Earlier this week, we asked you to share with us that one, special Chrome extension
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18 Google Chrome Extensions That Make the Internet a Better Place
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The 5 Most Impressive Infrastructure Projects of the Year
Each year, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives out an award to celebrate the sheer size and complexity and awesomeness of infrastructure projects built by Americans. From an Antarctic research station on hydraulic stilts to an flyover railroad crossing, this year's five finalists are truly remarkable.
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The Extraordinary Evolution of Scissors
Since the ancient Egyptians who supposedly invented them, scissors have been a constant in human civilization. After knives, they're likely the most common household object the average person owns. Just look around your house: You have them for your nails, your paperwork, your kitchen, sewing—even kids have their own safer versions. So it's odd that we know so little about how they came to be.
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18 High-Tech Warships From the Future That Rule the Seas Today
War. War never changes. Mankind has fought naval battles for thousands of years. And in the 21st century, the navy is still the most important branch of any maritime nation's combat forces. But technology does change, and if you don't live near a navy harbor, there's a chance you've missed all the newest ships being built and launched in the past few years.
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11 of the Most Embarrassing Government Websites
Just yesterday, the White House launched the US Digital Service
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6 Cool New Objects From One of Modern Design's Oldest Powerhouses
Alessi can't stop, won't stop producing homewares at a seriously rapid clip. The Italian brand has been around since 1921; over the years, its exclusive focus on metal goods has expanded to include glass, plastic, rattan, and even a kind of concrete, and every season the company works with big name and up-and-comers to introduce a fresh batch of new products.
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7 Crazy Bikes That Almost Changed Cycling Forever
The history of cycling includes many innovations that failed to achieve popular or commercial success. The reasons for failure are many and various. But sometimes, even the wackiest-looking designs incorporated interesting ideas. Here's a selection of those concepts—most of which have at least one redeeming feature.
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9 Failed Designs That Would Have Changed Times Square Forever
Times Square is one big, incredible machine
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10 Incredibly Dangerous Banned Toys
They say that it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. Technically, the same applies to skull fractures, poisoning, and third-degree burns. Throughout history, toy makers have designed some truly brutal products (lawn darts, anyone?). But with modern-day lawsuits, you'd think we would've curbed that problem. Yet, in their fervor to create the next Slinky, Etch A Sketch, or Tickle Me Elmo, toy manufacturers continue to put dangerous product designs on the market.
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8 of the World's Coolest Skyscrapers Rendered Like 1980s Futurist Art
An increasing number of skyscrapers that line our horizons these days resemble the future we were promised: twisting pillars of glass and steel that stretch up into the clouds. When you glaze those buildings with some 1980s-inspired French futurism, however, they look simply surreal
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Every Ikea Catalog Cover Since 1951
It's that time of year: If you're one of the hundreds of millions people on Ikea's mailing list, you probably recently received a thick square of super-thin paper filled with (mostly rendered
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11 Reasons Email Is the Worst
Email is one of those things that's just a part of your life, period. Most of us know someone who has closed their Facebook account or refused to join in the first place in a little foot-stomping stand by their ego, and you might even know someone who is thrilled with themselves for not owning a smartphone.
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12 Sinister Movie Posters From the Golden Age of Film Noir
"She was part-good before—SHE'S ALL BAD NOW!" "From the moment they met it was Murder!" "Blood-red kisses! White-hot thrills!" No other style of cinema mastered sensational taglines better than film noir, and posters from the genre's mid-century heyday are a goddamn dark delight.
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The Dark, Glamorous World of One of NYC's Real-Life Mad Men
New York in the years after World War II was a city more prosperous and more modern than anything the world had seen—and it spawned a whole culture unto itself, distributed in newspapers, magazines, and advertisements. This was the era of Madison Avenue Men, and Mac Conner was their illustrator.
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15 Old Gadgets That Live On In Our Hearts
All types of different gadgets enter and leave our lives. Some stay for years and are cherished well past their prime. Others we lose, whether sold off in our youthful ignorance or lost in some other equally tragic way.
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4 Enormous Projects That Could Save Coastal Cities In Our Flooded Future
The tides are rising
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The Best-Designed Bathrooms in America
The public restroom is not a place worth celebrating, generally speaking. It is a place of absolute necessity, awkward small talk, and worst case scenarios come true. Cintas, a company that specializes in—what else?—bathroom supplies, is dead set on changing that perception. Which is why it sponsors a contest to find the best restrooms in America.
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15 Rare Images From NASA's First Decades of Space Exploration
The idea of floating in orbit, protected from the void by mere inches of material, is one we've grown pretty blasé about over the years. But it's a terrifying, marvelous, sublime thing—and a new exhibit of rare NASA photos attempts to remind us of that fact.
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The Evolution of Flying Ships
The invention of hydrofoils was one of the most revolutionary developments in the history of marine engineering. Hydrofoils are vessels that use wing-like foils below the hull in order to reach greater speeds on the water. The "wings" are submerged so that the hull can be above the water, which allows the boat to go much faster since water is about 1,000 times more dense than air.
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10 Strange Projects In Development At NASA
NASA is pursuing future cosmic exploration with some rather unexpected whimsy. Occasionally fantastical but always backed by concrete science, here are 10 of the most awesomely strange projects NASA's scientists are cooking up.
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