This is unbelievable, but the fruit fly G tridens has somehow evolved to have what looks like pictures of ants on its wings. Seriously, its transparent wings have an ant design on them complete with "six legs, two antennae, a head, thorax and tapered abdomen." It's nature's evolutionary art painted on a fly's wings.
I had to do a double take when I heard that all these years later, Age of Empires II has a new expansion out. The Forgotten was originally an unofficial mod before its team collaborated with Skybox Labs for a commercial release. It's available this week as $9.99 DLC for Age of Empires II HD on Steam, as is newly-added Steam Workshop support for mods.
Okay, so what's in here? Five civilizations, including Italians, Indians, Slavs, Magyars, and Incas; four campaigns, one of which is about Dracula; the LudaKRIS map size; integrated Twitch streaming; Spectator mode; and the modes Capture the Relic and Treaty (also known as No Rush). Makes me happy to see AoE live on, even if it's by way of an HD re-release.
Silent Hill nurses? Pretty freaky. Silent Hill nurses performing a well choreographed dance number that's also a burlesque number? Awesome, yet still pretty freaky.
(Via Topless Robot)
You're seeing America's new ground-to-air missile defense system in action, destroying an enemy QF-4 Phantom fighter jet. In fact, it simultaneously destroyed two airborne enemies during a stress test last Wednesday. Its name is MEADS and it will replace the famous Patriot missile interceptors.
From YouTube’s About section: What a huge surprise for this streetmusician and us! We were filming him singing the song smalltown boy by Bronski Beat, when suddenly Jimmy Somerville (the original singer) comes up and joins him singing! Awesome, things like that only happen in Berlin!
Thanks Jacques
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Jian Feng of China insisted that his wife must have cheated on him because he claims he could not have fathered such ugly children. After DNA tests confirmed that the children were his, their mother admitted to having over $100,000 worth of plastic surgery before she and her husband met and continued to keep it a secret.
A judge agreed that Feng was duped into thinking that his wife was beautiful and awarded him $120,000! "I married my wife out of love, but as soon as we had our first daughter, we began having marital issues," Feng reportedly told the Irish Times. "Our daughter was so incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me."
Submitted by: Unknown (via Chicago Now)
Sir Richard Branson is set to travel to outer space in 2014 on Virgin Galactic's first commercial spaceflight, and all of us on Earth will get to watch the adventure
NBC revealed it will televise the historic flight on Today next year. Exact dates for the 3-hour live broadcast depend on flight tests. However, the flight and the broadcast are tentatively slated for August 2014, Today reports
See also: Lady Gaga to Sing in Space — Seriously
“In this first chapter of commercial space travel, we will help make space accessible and inspire countless more people to join us in the pursuit of space exploration and science innovation," Branson said the a statement Read more...
More about Entertainment, Space, Tv, Nbc, and Richard Branson
A new airport complex is taking shape in Abu Dhabi, where roughly 12,000 construction workers are on-site daily to finish the massive structure, whose floor area is larger than that of the Pentagon. According to UAE paper The National, it will take 84,000 tons of steel to build the structure's dramatic arches, designed by New York-based KPF.
Fatbobso true
Remember when a "friend" was someone you called on the phone or maybe even someone you spoke to in person? No? Yeah, neither do we.
SEE ALSO: More Comics on Mashable
In this Sunday comic, Maria Scrivan illustrates how language has changed in the digital age. Spoiler: It hasn't necessarily been for the better.
Comic written and illustrated by Maria Scrivan. Published with permission; all rights reserved. Read more...
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Between The Avengers, X-Men and the 900th Spider-man reboot, Marvel's feeling the movie love. The company's also doing all right on the TV front, thanks to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The next step? Netflix, obviously. You can already find a number of the publisher's superheroes over on the streaming ...
Perhaps Google realized that deactivating Glass if Explorers sell or give it away is a tad draconian and as a result, has recently changed its policy. While it's still against Mountain View's terms of service to sell off its futuristic eyewear, the amended Glass FAQ reveals that the company doesn't ...
Deep within our bodies are all kinds of genes that turn on and off over the years, including the very genes that make you grow a body in the first place. This is where scientists are looking for the magical code that could enable us to regrow organs and regenerate limbs. A Harvard researcher thinks he might've found it.
WARNING: Some language in this video.
Submitted by: Unknown
Those addictive video games that keep players glued to the screen may actually do the brain some good — or one of them does, anyway. A new study from the journal Molecular Psychiatry digs into the effect of video game play on the volume of the brain’s gray matter — the tissue responsible for muscle control, memory, language and sensory perception.
Researchers from Berlin’s Max Planck Institute for Human Development and St. Hedwig-Hospital recruited adult subjects to play Mario 64 on Nintendo’s portable DS system for 30 minutes per day for two months. At the end of that time, the gaming subjects showed “significant gray matter increase” in both the bilateral hippocampus and portions of the right prefrontal cortex. Read more...
More about Health, Gaming, Memory, Video Games, and Human BrainBravo, College Humor. You outdid yourselves with your version of the new PokeRap. Yup, all 718 are featured in this nine-minute-long video.
Amazon just posted this warehouse picture on their Facebook page. It's endless rows of PS4 units, stacked as far as the eye can see.
Is yours in here?
And if so, what games are you getting?
Graphic designer Paula Rupolo came up with the clever idea to see just how far famous brands and logos have penetrated our brains: she swapped the colors of brands with their closest competitor. The results are so weird: coke is blue, Pepsi is red, Google is purple and Yahoo is colorful. It's like living in some alternate reality.
Today, everything that was beautiful and pure in my life turned into a terrible, warped version of what it once was. Today, I lost all hope, and no longer believe that life, although sometimes shitty, is sweet and worth living. Today, I met my mother-in-law. FML
Nostalgic nerds can show off their old-school gaming cred this Christmas with this awesome classic video game ornamental set. None of ‘em work, of course, but what’s pretty cool is that you can hang them from almost anything–including your dust-covered NES or PS1! Now that’s some real old-school video game pride.
Product Page: ($19.99)
    
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Earlier this year, Cody Wilson and his nonprofit organization Defense Distributed created the world’s first 3D-printed semi-automatic firearm, and later, a handgun. Eight months later, another group in Austin has now created what it claims to be the world’s first 3D-printed metal gun.
“We’re proving this is possible; the technology is at a place now where we can manufacture a gun with 3D metal printing,” said Kent Firestone, vice president at Solid Concepts, in a statement on Thursday. “And we’re doing this legally. In fact, as far as we know, we’re the only 3D printing service provider with a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Now, if a qualifying customer needs a unique gun part in five days, we can deliver.”
Specifically, the gun that Solid Concepts has manufactured is the M1911, which was standard issue as a sidearm for the American military between 1911 and 1985.
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