. In comparison, light travels at over 670 million miles per hour. 

So while airplane technology might be evolving into nuclear-powered hotels or zero emission helium blimps, no one is seriously contemplating going anywhere near as fast as the speed of light. We see it all the time in our science fiction and fantasy stories though. And thankfully someone else has already done the math to explain whether it’s even possible to explore space without faster than light travel like warp drives in Star Trek or hyperspeed in Star Wars.

The Airplane Mode YouTube channel has lots of other cool flight simulation videos that show relative speeds. What would the International Space Station look like if it orbited Earth at an altitude of 10,000 feet instead of 250 miles? There’s the short answer but also a 33 minute video that shows the journey in real time.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post See What It’s Like to Circle Earth at the Speed of Light  appeared first on Nerdist.

The Canannites invented the first alphabet about 3,800 years ago. The letters, instead of hieroglyphics like those used in Egypt, became the basis for written Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. English, Russian, and many other modern languages have alphabets derived from this earliest version. Scientists just discovered the oldest known sentence written in this first alphabet on an ancient ivory comb dated to about 3,700 years ago. The inscription reads: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.” Yes, this important artifact that fills in language gaps going back millennia was in fact used to remove lice and their eggs from the human head. The scientists even found remnants of lice on the comb. 

The scientific team confirmed that the comb is elephant ivory, likely imported from Egypt. It would have belonged to someone with status and wealth, implying that they were still plagued with the pests. The comb has teeth on both sides and the writing faces both directions (as shown in the diagram below). While all of the teeth broke off over the years, one side had six large teeth for combing tangled hair. The other had 14 teeth placed close together to remove lice and eggs from people’s hair and beards. 

Archaeologists excavated the comb in Israel in 2016, but scientists only recently noticed the inscription. They analyzed it using various techniques to reveal details of the letters hidden from the human eye. The team published their findings in the open access peer-reviewed Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology. We first saw the news in The Guardian. 

Other recent discoveries by archaeologists in Israel include hundreds of 2,300-year-old bone dice used for rituals and games and traces of opium in jars from 3,500 years ago.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post The Oldest Known Sentence in the First Alphabet Is Written on an Ancient Lice Comb  appeared first on Nerdist.

The Chinese company XPENG makes both electric cars and flying machines and now they are working to combine them into one vehicle. XPENG recently tested a car that drives like usual and can also takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter. In fact, it looks like an oversized quadcopter drone strapped to the top of a car. Four arms swing out from a giant roof rack and lift the car into the air.

The XPENG X3, which we learned about from NPR, has both automatic and manual modes. A joystick joins the usual steering wheel while the car is in flight. These pictures come from XPENG’s Tech Day video where the company showed off the prototype (above) and concept model (below) for its X3 flying car. There’s no news about when it might be available to the public. Even though the dream is to go from sitting in traffic to flying above it, XPENG says it’s not that simple. The X3 requires space in order to take off so drivers won’t be able to convert it for flight right there on the highway.

While the X3 is still in the research and development phase, XPENG’s X2 model recently took its first public flight. It is a two-seater flying machine that doesn’t also drive on roads. Video of the demonstration in Dubai shows that the aircraft is ready, but again there’s no news on when it will be available to buy.

There’s plenty of companies working on flying machines, like the Japanese SkyDrive that plans to have a flying taxi fleet ready in 2023 and the Swedish Jetson that already sells personal aircraft for $100,000. But very few both drive and fly like the XPENG X3 is designed to do. One that can is the Slovakian AirCar, which cleared flight testing earlier this year and converts from a car to an aircraft in just a few minutes.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post This Quadcopter Car Looks Like a Huge Drone and Really Flies  appeared first on Nerdist.

If you’ve ever snacked on a rice cake, you may remember that the texture (and flavor) is pretty close to Styrofoam. It’s just that quality that made engineers think to use rice cakes as the wings of an edible lightweight drone. The craft’s wingspan of just over two feet provides about 300 calories, which could make a big difference to someone lost in the wilderness. And there’s still 80 grams left for the payload, which could include more food or about a third of a cup of water to wash down those rice cake wings.  

In order to make the round rice cakes fit together, they were cut into hexagons with a laser cutter. The glue that holds them together also needs to be edible. The scientific team tested different adhesives made out of gelatin, chocolate, or cornstarch. They found that gelatin is the strongest option. The researchers next plan to experiment with making more parts of the drone edible. Using 3D-printed food could further lighten the craft. 

The scientific team shared the research paper at a recent robotics conference. The design is part of the RoboFood project, a European initiative aiming to make edible robots. We learned about the tasty feat of engineering in IEEE Spectrum, which includes an Q&A with the project’s leader. It doesn’t answer a lingering question though. If you know where someone is well enough to fly a drone to them, why not just rescue them while you’re at it? 

This is only one of the interesting search and rescue ideas we’ve come across recently. If you were lost or trapped, would you prefer a backpack-wearing rat, a lizard-shaped robot, or a rice cake drone come to your aid? If only those promises of drone-delivered burritos and pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream had come true, we wouldn’t have to resort to eating rice cakes.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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It’s not exactly Tru Blood, but scientists have created synthetic blood and are testing how the human body reacts. The lab-grown red blood cells are not intended for vampires, but rather for people with rare blood disorders who need regular transfusions. A recent clinical trial showed no ill effects when scientists gave small amounts, about a teaspoon or two, to a couple of patients. That’s a small percentage of the average human’s roughly 10 pints of blood. But it’s an important step in the process. And while this breakthrough probably won’t encourage any vampires to out themselves, maybe it will inspire some storylines in the upcoming True Blood reboot.

We learned about this research on CNBC. The clinical trials will now scale up to include more people but it will take years before the technique is approved for widespread medical use. Even then, the vast majority of blood transfusions will continue to rely on donations. But for those with sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders that require frequent transfusions, it could provide more time between treatments.

According to a news release from the U.K.’s National Health Service, scientists created the lab-grown red blood cells from donor stem cells. They tagged the transfusion with radioactive dye used in medical procedures to see how long the synthetic blood stays in the body. Red blood cells live an average of 120 days. Donated blood is a mix of old and new cells, which means transfusions don’t last the full time span. But the synthetic blood is all new, which means it may not expire as quickly, allowing more time between treatments.

This is only the latest experiment we’ve heard about that includes lab-grown human body parts or organs. There’s brain cells that can play Pong, 3D-printed ear transplants, and human skin grown on robotic fingers.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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More and more Hulks are showing up in the MCU and now everyone on Earth may get their own gamma-radiation superpowers. According to a news release from NASA, the largest gamma-ray burst ever detected hit Earth on October 9, 2022. Astronomers are calling it the B.O.A.T., or biggest of all time, but officially it’s GRB 221009A. Scientists are still studying the burst, but think it is the result of a star going supernova to form a new black hole. At two billion light years away, it is the closest such event ever detected. But it doesn’t pose a threat to life on Earth. Still, if you notice any new tendency to turn green or Hulk out, you may want to have that checked.

A really massive gamma-ray burst could burn off Earth’s atmosphere and kill us all, but obviously that didn’t happen in this case. Scientists believe that it has occurred at least once before in Earth’s history. And it could happen again, but the burst would have to originate within thousands of light years of Earth. We first saw news of the gamma-ray burst on Salon. 

Previously recorded bursts have usually only lasted a few seconds. Even then, they’re capable of putting off as much energy as our Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime. How that compares to the dose Bruce Banner got in that gamma radiation lab accident has yet to be calculated. It’s probably not what the astronomers all over the world are spending time on right now. Though, in the MCU at least, it’s also possible to end up with Hulk powers via exposure to Banner’s blood. Just ask the Abomination or She-Hulk.  

Multiple telescopes on Earth and in orbit picked up the sensational gamma-ray burst just as a conference of gamma-ray experts kicked off in South Africa. It started the meeting with a bang, to say the least.

Originally published October 19, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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DALL-E, the artificial intelligence that will draw images based on what it learns on the internet, is now open to everyone. The developer, OpenAI, scrapped their waiting list and opened registration to anyone who wants to sign up. It continues to learn, so the more we all use it, the better it will be. Below, you can learn more about how this AI program works and some of the features that DALL-E and its updated versions offer to its users.

A free version, once called DALL-E Mini, now known as Craiyon, is also available for public use. It also comes as an app for Android devices, making it even easier to create weird art based on a Mad Lib-like string of random ideas. Enter in any prompt and the AI spits out nine graphics. Who doesn’t want to see a giant squid assembling IKEA furniture?

Below, you can learn more about how this AI program works and some of the features that DALL-E and its updated versions offer to its users.

How Do AI Like DALL-E and Craiyon Work?

Examples from Craiyon’s site include “a baby daikon radish in a tutu walking a dog” and “a baby hedgehog in a cape staring at its reflection in a mirror.” When first released a few months ago, the internet wasted no time putting it through its paces.

Columbo in Marvel vs Capcom 2 pic.twitter.com/NIRcdCWjjU

— Ismael Bergara (@Calavera145) June 6, 2022

The AI’s job is to do something many of us do every day—look at images on the internet. It also reads the captions and learns what is probably in the image based on that. Now it can draw images based on text. The more specific the prompt, the more amusing the results are. The one below is “Star Wars movie poster in the style of Salvador Dali.” And they’re perfect.

This one was particularly beautiful pic.twitter.com/POUL7Gejry

— Paul Adamson (@Paulywoggsvoice) June 8, 2022

In between failed attempts because the site was experiencing so much traffic, I entered “Snoopy playing with other dogs” as a prompt. The results weren’t nearly as cute as I was hoping. While it clearly knows who Snoopy is, it’s closer to a Picasso painting than anything else.

Nerdist‘s very own Dan Casey got much better results with “baby yoda eating pizza.” Proving Grogu is literally cute under any and all circumstances.

Artificial Intelligence as Art with Outpainting

Artificial intelligence and art are great partners. It can turn terrible drawings into stunning landscapes. OpenAI’s DALL-E now has a feature called Outpainting. It allows you to widen the scope of artwork, whether it’s original work or the Mona Lisa. In the example below, AI zooms out on the masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring. We get to see the rest of the girl and also the (very cluttered) room she is in. More than just extending the square format of the original DALL-E, this opens the art form to anyone wondering what’s just off-screen.

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A post shared by DALL·E by OpenAI (@openaidalle)

Artists creating movie posters using DALL-E provide fascinating insights into how the AI works. Titles, taglines, or even dialogue from the script can serve as prompts. The developer of Craiyon, Boris Dayma, is documenting that program’s progress on his Twitter account. Whether you use Craiyon or DALL-E, taking the artificial intelligence on a training run helps everyone using the AI. It’s for the good of the data after all, but it’s also a hoot. So says the “Suprised Pikachu” below.

The DALL-E 2

The DALL-E program’s more advanced iteration, named DALL-E 2 is now available. DALL-E 2 aims to create even more realistic offerings in response to prompts and also seeks to reduce bias and improve safety in its creations. There’s no longer a waitlist and anyone can access the beta DALL-E 2.

According to the platform, “Every DALL·E user will receive 50 free credits during their first month of use and 15 free credits every subsequent month. Users can purchase 115 additional credits for $15. Each credit can be used for one original DALL·E prompt generation — returning four images — or an edit or variation prompt, which returns three images.”

Craiyon remains free for everyone to enjoy. Next up, I’m trying “manatees with Elizabethan collars swimming with rabbits.”

DALL-E 2 Coming to Clip Art

The DALL-E 2 is also coming to the search engine Bing. Microsoft, an early investor in OpenAI, the developer of DALL-E, is also launching a new graphic design app called that uses the AI technology. It’s called Designer and you can sign up to be one of the first to try it out. For those who remember clip art from the 80s and 90s, this is a huge upgrade for creating everything from posters to websites. Instead of just a few selections, you can quickly generate any image with a simple text prompt.

Originally published on June 9.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Archaeologists from Aristotle University discovered a statue of the Greek and Roman demi-god Hercules. And this Hercules statue is in remarkably good shape, considering that it’s nearly 2,000 years old. Hercules is known for his super-strength, and it appears the trait applies to statues of him as well. We know that ancient sculptors usually depicted Hercules with a club and a lion skin cloak. Though the statue is in pieces, the team of professors and students found each one of these specific elements. And this helped them identify the ancient artifact as a statue of Hercules.

We learned about the find on DesignTAXI. According to a press release from the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, the team found the statue amongst the ruins of a building that dates back to the 8th or 9th century. The Hercules statue itself was likely already hundreds of years old. This provides insights into how people in that era decorated important buildings. An interview in USA Today reveals that statues like this offer important context into those who lived at the time. For instance, this statue of Hercules likely was not merely decorative. Instead, it may have served as a signifier of power for his owners.

The team from Aristotle University is excavating areas of the ancient Greek city of Philippi. The city was once part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Archaeologists still find statues of Roman gods that are thousands of years old throughout modern-day cities that were once within the bounds of the empire. But statues like this one of Hercules even show up much farther afield. One marble bust bought in a Texas thrift store turned out to be a valuable artifact from ancient Rome.   

Other recent sightings of Hercules include Brett Goldstein’s cameo in the Thor: Love and Thunder mid-credits scene. Only time will tell if the son of Zeus will return for more time in the MCU. Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie will direct a live-action movie based on Disney’s animated classic. It remains to be seen how something described as an experimental musical inspired by TikTok will go. And whether live-action Hercules can stand the test of time as well as ancient Hercules statues can.

Originally published October 3, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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What would happen if (when?) a 310-mile-wide asteroid collides with Earth? That’s the fun question behind the simulation in the video below. And the answer is terrifying. But it turns out you shouldn’t be concerned. For one, it’s not a scenario that’s going to happen anytime soon. Secondly, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. All life on Earth would be vaporized within a day as clouds of fire and rock circumnavigated the globe. So don’t worry about it.

Like any good disaster film, the video shows the destruction of well-known landmarks like Big Ben and the Parthenon. And even though the simulated asteroid hits in the Pacific Ocean, complete destruction spreads rapidly. The oceans boil from the heat, the Himalayan snow evaporates instantly, and the Earth’s crust peels back. The Earth can and does withstand smaller asteroid impacts. But the threat of a catastrophically-sized object in our orbit is always there.

Just recently, scientists discovered a “planet killer” asteroid hiding in the glare of the sun. While the probability of this asteroid colliding with earth is minimal, its discovery does remind us there are plenty of objects out there in space we just don’t know about yet. And we guess it’s better to have preparation about what might happen if an asteroid strikes the earth than not.

The simulation is part of a longer clip (below) from the show Miracle Planet, a documentary detailing just how improbable life on Earth really is. If you’d prefer narration and information from scientists rather than a Pink Floyd jam, the full sequence is below.  

Amazingly, scientists believe that an event like this has already happened multiple times on Earth. It starts a process that takes thousands of years but generates the oceans, atmosphere, and potential for life all over again each time.  

The simulation aired on Discovery Channel in 2005 but the video has gone viral recently, probably because of NASA’s DART mission. NASA sent a spaceship to knock an asteroid off course, so perhaps this can be avoided in Earth’s future. The DART mission shifted Dimorphos, though that asteroid is a much smaller 530 feet. But it’s still a good proof of concept and here’s hoping no one on Earth ever has to find out how real this simulation is.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Watch an Asteroid Vaporize Life on Earth in This Scary Simulation appeared first on Nerdist.

Art made with artificial intelligence is starting a lot of conversations. One artist’s masterful use of the AI program Midjourney tricked a lot of people into thinking Tom Holland will be playing Link in a The Legend of Zelda Netflix movie. And honestly, we’d watch it. Unfortunately, it’s not real. Yet. After all, Holland’s track record of wish fulfillment casting includes his most famous role as Spider-Man. But maybe Dan Leveille’s AI art could very well be the first step to making this a reality. He shared a variety of posters showing Holland as the Hylian hero. They vary in their realism and ear pointy-ness, but on the whole, the character design is stunning. The project also spread to fan-casting every character a The Legend of Zelda movie… And also to casting Tom Holland as every character in a The Legend of Zelda movie called Temple of Tom.

Tom Holland as Link in AI Art

We saw these amazing “teaser photos” on Geeks Are Sexy. While we continue to wait for that Breath of the Wild sequel, let’s add “Tom Holland plays Link in a Legend of Zelda movie” to our wish list. Leveille’s Instagram feed is full of other AI art, including other versions of Link as well as realistic versions of Super Mario characters.

Leveille took it one step farther after the artwork gained popularity online. He had OpenAI’s GPT-3 program write a script to go with them. The prompt? Link revealing he’s gay. It’s great and leads to dialogue like “I’m not just the hero of time, I’m also the hero of gayness.” Again, we’d watch it. Just maybe not the version where every line is delivered in the voice of an AI program.  

The Full Cast of the AI-Generated The Legend of Zelda Movie

Now, the whole cast of Netflix’s fake live-action Zelda can also be seen via AI. Take a look at what Leville created. From Emma Watson as Zelda to Idris Elba as Ganon to Gemma Chan as the Great Fairy to Sadie Sink as Malon, we support this whole cast.

Tom Holland as Every Character in The Legend of Zelda

Hilariously, many across the internet missed that this Tom Holland-led The Legend of Zelda movie came from an AI generator. Unsurprisingly, parts the internet believed Tom Holland would really star in the fake Netflix production. (He won’t!) In the spirit of that, Leville created even more AI art for his fictional piece. In this latest version of The Legend of Zelda meets Tom Holland, Tom Holland actually plays every role in the movie. Leville calls this movie: Temple of Tom.

Check it out:

This artwork is certainly less unsettling than some other movie posters created using Midjourney and a similar program called DALL-E. Midjourney has also shown what characters from The Simpsons would look like in real life. This version of fan-casting is an interesting use of AI. We’re intrigued.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

Originally published on September 20, 2022.

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Yes, scientists did recently discover a new asteroid big enough to cause a lot of damage to Earth. But even though that news is having a big impact on people, there’s only a tiny possibility the asteroid itself will actually impact the planet. We first saw the “planet killer” headline on CNN and it certainly seems like the kind of bad news we’d expect in 2022. According to a press release, planet killers are asteroids larger than one kilometer in diameter. But there’s many reasons not to be too worried about this latest discovery.

There’s a Lot of Asteroids Out There

This might seem like yet another reason to panic, but it’s actually not. According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, more than 30,000 asteroids exist within the inner Solar System between the Sun and asteroid belt. They classify asteroids as “potentially hazardous” if they are 140 meters or more in diameter and come within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth’s orbit. The new research project actually discovered three new asteroids, two of which don’t cross Earth’s orbit.  

You can keep an eye on all of them for yourself thanks to NASA’s asteroid tracking site. It also lists the next five “close” approaches. An asteroid has a close approach to Earth nearly every day, sometimes multiple times per day. In fact, an asteroid passes closer to us than the Moon about every three days. So there’s no (new) reason to worry.  

There’s Still a Lot We Don’t Know About the New Asteroid

Again, this may not sound like a calming thought, but it actually is. This research, which the team published in The Astronomical Journal, proves that a new way to look for asteroids is working. Asteroids that are mostly or entirely between Earth’s orbit and the Sun are hard to find because of the light from the Sun. There’s only two short 10-minute windows most days to find those small objects using the Dark Energy Camera on a telescope in Chile.   

This new “planet killer” asteroid was actually discovered back in January. The scientists then looked back through old data and could see it in 2017. It likely has a five year orbit and stays mostly on the other side of the Sun from Earth.

Seriously, Don’t Worry About a “Planet Killer” Asteroid

We admit that the threat of an asteroid strike is scary. And there seems like no shortage of video simulations on the internet, including this one comparing devastation based on an asteroid’s size. Apparently, we really like watching simulations of our planet being destroyed by an asteroid. Luckily, NASA has successfully tested the DART system for bonking them off orbit. So even if one doesn’t come around for a few hundred years, supposedly we’re ready.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Need a gift idea for that person in your life who is always cold? Add yourself to the waitlist for clothing company Petit Pli’s Entropy Vest. The $590 wearable vest keeps a person nice and warm by heating up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. And it lasts up to an hour per use, no cords or battery packs needed. Just flip a switch and a chemical reaction starts releasing heat as it changes from a liquid into a gel-like substance. It’s a personal reusable heat vest that’s perfect for people always complaining about being cold.

The turquoise liquid is something called a phase change material. It stores heat and releases it when changing states into a gel. In order to recharge the material, you have to boil the vest for 15 minutes after each use. That resets the substance back to a liquid that is holding onto heat for the next time you flip the switch.

We saw this fashionable scientific breakthrough on DesignTAXI. The turquoise material weaves throughout the front and back while the rest of the vest is a clear material. There’s buttons down the front and adjustable areas around the waist and shoulders so it fits snugly. Petit Pli suggest it’s fashionable enough to wear on the outside, but we assume most people will add layers over the warm vest.

Next up the company may make a cooling vest using similar chemical technology. Until then, there are neck wraps with gelatinous water beads in them that can be chilled and worn. If it’s your pets that are overheating, you can buy them clothes with cooling fans built right in. Sony also makes a wearable device, sold only in Japan, that can either heat or cool the wearer. And we’ve seen other smart clothing, including fabric that can hear and another that can alter breathing patterns. There’s even electronic textiles that can act as a screen. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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A new photo of the Sun is making the rounds, but it may be more ominous than adorable. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory images the Sun using ultraviolet light to see details about solar winds, solar flares, and other events that could affect us here on Earth. So while many people just see a smiling face, like the cute Teletubbies sun baby, it could harken a solar storm headed our way. The dark areas are called coronal holes and are caused by solar winds that gust energy out into space. So even though it’s smiling, it could be more like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters, ominously threatening Earth while keeping the grin on its face.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory is an autonomous spacecraft orbiting Earth that captures images of the Sun almost continuously. Other amazing shots includes one where the Sun looks like a jack-o’-lantern, or a Sun Pumpkin, and makes the rounds every Halloween. The observatory has also photographed massive solar eruptions. There’s even an amazing 10 year solar time lapse of observations that shows just how volatile the Sun is.

We saw this most recent Sun picture thanks to DesignTAXI. The Twitter thread above features many photoshopped contributions from solar enthusiasts. There’s Teletubbies and Ghostbusters, of course, but also plenty of others. Since it was in the week leading up to Halloween, people couldn’t help but compare it to a jack-o’-lantern. Now I can’t unsee it. Who knew just how much our Sun could look like a pumpkin just by adding some grooves and a stem? 

Fixed it pic.twitter.com/hDiWB8Uar0

— Science and Technology Facilities Council (@STFC_Matters) October 27, 2022

Thankfully, Earth escaped any negative effects of the solar winds for now. As The Guardian reported, the storm would have hit us a few days ago. This time around, the cute Sun picture just led to some fun images and extra Halloween spirit.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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Yes, the cage fungus smells like rotting flesh, but it does so on purpose. The stench attracts flies, which the fungus needs in order to reproduce. Not only does the brown slime that drips inside the lattice stink, it’s also full of the mushroom’s spores. This stinky oozing substance is gleba, which is a term you may know thanks to an episode of Friends. Rachel is convinced that Emma’s first word is “gleba” and looks it up in the dictionary. When she reads the definition that it’s “the fleshy spore-bearing mass of a certain fungi,” Ross is convinced Emma is going to be a scientist. The short, visceral video below about this stinky fungus will have you rattling off fun facts and using obscure words like a scientist in no time. 

The explainer video, which we first saw on Boing Boing, is from KQED, a PBS station in San Francisco. Videos on their Deep Look YouTube channel include other fun facts about the world around us. For instance, that water bugs that breathe out of their butts and barnacle penises are eight times as long as their body. There’s a lot of gross insect content, so this fungus and fly friendship fits the theme. 

In the case of cage fungi, the flies its stench attracts are essential to moving spores to new places so the fungus can spread. Each one of these brightly colored mushrooms emerges from the ground and opens within only a few hours. It also dries out and closes again after only about a day. But that’s just what you see on the surface. Like most fungi, there’s a whole network under the ground.

Scientists are studying how the mycelial network works, signaling when and where the mushrooms should emerge above ground. Do fungus have a language? If so, what is the cage fungus’ word for gleba?

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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