odd look at news on the web
Game-day crime rises up to 70% after sports betting goes legal
27 December 2025 @ 3:03 am
Tensions always run high between sports fans of rival teams on game day. But a new study shows that the rise of legalized sports betting in the US is turning those tensions into something far darker.Continue ReadingCategory: LifestyleTags: gambling, Sports, Rice University, Bold, bizarre, brilliant: 2025's top architectural oddities
26 December 2025 @ 9:03 pm
2025 has been a big year for wild ideas and we've decided it's high time to look back and highlight the best. From building a skyscraper in a rural Alpine village, to massive animal-like power line pylons, here's our favorite examples of unusual architecture.Continue ReadingCategory: Architecture, TechnologyTags: Best of 2025, Tesla makes the least reliable used cars… but which carmaker ranks first?
26 December 2025 @ 12:03 pm
If you’re shopping for a used car, you know just how instrumental the smallest details are. Price, brand, mileage, condition… you’re probably juggling everything at once, trying to find the perfect car that offers a mix of all these attributes. But here’s the most important factor you’re probably missing: reliability.Continue ReadingCategory: Automotive, TransportDigging up the past: Important dinosaur discoveries of the year
26 December 2025 @ 3:03 am
Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it abundantly clear that they’re anything but settled science. Over the past year, new fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and the use of increasingly sophisticated tools have continued to upend what we thought we knew about how these animals lived, moved, fed and evolved.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Dinosaurs, Smarter bike helmet hides a secret weapon for better brain protection
26 December 2025 @ 12:03 am
A couple of months back we reported on an e-mobility spin-off from Rivian that launched a modular ebike that rides without a chain or belt. Pre-orders for the T-MB are now open, but Also is already looking to protect your noggin with a light-packing smart helmet.Continue ReadingCategory: Bicycles, TransportTags: ebikes, The best everyday health advice we learned from science in 2025
25 December 2025 @ 12:03 pm
We certainly saw some major health-related breakthroughs in 2025, including a universal cancer vaccine and human trials for the world's first treatment to reverse spinal cord injuries. But the year was also filled with smaller findings that can still have a big impact on your day-to-day health.Continue ReadingCategory: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body anWatch: World's biggest snowman dwarfs city in northeastern China
25 December 2025 @ 3:03 am
If you're chionoandrophobic, we recommend looking away now. Standing about 62 ft (19 m) tall, measuring roughly 46 ft (14 m) long and 36 ft (11 m) wide, 2025's largest snowman has been erected in northeast China. The smiling icy monster required some 124,000 cubic feet (3,500 cubic meters) of snow, and has already become a big tourist attraction in the city of Harbin.Continue ReadingCategory: Environment, ScienceTags: Advancing with animals: Standout biomimicry of 2025
25 December 2025 @ 12:03 am
From water-skipping robots to elephant-skin inspired cooling materials, engineers have continued to find inspiration in nature in order to move technology forward for humans.Continue ReadingCategory: ScienceTags: Engineering, Biomimicry, Animal science, Hisense's next laser projector boasts 6,000 lumens on a 300-inch screen
24 December 2025 @ 9:30 pm
Hisense has already put out a bunch of impressive projectors to suit different needs this year – and with the upcoming XR10, it appears to have pulled out all the stops to tempt laser home cinema enthusiasts.Continue ReadingCategory: Home Entertainment, Consumer Tech, TechnologyTags: Projector, HiSmart headphones hide a fold-down immersive display in the headband
24 December 2025 @ 8:00 pm
I know I sounded pretty excited when I talked about Valve's Steam Frame headset for VR gaming recently. But let's be honest, that and every other headset are about as subtle as a foghorn in a library. A South Korean hardware brand wants to make your pastime of escaping into immersive content a little less conspicuous, by sneaking a headset into a pair of mostly nondescript headphones.Continue ReadingCategory: Weara