Alasdair Wilkins, Author at Gizmodo

Nasty case of writer’s block creates the most brilliant scientific paper ever

Scientific papers can be lots of different things. They can be world-changing, eye-opening, impenetrable, ridiculous, just plain wrong…or the most awesome thing ever. The absolutely incredible paper we’re about to share will change how you think about writer’s block forever. Published in 1974, this paper by Dennis Upper promises a harrowing but scientifically illuminating tale…

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Hour-long “Joy of Stats” video explains why statistics is the sexiest science

This is perfect for some lazy Sunday viewing: the complete, hour-long documentary “The Joy of Stats”, in which incredibly excited host Hans Rosling takes you inside the world of numbers. Prepare to fall in love with statistics all over again. The program originally aired on BBC4, but the entire thing is now freely viewable online.…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Coolest and Wrongest Spoilers of 2010!

For every real piece of news, there’s a hundred crazy rumors and unconfirmed reports. This year provided tons of vital hints at future entertainment…as well as a lot of wonderfully ridiculous rumors. Here’s the coolest and wrongest spoilers of 2010. THE COOLEST Jeremy Renner will play Hawkeye. This rumor goes all the way back to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

New Year’s resolutions might not be a waste of time after all

New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken: why even bother making resolutions when you know you’re not going to keep them? Although maybe we shouldn’t give up on resolutions just yet, as one study suggests they really can work. A 2002 paper examined just how well people who make New Year’s resolutions compare to…

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The ultimate New Year’s Eve party favor: the bendy-straw shrimp!

This little guy might look like a bio-luminescent creature from the ocean floor, or perhaps a super-advanced form of nanotechnology. But the truth is far simpler (and awesomer): this is a bendy-straw shrimp, and here’s how to make one. Admittedly, any illusion that this shrimp comes from the bottom of the ocean or a nanotech…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Thor will hint at the Marvel Universe’s cosmic side, plus two possible contenders for the main role in The Dark Tower!

Some Thor Easter eggs may include items that hint at even crazier Marvel movies in future. Are producers looking at two actors in particular for The Dark Tower? Plus a massive preview of of Britain’s other time-traveling show, Primeval! Spoilerama! Thor Along with a possible Hawkeye cameo, Thor may feature some much more subtle hints…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Fossilized brains could reveal how birds first took flight a hundred million years ago

We know that birds evolved from dinosaurs around 150 million years ago, but we still don’t know how birds first gained the ability to fly. But a part of the bird brain that controls flight could solve this evolutionary riddle. Towards the rear of birds’ brains is the flocculus, a substructure of the cerebellum that…

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Living Earth Simulator aims to predict everything that’s happening on our planet

The Living Earth Simulator is quite possibly the most ambitious computer project ever undertaken. This all-encompassing simulation will collect all the data in the entire world, to predict everything from the next major disease outbreak to the next financial crisis. The Living Earth Simulator could do for our modern world what the Large Hadron Collider…

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The northern lights could be headed south to a night sky near you

The spectacular lights of the aurora borealis are rarely seen outside the Arctic Circle, but fierce solar activity might soon send them southward. The continental US, Japan, and even Mediterranean Europe may all get a taste of the northern lights. The amazing lights of the aurora borealis and its southern counterpart, the aurora australis, are…

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The strange story of a man who got turned on by women running him over

Human sexuality can present itself in an almost infinite variety of ways, but outside the occasional David Cronenberg movie, most people don’t think of car crashes as particularly sexy. But one fifty-year-old scientific paper just might change your mind forever. In 1960, psychiatrist Martin Keeler published the story of one of his patients. His young…

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The Avengers may be adding another female character, plus why the X-Men prequel might really be all about Magneto!

The Avengers isn’t adding any teen starlets, but they might still be on the lookout for another female cast member. X-Men: First Class might be focusing on one particular mutant. The new Spider-Man confirms one of his costars. Spoilers now! The Avengers Marvel has now denied the strange, out-of-nowhere rumors that starlet Demi Lovato was…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Avengers probably aren’t fighting aliens after all, plus new Real Steel photos and the inside scoop on Source Code!

A rumored storyline for The Avengers is debunked. Jake Gyllenhaal talks Source Code, plus set photos for Real Steel and the motherlode of V videos. Spoilers right now! The Avengers Anyone hoping the Albuquerque Journal somehow had acquired the inside information that this movie will be about a Kree-Skrull war…well, prepare to be disappointed. That…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

400,000 year old teeth could rewrite the evolutionary history of our species

Eight recently discovered teeth are very similar to those of modern humans and date back 400,000 years… 200,000 years older than our species is supposed to be. To explain this mystery, we must retrace human evolution. The Teeth in the Cave The finding sparks a major mystery in the story of human evolution. All previous…

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Have we already hopelessly contaminated the search for extraterrestrial life?

Every time we send spacecraft to explore the solar system, we send along lots of tiny microbes. In fact, we may have deposited a trillion microbial spores on Mars. How will we ever discover alien life through all that haze? That’s the problem Barry E. DiGregorio, the director of the International Committee Against Mars Sample…

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Why our tongues and fingers “see” the world differently

The oral size illusion is a strange phenomenon in which we get wildly different estimates of size depending on what we used to do the measuring: our fingers or… our tongues. Here’s how this odd little phenomenon works. It’s only certain objects that activate the oral size illusion, with very small objects posing the biggest…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Michelle Rodriguez wants to return for Avatar 2, plus Breaking Dawn’s vampire ultraviolence

Michelle Rodriguez doesn’t think death should hold back Captain Trudy Chacon from making a comeback in Avatar 2. Edgar Wright responds to the Ant-Man rumors, and Breaking Dawn promises at least one awesomely violent fantasy sequence. Bring out your spoilers! Avatar 2 Michelle Rodriguez says she would love to return in the sequel as Captain…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Saturn’s Great White Spot is a massive storm over a thousand miles wide

Just as the Northeast recovers from its major blizzard, Saturn has to upstage the whole thing with the reemergence of the Great White Spot, a massive storm system in the planet’s southern hemisphere that can be several thousand kilometers across. The Great White Spot is the lesser known, Saturnian equivalent of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.…

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Neanderthals ate their fruits and vegetables

One explanation for the extinction of our hominid cousins is that Neanderthals weren’t as smart about what foods they ate as our ancestors. But newly discovered Neanderthal teeth reveal a complex diet, mixing in fruits and vegetables with their meat. It’s easy to think of Neanderthals as pure hunters, only eating whatever they managed to…

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Behind every great scientist are his two teenage daughters

This is one of many beautiful engravings made by Anna and Susanna Lister, the daughters of the renowned 17th century naturalist Martin Lister. These scientifically accurate illustrations created by two teenagers helped inspire Charles Darwin’s work on natural selection. Anna and Susanna Lister were only about 15 and 13 when their father put them to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Shot-By-Shot Analysis of the New Doctor Who Trailer

We’ve seen Doctor Who’s time-wimey take on “A Christmas Carol”, and now it’s time to look ahead to season six. Let’s examine the new trailer and learn what’s in store for the Doctor and his friends. Spoilers and speculation ahead! Unlike last year’s trailer, which included clips from as far ahead as episode nine, this…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alasdair Wilkins

Nasty case of writer’s block creates the most brilliant scientific paper ever

Hour-long “Joy of Stats” video explains why statistics is the sexiest science

The Coolest and Wrongest Spoilers of 2010!

New Year’s resolutions might not be a waste of time after all

The ultimate New Year’s Eve party favor: the bendy-straw shrimp!

Thor will hint at the Marvel Universe’s cosmic side, plus two possible contenders for the main role in The Dark Tower!

Fossilized brains could reveal how birds first took flight a hundred million years ago

Living Earth Simulator aims to predict everything that’s happening on our planet

The northern lights could be headed south to a night sky near you

The strange story of a man who got turned on by women running him over

The Avengers may be adding another female character, plus why the X-Men prequel might really be all about Magneto!

The Avengers probably aren’t fighting aliens after all, plus new Real Steel photos and the inside scoop on Source Code!

400,000 year old teeth could rewrite the evolutionary history of our species

Have we already hopelessly contaminated the search for extraterrestrial life?

Why our tongues and fingers “see” the world differently

Michelle Rodriguez wants to return for Avatar 2, plus Breaking Dawn’s vampire ultraviolence

Saturn’s Great White Spot is a massive storm over a thousand miles wide

Neanderthals ate their fruits and vegetables

Behind every great scientist are his two teenage daughters

Shot-By-Shot Analysis of the New Doctor Who Trailer

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees