How The Military Could Turn Your Mind Into The Next Battlefield

Long a staple of science fiction, the idea of creating weapons that can disrupt or alter the cognitive processes of enemy combatants is starting to become reality. Inspired by recent advances in neuroscience, the U.S. military is considering the potential for "neuro-cognitive weapons". Here's what you need to know… » 12/19/14 11:09am 12/19/14 11:09am

Americanize, Anglicise: Why Do Brits And Yanks Spell Words Differently?

"The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." So goes the old chestnut commonly attributed to playwright George Bernard Shaw. One of those separations is in the spelling of words like color (colour), theater (theatre), and realize (realise). But how did this separation occur? » 12/15/14 11:32am 12/15/14 11:32am

What's The Explanation Behind This Incredible Lake-Walking Video?

YouTuber Tomas N and his friend were hiking the High Tatra Mountain range along the border of Slovakia and Poland when they happened upon a frozen lake with astonishingly clear ice. The resulting visual effect – that of walking on air – is really something else. But how did this clear ice come to be? » 12/11/14 11:00am 12/11/14 11:00am

How Casinos Use Design Psychology to Get You to Gamble More


Computers Wrote the Caption for This Photograph, and Changed Everything

Computers at Google now have a machine-learning system that can analyze images like the one above and generate captions for them. The phrase used to caption this image? "A person riding a motorcycle on a dirt road." It might not seem like much, but it's actually one hell of an accomplishment. » 11/24/14 11:09am 11/24/14 11:09am