The Central Japan Railway Company’s maglev bullet train hit 366 miles per hour yesterday in a test, a record-setting clip that breaks the the 12-year-old landspeed record of 361 mph, the Wall Street Journal reports . Read more…
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America Should Envy This Speed Record-Shattering Japanese Bullet Train
Another devious, young techno-wiz was placed safely behind bars this past Wednesday after authorities say he deftly “hacked into his school’s secure computer network” by guessing the password (his teacher’s last name). The crime? Changing the desktop background to two dudes kissin’. The punishment? Arrest on felony charges. Read more…
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Eighth Grader Charged With Felony for Changing Teacher’s Desktop
We debunked a lot of fake viral photos this year. Eighty-six, to be exact. And that doesn’t even include all those fake toilet photos from the Sochi Olympics , those fake Ebola cures , and all the lies that UberFacts helped spread . It was a busy year for fakes. Read more…
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86 Viral Images From 2014 That Were Totally Fake
An anonymous reader writes: Over at Medium, Jon Peterson (author of Playing at the World) has put up a new in-depth article covering the internal process at TSR that created Dungeons & Dragons modules in the 1980s. The adventures created at that time (by the likes of Tracy Hickman, then a staff designer) paved the way for many later computer role-playing games, and this piece shows how TSR work was pitched, storyboarded, proofed, edited and organized. With the positive reception of the new 5th edition of D&D and the attention paid to the fortieth anniversary of the game, the historical record behind modern gaming gets ever more important. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
On July 15th, 1942—in the midst of World War II’s long-running Battle of the Atlantic—a German U-boat and a Nicaraguan freighter were wrecked a mere 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras. Now, over seven decades later, their watery resting places have been (re)discovered . Read more…
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A German U-Boat From WWII Has Been Found Off The Coast of North Carolina
Google has added some extra sites to the News section of its search listings, including—brace yourself—Reddit! We though we’d seen more kittens in the news recently. Read more…
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Google has added some extra sites to the News section of its search listings, including–brace yours
Explorer Sam Cossman just uploaded this shocking video to Youtube showing his expedition to the bottom of the Marum Crater. An active and very dangerous volcano located in the Republic of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific Ocean. The images captured are both impressive and terrifying. Read more…
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Unbelievable video shows man getting into boiling volcano
A newly discovered virus has been found by a San Diego State University team to live inside more than half of all sampled human gut cells sampled. Exploring genetic material found in intestinal samples, the international team uncovered the CrAssphage virus. They say the virus could influence the behaviour of some of the most common bacteria in our gut. Researchers say the virus has the genetic fingerprint of a bacteriophage – a type of virus known to infect bacteria. Phages may work to control the behaviour of bacteria they infect – some make it easier for bacteria to inhabit in their environments while others allow bacteria to become more potent. [Study lead Dr. Robert] Edwards said: “In some way phages are like wolves in the wild, surrounded by hares and deer. “They are critical components of our gut ecosystems, helping control the growth of bacterial populations and allowing a diversity of species.” According to the team, CrAssphage infects one of the most common types of bacteria in our guts. National Geographic gives some idea why a virus so common in our gut should have evaded discovery for so long, but at least CrAssphage finally has a Wikipedia page of its own. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Newly Discovered Virus Widespread in Human Gut
Fulgurites are glass tubes formed when lightning strikes a desert or beach. Artificial fulgurites are made by running a high-voltage arc through a tub of sand. Read the rest
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Making "petrified lightning" at home
An anonymous reader writes This week the Portland City Council has approved a franchise agreement with Google to bring its fiber service to Portland. “As a result of the unanimous vote, Google will be subject to a five percent ‘franchise fee’ on its video revenues. It won’t have to pay a three percent ‘PEG’ fee that Portland otherwise charges rival Comcast, but it will offer free Internet service for Portland residents for a $300, one-time fee. It’ll also provide free Internet service to some to-be-determined nonprofits, in addition to providing a total of three free Wi-Fi networks in various parts of the city.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.