GOES-16 satellite image of Hurricane Irma, taken on Sunday September 10, 2017 at 6:00 pm ET. (Image: NOAA/GOES) Irma, which made landfall in the Florida Keys yesterday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane, has now been downgraded to a tropical storm. The system, which is now 400 miles wide, may have lost some strength, but it’s…

Photo: Luis Pérez/Flickr You’re probably familiar with Salvia divinorum, the hallucinogenic plant used for religious purposes in some indigenous cultures, and for watching celebrities giggle in some decaying cultures. But when you were sitting in a frozen Massachusetts cul-de-sac one late night in 2009 bouncing as if you were riding a motorcycle while your friends…

Photo: AP Over the past week, Irma has redefined our expectations of how powerful a hurricane can be and left devastation in its wake: the once-Category 5 cyclone roared through the Caribbean, leaving 1 million people in Puerto Rico without power, and caused significant flooding in Miami, Naples, and many other parts of Florida. It…

GIF Illustration: Sam Woolley/Gizmodo Last year, two data scientists from security firm ZeroFOX conducted an experiment to see who was better at getting Twitter users to click on malicious links, humans or an artificial intelligence. The researchers taught an AI to study the behavior of social network users, and then design and implement its own…

Photo: Getty Bitcoin markets are nervously sitting in a holding pattern on Monday morning as multiple outlets have received confirmation that the Chinese government plans to shut down official exchanges. Investors have settled into a wait-and-see moment that could determine the cryptocurrency’s immediate future. What Are ICOs and Why Are They Getting Banned in China? …

While Equifax refrained from using the word “hacked” last week, the credit reporting agency, nevertheless, disclosed a serious breach of its security involving the personal and sensitive information of an estimated 143 million Americans. But serious questions remain: Could the breach have been easily averted? Was this “cybersecurity incident” truly an advanced attack, meticulously planned…

St. John and the southern portion of Tortola .Image: NASA Earth Observatory  Before now-Tropical Storm Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys, killing at least nine and doing untold damage, then-Hurricane Irma barreled through the Caribbean, killing dozens and flattening entire islands. According to the NASA Earth Observatory, the damage to the Virgin Islands is…