This is a shot of a tree that got all its bark zapped off in a lightning storm. Now it's just standing there all butt-ass naked. Will it survive? A quick Google search for "can a tree survive without bark?" proved inconclusive, and that's as far as my investigative reporting... / Continue →

This is a video from National Geographic of a lightning strike filmed at 11,000-frames/second so 1-second of real-time footage takes 3-minutes to watch. Impressive, but you know what would have been even cooler? If they filmed it so 1-second took FIVE YEARS to watch. I don't... / Continue →

Wait -- you've got a Portal gun and it's just sitting on the shelf collecting dust? Not cool bro. Just in time for the release of Iron Man 3 *shrug*, this is a video of Caleb from Hackaday showing off the 80,000-volt Thor hammer he built out of a tesla coil and foam. It can ... / Continue →

These are Invisiplug wood grain surge protectors. They're designed to blend into wood grain flooring and not be such an eyesore. They make the perfect ironic statement for that hipster living room that's all tile. Still, even if you do have wood grain floors that actually ma... / Continue →

This is a video of a 110kV (110,000-volt) power line in (where else?) Russia performing a very moving lightning dance after short circuiting. Now I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about electricity except it's terrifying and I've electrocuted myself four times, ... / Continue →

This is a video of Dennis and Valerio from the Dutch show Proefkonijnen (Guinea Pigs -- turn the English subtitles on) getting electrodes strapped to their stomachs and electrified in waves to mimic the last two hours of contractions before childbirth. They both do a pretty go... / Continue →

This is the 8.8 Million Volt Shock Mod Ninja Sword built by Youtuber GreekGadgetGuru (who has a bunch of other videos of terrifying weapons he's made like an Assassin's Creed poison dart shooter, taser gloves, ballistic knives, and an arm-mounted crossbow). It's basically two ... / Continue →

This is a video of two guys standing atop Tesla coils wearing Faraday suits and battling each other with electricity at the recent Belfast Festival at Queens in Ireland. I don't know who the hell told them you're supposed to fight electricity with electricity, but I would have... / Continue →

Note: Consider this your retroactive freaky-deaky picture warning. A hacker going by the name of Barnaby Jack demonstrated his ability to hack pacemakers at a recent computer security conference in Australia, proving that fake boner pill emails may be the least of your grandpa... / Continue →

This is the $30 Power-Up Arcade Light Switch Plate from ThinkGeek. It looks like an arcade joystick, but it's not -- it's a light switch. I know -- it was hard for me to grasp at first too. The two buttons make different 'PEW PEW!' sound effects and the actual joystick contr... / Continue →