'IT'S LIKE A FUCKING DRUG ADDICTION'
The Challenge Of Building TV's Best Reality Show
MTV’s "The Challenge" is the single most compelling reality series — and one of the most influential. This is the story of how that show came to be.
WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK
McMansions Are Spooky As Heck And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week: Why McMansions are bad, what would happen if no one voted and how capitalism creates pointless jobs.
3.1 MILLION EVACUATED
Hurricane Matthew Lashes Florida Amid Dire Warnings, 300,000 Lose Power
Hurricane Matthew battered the Florida coast with powerful winds, potentially devastating storm surges and torrential rain on Friday, leaving hundreds of thousands without power as those remaining in the storm's path were ordered to shelter in place.
FROM THE DIGG STORE
It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s A...Drone
A pretty remarkable piece of engineering, the Bionic Bird undergoes such strict quality controls that each bird is built like a prototype and controlled straight from your smartphone.
HOW TO BE AN ADULT
A Guide To Making Fall Allergies Suck Less
It might be a cold, but fall allergies can easily sneak up on people who assume pollen season stops at Labor Day. A little grown-up knowledge and preparedness can help cut down on your Kleenex consumption this year.
LET'S HOPE IT LEADS TO PEACE
Colombia’s President, Juan Manuel Santos, Is Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
The president of Colombia was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for pursuing a deal to end 52 years of conflict, the longest-running war in the Americas, just five days after Colombians rejected the agreement with a leftist rebel group in a shocking referendum result.
'COMPLETE DEVASTATION'
Hurricane Matthew Kills Hundreds In Haiti
The death toll in Haiti as a result of Hurricane Matthew — the most powerful Caribbean storm in a decade - has soared to more than 300, officials say.
JESSIE GRAFF-IN-TRAINING
Dad Builds His Daughter Her Very Own 'American Ninja Warrior Course' (Which She Then Scales Like A Pro)
Uh, can he be our dad?
FLUID DYNAMICS
Moving Beyond Sexual Orientation
Sexual fluidity is a challenge to both traditional and alternative sexual narratives.
PEDAL TO THE METTLE
How China’s Didi Beat Uber
At the Beijing offices of the ride-hailing startup Didi, many employees refer to Cheng Wei, the founder and chief executive officer, as “big boss.” This summer the world came to know him by another designation: the Uber Slayer.
WALK FOR YOUR LIFE
Stephen King's 'The Long Walk' Turned Into A Gritty And Grizzly Animated Short
A motion graphics designer spent over five years putting together this short film version of one of King's most famous novels.
WHAT DOES 4:20 SMELL LIKE
Apparently Dogs Can Tell Time With Their Noses
As each day wears a new smell, its hours mark changes in odors that your dog can notice. Dogs smell time.
NO MORE HEROES
For Women of Color, The Price Of Fandom Can Be Too High
When the geek community is asked to empathize with characters who don’t look like them, the backlash can be severe.
INTO THE FOLD
How To Make The Perfect Pop-Up Book
Using scissors, tape, and reams of creativity, Matthew Reinhart engineers paper to bend, fold, and transform into fantastic creatures, structures and locales. By adjusting the angles of folds and the depth of layers, Reinhart animates his subjects to tell dramatic stories that literally pop off the page.
4K OVER YOUR MONEY NOW
The Man Building Movie Theaters More Immersive Than IMAX
Filmmaker Douglas Trumbull has invented a super-immersive film format and projection technology in hopes of improving the cinematic experience. Now he needs to get the industry to pay attention.
BACTERIA THAT COULD PREVENT CANCER
The Breast Has Its Own Microbiome
If certain bacteria do instigate cancer, the finding could lead to new screening methods or treatments.
A PRIMER
Trying To Unravel Time Travel Paradoxes Is An Easy Way To Fry Your Brain
Around and round it goes. Where it stops nobody knows.
IT TAKES GUTS
Life As A Meat-Factory Video Activist
Inside the effort to pry open the meat industry.
'TIME IS RUNNING OUT'
'This Storm Will Kill You,' Florida Governor Warns As Hurricane Matthew Picks Up Steam
If the storm's wrath isn't enough on its own, the possibility of several feet of storm surge could leave hundreds of thousands of residents underwater and without power.
'LIKE NO STORM IN THE RECORD BOOKS'
Weather Channel Host Offers Unequivocal Hurricane Matthew Warning: 'I Cannot Overstate The Danger Of This Storm'
Responding to reports of people ignoring evacuation orders, Weather Channel host Bryan Norcross delivered a special statement to viewers and didn't mince his words.
A VOLUNTEER EMT FROM THE AUDIENCE
To Save His Friend, A Man Becomes The World's Best Surgeon Through Hypnosis
When a tragic accident puts a bullet in hypnocomic Gabriel the Great's liver, his roommate Ben steps up to the plate to go under his spell.
A LIVER DEATH ISSUE
The Silent Epidemic No One's Talking About
As nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, stealthily becomes a leading cause of transplants, drug companies race to develop treatments.
A PHOTO ESSAY
The Gold Miners Who Work For Free
Men flock to this brutal, lawless land – sometimes with their entire families – in search of a fortune that will give them a better life.
SAURON APPROVES
This Hi-Res Footage Of Lava Is Hot As Hell
This is, hopefully, the closest view you'll ever get of Mount Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu Crater lava lake.
MONKEY BRAINS
The New Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphic thinking is now mainstream science — but not all researchers are happy about that.
WHERE'S IN A NAME?
The Most Common Last Names In Each State (Relatively)
You'll see no "Smith" or "Jones" in this map from, which shows the most "distinctive" last name in each state — that is, the last name that was the furthest above the national average in a each state.
OH HELL YEAH
So This Guy Definitely Invented A Working Jetpack
Remember that video that emerged last year that appeared to show a dude flying a jetpack around the Statue of Liberty? Yeah, it was legit. This thing is legit.
SO IT'S... WATERWORLD?
Our Closest Earthlike Planet Appears To Be Covered In Water
In the search for life outside of our cosmic backyard, an Earth-sized, newly-discovered rocky exoplanet has scientists woozy: They've concluded that the planet may in fact be covered in oceans of liquid water—water that could contain life.
CONGRATS, JOHN KERRY
What If We All Just Didn't Vote?
No really, what would happen? Who would become president?
IT GOES WHERE IT WANTS
It's Incredibly Hard To Predict A Hurricane's Course, As Illustrated In One GIF
With Hurricane Matthew set to slam into Florida (a "worst-case scenario" for the state), researchers are carefully tracking and predicting the storm's next moves. But it's not easy to do.
WHAT'S UNDER THOSE REDACTIONS?
Documents Reveal 'Stranger Things' Really Freaked Out The Department of Energy
Netflix’s runaway hit "Stranger Things" did a lot of things right, and chief among them: antagonizing the US Department of Energy.
EXPLOITATION STATION
Today In 2016: How Howard Stern Dominated Donald Trump
Welcome to Today In 2016, your daily digest of all things election. Today: Hillary Clinton moves hurricane-targeted ads, Donald Trump made fun of women "for entertainment," and more Republicans speak out against their candidate.
WAVE HELLO TO THE PILOTS
Dang, Look At This Camera Zoom (And Zoom And Zoom)
The iPhone 7 Plus may have 2x optical zoom, which is exciting until you see what this camera with 200x zoom can do.
DOCTORED STATS
Your Surgeon Is Probably A Republican, Your Psychiatrist Probably A Democrat
The new research is the first to directly measure the political leanings of a large sample of all doctors. Earlier research — using surveys of physicians and medical students, and looking at
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
When Her Best Friend Died, She Rebuilt Him Using Artificial Intelligence
Ever since Mazurenko’s death, Kuyda had wanted one more chance to speak with him.
HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORRROW
Commentator Joe Buck's Hair Plug Addiction Almost Ended His Career
Buck has said that a virus cost him his voice for part of 2011, but that was a lie. His loss of speech was a side effect of a hair transplant procedure.
MONEY TO BURN
Setting Fake Cash On Fire So Your Great-Grandparents Have Enough Money For Hell
"In traditional Chinese culture, life doesn’t necessarily end after you die."
OH MY, ROBOT
I Went To A Chinese Robot Shop To Witness The Coming Of The Sex Dolls
Will owning something like Magic Beauty ever become more widely accepted in mainstream culture in China and beyond?
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Why Does This Baby Have So Much Hair?
Junior Cox-Noon is 8 weeks old and he already has better hair than most of us will have in a lifetime.
(UH, WATCH IT WITH HEADPHONES ON)
The Most Insane, Vulgar Court Transcript In History Got The Full Animated 'Rick And Morty' Treatment
Back when we first saw this, it was just black and white "Rick and Morty" stills — now we've got the fully animated version. If you didn't watch it the first time around, don't skip it again.
