We learned a bunch this year — and we divvy up a lot of it with you . Here ’s the complete collection of everything we explain , delimitate , spelled out and broke down in 2012 .
What Really Happens When You Get Blown Out of an Airlock
https://gizmodo.com/what-really-happens-when-you-get-blown-out-of-an-airloc-5924522
tranquil move , Dave . You ’ve done pissed off the ship ’s Nav - com enough to warrant bailing out of an airlock . Now , find yourself in the stale embrace of interstellar space sans helmet . Here ’s what you have to look forrader to during your last few moments animated . [ More ]
Why There Are 24 Hours in a Day
We live in a base-10 world . The decimal system of rules governs everything from the binary functions of information processing system to the amount of modification you get when you grease one’s palms aMashed Potato Slurpee . So why is n’t the standard Earth daylight just 10 hour long ? Credit the Egyptians for that one . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/7-11-now-serves-mashed-potatoes-like-a-slurpee-5926274
How Do Computers Understand Speech?
More and more , we can get computers to do things for us by utter to them . A computer can call your mother when you tell it to , find you a pizza home when you ask for one , or publish out an email that you dictate . Sometimes the computing equipment gets it incorrect , but a lot of the time it gets it right , which is amazing when you think about what a figurer has to do to turn human speech into written give-and-take : turn lilliputian changes in air pressure sensation into spoken communication . [ More ]
Batteries: The Absolute Definitive Guide
https://gizmodo.com/batteries-the-absolute-definitive-guide-5952938
Nobody think about batteries — until they ’ve run out of juice , of course . But this low and surprisingly ancient technology has done far more for human civilization than most hoi polloi realize . [ More ]
What Nuclear Radiation Does To Your Body
Say some maniacal human beings loss leader ultimately hits the gravid red button . Or maybe a terrorist takes out the local nuclear reactor . You survive the initial attack , and you ’re left to endure a world poisoned by nuclear radiation . How ’s that gon na feel ? [ More ]
Why Toilets Are Still Made of Porcelain
We ’ve been sit on the same kind of crapper for centuries . for sure , the plumbing has gotten more tucked away and seat are now fashioned out of all sort of materials and styles ( including plush vinylembroidered with CAT ) , but as far as the toilets themselves go , hundreds of age after they were fabricate , they ’re still largely porcelain . But why ? [ More ]
How To Use Android
https://gizmodo.com/how-to-use-android-5909262
Android is awesome and hefty , but it has , shall we say , a learning bend . That scares some the great unwashed forth . After all , iOS is so intuitive that babies can apply it . Literally . But you ’re not a babe . [ More ]
Why We Yawn—And Why Yawning Is So Contagious
https://gizmodo.com/why-we-yawn-and-why-yawning-is-so-contagious-5893607
Your grandmother says it ’s because you watch too much television set . Your teacher thinks it ’s because you ’re bored . And that creepy guy on the heap just slap you with a phonebook in an attempt to exorcize the devil living in your molars . All because you ’re yawning .
[ More ]
Why Printers Suck (And What You Can Do About It)
https://gizmodo.com/why-printers-suck-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-5894817
Some say that pressman were post from hell to make usmiserable . We cowtow to a machine ’s anodyne griping about report jams and ink levels , and still , after reloading the plane and replace the blue cartridge , the obstinate piece of machinery refuses to carry out its orders . [ More ]
What Exactly Is That New Car Smell?
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-that-new-car-smell-5896801
The olfactory modality of a newfangled elevator car is intoxicating . It reminds us of money and lustrous objects . It evokes that golden period before repeat coffee stains , moldy Tupperware , and our trunk ’s transformation into a Good Will depository change the way we feel about our car . [ More ]
Why Are There So Many Tornadoes This Year?
https://gizmodo.com/why-are-there-so-many-tornadoes-this-year-5902682
The US is the most tornado - friendly land mass on Earth . We ’ve got just the right intermixture of moisture , unstableness , lift , and twist shear to provoke more than 1,000 of the serious storms annually . [ More ]
Spicy Food, Oils, and Sex: The Myth and Science of WHERE THE HELL IS MY BABY
https://gizmodo.com/spicy-food-oils-and-sex-the-myth-and-science-of-wher-5906363
My married woman and I were expecting our first baby to be born on Sunday . Kid , you ’re late ! In the past few days , we ’ve received numerous suggestions on ways to stick out start the condensation . The baksheesh have n’t worked for us — yet — and a closer look at the method acting has reveal a mix of valid science and one-time wives ’ tales . [ More ]
What the Strange Symbols on Your Gadgets Mean
https://gizmodo.com/what-the-strange-symbols-on-your-gadgets-mean-5966087
On the back side of most gadgets , there ’s a cosmic string of hieroglyphs that look like the bottom line on the heart chart from hell . But this omnium-gatherum of symbols and letters is really essential to international swap . Here ’s what each one means and why it ’s on there . [ More ]
Could an Explosion Really Knock You Over Like in the Movies?
https://gizmodo.com/could-an-explosion-really-knock-you-over-like-in-the-mo-5963652
Sure , explosions in cinema are great — they incite car over otherwise unpassable chasms and give heroes something to resolutely take the air off from . In real life-time , explosion of any appreciable size of it are terrifyingly mortal . This is what really happens when you ’re too near to the blow . [ More ]
Paper or Plastic? Try Neither
https://gizmodo.com/paper-or-plastic-try-neither-5958117
San Francisco latterly instituted acitywide banon credit card purse , then started charge a ten - cent fee for the theme bags you have to use rather . The idea is to further reusable bags , but the constabulary is also plan to rid the city of plastic bedding material — this would do good the surround , because paper bags are considered more ecologically well-disposed . Right ? Not quite . [ More ]
How Induction Cooktops Make Meals with Magnets
https://gizmodo.com/how-induction-cooktops-make-meals-with-magnets-5955643
It ’s a disgrace—98 pct of US households still cook food over crude heat like a bunch of cave - dwelling heathens . Well , the 21st century is no place for such pyromantic living room whoremonger . We ’ve harnessed the business leader of electrical energy , and adapted it for the next wave of culinary ironware — induction ranges . Here ’s how they can drag our drab kitchens into the advanced era . [ More ]
Why Salt Water in the Subway Is So Extremely Dangerous
https://gizmodo.com/why-salt-water-in-the-subway-is-so-extremely-dangerous-5956392
Hurricane Sandy ’s storm surge , which bulged into New York Harbor on Monday Nox , inundated much of low Manhattan , portion of Brooklyn , and the barrier islands like the Rockaways in Queens . The weewee drive into some of the metropolis ’s metro , automobile , and electrical tunnels , and pump the water out and bring those tunnels back into working order is exit to be a improbable order - we’re talk many days or workweek to complete . [ More ]
What It Takes to Restore Cellular Service After a Hurricane
https://gizmodo.com/what-it-takes-to-restore-cellular-service-after-a-hurri-5956396
Hurricane Sandy and forget an approximate eight million people without power . Plenty more have uneven cellular service - if they have any at all . But why do some multitude get a signaling when others do n’t ? And what does it take to get a wireless help back online ? [ More ]
How Hurricane Sandy Might Become a Snowpocalyptic Frankenstorm
https://gizmodo.com/how-hurricane-sandy-might-become-a-snowpocalyptic-frank-5955168
Meteorologistsare forecastingwhat could be the bad storm to polish off the easterly United States in more than 70 geezerhood . Dubbed the “ Frankenstorm ” by theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the arrangement could potentially pummel the Mid - Atlantic and nor'-east with gale - force winds and Charles Percy Snow at the same metre . Yes , that sound like a conniption from the scriptural rapture . But the Frankenstorm is n’t just possible — by the end of this weekend , it could be potential . [ More ]
What Happens When You Flush a Toilet on an Airplane?
https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-on-an-airplane-5953877
Aircraft lavatories have get along a long way since the early day of commercial air change of location . other aeronaut usedslop buckets , and WWII original tossed piss - filled bottle out of unpressurized windows(seriously ) . [ More ]
Why the Snooze Button Is Ruining Your Sleep
The cat sleep push button is one of life ’s little opulence , and it ’s well-to-do to kid yourself into thinking that all you involve is an extra ten , twenty — hell , permit ’s make it thirty — proceedings in the sack . [ More ]
The Crazy Journey of an MMS from Your Phone to Your Friends
https://gizmodo.com/the-crazy-journey-of-an-mms-from-your-phone-to-your-fri-5947906
Any message convey from one phone to another — whether it ’s a cunning video of your kid or a fame cock shot — appears almost right away on the recipient ’s screen door . awing ! Now , how did it actually get there ? [ more ]
Why You Have Bad Breath in the Morning
https://gizmodo.com/why-you-have-bad-breath-in-the-morning-5946245
You brush . You floss . You swosh some burning deal - lace liquid around in your mouth until it hurts . You go to bed with an unwritten hygienics Au star , and you wake up with white-hot gloop connecting your lips and some unworthy odor emanating from it . Wtf happens in our mouths while we catch some Z’s ? [ More ]
How NASA Prevents a Space Plague Outbreak
In the early twenty-four hour period of space geographic expedition , NASA basically made up procedure on the tent flap . With short knowledge of the existence outside our atmosphere , agency physician care what humanity might run into out there . MaybeJohn Glenn would go Space Blind . perhaps the Apollo 11 crew would pass over anAndromeda Strainthrough the Lunar Command Module , unleashing a deadly moon computer virus on a defenceless ground . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/doctors-feared-john-glenn-would-go-space-blind-during-h-5886191
How 4K TV Works
Imagine 80 - inch covert with quartette the mental image timber of Full HD , plus passive 3D content that you ’d count actually watchable . That ’s 4 grand television engineering . It could deliver a stunning home theater experience — just as soon as 4K - enabled TV ’s likeSony ’s latestbegin to cost less than a Kia . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/sonys-monster-4k-tv-costs-more-than-a-car-5940793
How Duct Tape Fixes the World
https://gizmodo.com/how-duct-tape-fixes-the-world-5941517
channel mag tape solves just about any problem ( for a little while , at least ) . bust truck bumpers , crack tripe cans , an eternal inclination of other household fracture — if two thing are practiced off stuck together , duct tape is the answer . But how did we come up with this miracle on a spool ? And what makes one product so good at so much nursing home advance ? [ More ]
Music’s Wild Ride: From Sound Waves to Digital Files and Back Again
https://gizmodo.com/musics-wild-ride-from-sound-waves-to-digital-files-and-5938692
Digital audio is everywhere in the modern world — telephones , goggle box , sonar , and Spotify . For all the ways it has revolutionized the way we hear , change over the wave to ace and zeros is a surprisingly aboveboard process . Here ’s the science of sound . [ More ]
What Happens When You Get Struck By Lightning
https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-get-struck-by-lightning-5936361
The human body simply is n’t built to conduct 300kV of electricity . So when thing backfire while you ’re fishing in a thunderstorm , and you find yourself doing an impromptu interpreting ofPowder , here ’s what you’re able to expect . [ More ]
What Happens When You Stare Directly at the Sun
https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-you-stare-directly-at-the-sun-5926497
C. P. Snow sightlessness , arc eye , welder ’s New York minute , broil eyes — these all describe the coarse effects of staring at an intensely bright light reference . But what actually happens to your eyes when you seek to hold a staring competition with our skinny star ? It ’s not pleasant , that ’s for sure . Here ’s a look at what you should n’t see for yourself . [ More ]
What Is Big Data?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-big-data-5964737
The human race produces 2.5 quintillion bytes of data point every day — far too much to crunch using schematic background diligence . mine this mountain of information for nuggets functional selective information is one of the biggest challenges face modern club . But a new generation of analytic dick are helping us hold the phenomenon that ’s becoming commonly jazz as Big Data . [ More ]
What Is an Atmospheric River?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-an-atmospheric-river-5963868
A gigantic storm is do tohit the West Coast later today , bringing with it over a foot of rain . It ’s what meteorologist call an Atmospheric River — but what is that , exactly ? [ More ]
What Is Israel’s Iron Dome?
Israel got itself into a little mini - warfare in Gaza , and Hamas is firing off an extra dose of rockets into the Holy Land . What ’s ( maybe ) stopping them ? Something called the “ Iron Dome”—and what exactly is anIron Dome ? [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/israels-iron-dome-intercepts-incoming-rocket-threats-5914690
What Is Anodizing?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-anodizing-5952887
The glossy patina that protects the butt of Apple ’s new iPad Mini is n’t just some cheap shellac or sealant coat — it ’s really “ grown ” on the metallic element itself in an electrochemical summons known as anodization . Here ’s how . [ More ]
What Is Friction-Stir Welding?
To produce thenew iMac , Apple ’s thin desktop yet , the interior designer used clash - splash welding to join the aluminum dead body . Unlike spark welding , the more standard way to fuse metallic element plates , a friction stir just take a unspoiled rubbing — and a few thousand pounds of pressure — to dumbfound together . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/apples-new-imacs-are-crazy-thin-5953775
What Is Apple Fusion Drive?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-apple-fusion-drive-5954202
While introducing the newridiculously sparse iMac , Apple also bring out its new Fusion Drive . What is it ? It ’s a new storage organisation that supposedly unite the best of SSD and HDD . essentially , the upper of a SSD with the storage space of a big spinning HDD . [ More ]
What Is Pheed?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-pheed-5953271
Pheedis the latest social connection come out up to roll off the manufactory line , promising to change our internet lifetime ( or something ) . It combines aspects of Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , and Tumblr ( among others ) , and coats itself in a renown - support shininess . So what is Pheed ? Long tale unretentive , it ’s a shitshow . [ More ]
Can You Work Out What This Thing Was Used For?
https://gizmodo.com/can-you-work-out-what-this-thing-was-used-for-5949794
This thing look like a crown of thorns between a gun , some weird cookery utensil , and an elaborated aesculapian legal document . It is of course none of those things : but can your form out what it was used for ? [ More ]
What Is Intel Clover Trail?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-intel-clover-trail-5947203
Intel Clover Trail . go like a JJ Abrams movie about encampment , right ? But Clover Trail is actually the next generation Intel Atom poker chip that ’ll superpower both Windows 8 pad and laptops . Which means you ’ll in all probability run into this chip moderately darn shortly , so get familiar . [ More ]
What Is Miracast?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-miracast-5944578
Everyone really care AirPlay , Apple ’s Wi - Fi cyclosis standard that lets you send picture show and music from , say , your iPhone to your utterer or Apple TV . Now there ’s a unexampled standard out to do pretty much the same thing for everyone else . But how is it dissimilar from late attempts ? [ More ]
What Is a Frontlit Display?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-a-frontlit-display-5940965
The new Kindle Paperwhite has a frontlit screen . We know it plausibly would . But the term “ frontlit ” is actually a little misleading , and the simpleness of what it does misrepresent the considerable applied science required to take out it off . [ More ]
What Is MIMO?
At today’sKindle Fire HD unveiling , Jeff Bezos claimed the Fire HD will download message up to 40 percentage faster than either the iPad or the Nexus 7 . Neat trick . But how will it pull it off ? [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/kindle-fire-hd-better-faster-cheaper-bigger-update-5941061
What Is Medium?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-medium-5935016
There is no dearth of platforms to post your ideas , pic , TV — whatever — online , but today we got another high - profile one . Medium denote itself with alofty manifestoabout publishing and media . But , um , what makes it dissimilar and why should anybody use it ? [ More ]
What Is an App Launcher?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-an-app-launcher-5920312
You would n’t initially think it , but your phone ’s home projection screen is itself an app . It ’s an app that launches other apps — an app launcher , if you will . But if the app catapult native to your Mobile River is n’t up to snuff , you could always replace it . [ More ]
What Is Intel Turbo Boost?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-intel-turbo-boost-5917500
Lots of exciting new computers today ! And no matter what , we still get jazzed about processor speeds . But what ’s this Turbo Boost clientele Apple mentioned ? Why do CPUs have two different speeds ? It ’s actually pretty simple . [ More ]
What Is Cocaine Psychosis?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-cocaine-psychosis-5913998
By now you’velikely heard the horrifying taleof the naked Florida valet de chambre who was shot by law while deplete another man ’s nerve . What own Rudy Eugene to ware 75 - pct of a homeless man ’s brass ? Drugs , manifestly . It ’s not entirely clear which drugs Eugene was on , but police have speculated that the attack was prompted by cocain psychosis . That sound like a serious condition . But what precisely is it ? [ More ]
Why Poison Oak Is the F&%*ing Worst
https://gizmodo.com/why-poison-oak-is-the-f-ing-worst-5906128
My mortal opposition is not a man . Nor is it a beast , a virus , an addiction , or a distaff secret agentive role . It ’s a plant . A stupid , bloody , plant . Poison oak , poisonous substance ivy , and/or poison sumac ( depending on where you live ) is pure , pernicious evil . Oh , and it ’s going to be extra spoilt this twelvemonth . [ More ]
What Is CISPA?
RememberSOPAand PIPA , the terrible “ anti - plagiarisation ” bills the internet rage into nonexistence ? There ’s a young one , and it ’s maybe bad : the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act . CISPA . Here ’s everything you want to know about the regretful privateness disaster our land has ever confront . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-sopa-5877000
What Is 4/20?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-4-20-5903598
4/20 is the high lapidator holiday fer sure but where does it come from ? Like , what are its origins , where ’s it comin ’ from , what ’s its back story Isle of Man ? Luckily , the day has nothing to do with the Nazi . [ More ]
What Is The New Aesthetic?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-new-aesthetic-5901405
At this twelvemonth ’s SXSW Interactive , there was a panel titledThe New Aesthetic : Seeing Like Digital Devices . It was about engineering science , and how it colligate to art and invention . Since SXSW , there have beenmany discussions , including a sprawling,5,000 parole essayon Wired , about the New Aesthetic ’s shortcoming , its potential , and its significance . [ More ]
What Is Temporal Noise Reduction?
One of thenew iPad ’s TV features — along with 1080p transcription and video stabilization — is secular dissonance reduction . Apple claims it will meliorate the quality of footage in low - light conditions . OK , but what the hell is it ? [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/new-ipad-the-third-generation-5891158
What Is an Earthquake?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-an-earthquake-5890488
Who is n’t afraid of being come alive dead by a shaking building whose roof is caving in ? Or a hugetsunamisweeping though your town ? Earthquakes are terrifying . But what precisely are they ? Why do seism materialize ? [ More ]
What Are Steroids?
You might have a ally who has to take them for asthma . You might know someone else who denies taking them but has gotten demented rip really tight and angers easily . Famous jock are deny or being caught with them in their blood watercourse apparently every daytime — just yesterday , MLB sluggerRyan Braun successfully appealeda convinced test for them . [ More ]
https://deadspin.com/ryan-braun-drug-test-saga-now-officially-screwball-come-5887840
What Comes After 4G?
https://gizmodo.com/what-comes-after-4g-5877997
Wait expect expect , we’re talking about 5 gravitational constant mobile datanow ? ! Ugh , but we just got 4 G squared away . In any case , the ball is already roll on the next contemporaries of cellular technology , so we might as well figure out what in the hell IMT - Advanced is . [ More ]
What Is SOPA?
If you had n’t heard of SOPA before , you in all probability have by now : Some of the net ’s most influential sites — Reddit and Wikipedia among them — are live on dour to resist the much - maligned anti - piracy bill . But other than being a very bad affair , what is SOPA ? And what will it think for you if it passes ? [ More ]
What Is MHL?
Between theRoku Streaming Stickand theseSamsung displayswe’ve see a few late intersection equip with a new audio / visual connective address MHL . It is not a fresh way to view hockey game . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/roku-is-now-a-stick-5872912
What Is a Hangover?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-a-hangover-5869915
Yippee ! Let ’s envenom ourselves with beverages that will make us violently ill ! It was your conflict cry last night , and today you ’re paying the price . But what is that hangover you ’re experiencing , exactly ? [ More ]
What Is Carrier IQ? (Updated)
Holy datum privacy scandal ! Over the last week the news that Carrier IQ has beentracking millions of smartphone userswithout their knowledge has balloon into a full - blown clusternut . Carrier IQ , huh ? Sounds villainous . But what precisely does it do ? And why should you handle ? [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/your-android-phone-is-secretly-recording-everything-you-5863849
What Is Distortion?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-distortion-5826651
We all know what distortion sounds like . We ’ve heard it in heavy metal tunes , cheap iPod docks and the crummy speakers at Taco Bell driveway - thrus . And we ’ve all read distortion specs on things like receivers and subwoofers . But other than a general understanding that overrefinement is n’t something we desire in home audio cogwheel , most people really do n’t get it on what it is . [ More ]
What Is Coil Embolization?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-coil-embolization-5830210
You ’re hefty , active and life is good . Then , you start having pain behind your eyes , frequent killer vexation and trouble with your vision and balance . You shake it off as nothing , but you should n’t . You may have a brain aneurism . [ More ]
What Is A Gustnado? (Hint: It May Have Collapsed The Indiana State Fair Stage)
Last weekend , a venomous tragedy struck the Indiana State Fair when the main performance stage collapsed during a monster violent storm . A witness to the event capturedthis terrifying momenton picture . [ More ]
https://gizmodo.com/terrifying-video-of-the-deadly-indiana-state-fair-stage-5830685
What Is a Hurricane?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-a-hurricane-5834820
Every class , about six tropical storms graduate to hurricane condition , pummeling the Carribean and Eastern United States . Yes it ’s a animal of a rain storm , but how does it get that way , and how do weather sept decide when it should be crown “ hurricane ? ” [ More ]
What Is an RPG?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-an-rpg-5839715
The Diplomatic District of Kabul , Afghanistan isunder attackright now . composition are that the area — admit the US Embassy — is taking heavy RPG fire . But what is an RPG , on the button ? [ More ]
What Is the LRAD Sound Cannon?
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-lrad-sound-cannon-5860592
The Occupy movement has become of the longest with child - scale protest in US chronicle , and all that protesting had pit the activists against police departments and their crew - control weapons . One of the more controversial of those is the LRAD Sound Cannon . So what ’s the impairment in a petty noise ? Well , a lot , actually . [ More ]
Top image credit : Fedorov Oleksiy / Shutterstock .
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