My colleague Ben Gilbert has been head-over-heels for "Rocket League," a crazy game with a simple premise: It's soccer, but with rocket-powered cars.

Last night, I finally tried it. And within just a few minutes, I was sold.

"Rocket League" might be my favorite game of the year so far.

It's available on PlayStation 4 and PC, via Steam's online store.

If you've purchased PlayStation Plus, Sony's premium online service that costs $50 a year, "Rocket League" is a free game for the entire month of July, so many PS4 owners have already tried "Rocket League."

And so far, it's a hit with almost everyone.

You can play an online match as soon as you boot up the game — no long drawn-out introduction necessary. Still, you can opt for a quick tutorial like I did to get a better feel for "Rocket League." You'll learn to speed up, reverse, U-turn, boost, and hop — yes, hop — your way to glory, all while pushing a giant soccer ball across a field in hopes to score a goal.

Goals, by the way, are comically brilliant. Every time anyone scores a goal, the net EXPLODES! It's hilarious every single time.

After the tutorial, I dug into some online matches. I told myself I'd only play a few rounds, but I ended up playing probably around a dozen. "Rocket League" has a learning curve, but it's super addictive.

Each match is just 5 minutes, and you can play 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3, or what's called "chaos," 4 vs. 4. I spent most of my time playing 3 vs. 3 online matches.

The game starts with the ball in the center of the field, and everyone races to the center to hit the ball. As the ball flies around the field, you can fixate your camera on the ball as you zoom around, knocking into competitors and trying to hit the ball in the other team's net. And you can never fly off-course, either. Each field is a glass-covered arena, meaning you can drive up the walls, and even on the ceilings of the goals.

You get points throughout each match for a multitude of things: hitting the ball first, pushing the ball into the center of the field, assisting on a goal or scoring on a goal, and more. With those points, you gain experience to level up, and you can gain special rewards for customizing your car.

It's refreshing to see a game that doesn't focus on a massive open world, or an extremely convoluted story. "Rocket League" is all about picking up a controller and having fun for five chaotic minutes at a time. The game looks simple, but is difficult to master, which should keep players like me coming back for more. I can't wait for my next match; they'll be calling me "Thierry Henry Ford" when it's over.

SEE ALSO: 10 reasons you should start playing 'Destiny'

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NOW WATCH: How you could end up spending thousands on Kate Upton's 'Game of War'

One of the best moments of this year's San Diego Comic-Con didn't involve Hall H, Hollywood movies, or costumed superhumans, but an aging Congressman who marched alongside countless others during America's struggle for Civil Rights in the '60s — even in the face of brutal beatings and countless arrests. 

Congressman John Lewis is the last living member of the "Big Six" of the Civil Rights movement's March on Washington — a group that included Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in its members.

In recent years, he's also become a regular attendee of comic book conventions, most notably San Diego Comic-Con — which he appeared at for the second consecutive year last weekend. 

The reason? His gripping, award-winning graphic novel trilogy "March," an autobiographical account of Lewis' life and how he became involved in the Civil Rights movement. Co-written by Lewis' assistant, Andrew Aydin, with art by Nate Powell, two volumes have been released so far — and they bear the distinction of being the first comic book ever written by a sitting Congressman. Lewis — who cites a comic book about Dr. Martin Luther King as a big reason he became an activist — has been heavily involved in his book's promotion over the last two years because he doesn't see it merely as history, but a guide meant to inspire a new generation towards inciting real social change through nonviolent resistance. Hence, Comic-Con. 

He even cosplayed as himself. 

Congressman Lewis went to Comic-Con wearing a jacket and backpack identical to what he wore during the "Bloody Sunday" march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama — the events at the center of the film "Selma."

It didn't end there, though.

According to The Washington Post's Michael Cavna— whose account of Lewis' Comic-Con appearance is worth reading in full — a group of local third graders were brought to the convention to see Lewis speak. 

When the time came to leave the room and cross the convention to the booth Lewis had to find a way to cross the crowded convention with his young audience.

So Lewis decided to recreate another little bit of history at Comic-Con. Hand-in-hand, from the panel room to the show floor, Lewis and the children did exactly what Lewis did when he last wore a coat and backpack like those on his back at the convention.

They marched. 

SEE ALSO: The best costumes from San Diego Comic-Con 2015

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NOW WATCH: We Asked Cosplayers At Comic Con About What Makes Someone An Adult — And Their Answers Were Awesome

When Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg landed his aircraft in Hawaii on July 3 after flying it across the Pacific from Japan, he had already broken a world record.

Borschberg flew Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft fueled solely by solar energy, across 5,000 miles in five-day non-stop journey — the longest solo flight ever. 

That trip was part of a planned 12-leg odyssey that Borschberg and his co-pilot, Bertrand Piccard, had envisioned for their iconic plane. But the final legs of the trip haven't yet happened; the  journey across the Pacific damaged the aircraft's batteries so badly that the plane is grounded in Hawaii until 2016.

Theoretically, the plane can fly forever, using nothing more than the sun to keep it aloft.

Here's how the Solar Impulse 2 saga unfolded.        

Equipped with 17,000 solar cells mounted on its massive wings, Solar Impulse 2 took off from Abu Dhabi in March in the hope of flying nearly 22,000 miles around the world.

The plan was to make a round-the-world trip in 12 legs.

Solar Impulse landed in Muscat after the first 12-hour stint of its journey.

"Community" is finally getting some Emmy love!

The recently axed NBC show which was picked up for a sixth season on Yahoo, just received its first Emmy nod, giving the streaming site its first Emmy nomination, too.

"Community" didn't get a nod for acting or directing though.

The series received an Emmy for best stunt coordinator.

Ben Scott, Stunt Coordinator -- Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Comedy Series Or A Variety Program

It's not the Emmy anyone expected, but hey, it's an Emmy!

And now, even if the show doesn't continue on for another season, it can always be referred to as Emmy-nominated series "Community."

So there's that.

Here's to #sixseasonsandamovie human beings.

SEE ALSO: Check out all of the 2015 Emmy nominations

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NOW WATCH: This new 'Peter Pan' movie with Hugh Jackman looks like it's completely reimagining Neverland

At this year's San Diego Comic Con, Walt Disney Pictures released a behind-the-scenes video for the upcoming film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." The video reveals some new interesting details that were not know before. We break the video down and show you the most interesting nuggets. 

Video by Corey Protin. Original reporting by Steve Kovach

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Apple CEO Tim Cook finally joined Twitter in September 2013, but while he only tweeted occasionally in his first year on the network, he's been much more active on the platform lately.

Aside from tweeting about Apple events, holidays, Apple products and social equality, Cook also actively favorites others' tweets. On Thursday, for example, Cook favorited a handful of tweets about Apple Pay becoming availble in the UK for the first time, which is good news for anyone using London's transportation systems.

We've rounded up some of Tim Cook's favorited tweets to give you a better idea of what Apple's CEO cares about.

First of all, Cook loves Duke, particularly Duke basketball. This makes sense considered he earned his MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business some 27 years ago.

He also occasionally shows love for his other alma mater, Auburn University, where he graduated with a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1982.

Cook also cares a ton about equality. In October 2014, Cook came out as gay in an editorial for Bloomberg Businessweek. Since then, he has been very vocal about issues like marriage equality.

He also has a penchant for favoriting tweets about greatness, particularly in sports. Cook clearly has a love for history and a desire to motivate others.

Cook also loves — LOVES — tweets from Box CEO Aaron Levie.

He also favorites tweets from Pope Francis quite often.

And of course, Cook is constantly on the lookout for positive responses to Apple products, particularly the Apple Watch and new Apple Music service.

SEE ALSO: Reddit CEO: 'Some communities currently on the platform should not be here at all'

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NOW WATCH: Here's Tim Cook answering all your questions about the Apple Watch

British artist Willard Wigan creates micro-sculptures that fit inside the head of a needle.  In addition to his original artwork, he has created a miniature "Ant-Man" figure ahead of the blockbuster's release, and the work is on display in London at "Antsibition."

Video courtesy of Reuters

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Plus-size women who want to show off their style on Instagram are out of luck if they want to use the hashtag #curvy.

The platform has blocked it, Mashable reports. A spokesperson from Instagram told BI this is because the tag was being used to share photos that violate the platform's rules about nudity.

But, as BuzzFeed pointed out when they broke this story, there are plenty of much more sexually explicit words than "curvy" allowed on the platform.

Now, if you search for the #curvy hashtag, Instagram will suggest a number of longer hashtags that start with the word "curvy," like #curvygirl and #curvyfit.

And if you click on a photo that's already been hashtagged #curvy in order to see similar photos, you'll get a message that says "No Posts Yet."

This isn't accurate — plenty of women are using the #curvy label. You can find many of them by searching the similar hashtags like #curvyfashion and #curvyfit.

Instagram confirmed to us that they did block #curvy because of the nudity issue. This is similar to Instagram's choice to block the eggplant emoji from being searched due to its phallic connotations.

Blogger Sarah Chiwaya writes about plus-size fashion at her site, Curvily. She finds the ban discouraging.

"I think what this boils down to is the fact that curvier bodies are simply treated as more obscene than thin bodies," she said, "even when there is just as much exposed."

She and other members of the body positive community are making posts, like the one below from user @brittonyaaa, on Instagram to protest the ban.

This ban frustrates Chiwaya because it could slow down the body acceptance movement that's taken hold online.

"The idea that all bodies are beautiful and worthy of respect is starting to take hold in a way it never has before," she said, "and a big reason for that is the increased representation of different body types on social media. For Instagram to stomp all over one of the most popular hashtags for women above model size is incredibly disapopinting."

She also pointed out that while #curvy is banned, #thin and #skinny are still intact. If you search either of those, Instagram will let you see the photos associated with it, but with a content advisory saying the images "may contain graphic content."

"Their excuse about nudity is just that — an excuse," Chiwaya said. "You can find nudity in any hashtag. I've literally (and unfortunately) seen a penis while looking at the #puppies tag. Reporting material that violates the policy is the mechanism in place to deal with that — not banning a widely used tag outright."

She pointed out that #curvy is being treated the same way as the #naked or #sex tags.

"Instagram is just perpetuating that curvy = obscene trope," she said.

Chiwaya relies on Instagram to promote her business and website, and she discovered much of the body positive community through the #curvy hashtag years ago, she said. She worries that younger users might never discover those communities now that the hashtag is banned.

She's found workarounds like the tags #celebratemysize and #fatshion, and suggests people who want to view body positive content use hashtags like #loveyourshape, #imnoangel, and her own #pullingoffacroptop.

And, as BuzzFeed reported earlier today, women are also getting around the ban by hashtagging their photos #curvee.

"Curvy is not obscene, and should not be treated as such," Chiwaya said.

SEE ALSO: Photos from inside Lilly Pulitzer headquarters show cartoons mocking the 'fat, white, and hideous'

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NOW WATCH: This 100-year-old celebrated her milestone birthday skydiving — and she even landed on her feet

With so many Android phones that all essentially do the same thing, it can be tough to make a device that stands out.

Still, LG is giving that a try with its latest flagship phone, the LG G4. With the classy, subtle fabric-like pattern around the screen, the new G4 is a handsome device at first glance. It also has an incredibly sharp screen and fast internal components.

Looks and specs aside, the G4 still suffers from the same big problem you see in a lot of Android phones: The software is bloated and complicated, which makes it tough to recommend the $600 phone over a lot of the competition.

However, it does offer a few bonuses like a removeable battery and a memory card slot, two features a lot of rivals are starting to abandon in their devices.

Design and hardware

The power/sleep and volume buttons on the G4 are on the back just under the camera, but there's no real reason why they're there, as it doesn't make those buttons more accessible. It's merely a different way of doing things and can be awkward to use.

The phone, including the screen, is also slightly curved towards you from top to bottom, which makes the G4 a little more comfortable to hold than traditional phones. Otherwise, it doesn't offer any benefits in terms of viewing angles.

Then you get to the G4's back.

The model I tested came with a white plastic back, which the company calls "ceramic craft." There is nothing about this white plastic back that suggests ceramic or craft. It's a cheap plastic back with a subtle raised diamond pattern.

Other back options include a "metallic gray" plastic back, and genuine brown and black leather options with stitching going up the middle that costs about $50 more.

However, the backs are removable, which means you can switch out the battery with a fresh pack and expand the storage for music, photos, and files with a microSD card. Removable batteries and expandable storage are important features for a large group of users, even though many Android phones have started ditching those features lately.

Still, it means that there's little to differentiate the flagship G4 from a mid-range device when it comes to design if you get the plastic versions. And despite the lack of premium materials (unless you get the leather options), the G4 still costs about as much (around $600 from most carriers off-contract) as devices that look and feel more premium, like the Galaxy S6, HTC One M9, and iPhone 6.

What it's like using the G4

The G4 runs the latest version of Android (5.1) with a heavy LG "skin" on top that's overly colorful. If you swipe left, you'll find LG's Bulletin feature, which is a useful hub for you calendar, music controls, LG's Health app, and even a remote for devices like a TV, cable box, audio setups, and projectors. Also, LG's skin lets you tap your screen to wake it from sleep.

Overall, the G4 is snappy and works great, but so do a lot of cheaper Android phones, most of which cost half as much, and some look and feel more premium than the G4.

The reason why you'd buy a G4 over a mid-range device is its excellent camera. It takes fantastic pictures with accurate colors that rivals the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6's cameras, and it beats them in some cases.

My Verizon test unit was laden with apps and other so-called bloatware that no one wants, like Cookie Jam, Empire, Hotels.com, and Panda Pop. It also came with a range of Amazon apps, LG's own apps, and Verizon apps. That means you have to juggle multiple apps that do the same thing, like the three preinstalled apps for messaging. In this case, the G4 represents everything that's wrong with Android devices, where all three parties involved in making a phone are competing for your usage.

You can uninstall some of this bloatware, but not all of it, and it's frustrating.

For example, the G4 comes with an NFL app that you can't uninstall and constantly sends you news notifications, which is obnoxious. You can disable those notifications, but why am I forced to have this app on my phone, especially when I don't like football? 

Conclusion

Overall, the G4 is a good phone, but it's difficult to recommend when it costs about as much as other flagship devices that look and feel much more premium and the software is so bloated. The only thing really going for it is its camera, which doesn't particularly stand out from the other flagships, either. (The Samsung Galaxy S6 camera is slightly better.)

But if you're part of the crowd that wants the latest flagship with a removable back so you can change out batteries and expand storage for music and photos, the G4 is a solid bet.  

SEE ALSO: How two of the best smartphone cameras ever made compare to each other

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NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone

The bullet ant looks like an unassuming — yet quite large — ant.

But under that mild-mannered exoskeleton the ant harbors a venomous sting so painful some — including entomologist Justin Schmidt, who has been stung by 150 different species of venomous animals — claim it is "the worst pain known to man."

They are named the bullet ant because their sting is so bad it "feels like you were shot by a gun."

And while the venom is incredibly painful, it is not deadly and has no lasting effects after 24 hours.To the Amazon's Sateré-Mawé people getting stung by bullet ants is part of life. They use bullet ant gloves that cause dozens of stings on the hands in a coming of age ritual.

Australian comedy duo Hamish & Andy ventured to the Amazon to try out this ritual themselves. The ant lives up to it's name, given Hamish's reaction in this YouTube video, and the pain he says lasted for hours and landed him in the hospital:

Naturalist Steven Backshall has been stung by a bullet ant and describes the feeling on an episode of BBC's podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage:

The pain is throughout your whole body. You start shaking. You start sweating. It's completely systemic. It goes through your whole body and it really does effect your nervous system. Your heart rate goes up. And if you have quite a few of them, you will be passing in and out of consciousness. There will be nothing in your world apart from pain for at least three or four hours.

Besides their extremely painful sting, bullet ants are also one of the largest ant species and can grow over an inch long.

Researchers are interested in what makes the sting so painful and if this potent neurotoxin could have some medical benefits. To study the chemistry of the venom they need to isolate it, so some brave researchers capture and milk them to extract their venom, just like a snake or spider is milked.

In this Brain Scoop video below Dr. Corrie Moreau of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago shows host Emily Graslie how and why she milks these terrifying ants.

These ants live in the South American rain forest — Moreau brought the ants in the video back from recent field work in Panama.

During her field work, Moreau has only been bitten by the ant once — and she wants to keep it that way. So, to get a sample of the ant venom while avoiding pain herself, Moreau initially tried milking the ants, getting them to stick their stinger through a thin waxy film and inject their venom into a tube:

That strategy didn't work all that well, according to Moreau, so she instead dissects out the venom glands using tiny tweezers and a microscope.

She first takes off the abdomen and then pulls out the venom gland. She needs to be very careful though because if she ruptures the venom gland while in the dissecting dish that venom is unusable.

So what does the venom do to someone that makes the bullet ant sting so painful?

What happens is that the venom, its technical term being poneratoxin, messes with how nerves function. The poneratoxin blocks people's nerves from communicating properly and also extends the amount of time that a nerve is actively sending a signal. Interfering with nerves this way is what causes that excruciating gunshot-like pain.

But Backshall goes on to say that after the pain subsides the body's overdose of adrenaline makes you feel "like a god." And for weeks afterwards he felt great.

But researchers want to use the bullet ant's venom in a practical way.

Scientists think the venom could be used as a natural insecticide. While others are studying how the venom may help develop new drugs because of how strongly people react to it. In low levels this venom could ironically serve as a painkiller.

Watch the entertaining video in its entirety:

SEE ALSO: Scientists find evidence of 'one of the stranger animals ever to call Earth home'

SEE ALSO: These ants have a unique defense that's like something right out of 'Star Wars'

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Developing and testing a new drug is a long, expensive process.

After extensive research to come up with a promising compound or molecule, scientists have to test it in animals to prove it's safe for people to try it.

Next come a few rounds of clinical trials in people to see whether what seemed like a good thing in the lab is actually safe and effective in people, and at what dosage it works best. 

Scientists have been working on a way to streamline this process by simulating organs on small chips, with living human cells arranged to mimic the structure of their full-size inspirations. These organ-on-a-chip systems may one day replace animal models and leave less testing to be done on human patients. 

As Sara Reardon reports in Nature News, this futuristic vision is beginning to become reality. 

An organ you can hold in your hand

Organs-on-chips are built on clear pieces of silicone made like computer microchips are: by pouring liquid silicone into a specially-etched mold and letting it harden.

The mold makes channels in the silicone that scientists can grow human cells in. The cells grow on the bottom of the channel, and fluid flows over them to deliver nutrients, the drug being tested, or anything else the scientists want the cells to encounter. 

That's the most basic organ-on-a-chip setup — only one type of cell in one channel with fluid flowing over it. To model the way different organs work, scientists add features to this basic idea.

For example, the lung-on-a-chip developed by scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has a couple more levels of complexity to simulate a breathing lung.

A thin membrane separates the basic channel into two compartments. Scientists put different types of lung cells in each compartment: the type that interact with air on top of the membrane and the type that interact with blood on the bottom.

To make the lung-on-a-chip "breathe," the scientists have air blown into the top compartment, while fluid mimicking the blood flows through the bottom. They can see what molecules in air make it through the lung and into the blood (in a human body, this is how we get oxygen from the air for blood to take to all of our cells that need it).

In another experiment, they were able to demonstrate that a cancer drug causes fluid to leak from the blood side of the membrane to the air side — just like it does in human lungs, causing the lungs to fill up with fluid and making it harder for the patient to breathe. 

From labs to industry

Partnerships between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are bringing together organ-on-a-chip systems with drugs that need testing. 

Reardon writes that Mimetas, a biotechnology company from the Netherlands, has developed a kidney-on-a-chip that three large pharmaceutical companies are already testing drugs on.

In addition, Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to test drugs on chip systems from Emulate, a Massachusetts-based biotech company with ties to Harvard's Wyss Institute. According to a press release, the companies have already begun testing drugs on a chip system that models the way blood clots in the body, and are also planning to use a liver-on-a-chip to see if drugs damage the liver. 

Blood clots and liver damage are common potential side effects of drugs, so testing in chip systems could screen out drugs with these effects before trying them on people in clinical trials. 

What's so great about organs-on-chips?

These tests are important tryouts for organ-on-a-chip systems, which are thought to have the potential to improve the way drugs are currently tested in a few major ways: 

• They could reduce the amount of testing that needs to be done on people. Currently, companies have to test a new drug's safety, as well as a wide range of doses on patients during clinical trials. Testing safety and fine-tuning doses in chip systems instead of patients could allow companies to skip these steps in people, Reardon writes. Scientists testing drugs in a chip model for lung cancer found the most effective dosages it predicted were closer to those determined during clinical trials in humans than those suggested by earlier, conventional tests on cells in petri dishes. 
• Chip systems reproduce 3-dimensional structures like those in the body better than a petri dish full of cells laying flat next to each other, which is important in studying complex organs like the brain, or organs such as the placenta that are hard to study in action. 
• Testing new drugs on chip systems could yield more accurate results than animal models. The results of animal studies can be misleading— a drug may have bad side effects in the animal that it won't in humans (preventing a good drug from getting to market), or the animal might not have a problem with the drug that humans will experience (leading to expensive failed clinical trials, or worse, drugs that cause harmful side effects becoming available to the public). 

Cautious enthusiasm

As with any developing technology, significant hurdles remain for organ-on-a-chip systems.

To start, chip organs are still way less complex than real human organs, and they can't yet copy the way organs are affected by other organs not close to them in the body. For example, they might not be able to model all the complicated ways hormones such as insulin, which is released from the pancreas, change the behavior of faraway cells like those in muscles. 

Plus, scientists are still testing whether existing drugs even act the way we expect them to on chip systems. 

Despite these limitations, pharmaceutical companies are getting involved in development, as well as the US National Center on Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a division of the National Institutes of Health, which is funding work on an 11-organ "human-body-on-a-chip" system. 

If organ chip systems prove their merit for testing drugs, they could make getting new treatments to patients who need them faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective. That would be a welcome change to the field of medicine, and it's just beginning to seem plausible. 

SEE ALSO: Scientists just took a huge step to understand one of the body's most mysterious organs

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NOW WATCH: How scientists uncovered a completely new world inside the tunnels of the most powerful physics machine on Earth

 An art museum has figured out the secret to making 18th century art appeal to teens: meme-ifying it on Snapchat.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is using the Snapchat username lacma_museum to post photos of its artwork with clever captions, strategically placed emojis, and even the occasional doodle. The joined about a year ago, according to BuzzFeed.

And it's incredibly funny.

Lucy Redoglia is the mastermind behind the Snapchat account. As the social media manager of LACMA, she regularly peruses the museum's galleries with her iPhone in hand.

"Sometimes I think of the artwork first, sometimes I think of the caption first," she told Business Insider.

She also spends time surfing the web for trending stories, popular hashtags, and other content with which teenagers can relate.

Her mission is both to attract millennials to the museum and circulate images of LACMA's art collection. The Snapchat account allows her to take a "lighthearted approach" to artistic masterpieces and be "more tongue-in-cheek and more pop culture oriented," she says.

While many museums are striving to become family friendly, it can be tougher to excite teens. Museums of ten forget to "persuade teenagers that museums are for them too,"writes Mar Dixon in the Guardian.

Snapchat's median user is 18, so it's great for appealing to teens.

Not only is the museum accomplishing its goal of circulating images of its collection, it's actually succeeded in engaging young people in the artwork.

Last week, Snapchat users could create and submit their own captions to LACMA artwork using CNN's Discover feature. The museum received over 1,000 submissions. 

Here is what some Twitter users are saying about LACMA's snaps:

If your Snapchat friends are anything like my Snapchat friends, LACMA will soon become the only Snapchat story you look forward to watching.

SEE ALSO: This Uber driver got a free VIP ticket to Taylor Swift thanks to three of his passengers

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NOW WATCH: It's dangerously easy to record Snapchats without the other person knowing

The Cascadia subduction zone fault could kill thousands and render the greater Pacific Northwest unrecognizable during its next big slip. Researchers think the region is due for a devastating 8.0-9.2 magnitude earthquake any day now.

The fault runs for 700 miles off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. But surprisingly, no one knew about the fault line until 45 years ago, Kathryn Schulz describes in her expansive article for The New Yorker.

"The discovery of the Cascadia subduction zone stands as one of the greatest scientific detective stories of our time," Schulz wrote.

Part of what made discovering it difficult is that the fault doesn't trigger smaller earthquakes, Schulz writes:

Yet not once in recorded history has it caused a major earthquake — or, for that matter, any quake to speak of. By contrast, other subduction zones produce major earthquakes occasionally and minor ones all the time: magnitude 5.0, magnitude 4.0, magnitude why are the neighbors moving their sofa at midnight. You can scarcely spend a week in Japan without feeling this sort of earthquake. You can spend a lifetime in many parts of the Northwest — several, in fact, if you had them to spend — and not feel so much as a quiver.

But in the 1970s geologists figured out that the fault must exist since it lies right along the newly discovered Ring of Fire – the circle of volcanoes and faults that surround the Pacific Ocean plate:

The next step was to figure out if Cascadia was ever active.

Starting in the 1980s scientists with the USGS uncovered the key: A "ghost forest" along Washington coast that was wiped out all at once from a rush of sea water. They dated the trees' death to sometime between August 1699 and May 1700.

Then the nail in the coffin lay in Japan's record of a mysterious tsunami hitting its shores:

... On the eighth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of the Genroku era, a six-hundred-mile-long wave struck the coast, level ling homes, breaching a castle moat, and causing an accident at sea. The Japanese understood that tsunamis were the result of earthquakes, yet no one felt the ground shake before the Genroku event. The wave had no discernible origin. When scientists began studying it, they called it an orphan tsunami.

"The twelfth month of the twelfth year of the Genroku era" happens to be January 27, 1700. Here's the full story of how those ghost forests were created:

At approximately nine o’ clock at night on January 26, 1700, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck the Pacific Northwest, causing sudden land subsidence, drowning coastal forests, and, out in the ocean, lifting up a wave half the length of a continent. It took roughly fifteen minutes for the Eastern half of that wave to strike the Northwest coast. It took ten hours for the other half to cross the ocean. It reached Japan on January 27, 1700.

It's very likely that this will happen again. The odds that it will come by 2050, Schulz writes, are about one-in-three.

Read the entire terrifying article in The New Yorker >

SEE ALSO: FEMA is planning for an earthquake that would devastate the Pacific Northwest, killing at least 13,000 people

SEE ALSO: Earthquake early warning system begins testing in Pacific Northwest

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NOW WATCH: Scientists are astonished by these Goby fish that can climb 300-foot waterfalls

You wake up in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in your stomach. What could it be—maybe something I ate? So, naturally, you type your symptoms into your go-to search engine, and suddenly the possible causes of the pain become much more severe. It's probably food poisoning? Or maybe kidney stones? Oh no it's probably appendicitis… do I need to go to a hospital immediately?

For your typical hypochondriac, online symptom checkers are a rabbit hole of medical information and the anxiety that comes with it. But according to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, most of these sites are so inconsistent and inaccurate that patients shouldn't rely upon them for correct diagnoses.

In the study, which was published in the "British Medical Journal," the researchers looked at 23 web sites from around the world that claim to offer information for diagnosis and triage (assessing how urgently a condition needs to be treated). They used 45 patient vignettes, about half of which were common conditions, to assess the sites' accuracy.

They found that the correct diagnosis came up first only 34 percent of the time. Half the sites had the right answer in their top three results, and almost 60 percent had it in the top 20. Triage advice fared a bit better, with accurate suggestions coming up first 57 percent of the time. The sites in which the right answer came up as the first result most often were: DocResponse (50 percent), Family Doctor (47 percent), and Isabel (44 percent).

They found that the correct diagnosis came up first only 34 percent of the time.

Though some clinicians claim that online symptom checkers are a good way to cut down on unnecessary doctor visits, the researchers found the opposite to be the case—two thirds of patients who used the symptom checkers but didn't need medical attention sought it anyway. "Some patients researching health conditions online are motivated by fear, and the listing of concerning diagnoses by symptom checkers could contribute to hypochondriasis and 'cyberchondria,' which describes the escalated anxiety associated with self diagnosis on the Internet," the researchers write.

They hope that their work can help lead to more accurate symptom checker web sites, but also that patients are more aware that they should take online medical diagnoses with a big grain of salt. "[Symptom checkers are] designed to be a starting point," John Wilkinson, an editor of the symptom checker site from the Mayo Clinic, told WBUR's Common Health. He hopes that these sites allow patients to "be better equipped to have a conversation with their doctor or a nurse triage line or whatever the next step might be."

This article originally appeared on Popular Science

This article was written by Alexandra Ossola from Popular Science and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

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Lexus has released another teaser for their magnetic levitating hoverboard prototype.

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Technological innovation happens at an exponential rate.

Our smartphones are more powerful computers than the Apollo 11 mission to the moon used. Many of the devicIes that power our everyday lives would have been unimaginable a century ago.

It's a tough world to keep up in.

Concerned about what they argue is a lack of funding and appreciation in the US for basic research that's pursued for the sake of greater understanding, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology committee recently released a report detailing 15 industries and scientific fields ripe for breakthroughs, fields that they say the US is going to have to invest in to keep up with the rest of the world.

Here are some of the scientific fields where major discoveries could reap huge rewards — and help define our future.

SEE ALSO: 50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world

Understanding Alzheimer's disease could help us finally curb a growing public health crisis.

While we've made big steps in treating cancer over the past few decades — largely fueled by basic research into cell biology — we still know very little about Alzheimer's. Millions already suffer from the disease, and it's becoming shockingly more common.

Yet, the MIT committee writes, there are "real opportunities for progress."

Potential strategies could come from research into slowing the aging process, efforts to learn more about how the brain works through the findings of projects like the BRAIN Initiative, and trying to learn how Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia establish a foothold in the brain.

Cybercrime costs the world about $400 billion a year and is just getting worse, but new advances could turn the tide.

Some experts think that cybercrime poses such a serious risk to society that we need a Manhattan Project for cybersecurity.

The MIT committee thinks that designing more secure systems is doable. Most of our current weaknesses stem from two issues: single-password authentication systems and the historical legacy of the way computers were programmed before being connected to a network.

Innovations in authentication are already on their way, with two-factor and biometric systems becoming more popular, but redesigning computer systems without current weaknesses will take much more work.

Space exploration could soon reveal an astounding amount of information about the nature of the universe.

The most recent big news in space is NASA's New Horizons mission to (and beyond) Pluto.

Now it's time to figure out what else is out there in the universe with us.

As the committee notes, we'll be looking to better understand the dark matter and dark energy that make up the majority of our universe, especially once we launch the new James Webb telescope, which will take the place of the Hubble.

Learning the physics of dark matter and energy will reveal new secrets about how our universe was formed.

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Just like everything else these days, our cars are becoming more connected. 

In fact, most new vehicles look more like smartphones on the inside than cars. 

But the smarter automobiles get, the more expensive they become. And not everybody can afford to shell out thousands of dollars just to get a tech update in the car. 

Fortunately, there's another way to bring your car into the modern era. 

Whether you’re looking to get more data about your car’s diagnostics, connect it to the Internet, or looking to get some apps for your vehicle, there are a number of devices available that can help upgrade your car to smart car status for a fraction of the price.

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Automatic can give you data about your car

Automatic is a small car adapter that you plug into the on-board diagnostics port of your car to get all kinds of data about your vehicle.

The device — which pairs with your phone via Bluetooth — diagnoses engine problems, remembers where you parked, displays your trip history, and can even call for help in the case of an accident.

Earlier this year the company also rolled out the Automatic app gallery which features apps for business, convenience and savings, and safety. For example, the Concur app enables drivers to track mileage for work trips, making expenses extremely easy.

The device, which works with most cars that were built since 1996, will only cost you $100.

Vinli will turn your car into a WiFi hotspot

Like the Automatic device, the Vinli plugs into the port under your dash and links to your smartphone to give you access to apps that can share information about your car.

But Vinli also enables in-car WiFi via T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network. You’ll have to pay for the data, though, which starts at under $10 a month for 500MB. But you’ll have a way to connect to all of your devices while in your vehicle.

The device also allows you to track your car remotely and enables you to geofence areas so that you know when your car has been driven outside a set parameter.

Apps in the Vinli app store range from those used to track performance to integration with your smarthome. For example, the Samsung SmartThings app can be used to control and automate compatible devices so that they automatically set when you are leaving or arriving home.

The Vinli is currently available for pre-order for $99, but will later go on sale for $149 and is also available with most cars made after 1996.

Zubie Key will track vital information about your car

The Zubie Key is another plug-in device that also links your car to the internet for enhanced features.

It has built-in GPS, a wireless connection to the cloud and sensors that track your car’s health and activity. The device is always connected to the Zubie Cloud and analyzing your car data to track your travel and share alerts.

It can also track your driving behaviors so that it can give you safety tips.

For example, if you have a tendency to brake hard, the device will alert you to help change your bad driving habits. It can also be set to alert parents if their teenage driver is doing something like speeding.

The Zubie Key also gives users access to Zubie Perks, which are exclusive discounts on things like roadside assistance, car insurance and for car maintenance services.

The device is marketed as an annual service priced at $99.95 per year. For that you get the Zubie Key, one year of always-on cellular connection and access to Zubie Perks. The subscription automatically renews for the same price each year.

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When you're creating an animated show revolving around anthropomorphic animals, there are certainly a lot of creative liberties you can take.

Of allthe cartoons that have ever involved human-like animals, few have been as unique in their approach to the subject as "BoJack Horseman." The show chronicles a depressed former sitcom star (Will Arnett) who happens to be a talking horse. In BoJack's world, humans and animals live amongst each other, and nobody bats an eye at it.

In order to maintain this unique and detailed world, the "BoJack Horseman" animators have to follow one small but essential rule: No tails.

Lisa Hanawalt, the show's production designer and co-producer, has been drawing pictures of animals since she was a kid without tails. She has been friends with "BoJack" creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg since they first met at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California.

Hanawalt says the absence of tails is just part of her "personal style" of drawing.

"It's just sort of...not how I draw animals,"Hanawalt tells Business Insider. "I've drawn a couple animal people with tails in my personal work but it makes more sense to draw them without, and I'm not sure why." 

This decision isn't always easy though. There are some animals that are truly defined by their tails. Hanawalt almost broke her own rule when designing the lemurs in season one.

"Even for the lemurs in the first season I was like, 'Well should they have a tail?' Because with lemurs, the tail is pretty important. And we tried a version with them and a version without, and we were like 'Yeah, they just need to not have tails.'" Hanawalt said. 

However, there are times when rules do need to be broken.

For Lenny Turtletaub (J.K. Simmons), the hot shot producer who happens to be a tortoise, Hanawalt decided he needed to keep his shell on. 

At one point during season two, a scorpion will make an appearance, and a scorpion is nothing without its stinger.

"So he's got his big tail thing but I rationalize it by saying its coming out of his upper back." Hanawalt said.

This might be because there is a fine line to balance between bringing these anthropomorphic animals seem human while reminding us that they are human. While Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) might not have a tail, he still chases the mail truck just like any dog would do.

"In some ways we're making it up as we go along." Hanawalt concluded.

The entire second season of "BoJack Horseman" premieres on Netflix on July 17.

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"Super Mario" may be an Italian plumber, but that's the last thing you're thinking about while punching question mark blocks. He's just a little cloud of pixels with a tiny brown mustache, right?

But in the next "Super Mario" series entry, there's one bizarre, unmissable piece of art that's clearly human:

You see that giant human hand? How could you not! 

In "Super Mario Maker," Nintendo takes the worlds of the original Super Mario Bros. and combines it with the worlds of "Super Mario Bros. 3,""Super Mario World," and "New Super Mario Bros. U." But it's not some compilation of old games – as the title implies, "Super Mario Maker" is a game about creating new Mario levels using the worlds of classic Mario games. 

And that's where the giant human hand comes in.

You create new worlds using the Nintendo Wii U gamepad, the tablet-esque gamepad that comes with Nintendo's newest game console. What happens on the gamepad is mirrored on-screen, except your real-life hand is mimicked on-screen using the hand seen above.

During a meeting with Nintendo on Thursday in New York City, I tried the game and was immediately struck by the strangeness of a disembodied human hand – bearing little similarity in looks to my own – acting as a stand-in for my actual hand. Yes, I'm a white guy, but my fingers are far from long and slender (sadly). 

What if I were, say, a 10-year-old black girl? Or a 30-year-old Japanese man? Or literally anything other than an adult white woman (which the hand appears to belong to)?

Given the mainstream appeal of the mustachioed hero and his ongoing battle against Bowser, you'd think Nintendo – a company that's repeatedly shown willingness to be inclusive – would have thought of this.

When I asked Nintendo reps about the hand and if it could be changed, they confirmed that it couldn't be. They also reacted with surprise that there wasn't an option to swap it out. And hey, the game launches on September 11, so Nintendo could still alter this by launch. Even after the game comes out, Nintendo could issue a patch to the game that adds an option to change this.

Given the nature of how much work goes into actually progamming these games, it's extremely unlikely any change could be made by launch. So the best hope is probably a patch after the game goes to market.

This isn't a huge deal, and I'm not exactly offended. It's just a bizarre and glaring oversight from a company that knows better, especially when it comes to games starring its mascot.

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"Ant-Man" doesn't have the same superhero appeal as Captain America, Iron Man, or Thor.

He's not as big, or strong, or superpowered. But as the star of his first standalone film, people might soon look to Ant-Man as their favorite Avenger.

The movie is lighthearted in every sense of the word. There's no overwhelming or incoherent plot line, and your enjoyment of the movie doesn't rely on seeing or enjoying the other Marvel films. It's also not about saving the world or the universe; sure, Ant-Man needs to stop a super-powered villain to save his daughter and stop an evil corporation from gaining a powerful weaponized suit, but the stakes aren't nearly as lofty as other Marvel films.

The story is relatively straightforward: Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, is a scientist who has created something called the "Pym particle," which powers the Ant-Man suit, capable of shrinking and growing back to normal size with the click of a button. But after Pym refuses to give his invention to the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. — run by Tony Stark's father (played by John Slattery) and Captain America's love interest from the 1930s Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) — he starts his own company, which is eventually led by his protégé, the brilliant but headstrong Darren Cross (played by Corey Stoll).

Years later, Cross is ready to unveil his own Ant-Man suit and sell it to the highest bidder: In this case, the evil corporation H.Y.D.R.A. But Pym is too old to use the suit to steal Cross' creation, and he doesn't want his daughter Hope (played by Evangeline Lilly) to use it. (There are some negative effects to using the suit over time.)

 So Pym seeks out Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, an intelligent and even altruistic burglar — he robbed a millionaire who stole money from people and returned it to those folks. Lang is down on his luck after getting out of jail. But after Pym gets in touch with Lang and asks him to become Ant-Man, it's all a matter of training for the big heist.

The second half of "Ant-Man" feels like "Ocean's 11" or "Mission Impossible" mixed with superheroes and, uh, ants. A lot of different kinds of ants (four to be exact). But that's a good thing! While there are plenty of laughs in the first half of the film, the entertainment is certainly kicked up a notch in the latter half — complete with an enjoyable and somehow not cliché training montage, as well as some clever visual gags and some excellent Marvel fan service. It's a little predictable, but it's got some surprises everyone will enjoy.

"Ant-Man" achieves a rare balance that other Marvel movies have difficult achieving no matter how good they may be. Thanks in large part to Rudd, who is charismatic but also a total goofball, "Ant-Man" manages to be a hilarious movie, and an enticing visual marathon, but also emotional at the right times. Last year's "Guardians of the Galaxy" is the only other Marvel film that has come so close to achieving this kind of balance. You actually care about the characters, and you want them to succeed — even the side characters, played by Michael Peña, David Dastmalchian, and T.I. (yes, the rapper T.I.) add a strong dose of fun and variation.

You don't need to be a Marvel fan to root for "Ant-Man." The film's final act will have you wanting more of Rudd, Douglas, and co. — and luckily for fans, the final line of the film before the lights come back on promises "Ant-Man will return."

SEE ALSO: 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' is a masterful film that asks big questions

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