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ReviewsNot Even This Adorable Robot Could Get My Fat Cat to Exercise
My cat Pablo is fat. His fluffy tummy flops wildly from side to side when he runs, and he only runs to his food bowl. On the chart of chonky cats, he is most definitely a “megachonker” and a kibble binge or two away from graduating to “oh lawd he comin’.” I wake up most … Continued
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ScienceBiologySpace Station Spiders Found a Hack to Build Webs Without Gravity
Experiments on the International Space Station suggest spiders can weave normal-looking webs in space—they just need a surprising resource. Spiders are capable of building typical webs in microgravity, so long as they have access to a light source, according to new research published in Science of Nature. In the absence of gravity, and hence a sense … Continued
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io9This Is Not the Way, Baby Yoda
The second episode of The Mandalorian’s second season took its central bounty hunter and his infant space gremlin son from the deserts of Tatooine to a dangerous new locale as part of a mission to help save a family. But within its larger, horror-driven plot, “The Passenger” ended up drawing attention to something about Baby … Continued
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Tech NewsRing Camera Hacks, Viral Fakes, and Decade Highlights: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
December always goes by too fast in my opinion. One moment, it’s the first and I have all the time in the world to scope out Christmas presents, and the next moment I’m in a mad dash to slap a bow and some wrapping paper on whatever last-minute gift I managed to grab that morning … Continued
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ScienceBiologyNewly Discovered Widow Spider Lays Bright Purple Eggs
Scientists have discovered a spider living in South Africa that’s truly a sight to behold. The arachnids feature a scarlet, exclamation mark-shaped blotch on their backs, along with a white squiggle pattern that creates the vague shape of a human face, mouth agape in horror. Oh, and they lay bright purple eggs. The South African … Continued
By Jake Buehler -
ScienceBiologyGollum-Like Daddy Long-Legs Discovered in the Bowels of the Earth
Daddy long-legs—spider-like arachnids technically known as “harvestmen”—are already plenty unnerving, with their too-long-to-be-real limbs, jerky movements, and habit of clustering into a horrible, hairy mass. But researchers have recently unveiled a variety of harvestman totally new to science, and it cranks the creepy up to 11. The creature, discovered deep in a cave in Argentina, … Continued
By Jake Buehler -
io9MoviesThis Video Showcases All the Myriad Transformations of Pennywise the Clown
Pennywise, the antagonist of all iterations of Stephen King’s It and its adaptations, is generally a very menacing clown. But he’s not only a menacing clown—he’s also a freaky shapeshifter with a penchant for creative disguises and the occasional goofy stint as, like, a fish tank or something.* In a new video, the good folks … Continued
By Julie Muncy -
ScienceBiologyHurricanes and Climate Change Might Make Spiders More Aggressive
Hurricanes could make spider colonies more aggressive over time, according to a new paper. Let’s add “avoiding extra-evil spider colonies” to our list of reasons to fight climate change, please and thanks. It’s obvious that hurricanes cause damage, but it’s hard to study how that damage might impact the evolution of the animals that survive … Continued
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ScienceBiologySpider Eating a Pygmy Possum Is Obviously Australian
That’s a photo of a huntsman spider eating a pygmy possum. Yikes! A woman named Justine Latton posted this photo in a public Facebook group dedicated to discussing the invertebrates inhabiting the Australian island of Tasmania. Her husband, Adam, spotted the brutal meal at a ski lodge in the island’s Mount Field National Park a … Continued
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ScienceBiologyTime Now for Some Gnarly Photos of Spiders Eating Other Animals
Spiders are creepy even at the best of times, but new photos taken from the Amazon rainforest put these predatory creatures in an even more fearsome light: as they’re chomping down on animals of unusual sizes. New research published today in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation highlight over a dozen rare predator-on-prey interactions involving arthropods (the … Continued
