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Tech NewsEmojis are Becoming the Dominant Language of Instagram
There’s no question emojis have become wildly popular. But on Instagram, the familiar happy faces, hearts and kissing lips are more than just a cute shorthand. They’re on their way to becoming the dominant, universal form of communication. “It is a rare privilege to observe the rise of a new language,” Thomas Dimson, a software … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Collapse of Large Herbivores May Lead to “Empty Landscapes” Worldwide
It’s happening across the world, from grasslands to savannas to forest to deserts. Earth’s wild ecosystems are emptying out and falling silent. Large herbivores—rhinos, zebras, camels, elephants, tapirs, hippos—are some of our planet’s most iconic creatures. They’re also among the fastest disappearing animals on Earth, according to a report published Friday in Science Advances. The … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsThe Best Way to Ruin the New Force Awakens Trailer? Jar Jar Binks.
You know what made the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer especially great? A distinct lack of Jar Jar Binks. But some people, it seems, just want to watch the world burn. It’s amazing what a little video editing can do. The new Force Awakens trailer, for instance, was an instantly lovable global sensation. … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Everything You Need to Know About Drug Incarceration Rates Across the US
The United States has only 5 % of the world’s population, but 25 % of its prisoners. The biggest contributing factor to our booming prison population? Drugs, drugs, and more drugs. The Coalition Against Drug Abuse has just released a report investigating how federal drug sentencing varies across the country, pulling statistics from a 2013 report by … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Philly’s New Bikeshare Program is Already Kicking Ass
Move over, Seattle and New York. Philly may not be a first-gen adopter, but I’m proud to say my city’s pay-t0-ride biking service is already a smash hit, with over 8,000 rides and 2,400 new members in its first week alone. Top image: Jason Priem / Flickr For a big city, Philly is admittedly a … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsApple
If Apple Made BB-8 Droids, They’d Be Adorable
JJ Abrams’s rotundly adorable new BB-8 droids are already primed to steal the spotlight in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But if you were wondering whether the droids could get any cuter, the answer is, yes, if Apple got involved. Designer Martin Hajek, who also brought us the Apple-ized lightsaber, has just unveiled his latest … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Guess What? The Full Moon Did Not Help Kate Middleton Have Her Baby
The Duchess of Cambridge had her long overdue baby this morning, two days in advance of the full moon. The only reason I bring up the moon is that yesterday, the media was reporting that a full moon Monday might just trigger a royal birth. Only thing is, that’s a crock of crap. Top image: … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsDesign
The Obscenely Extravagant Beach House Yacht You Can’t Afford
Ever wake up in the morning thinking “man, I sure wish I could combine my beach house and my yacht”? Probably not, because most of us don’t have the financial assets to even hypothetically entertain such wild ideas. Enter the “X-EASY” yacht, which does the imagining for you. This 55 meter-long concept boat, designed by … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The GOP’s New Budget Proposal is a Big Middle Finger to Earth Science
The GOP is trying to eviscerate NASA’s Earth science program. At best, the House Science Committee’s new budget proposal would slash NASA’s Earth science funding by $300 million. At worst, the Earth sciences stand to lose over half a billion federal dollars. Top Image: NASA Earth Observatory Reminding us, yet again, that the anti-science, climate … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Scientists are Brewing Medieval Potions to Fight Hospital Superbugs
Last month, a microbiology lab in Nottingham, England made international headlines when it unearthed a substance that kills methicillin-resistant staph, one of the deadliest superbugs of modern times. The most astounding part about the find? It was a 1,000-year-old Viking potion. “This is something we never, ever expected,” said Christina Lee, the Viking scholar at … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
After Nearly Ten Years, the Record Industry Finally Killed Grooveshark
Remember Grooveshark, that bootleggy version of Pandora that let you stream any song, in surprisingly high quality, for free? After nearly a decade of blatant copyright infringement, the site’s finally totally kaput. Top image: Gadgetdude / Flickr Here’s an excerpt of the epitaph that now lives on Grooveshark’s website, which hints at the very serious … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsEverything is Better in the World Now That This Tortoise Can Move Again
The 90-year-old tortoise Mrs. T has been unable to walk since rats viciously chewed off her front legs while she was hibernating. Now, her devoted owners have given her a second chance at mobility, by attaching wheels from a model aircraft set onto her shell. As her owner Jude Ryder told The Telegraph, there was … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The Trillion Frame-Per-Second Camera That Will Visualize Atoms
The newest high-speed camera on the block won’t be making its way into Michael Bay’s hands anytime soon, but it will be making his ‘splosions look rather poky. See, this camera will be helping scientists watch atoms zoom around at 28,000 miles-per-second. Top image: Keiichi Nakagawa, University of Tokyo It’s called Sequentially Timed All-optical Mapping … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The US Ivory Trade is Alive and Well on Craigslist
We tend to think of the ivory trade as an elusive black market of hardened criminals and shadowy elites, operating in the darkest recesses of the Internet. But as it turns out, there are plenty more ordinary ivory buyers and sellers, including just about anyone on Craigslist. Top image: Wikimedia As Motherboard reported this week, … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Pillars of Creation Will Disappear in a Cosmic Blink
One way or another, the Pillars of Creation are toast. Based on new observations at the European Southern Observatory, these awe-inspiring structures have another 3 million years before their ghostly image fizzles away into cosmic nothingness. That’s a maximum lifespan for the pillars, because there’s a good chance they were already destroyed, over a thousand … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsDesign
These Stunning Geometric Patterns Were Created From Google Earth Images
Satellite images of our world are incredible on their own. But artist Federico Winer has taken aerial photography to a new level by portraying planet Earth as a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of geometric patterns and colors. Winer’s new series, “Ultradistancia,” is a collection of natural and man-made landscapes that were captured not by traveling the world, … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsGadgetsThis Iron Man Glove Shoots Lasers and Metal Bolts
Everybody, it seems, is into making Iron Man replica-gloves these days. And why not, when they’re totally badass looking? Not every would-be Iron Man, however, can shoot lasers and metal bolts out of his hand. Patrick Priebe’s Iron Man glove is one of the more advanced models we’ve seen. It’s got two button-operated lasers, a … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Smoking Pot May Make You More Prone to False Memories
As we’re all aware, weed makes us a bit forgetful. Say what? But a regular toke might also leave you more prone to remembering stuff that didn’t actually happen, according to new research published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Top image: Brett Levin / Flickr False memories are one of those weird quirks of our … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The CD Factory Worker Who Broke the Music Industry
Welcome to Reading List, a weekly collection of great tech reads from around the web. This week explores the early days of online music piracy, the implications of America’s military drone base in Germany, the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence, and more! Enjoy. The story of Benny Glover, the small-town North Carolinian whose day-job involved … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Russian Hackers Read Obama’s Emails During White House Security Breach
Last October, some of President Obama’s emails were leaked to Russian hackers during a White House computer system breach, although no classified networks appear to have been accessed, the New York Times reports. According to officials familiar with the investigation, the servers controlling messages sent from Obama’s BlackBerry were not compromised, but rather, some of … Continued
By Maddie Stone
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