Alasdair Wilkins, Author at Gizmodo

Manakin birds must choose between sex and good weather

The white-ruffed manakin of Costa Rica is a partially migratory bird, meaning each year it decides whether to stay in its natural habitat or fly elsewhere. But choosing to migrate can have serious consequences for their dating life back home. The birds are generally found in the highlands of Costa Rica, which each year experiences…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Fermilab physicists about to announce the discovery of “a new force beyond what we know” – updated with video!

At 5:00 PM Eastern, Fermilab scientists will announce a major discovery. The early word is that this is not the Higgs boson, but instead something completely unexpected. Update: Here’s the link to the complete presentation by University of Illinois researcher Viviana Cavliere. We’ll warn you right now – it’s very technical and very cautious. We’ll…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

No Ordinary Family goes out in one last gloriously insane blaze of glory

Last night was likely No Ordinary Family’s final episode. So the show gave us everything we ever wanted: an absolutely bonkers showdown between the Powells and Dr. King, a sidekick getting powers, and, at long last, an actually interesting premise. There are no words for just how batshit insane the Dr. King showdown really is.…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

In search of the world’s tallest human

The tallest person who ever lived stood nearly nine feet tall, making him nearly double the size of the average human. What creates such remarkable extremes, and what’s the absolute tallest a human being could possibly be? What causes gigantism? In humans, gigantism is caused by the overproduction of growth hormones in the pituitary gland.…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Henry Cavill opens up about playing Superman. Plus Tron 3’s story begins to take shape!

Christopher Nolan chooses a key location for The Dark Knight Rises. An absurd Superman casting rumor is back, and sillier than ever. A Flight of the Conchords star returns to The Hobbit. Plus the most spoiler-y Fringe set photos ever! Spoilers from here on out! Top image from Real Steel. The Dark Knight Rises Christopher…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Lice are as old as the dinosaurs…and this could change everything

There’s a popular theory that bird and mammal evolution kicked into high gear after the dinosaurs went extinct. But now it turns out lice were already diversifying long before the dinosaurs died out. This is significant because lice would only start to diversify when their various hosts – in other words, birds and mammals –…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Size really does matter for male fertility…just not the way you think

As far as male fertility is concerned, length really is important…except the length in question isn’t the one you’re thinking about. The crucial distance is actually the length between scrotum and anus. Yes, it’s all about the taint. In what has to go down as one of the most heroic scientific experiments ever, University of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

This is why our galaxy is called the Milky Way

This absolutely stunning image was taken in Spain’s Canary Islands by astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado. The image combines nine different photos and reveals the band of our Milky Way galaxy in a way our unaided eyes never could. A NASA astronomers explains how this photo reveals the full glory of the Milky Way: In a…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

This week’s comics bring us the war on fear, teenage fire-starters, and Spider-Man’s perfect world!

In tomorrow’s new comics, the God of Fear rises to wage war on the entire Marvel universe, Hellboy travels back to the 1970s, Batman faces two of the DC universe’s heaviest hitters, and a classic John Constantine story returns. First Issues Marvel kicks off its latest big crossover event with Matt Fraction’s Fear Itself, as…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Inside scoop on Bill and Ted 3, Doctor Who and Green Lantern. Plus a crazy Superman rumor!

An inside source claims to know who Superman is fighting in the new movie. Producer Donald De Line explains Green Lantern’s appeal. Plus we sort through the massive Doctor Who media blitz, and ponder a potentially massive Fringe spoiler. Spoilers from here on out! Top image from Doctor Who. Superman Reboot Take all of this…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Mummies reveal Ancient Egyptian heart disease epidemic

Although Egyptian hieroglyphics depict a noble class that was forever beautiful and healthy, ancient records tell a far different story, of an aristocracy riddled with heart disease. And now preserved mummy hearts are revealing the full extent of the phenomenon. Egyptian doctors left papyrus records of the basic symptoms of angina, heart attacks, and congestive…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

You could jump off the solar system’s tallest cliff…and survive

Verona Rupes is a huge cliff face located on Uranus’s moon Miranda. It’s the tallest cliff in the solar system, as much as twenty kilometers deep. If you jumped off it, you’d fall for twelve minutes…and you could still survive. This image was taken by Voyager 2 during its flyby of Uranus in 1986. The…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Missing antineutrinos could solve the dark matter mystery

Neutrinos are a notorious thorn in physicists’ sides, as the majority of them go missing while traveling from the Sun to our detectors on Earth. We’re alsomiscounting their antimatter counterparts, which could mean big things for our understanding of physics. The original neutrino mystery was solved back in 2001. Here’s the short version: in the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Pioneer Anomaly is finally solved, thanks to 1970s computer graphics

The Pioneer 10 and 11 probes are currently heading out of the solar system, but they’re not quite doing it quickly enough. This physics-defying anomaly has stubbornly defied explanation, but an old computer graphics technique has finally solved the conundrum. The Pioneer probes are both on escape trajectories that will eventually take them out of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Learn the origin of Green Lantern’s mysterious villain. Plus Roberto Orci talks about writing the Star Trek sequel!

Ryan Reynolds compares Hal Jordan to sci-fi’s most iconic rogue, while Blake Lively wants to play the villain. Roberto Orci says fan feedback is going into the Star Trek sequel. Plus has The Hunger Games found its male leads? Spoilers from here on out! Top image from Green Lantern. Green Lantern Producer Donald De Line…

Television Alasdair Wilkins

Weekly Roundup

Portrait of a star | Solar eclipse from space via NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. How will we dispose of spent nuclear fuel rods for centuries to come? https://gizmodo.com/how-will-we-dispose-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-rods-for-cent-5786857 How does humanity plan to permanently store high-level nuclear waste that can remain radioactive for several thousand years? The answer isn’t as simple as digging a hole…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Backwards stars are the last refugees of destroyed galaxies

The universe can be a brutal place, as entire galaxies are ripped apart in cataclysmic collisions. No traces of the old galaxies are left behind, except for a few out-of-place stars, stubbornly orbiting the wrong way in their new galaxy. All stars orbit around the center of their galaxy, and normally all of them should…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Meet “Old Gray Guy,” the interloper who saved the wolves of Lake Superior

The wolves that live on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale are completely isolated from all other wolves…or so we thought. One immigrant wolf injected some much-needed fresh genes into the mix, and we know because of the poop he left behind. We briefly touched on this story in our recent epic poop treatise, but this is…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

How centuries of flooding turned the ancient Chinese into seafarers

About 9,000 years ago, the Fuzhou Basin in southeastern China fell victim to rising sea levels, pushing underwater the marshy lands needed for rice farming. The marooned people there became seafarers, which eventually led to the colonization of Taiwan. The long-term flooding of the Fuzhou Basin completely changed the topography of the region, turning what…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

To find intelligent life, look for asteroid belt mining operations

The search for alien intelligence has mostly centered on waiting to hear any interstellar radio signals, but we might now have a way to see aliens as well. We just need to look for mega-engineering projects on alien asteroid belts. The idea is the brainchild of Duncan Forgan of the University of Edinburgh and Harvard-Smithsonian…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alasdair Wilkins

Manakin birds must choose between sex and good weather

Fermilab physicists about to announce the discovery of “a new force beyond what we know” – updated with video!

No Ordinary Family goes out in one last gloriously insane blaze of glory

In search of the world’s tallest human

Henry Cavill opens up about playing Superman. Plus Tron 3’s story begins to take shape!

Lice are as old as the dinosaurs…and this could change everything

Size really does matter for male fertility…just not the way you think

This is why our galaxy is called the Milky Way

This week’s comics bring us the war on fear, teenage fire-starters, and Spider-Man’s perfect world!

Inside scoop on Bill and Ted 3, Doctor Who and Green Lantern. Plus a crazy Superman rumor!

Mummies reveal Ancient Egyptian heart disease epidemic

You could jump off the solar system’s tallest cliff…and survive

Missing antineutrinos could solve the dark matter mystery

The Pioneer Anomaly is finally solved, thanks to 1970s computer graphics

Learn the origin of Green Lantern’s mysterious villain. Plus Roberto Orci talks about writing the Star Trek sequel!

Weekly Roundup

Backwards stars are the last refugees of destroyed galaxies

Meet “Old Gray Guy,” the interloper who saved the wolves of Lake Superior

How centuries of flooding turned the ancient Chinese into seafarers

To find intelligent life, look for asteroid belt mining operations

Some of the Most Hyped Gym Supplements Are Fake, Unregulated, or Both

The Head of HBO Explains What it Takes to Get a ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Going

Elon Musk’s Lawyer Claims Jury’s 420 ‘Joke’ Proves He Didn’t Receive a Fair Trial

‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Is a Genre Blending Delight

Leaked Anthropic Model Presents ‘Unprecedented Cybersecurity Risks,’ Much to Pentagon’s Pleasure

Don’t miss out: Bitdefender, One of the World’s Best Antiviruses, Is Now on Sale

The Secret to Better Sperm? It’s Probably Already on Your Schedule

Lego Is Leaning Into Your Marvel Memories With a New Helicarrier Set

Toshiba’s 65-inch Smart Fire TV Now Matches 43-Inch Pricing After 44% Drop on Amazon

Kash Patel’s Email Account Hacked, Iran-Linked Group Takes Credit

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