Alasdair Wilkins, Author at Gizmodo

Emma Stone is officially playing Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man, not Mary Jane. Plus Green Lantern’s villain confirmed!

The Hulk and his fellow Avengers have got plenty of movies left in them. The new Green Lantern website includes the film’s villain. Plus a weird Runaways casting rumor, Chief Tyrol’s guest spot on Eureka, and more! Spoilers for you! Green Lantern: Warner Bros. launched their new website for this film last night, and there’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Future explorers could reach the Earthlike planet Zarmina in just 6.1 years

Using our current technology, it would take 180,000 years to reach Zarmina. But our resident physicist Dave Goldberg has a more optimistic estimate – thanks to antimatter and time dilation, astronauts could get there in just a few years. Dave calculates that, if we could build a stellar drive that gets its fuel from matter-antimatter…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

It’s possible to conceive a son without a father…if you’re a chimera

The embryos of a male and female twin can sometimes fuse into a single fetus with both male and female sexual organs. Now an imaginative biologist has figured out how this could lead to conceiving a son without a father. Any organism that undergoes this fusion process is known as a chimera. Chimeras can be…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Retrograde world could mean there are tons of planets around binary stars

Astronomers believed that binary star systems were too volatile to support many planets, because the overlapping gravitational forces of the two stars would pull most planets apart. But one exoplanet 69 light-years away survives just fine…by orbiting the wrong way. The Nu Octanis system is a binary star system that can be seen in the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Brandon Routh won’t return as Superman. Plus secrets of Caprica 1.5, and the Doctor’s latest encounter with Sarah Jane

New director Zack Snyder is already pretty sure there will be a new actor playing Superman. Sam Adama reveals what lies ahead on Caprica, and new trailers and hints reveal the Eleventh Doctor’s awesome appearance on The Sarah Jane Adventures. Superman Reboot: It’s early days yet, but newly announced director Zack Snyder has already let…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Super-glasses will give you perfect vision through the magic of scratches

As people age, their eyes can lose the ability to focus on nearby objects. This is particularly bad for nearsighted people, who then struggle to see near and distant objects. But glasses with concentric micro-scratches could be the awesome solution. The lenses of our eyes actually change shape to focus on the light coming from…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Is mining on the Moon the only way to ensure our future prosperity?

The Moon is likely home to lots of rare elements that are vital to new energy technologies and national security. Considering Earth’s mineral reserves are running out and countries are restricting access, could lunar mining be our only hope? The US Congressional Research Service recently reviewed the worldwide distribution of rare earth elements, a class…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Even 1,000 alien invasions would be better than being all alone in the universe

Our species’ long-term survival might ultimately rest on our ability to keep existence interesting, and that could prove impossible unless we find aliens to talk to. Without other intelligent lifeforms around, say theorists, humanity’s collective intellect might wither and die. Considering the recent discovery of the habitable exoplanet Zarmina just twenty light-years away (and the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Chemists fold DNA into Möbius strips

Möbius strips are special loops that only have one continuous side. Now we’ve built the smallest Möbius strips ever – out of DNA. Here you can see the nanometer-sized DNA loops, folded like origami. The ability to create complex structures on the tiniest of scales is one of the great challenges of nanotechnology. In particular,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

X-Men prequel is reenacting original film’s opening scene. Plus The Hobbit is (maybe) really happening!

X-Men: First Class pays tribute to Bryan Singer’s original movie from the first scene…with a twist. Nic Cage fights Satan in Ghost Rider 2. John Malkovich explains his Transformers character. Colonel Tigh is back as the DC universe’s deadliest assassin. X-Men – First Class: The movie will reportedly reenact the opening scene of Bryan Singer’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Humans reached the isolated islands of New Guinea 50,000 years ago

Of all the continents, the human settlement of Oceania remains the most mysterious. We know that ancient humans walked across the now sunken continent of Sahul to reach Australia, and now some ancient trees reveal when they did it. While it’s easy to understand how humans got from the species’s birthplace in Africa to Eurasia…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The freezing oceans of ancient Mars were home to great icebergs

The ancient Martian climate was thought to be a hot one, full of oceans, rivers, and rainfall. Evidence of ancient icebergs suggests these oceans were much colder than suspected – not to mention bad news for an ancient Martian Titanic. We don’t know what Mars looked like three billion years ago, but planetary scientists had…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Genetically altered trees could capture billions of tons of excess carbon every year

We don’t have enough trees to deal with all the massive amounts of carbon created each year, which is one of the major engines driving global warming. So what’s the solution? Why, to genetically engineer better trees, of course. Although we can’t just destroy all the carbon building up in the atmosphere, nature can capture…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Olivia Wilde is Justin Timberlake’s immortal mom

The upcoming I’m.mortal, in which everyone stops aging at 25 but has to pay for each additional year of their life, is making for some wonderfully weird casting…and the latest casting news completely redefines the concept of the hot mom. The 26-year-old Olivia Wilde is reportedly playing the mother 29-year-old Justin Timberlake’s ghetto-dwelling hero, who…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Apollo astronaut really did hit lunar golf ball for miles and miles and miles

Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard famously took a golf ball along with him to the Moon, making him the first person to play golf on another world. But just how far did his shot travel? One physicist has the answer. After taking his second shot, Shepard observed the ball seemed to travel for “miles and…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Rough Guide to Solar System Mountaineering

The great challenge for any climber is to conquer each continent’s tallest mountain. But tomorrow’s climbers can consider a far more extreme challenge: leaving Earth to climb the tallest peaks of the solar system. Here’s how they’ll do it. Just under 300 climbers have completed the Seven Summits list, climbing the tallest peak on every…

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Dinosaurs were even taller, scarier than we thought

The image of a gigantic dinosaur towering above its helpless prey just got a little bit more frightening, as it turns out dinosaurs had thick layers of cartilage between their bones that added up to an extra 10% of height. Casey Holliday, a professor of anatomy at the University of Missouri, explains how his team…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Your first look at the new Professor X and Mystique. Plus Roland Emmerich mulls an alternate reality ID4 sequel!

New X-Men: First Class photos show Professor X, Moira MacTaggert and Mystique. A Nickelodeon star might be the first Runaways cast member. Plus Captain America set photos, casting for Rian Johnson’s Looper, and major Doctor Who hints! X-Men – First Class: Check out the some of the first cast photos to show Professor X (James…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

New technology that captures “exciton” particles could replace today’s solar cells

Even the most efficient solar cell loses a lot of energy in the form of wasted heat. But the electron-like particles that photons emit as they enter the cells could be turned into electrical energy, solving the heat loss problem. When photons, the particles of light, enter solar cells, they can create a quasiparticle known…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

36 million-year-old penguin was five feet tall and had reddish-brown feathers

A newly discovered penguin fossil reveals a bird twice as big as an Emperor penguin and with colors radically different from the familiar black and white features all modern penguins share…but this Water King was already the perfect swimming bird. The fossil was discovered in Peru and has been classified as Inkayacu paracasensis, but its…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alasdair Wilkins

Emma Stone is officially playing Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man, not Mary Jane. Plus Green Lantern’s villain confirmed!

Future explorers could reach the Earthlike planet Zarmina in just 6.1 years

It’s possible to conceive a son without a father…if you’re a chimera

Retrograde world could mean there are tons of planets around binary stars

Brandon Routh won’t return as Superman. Plus secrets of Caprica 1.5, and the Doctor’s latest encounter with Sarah Jane

Super-glasses will give you perfect vision through the magic of scratches

Is mining on the Moon the only way to ensure our future prosperity?

Even 1,000 alien invasions would be better than being all alone in the universe

Chemists fold DNA into Möbius strips

X-Men prequel is reenacting original film’s opening scene. Plus The Hobbit is (maybe) really happening!

Humans reached the isolated islands of New Guinea 50,000 years ago

The freezing oceans of ancient Mars were home to great icebergs

Genetically altered trees could capture billions of tons of excess carbon every year

Olivia Wilde is Justin Timberlake’s immortal mom

Apollo astronaut really did hit lunar golf ball for miles and miles and miles

The Rough Guide to Solar System Mountaineering

Dinosaurs were even taller, scarier than we thought

Your first look at the new Professor X and Mystique. Plus Roland Emmerich mulls an alternate reality ID4 sequel!

New technology that captures “exciton” particles could replace today’s solar cells

36 million-year-old penguin was five feet tall and had reddish-brown feathers

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?

Meta Has More Smart Glasses Coming Whether You Want Them or Not

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