geekosystem

When they aren't figuring out how to protect the country from the Ukrainian attack dolphins, scientists developing technology for the U.S. navy likes to dance. Unfortunately, most of them don't have any rhythm, so they program their robots to dance for them. Case in point, CHARLI-2, an Autonomous Shipboard Humanoid (ASH), knows how to dance Gangnam-style. He may be a little late to the K-Pop party, he makes for up for it with commitment and enthusiasm. Let's all give CHARLI a round of applause... Before he decides to turn against his human masters.

If you were thinking of doing a Gangnam Style video -- and yes, it has crossed all of our minds, the tune and video is just that ingrained in our brain holes now -- you can maybe stop now? Nothing is going to outdo this take featuring Deadpool with a special guest appearance by Bane, so we can all just stop trying at let this trend serenely and officially jump the shark. Because this video is kind of the best?

Bill Nye is something of a science rockstar, so it only makes sense that he knows how to rock out. He illustrated this talent just recently during a show being put on by Colorado band Bill Nye and the Science Guys. Nye just happened to be in the area and expressed interest in jamming with the band. The rest? Well, see for yourself.

We've always loved OK Go -- yes, before the treadmill video -- and they have always delivered both musically and visually. Their new video, for the song "Skyscrapers," isn't as visually impressive as one of their Rube Goldberg machines, or driving a car into stuff and having the noise of the collisions compose a song, but it is mellow and very pretty. Watch and chill out, as this couple dances through color.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Mortal Kombat is flash dancing, right? Well, that's at least what comes to this group's hive mind, because they dress up as characters from the venerable fighting series, carry around a boombox, and dance dance dance their hearts away across New York City. I couldn't think of a better way to have my day ruined.

Some people can keep up with the times, some people can't. I think it has to do with your genes. This grandma is one of the former, however, so much so that she'll dance to dubstep. Granted, she looks a little bit confused before the drop, but then she gets it and starts grooving. This definitely isn't my favorite dancing-related viral video grandma, but she's a close second. You keep rockin', Grandma.

At a talent show in Denmark, the Robotboys don shiny outfits and show us that the only way one can dance to dubstep, is to do the robot. One might think that both dubstep and the robot are silly, and while that may be true, these guys are actually impressive.

Sometimes, the only thing you can do is dance with swords. I'm sure most of you must know that first hand. You get home from a long day at work and dancing with swords is the only thing that can lift your spirits. The only thing that makes it even better than dancing with family, is dancing for family, something these folks know well. If the guy in the blue looks familiar, he should, because he's a butterfly-knife-dancing-for-Grandma-while-periodically-holding-a-beer master. I don't know what more I can say besides "Don't try this at home, unless you do it to kicky music like these guys do, in which case you should try nothing else while at home."

Team iLuminate tore it up on America's Got Talent the other day and in case you missed it, like I did, here's the clip. Their gimmick -- and I mean that in the best way possible -- is the use of wearable, wireless lighting. That, in combination with wearing black clothes and performing on a dark stage, allow them to use their considerable dancing skills to make the impossible look like it's actually happening in front of you. Extendo-arms that go out three times the length they should? Check. Doc Ock effect? Check. Disembodied heads? You bet. No telling if they'll win the competition, but I've got a feeling that with an act like that, they're going to do well for themselves regardless. (via reddit)

Dancing can be intimidating in its own right, but dancing while completely airborne? It's no problem for these four skydivers at the Skydive Arena wind tunnel in Prague, Czech Republic. The choreographed routine is performed to the song “Fot i Hose” by Casiokids.

(via Neatorama)

Visitors to the National Museum of Natural History thought all their admission was going to get them was a chance to check out a giant squid. They thought wrong. Yesterday, staff and volunteers at the museum donned blue shirts (and a fish costume or two) and took to the floor of the Sant Ocean Hall to surprise visitors with a "splashmob" that danced to the Moby song, Surf.

What could have caused the Smithsonian to organize its first ever flashmob? Nothing other than World Ocean Day (which is today, June 8th). Nothing could be more appropriate to recognize such an occasion than a group of people doing their own interpretation of the dance move, The Swim. In addition to raising awareness about the plight of our oceans, the dancing (which lasted for approximately 2 minutes and 3 seconds) was a publicity stunt meant to show that even the hallowed halls of a National Museum can be teeming with fun and surprises. Or at least dancing fish.

(Smithsonian via Ocean Portal)

What you're looking at here is a thief getting his groove on, blissfully unaware of his folly. This man, you see, stole the laptop of techno-wunderkind Mark Bao. Being the clever type, Bao was able to gain remote access to his stolen computer and discovered this video the thief had made of himself. Bao then posted the video to YouTube, titled appropriately "Don't steal computers belonging to people who know how to use computers." Truly, words to live by. But the story continues on Reddit, where Bao announced this morning that the thief turned himself in to the police. The culprit even sent Bao a rather half-hearted apology.

There are three important benchmarks for dancers within this video: At about 0:56 when the fella get serious and breaks it down, at about 1:12 when he starts dancing at the poor kid, and around 1:16 when the guy nearly kicks the child in the head. Don't worry about the kick though, this older gentleman is clearly a dancing professional.

(via BuzzFeed)

While we can't promise one of these videos every day, we can give you this one. For the tiniest bit of context (which you don't even need to enjoy this video), this dance troupe is performing a routine inspired by the popular anime series Space Battleship Yamamoto on a Japanese TV show that seems to resemble Dancing With the Stars. It's got precision, it's got enthusiasm, it's got break-dancing, it's got a move I'd like to call "the accidental Nazi" ... give it a look. You will be entertained. (io9 via Topless Robot)

A team of British and German researchers have turned the wondrous eye of science towards a most perplexing problem: What dance moves do women like? Their conclusions, based on a small study:

[E]ight movement variables made the difference between a "good" and a "bad" dancer. These were the size of movement of the neck, trunk, left shoulder and wrist, the variability of movement size of the neck, trunk and left wrist, and the speed of movement of the right knee.  The analysis was concentrated on three body regions: legs including the ankle, hip and knee, the arms with shoulder, elbow and wrist, and the central body with neck and trunk. The study found that female perceptions of good dance quality were influenced most greatly by large and varied movements involving the neck and trunk. The speed of the right knee movements were also important in signaling dance quality. A "good" dancer thus displays larger and more variable movements in relation to bending and twisting movements of their head/neck and torso, and faster bending and twisting movements of their right knee," the researchers said in a report published in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters.

So: Just keep track of all of those things and perform them simultaneously. Easy, right? To sum things up more simply, the researchers said that variety is the key to avoiding "dad dancing." Below, the computer-generated avatars the researchers made to demonstrate good and bad dancing: