Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

Was this Canadian hotel worker visited by the real “Men in Black”?

Conspiracy theorists are buzzing about this video, where a guy describes the weird encounter his colleagues had with two “men in black” who were asking strange questions about him. He even got some footage of them from the hotel’s security camera. Apparently these two absolutely identical men, in identical black suits, came into the hotel…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 7

Great Dragons of the Americas, in Naomi Novik’s Crucible of Gold

Imagine how world history might have changed if aerial combat had been invented in the early nineteenth century — by troops deployed on the backs of dragons. That’s the premise of Naomi Novik’s popular Temeraire series, where the Napoleonic Wars are fought in part with dragons and the balance of power is forever changed. Crucible…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 30

io9 Show: Get Your Ass Into Space

This week on the io9 show We Come From The Future, we talk about how you’re going to get your ass to space and stay there. We ponder the best options for artificial gravity, discuss the real meaning of “space opera,” and then take a break with an experiment that could help you snuff out…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 27

Ask Naomi Novik anything you want about His Majesty’s Dragon

In April, the io9 Book Club read Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon, the first novel in the Temeraire series (the seventh novel, Crucible of Gold, just came out). Now Novik is coming to answer your questions about the book tomorrow, April 27. https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-book-club-is-in-session-lets-talk-about-his-ma-5904564 She’ll be landing in the comment thread on this very post on…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Apr 26

The io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s talk about His Majesty’s Dragon.

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In April, we read Naomi Novik’s Her Majesty’s Dragon. It’s the first novel in her Temeraire series — the latest, Crucible of Gold, just came out. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Apr 24

On Supernatural, ghosts have Alzheimers and all the rules are thrown out the window

Last night’s episode of Supernatural, “Of Grave Importance,” demonstrated all the best and worst aspects of this season’s take on monster-of-the-week episodes. The worldbuilding was great: With Bobby along for the ride, we got to learn a lot of fantastically interesting things about the (un)lives of ghosts. But at the same time, it was as…

Television Annalee Newitz Apr 21

Picture of the Day, April 20, 2012

THE DRAGONS OF SPRING | Art by Corrick, spotted on the ConceptArt.org “Environment of the Week” Challenge: “At the banks of the glowing river.” Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog view. Or visit Observation Deck, our general discussion forum.

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 21

What cannabis actually does to your brain

Archaeologists recently found a 2,700-year-old pot stash, so we know humans have been smoking weed for thousands of years. But it was only about 20 years ago that neuroscientists began to understand how it affects our brains. https://gizmodo.com/world-s-oldest-pot-stash-offered-an-afterlife-high-5099717 Scientists have known for a while that the active ingredient in cannabis was a chemical called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

A low-fi movie about a future where North Americans are cheap labor for the Chinese

If you haven’t heard about it yet, you need to check out Ghosts with Shit Jobs. Here’s the synopsis: In the future, jobs still suck — but in whole new ways. By 2040, the economy has flipped and North Americans are a cheap labour pool for wealthy Asian markets. A Chinese documentary show focuses on…

Movies Annalee Newitz Apr 20

New indie flick offers a hazy tale of lesbian vampires in boarding school

Out today in select theaters is a new independent film, The Moth Diaries, the slightly surreal story of a young woman who discovers her boarding school roommate (and best friend) has fallen under the spell of a vampire. Directed by Mary Harron, whose previous efforts include the searingly awesome American Psycho, the movie tries to…

Movies Annalee Newitz Apr 20

io9 Show: What movie will be the summer’s biggest flop?

We asked you in a poll what movie would be the summer’s biggest flop. Over 23,000 of you answered! We talk about the results in this week’s episode of io9’s We Come from the Future — plus, how to kill vampires with citrus fruits, CGI fetish masks, and what happened to the iceberg that sank…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

Picture of the Day, April 19, 2012

CUTE IS HELL | Illustration by Seoul concept artist Oh Jihoon. Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog view. Or visit Observation Deck, our general discussion forum.

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 19

Darth Vader is the coolest dad ever, in a new book

In Jeffrey Brown’s new graphic novel Darth Vader and Son, Luke finally gets to have that father-son relationship with Darth that he always wanted. Just imagine what the Skywalker family would have been like if Darth had gone Geek Dad instead of Sith Lord. Poor Darth – he has to deal with his whiny kid…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Apr 19

Collectively intelligent artificial creatures are already among us, argues scientist

I love it when the abstract for a scientific paper reads like the opening to a Charles Stross novel. Case in point is the paper that computer scientist Benjamin Kuipers posted the other day on arXiv: An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures People sometimes worry about the Singularity [Vinge, 1993; Kurzweil, 2005],…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 19

10 Pieces of Evidence That Plants Are Smarter Than You Think

Though plants possess nothing even remotely like brains, they can nevertheless communicate, measure time, and even use camouflage. They may not be thinking in a way that we’d recognize, but our chlorophyll-saturated pals are certainly doing a lot more than sitting around splitting water molecules. Here are ten things plants do that look pretty damn…

io9 Annalee Newitz and Sophie Bushwick Apr 19

Is the dramatic rise in chin implants due to video chat?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the American Association of Plastic Surgeons has seen a meteoric rise in chin implants over the past year. The number of chin implants, where a silicon implant increases the size of the chin, grew 71% in 2011. That’s 20,680 chin implants total in the U.S. According to the WSJ:…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 18

The Surreal Graffiti Left Behind in an Abandoned Village

In the 1990s, the government of Belgium ordered everybody to abandon the small, historic village of Doel to make room for the port of Antwerp. Most residents left unwillingly, and in their wake came a wave of squatters and artists who turned the town into a strange, haunting art installation. Over at Weird Fiction Review,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 18

Why don’t we know more about the long-term effects of abortion?

Though abortion is one of the most contested medical practices in U.S. history, we know shockingly little about how this simple outpatient procedure affects women. There are almost no scientific studies on what happens to women who receive abortions, and even fewer on what happens to women who are unable to get them. The American…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 18

What is this strange floating orb doing chasing boats in the Baltic Sea?

In this surprisingly non-blurry video made by a group of Swedes out for a pleasure ride on the Baltic, the “F” in UFO stands for “floating.” A white globe seems to be chasing their ship, matching its speed and totally unimpeded by currents from the ship’s wake (its behavior also eliminates the possibility that the…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 18

Behold the Electra 225, the world’s first time-traveling baby stroller

iam8bit is a Los Angeles gallery known for its cool, pop culture-themed shows. And the latest, a series of pieces on the theme “So You Created A Wormhole,” already has us excited. Here you can see a video for one of the pieces, a time traveling baby stroller (you know, for all those superintelligent alien…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 17

Annalee Newitz

Was this Canadian hotel worker visited by the real “Men in Black”?

Great Dragons of the Americas, in Naomi Novik’s Crucible of Gold

io9 Show: Get Your Ass Into Space

Ask Naomi Novik anything you want about His Majesty’s Dragon

The io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s talk about His Majesty’s Dragon.

On Supernatural, ghosts have Alzheimers and all the rules are thrown out the window

Picture of the Day, April 20, 2012

What cannabis actually does to your brain

A low-fi movie about a future where North Americans are cheap labor for the Chinese

New indie flick offers a hazy tale of lesbian vampires in boarding school

io9 Show: What movie will be the summer’s biggest flop?

Picture of the Day, April 19, 2012

Darth Vader is the coolest dad ever, in a new book

Collectively intelligent artificial creatures are already among us, argues scientist

10 Pieces of Evidence That Plants Are Smarter Than You Think

Is the dramatic rise in chin implants due to video chat?

The Surreal Graffiti Left Behind in an Abandoned Village

Why don’t we know more about the long-term effects of abortion?

What is this strange floating orb doing chasing boats in the Baltic Sea?

Behold the Electra 225, the world’s first time-traveling baby stroller

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

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