This Could Fly Us To Another Planet

Proving yet again that Star Trek was scarily prescient, NASA has announced that its NEXT ion drive â€" NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster â€" has operated continually for over 43,000 hours (five years). This is an important development, as ion thrusters are pegged as one of the best ways to power long-term deep-space missions to other...

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The Real Story Behind The Most Famous Quote In History

Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon Photo: Getty Dean Armstrong, the astronaut’s brother, said that Neil Armstrong had asked him to read the famous quote shortly before the Apollo 11 crew left for Cape Canaveral, where they would spend the months before the launch preparing for their journey. He insisted...

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Amazon Is Selling Stolen iPhones

Gizmodo Twitter friend Ben Dreyfuss. bought his mom an iPhone for Christmas. Ben is a good son! Christmas morning: Mama D. tears open the package, finds a shiny aluminum bundle of joy, and then decides to set it up. One problem: When she called Verizon to activate the thing, they told her that...

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The Psychology Of Food Cravings

As the holiday season approaches, Tom Stafford looks at overindulgence, and explains how our minds tell us we want something even if we may not like it. Ah, Christmas, the season of peace, goodwill and overindulgence. If this year is like others, I’ll probably be taking up residence on the couch after a big lunch, continuing to munch my way through packets of unhealthy snacks, and promising myself that I’ll live a more...

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Why Were The Germans Obsessed With The Beatles's Hair In 1965?

In the middle of 1965â€"more than a year into the trans-cultural phenomenon of Beatlemania and the British Invasionâ€"the East German pop music magazine Melodie und Rhythmus (Melody and Rhythm) published a rather poorly punned article titled “A Hairy Issue.” It begins with a fan letter from the Queens resident and Beatle-hysteric...

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A Sound Collage Featuring Musicians Who Died In 2012

ADVERTISEMENT YOUR VIDEO WILL BEGIN IN 0 SECONDSAn Illustrated Talk With Maurice SendakThe Music They MadeJerry Seinfeld: How to Write a JokeFeast in a DayA Formula for Blue-Collar TVHollywood Issue | Wide-AwakeCooking Dal TarkaGoal to GoSpain’s Inditex Spins GoldState of the ArtOff the RailsEditor's Note: The Food IssueAlicia Keys on ‘Girl on Fire’Editor's Note: The Inspiration IssueTweets From Day 4 at the R.N.C.Mark...

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Wikipedia's 10 Most-Visited Pages In 2012

Wikipedia dominates Google search results. That's something any amateur googler knows after a few searches for anything mildly popularâ€"from, say, the word "Google" itself to Facebook to Fifty Shades of Gray. As further proof of the Wiki-dominance, we present the following list of the 10 most-visited Wikipedia pages in 2012. The data comes via Johan...

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The Year In False, Viral Emails

Summary We’ve long warned our readers to make good use of the delete key when emails spreading sketchy claims pop up in their inboxes. But we’ve found that old viral emails, unfortunately, never die â€" and new ones spread like a highly contagious disease. These overwhelmingly anonymous messages are, by and large, bogus. Many not only twist the facts but also peddle pure fabrications, urging recipients to forward...

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3 Reasons Not To Take Obama's Pot Prosecution Comments Too Seriously

/* Annoyingly, IE puts 4 extra pixels above the iframe, so we add 4px to the element's top style to compensate */ #thanksForSharing .hide { top: 5px !important; } By David A. Graham Tweet Dec 15 2012, 10:15 AM ET Comment The president says the government has bigger fish to fry than small-time smokers, but that...

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Social Advertisers Spooked By Instagram Backlash

Tuesday night, John Bell had to convince his wife not to quit Instagram. At the beginning of the week, she'd been a die-hard user but, like many others, recent changes in the Terms of Service had convinced her it was time to give it up. The awkward part: he’s the global marketing manager of social@ogilvy, the new-media wing of legendary ad firm Ogilvy & Mather. In short, he's one of the guys who's bringing ads to...

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Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About 'Human Decency'

Interwebs drama of the day: Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Mark Zuckerberg, threw a fit when someone tweeted a copy of a Zuckerberg family photo (see above) that Randi herself had posted to Facebook, the confusing-to-use social Web site created by her strange, reclusive brother. Randi was furious because she wanted the photo to be seen only by her friends, but someone who is friends with Randi's...

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Half The Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong

Dinosaurs were cold-blooded. Increased K-12 spending and lower pupil/teacher ratios boost public school student outcomes. Most of the DNA in the human genome is junk. Saccharin causes cancer and a high fiber diet prevents it. Stars cannot be bigger than 150 solar masses. RELATED ARTICLES MORE ARTICLES BY Ronald Bailey In the past half-century, all of the foregoing facts...

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The Diaries Of Christmas Past

With December 25th fast approaching we have put together a little collection of entries for Christmas Day from an eclectic mix of different diaries spanning five centuries, from 1599 to 1918. Amid famed diarists such as the wife-beating Samuel Pepys, the distinctly non-festive John Adams, and the rhapsodic Thoreau, there are a sprinkling...

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Mark Cuban Answered Questions On Reddit About Being Rich, Other Stuff

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban visited Reddit on Christmas Eve to answer questions about pretty much anything. Why, you ask? He can do whatever he wants. Don't question Cubes. All questions/answers are fully [sic]'d: On how stars are viewed in the NBA: Reddit: Hey, Mr. Cuban.Why do basketball...

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