To understand one of the most interesting (and theoretical) concepts in astrophysics, here's a short (10 minute) video explaining black holes, what would happen if you fell inside of one, and how they do what they do, all in layman's terms. more ›

What happens when you let the smart alecks from high school loose on the internet with science? The tragedy of the gummy bear, that's what. more ›

Billboards posted on the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) near Maywood, Ill., liken those who believe in global warming to Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, Charles Manson and Fidel Castro. more ›

The certified pre-owned kidney was a donation from Ray Fearing's sister. When the 27-year-old's body refused it, doctors didn't want to toss out a perfectly good kidney, so they took a gamble on re-transplanting the organ into another person. more ›

In case you were wondering what the view of our moon looked like over the entirety of 2012, the nice folks at NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio put together this animation that shows the moon in all of her tipping, tilting and rocking glory. Just make sure you lock the doors tonight. more ›

We here at Chicagoist welcome our new robot overlords. more ›

On this day in 1942, a University of Chicago team led by Enrico Fermi created the first controlled nuclear chain reaction, in converted squash courts under Stagg Field, the University’s football stadium. more ›

For those weary about a combination lecture/performance, fret not: Dolby and his band will embark on a proper US tour in 2012, including a few festival dates (Lollapalooza, anyone?). more ›

Today's diversion is dedicated to the final Space Shuttle mission. We thought it would good to take a look at some of the scientific demonstrations that America's space program brought to life for us. more ›

Among the largest species of deer in the world, and one of the largest land mammals in North America, elk do more than feed and breed. When food is abundant and the elk are healthy, they play, just like most other animals do. more ›

Sorry, Adler Planetarium. Not even an ambitious pavilion plan could help you land a decommissioned space shuttle for display, now that NASA is ending the shuttle program. NASA is giving the space shuttle Enterprise (currently on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum) to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York. The Smithsonian will receive the space shuttle Discovery as a replacement for the Enterprise. more ›

Here's a lede you don't often get to write: "Dateline - Batavia, Illinois: The definition of 'reality' was challenged today..." Okay, so that might be over the top, but based on the news coming out of Fermilab recently, perhaps only by a little. more ›

We could do without the music in this video. But we still find this video comparing the sizes of planets and stars utterly fascinating. If you know CPS student that's lagging behind in science, drop them in front of the computer screen right now. more ›

Last month, we confirmed that Homaro Cantu, the mad scientist behind Moto, was opening another restaurant. It was to be called "ING" and promised to be our favorite restaurant named after a suffix, but no other information was available. Bits and pieces have come out - due to a quirk of postage, Time Out Chicago got the invitation to the media preview first and posted some potential menu items. Cantu sent Kevin Pang at the Tribune an unmarked pill (Pang made another staffer try it) and we got an email over the weekend telling us that all Otom Groupons would be refunded - the final confirmation that Otom was out and ING was in. Now Cantu has started tweeting out videos of the new space. more ›

The silver screen is the canvas onto which we project our imagination, and our imagination is often, well, nerdy. From the big-budget, high concept juggernaut that was Avatar to the subdued and stately Never Let Me Go currently knocking over critics on art house screens, the movies just love science fiction. It's been that way since the very beginning, and in case you haven't seen any trailers for Tron Legacy, it's still true today. more ›

Uh, awesome. Pitchfork, get on these guys for your 2011 fest before they get too big and head to Lolla instead. Lady Gaga's probably pissed she didn't think of the "shooting bolts of electricity from a guitar/costume" idea first. more ›

The above video, purported to play the sounds the rings of the planet Saturn make, came across our inbox this morning. We did a bit more digging and found that this is actually a couple of years old and that it's the planet itself, not just its rings, but it's still damn fascinating if not downright terrifying. A NASA report from 2005 explains: more ›

Friend of Chicagoist Mark Bazer, of "The Interview Show" fame, recently had moto chefs/Future Food hosts Homaro Cantu and Ben Roche on his show, where they talked about dining at moto, Future Food and other things. We've embedded part 1 of the interview in the post. Check out part 2 here. more ›

A woman who slips into the new Galaxy Dress will literally ‘light up the room’ thanks to a new prototype gown created by Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz of the London-based company CuteCircuit. The dress is embroidered with 24,000 full-color LEDs, and according to the Museum of Science and Industry, is the largest wearable LED display in the world. The design duo used flat, paper-like LEDs which were hand-embroidered onto four layers of silk chiffon to diffuse the light and give the dress a fluid, iridescent glow. more ›

A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor is one of 24 MacArthur Foundation Fellows for 2009, who will receive a "no strings attached" stipend of $500,000 over the next five years. John A. Rogers, a professor with the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the university, was recognized for, "inventing flexible electronic devices that lay the foundation for a revolution in manufacture of industrial, consumer, and biocompatible technologies." You can read more about Rogers' research and the other 2009 Fellows here. more ›

Singer Bobby McFerrin, appearing on a panel at The World Science Festival, shows us a thing or two about the pentatonic scale and expectations. Amazing. [h/t to the Trib's Kevin Pang for the link] more ›

We were explaining the guanciale experiment and process in making it Saturday night to Benjy's lovely wife Ella. Mrs. Lipsman asked all the pertinent questions about making one's own charcuterie, most important among them, "What if you get food poisoning?" more ›

"Hardware hacks," "creative code," "DIY garage science" -- Dorkbot does it on a circuit board. The local chapter of an international arts collective dedicated to "people doing strange things with electricity" will hold its latest gathering tonight at Enemy. The event is totally free, and will feature a presentation on the past and future of the local Dorkbot movement as well the first public appearance of something called "Where's the Party At v1.0," a sampler built by local artist and musician Todd Bailey. Visit Bailey's Web site for more information about his machine and a visual, conversational taste of what Dorkbot's about. He's slinging some straight nerd alert genius over there. more ›

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the self-proclaimed "world's largest general scientific society", is meeting this weekend right here in Chicago for what is promising to be a huge event, starting today and running through Monday. As many as 10,000 attendees from 60 different countries will be traversing the city, attending workshops and seminars. The focus of this year's convention will be Global Warming. Says AAAS president James J. McCarthy, "Today, the warming of our planet is unequivocal, and human activities are a primary cause. Within the next few human generations, the effect of these climate changes could put the survival of many species at risk." more ›

Borders, 830 N Michigan Ave., 10/27, 7:30 p.m., $7 - $10 more ›

Oh come all ye tinkerers, nerdy and philanthropic, come ye oh co-ome ye to American Maker. more ›

Scientists at Fermilab's Dzero division have discovered a new subatomic particle. The Omega-sub-b is a "an exotic relative of the much more common proton." Oooooh, exotic! more ›