Alasdair Wilkins, Author at Gizmodo

The Walking Dead gets a second season — but what about Caprica?

The Walking Dead season two will be a full 13 episodes. (Update: It’s just a rumor.) There’s an update on whether Caprica might make a second season. Plus a Tron Legacy poster, True Blood hints and a Fringe promo. Nemesis: Mark Millar discussed possible casting choices for Nemesis, the movie adaptation of his comic about…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Could humanity’s next destination in space be a near-Earth asteroid?

The goal is to get humans to Mars by the mid-2030s, but what are the stepping stones that will get us there? Returning to the Moon gets a lot of publicity, but the better test might be a near-Earth asteroid. Space.com columnist Leonard David has an intriguing feature on Lockheed Martin’s research into sending astronauts…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The dinosaurs might have been killed off by more than one asteroid

The theory that a giant asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago gained acceptance when we discovered the gigantic Chicxulub crater. Now we’ve found the crater of another asteroid that struck Earth at almost the exact same time. The Chicxulub crater, buried beneath Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, was recently confirmed by a panel of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

New evidence that it was once possible to sail across Antarctica

Why are two groups of tiny sea creatures called bryozoans nearly identical, despite being separated by 1,500 miles of ice? They must have traveled across the continent long ago – on a massive Antarctic seaway. The bryozoan is a simple marine organism that attaches itself to the sea bed and filters nutrients out of the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The newest Ghostbuster may be someone we’ve seen before, and a major star could voice the Fantastic Four’s Thing!

Ghostbusters 3 might be turning over the proton packs to a second-generation Ghostbuster. Mad Max 4 has an utterly insane number of stunts and cars. The Fantastic Four reboot is eying a big name for its all-CGI Thing. Spoiler time! Ghostbusters 3: Keep your grains of salt close at hand, but if any of this…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

You can safely stick your hand in liquid nitrogen…but you probably shouldn’t

Liquid nitrogen is famously one of the world’s coldest substances, freezing and shattering anything it comes into contact with. But if you know what you’re doing, you can safely stick your hand in it – as one brave blogger demonstrated. Of course, before we get to the awesome footage of Popular Science blogger Theodore Grey…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Genetics determine whether you’re willing to take a survey…according to a new survey

It seems like the most blatantly circular reasoning ever, but when researchers wanted to determine whether there’s a genetic component to people’s willingness to respond to a survey, there was only one way to do it. Send out a survey! A lot of work goes into improving surveys to eliminate (or, depending on the ethics…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Earth’s climate could naturally jump 10 to 15 degrees – and there’s no way to predict it

We’re unsure how humans might affect the climate long-term, but it’s certain that nature alone can produce sudden, extreme climatic shifts. New findings suggest these abrupt changes might be completely unpredictable. Earth’s climate more or less fits into a repetitive cycle – long stretches of Ice Age followed by relatively brief periods of warmer climates…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Mini-helicopter can swoop down and grab anything with its robotic hand

A new remote-controlled helicopter is the first to use a robotic hand to pick objects off the ground and safely fly away with them. Check out a video of the Yale Aerial Manipulator in action. The helicopter can fly up to 80 miles per hour while carrying objects that weight as much as 4.5 pounds.…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

A True Blood vampire could play Doctor Doom. A former Doctor might join the Hobbit. Plus how many Avatars will there be?

James Cameron says the Avatar saga might not end with the third movie. Sylvester McCoy is looking to join The Hobbit after all – just not as Bilbo. The Fantastic Four reboot might have found the new Doctor Doom. Spoilerama! Avatar Sequels: In a recent interview, James Cameron reaffirmed the Avatar novel is his next…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Dark matter and black holes are teaming up to produce giant “burps” of gamma radiation

We just snapped our best photo yet of dark matter, but we still don’t know just what it is. Now we might have a way to (literally) shed some light on dark matter…with an assist from super-massive black holes. https://gizmodo.com/the-first-picture-that-really-shows-dark-matter-5622936 As matter falls into the super-massive black holes at the center of many galaxies, huge…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Booty-calls are their own special form of relationship, according to medical science

Sometimes, a scientific paper’s title tells you everything you need to know. Like this one – “Positioning the booty-call relationship on the spectrum of relationships: sexual but more emotional than one-night stands.” Yes, science has figured out the truth…about booty-calls. The always amazing NCBI ROFL has the lowdown on this study, which argues that not…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

This bizarre elongated crater is a Martian mystery

This crater, known as Orcus Patera, is a strange, elliptical crater located near Mars’s equator. Roughly 240 miles long by 90 miles wide, its elongated shape doesn’t fit with standard models of crater formation, leaving astronomers with a baffling mystery. Orcus Patera is located between two of Mars’s biggest volcanoes, Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Rose-shaped nebula is home to the amateur astronomer’s favorite star cluster

This dazzling image is of the Rosette Nebula, a rose-shaped nebula in the Unicorn constellation. The nebula’s central star cluster is so bright that it was discovered a century and a half before the rest of the nebula. The Rosette Nebula is located between 4,500 and 5,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros, which…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Eureka shows the past should stay buried as old friends and enemies return

On last night’s Eureka, our heroes were haunted by the ghosts of their past, as beloved (and not so beloved) characters returned to wreak havoc. It was a twisty, crazy episode, and Eureka is clearly just getting warmed up. Let’s just get this out of the way right now – as soon as it became…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

This mysterious cosmic eye is two galaxies in one

This strange galaxy has puzzled astronomers for six decades. Its outer ring of bright blue stars is separated from an inner cluster of older stars by a massive void tens of thousands of light-years across. First discovered by Art Hoag in 1950, the galaxy is located some 600 million light-years away and measures 100,000 light-years…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Archaeology’s most famous murder victim might not have been murdered after all

Otzi the Iceman, the 5300-year-old frozen body discovered in the Alps in 1991, was thought to be a prehistoric murder victim. But a revolutionary map of his belongings overturns that theory, suggesting his “murder” scene is actually a ceremonial burial. Previous studies of the cause of Otzi’s death have focused on just his body. In…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

On Futurama, an evil alien overlord just wants someone to boss him around

Yesterday’s Futurama showed us that even murderous alien dictators can have domestic troubles. The show’s resident destroyer of worlds struggled to save his failing marriage while navigating future Comic Con, the ultimate cosplayer, and lots of casual disintegration. “Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences” – which probably wins the prize for least pronounceable Futurama episode title – shines an…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

A former James Bond will be a major player on Chuck, plus our first look at Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page’s superhero team

An X-Men producer explains what they’re learning from the other Marvel franchise. There’s another crazy Batman 3 rumor. See Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page fight crime in Super. Plus everything you want to know about Syfy’s superhero comedy Three Inches. X-Men – First Class: Producer Lauren Shuler Donner explained that parts of the X-Men Origins:…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Two heads really can be better than one…as long as those heads are similar

Two heads are supposedly better than one, but is this true when it comes to how we see the world? Combining people’s initial estimates really can make for better measurements – but only if both observers know what they’re doing. Although it seems intuitively true that two or more people would come up with a…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alasdair Wilkins

The Walking Dead gets a second season — but what about Caprica?

Could humanity’s next destination in space be a near-Earth asteroid?

The dinosaurs might have been killed off by more than one asteroid

New evidence that it was once possible to sail across Antarctica

The newest Ghostbuster may be someone we’ve seen before, and a major star could voice the Fantastic Four’s Thing!

You can safely stick your hand in liquid nitrogen…but you probably shouldn’t

Genetics determine whether you’re willing to take a survey…according to a new survey

Earth’s climate could naturally jump 10 to 15 degrees – and there’s no way to predict it

Mini-helicopter can swoop down and grab anything with its robotic hand

A True Blood vampire could play Doctor Doom. A former Doctor might join the Hobbit. Plus how many Avatars will there be?

Dark matter and black holes are teaming up to produce giant “burps” of gamma radiation

Booty-calls are their own special form of relationship, according to medical science

This bizarre elongated crater is a Martian mystery

Rose-shaped nebula is home to the amateur astronomer’s favorite star cluster

Eureka shows the past should stay buried as old friends and enemies return

This mysterious cosmic eye is two galaxies in one

Archaeology’s most famous murder victim might not have been murdered after all

On Futurama, an evil alien overlord just wants someone to boss him around

A former James Bond will be a major player on Chuck, plus our first look at Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page’s superhero team

Two heads really can be better than one…as long as those heads are similar

‘Butt Birth’-ing Rhinoceros from Ace Ventura Sequel Sold at Auction for a Whopping $60,000

The Ryan Gosling Sci-Fi Streak Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Study Challenges Popular Theory on Why Primordial Bugs Were So Darn Huge

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway’s Mystery’s Sci-Fi Film Has Its First Trailer

Scientists Just Found the Salt Limit That Pushes Your Heart to the Breaking Point

White House Social Media Just Had Its Covfefe Moment

Roborock F25 Ultra Steam Wet Dry Vacuum Is Now at Its Lowest Price, but Only During the Spring Sale Window

This $450 Semi-Dumb Phone Is Barely Even a Phone

Startup Successfully Ignites World’s First Fusion Rocket

Shokz OpenDots One Earbuds Hit Their Lowest Price Yet Across All Color Options, Including the New Ones

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