Alex Eichler, Author at Gizmodo

The Tug of Celestial Bodies Causes the Very Ground to Shake

Here’s a novel explanation for California’s earthquakes: Blame the sun and the moon. According to researchers at UC Berkeley, their combined gravity is just enough to set the San Andreas Fault in motion. A few years ago, seismologists detected tremors in the San Andreas Fault at a depth where they didn’t expect to find any…

io9 Alex Eichler

Smart Walls, Morphing Chairs, and the Living Environments of Neri Oxman

Ever wanted to stand on a floor that fine-tunes its own thickness? Or ride an elevator powered by the same peristaltic mechanisms found in the human intestine? Neri Oxman is way ahead of you. Oxman, a Ph.D. candidate in design computation at MIT, specializes in reactive architecture: surfaces, furnishings, and structures that change their own…

io9 Alex Eichler

MIT Goes Back to the Drawing Board on Artificial Intelligence

A new research initiative at MIT intends to revisit some decades-old assumptions about artificial intelligence. It’s part of a five-year plan to create an AI program that can comprehend a children’s book. The Mind Machine Project, a collaboration between some two dozen professors, researchers, and graduate students at MIT, hopes to fashion a new conceptual…

io9 Alex Eichler

Vanished Precambrian Life Forms Were Like Nothing Before or Since

For a brief span of time, about 542 million years ago, the world belonged to the Ediacarans, a group of life forms so physiologically unique that biologists have considered giving them their own taxonomic kingdom. An essay by Richard Corfield in Astrobiology Magazine points up the strange history of the Ediacarans, a group of anatomically…

io9 Alex Eichler

In the Post-Silicon World of Tomorrow, Any Surface Could Be a Circuit

According to hopeful U.K. tech developers, the future of the computer chip isn’t silicon, it’s plastic. And the future of computing won’t take place on a hard drive — it’ll be happening everywhere. English engineers and economists alike have been extolling the virtues of plastic-based electronics, which have emerged as a fourth-quarter great hope for…

io9 Alex Eichler

Theoretical All-Quark Stars Might Be Able to Warp Matter Unto Themselves

Researchers are on the lookout for a new type of star, one composed of matter that behaves differently from the kind we’re familiar with. If these stars exist, they could solve one of the biggest mysteries astrophysicists have confronted. A team led by Zoltan Kovacs, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong, recently put…

io9 Alex Eichler

Up Next on the Denver Ballot, a Council for Human-Alien Relations

Jeff Peckman, the indefatigable UFO hobbyist and lobbyist, has secured a place on next year’s ballot for Denver citizens to approve his Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission. Will Denver become known as the city that opened its doors to the universe? Peckman made headlines last year by claiming to have footage of a living alien (the video,…

io9 Alex Eichler

The Existential Loneliness That Unites Batman and the Joker

A university lecturer in philosophy suggests that Gotham’s hero and its worst villain share an unwilling awareness of society’s fragility — and a profound isolation from others as a result. We’re pretty sure we knew this, but validation is nice. Ron Novy, a lecturer at the University of Central Arkansas, argues that what Batman and…

io9 Alex Eichler

The Most Hostile Regions on Earth Where Biology Got a Toehold

There’s been an uptick in speculation lately about whether life could exist on Mars, the moon, or one of Jupiter’s satellites. Too inhospitable, you say? Earth has places that are just as bad, yet rich with organisms. As someone, possibly Jake from Animorphs, once observed, Earth is a tough neighborhood. A feature at Smithsonian magazine…

io9 Alex Eichler

Comparison-Shop Your Teenage Vampires: Twilight vs. Nightlight

Nightlight, the Harvard Lampoon‘s send-up of that other novel about undead high school students, has been getting some good press lately. But how does the parody stack up against the original? Maybe these bullet points will help. https://gizmodo.com/girl-stalks-fake-vampire-in-harvard-lampoons-twilight-s-5396423 Recently, I conducted back-to-back readings of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight and the Harvard Lampoon’s Nightlight. I was curious:…

io9 Alex Eichler

Near-Immortality Within the Next 20 Years? Life-Extension Scientists Hope So

Researchers at the Maximum Life Foundation met recently to discuss their latest anti-aging findings. Their goal is to extend the human lifespan indefinitely by 2029… though it’s not yet clear how that’ll actually work. The Huntington Beach-based Foundation held a Longevity Summit earlier this month, where biologists and geneticists shared their research into how humans…

io9 Alex Eichler

Fleets of Autonomous Robots Coming to an Ocean Near You

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography is preparing to roll out hundreds of small, seafaring robotic explorers. If you’re out for a swim and a robot tries to make friends with you, don’t stand in the way of science! The San Diego-based Scripps Institution recently got funding from the National Science Foundation to build and deploy…

io9 Alex Eichler

Latest Space Shuttle Mission Lifts Off, Stuffed With Worms

Space Shuttle Atlantis took to the skies this week, carrying thousands of microscopic worms to be used in muscle-degeneration research. We already know these worms can handle spaceflight, because in 2003, another group of them survived a fall from orbit. The worms aboard the current Atlantis mission, which launched on Monday, hail from Britain’s University…

io9 Alex Eichler

California Company Offers Genome Sequencing on the Cheap

The research company Complete Genomics has figured out a way to sequence the human genome for less than $5,000 in chemicals, making it seem more likely than ever that affordable genetic profiles will become a thing of the mainstream. Complete Genomics, a biotech start-up based in Mountain View, California, announced last week that it had…

io9 Alex Eichler

Titan’s Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon

It’s been reported that a planned mission to Titan will use a robotic boat to explore the liquid-methane seas. But the project will also have eyes in the sky: a hot-air balloon will circumnavigate Titan and observe its multiform topography. https://gizmodo.com/a-nuclear-powered-boat-could-sail-the-great-lakes-of-ti-5383000 The Titan Saturn System Mission, a joint endeavor between NASA and the European Space…

io9 Alex Eichler

Alex Eichler

The Tug of Celestial Bodies Causes the Very Ground to Shake

Smart Walls, Morphing Chairs, and the Living Environments of Neri Oxman

MIT Goes Back to the Drawing Board on Artificial Intelligence

Vanished Precambrian Life Forms Were Like Nothing Before or Since

In the Post-Silicon World of Tomorrow, Any Surface Could Be a Circuit

Theoretical All-Quark Stars Might Be Able to Warp Matter Unto Themselves

Up Next on the Denver Ballot, a Council for Human-Alien Relations

The Existential Loneliness That Unites Batman and the Joker

The Most Hostile Regions on Earth Where Biology Got a Toehold

Comparison-Shop Your Teenage Vampires: Twilight vs. Nightlight

Near-Immortality Within the Next 20 Years? Life-Extension Scientists Hope So

Fleets of Autonomous Robots Coming to an Ocean Near You

Latest Space Shuttle Mission Lifts Off, Stuffed With Worms

California Company Offers Genome Sequencing on the Cheap

Titan’s Drone Boat Could Be Joined By a Nuclear Hot-Air Balloon

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

Artemis 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Researchers Discover How to Add Psilocybin, DMT, and Other Psychedelics to Tobacco

Fake Videos Are Already Spreading After Two US Air Force Planes Go Down Near Iran

We’re Obsessed With the Meta Fits on These New Star Wars Toys

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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