Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

The City Stood Up

I am not sure when we stopped building the city and it started to build us. Over time, we had forgotten how to tell our own bodies apart from its towers. Our skin was what gave flexibility to its composite materials. That was when the city withdrew pipes and struts from the regolith and began…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 18

Anti-smoking PSA from the 1980s warns Brits about the scary posthuman future

Britain’s National Archives has created an amazing online collection of “public information films,” or what we in the United States call “public service announcements” (PSAs). It’s an incredible collection that goes back to the 1950s and continues up through 2006. Some of the movies are just silly, and others are kind of amazing in their…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 17

Brain-eating amoebas claim the life of a teenager in Florida

Over the weekend, a sixteen-year-old girl lost her life to a rare infection from an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri, which eats neurons in the brain (in the image here, you can see the amoeba eating rat neurons). Most likely she caught it while swimming in a river near her Florida home. Experts say the Naegleria…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 17

Why we need memory-altering drugs

Scientists have been tinkering with memory-altering drugs for years, discovering substances that can make you forget that you crave cocaine, and change the emotional weight of traumatic memories as you recall them. But the prospect of swallowing a pill that erases your past has troubling implications. Many ethicists say we simply shouldn’t develop these substances…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 17

Barbarian beefcake fashions, from Conan to John Carter

With a remake of Conan the Barbarian coming out this Friday, it’s time to contemplate the awesomeness of sword and sandal movies. You know – movies set in the mythical days of antiquity, when everybody carried swords, wore sandals (or leather boots), and opened their mouths really wide while fighting. Nothing says “sword and sandal”…

Movies Annalee Newitz Aug 17

Read the first two chapters of Ernest Cline’s new novel, Ready Player One

We’re excited about Ernest Cline’s first novel, Ready Player One, which is about a dystopian future where gamers fight to control the future of their virtual world, the OASIS. Will it fall into the hands of the IOI Corporation, which wants to make the OASIS pay-per-access and to prevent people from using anonymous avatars? Or…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 16

Win backstage passes to New York’s American Museum of Natural History, plus cocktails with scientists!

Going to one of the largest and most dazzling collections devoted to the history and diversity of life on our planet is exciting enough. But going behind closed doors for a private lab tour with brilliant scientists? How about an open bar? Join us backstage at New York’s incredible American Museum of Natural History. What…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 15

Ready Player One is a dystopian gamer novel that’s as addictive as a great game

In the 2040s, energy resources and the economy in America have collapsed. The poor live in “stacks,” vertical trailer parks outside cities where old mobile homes are piled on top of each other. A few lucky kids get to attend school online, in a virtual world called the OASIS that has replaced the Web with…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 11

A scientific investigation into non-humanoid, extraterrestrial sexuality

You know you think about it. What would it be like to have sex with an alien whose morphology is nothing like yours? And what would such aliens do when they were together? But so few works of science fiction examine this basic question. Now a group of artists, writers, and filmmakers have decided to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 11

The very best fake monster pictures that you created!

All summer long, you’ve been chasing cryptids, or mystery animals, for our Cryptid Summer bounty. And you’ve also diligently been producing pictures of fake cryptids because, well, it just wouldn’t be monster season without a lot of photoshopping. Here is the summer’s last batch of fake cryptids – would any of these fool you? https://gizmodo.com/io9-offers-2000-bounty-for-authentic-photos-of-cryptid-5812013…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 11

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 8/23 to discuss Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House

The io9 Book Club meets once per month to discuss a book, and then the author usually joins us for a chat. In August, we’re meeting on the 23rd to discuss Ian McDonald’s Hugo-nominated The Dervish House. Watch for a post that day announcing the book club, and jump into comments for discussion! There’s still…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 10

New study shows that knowing spoilers doesn’t ruin a story

Many people live in fear of being “spoiled” for a story by finding out the ending. But a new study by psychologists shows that people wound up liking stories better if they’d been told spoilers in advance. UC San Diego psychology researchers Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt wanted to know whether it was true that…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 10

What caused a slowdown in climate change at the turn of the millennium?

Over the past century, we’ve witnessed a rise in the greenhouse gas methane in our atmosphere. But for a few years at the turn of the millennium, methane levels tapered off and reached a stable state before starting to climb again. If we could just figure out what caused this slowdown, and replicate it, we…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 10

Moore’s Law may soon be broken

The future is almost never what you expect it to be. Case in point: Over 40 years ago, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore famously predicted that the number of transistors on a microchip would double every two years. His comment, dubbed “Moore’s Law” by computer scientists, has been used countless times over the past several decades…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 10

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a surprise contender for best movie of the summer

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, in theaters today, is like an episode of classic Star Trek. Sometimes it feels like B-grade scifi, complete with scenery-chewing, but more often it tells an intelligent, compassionate story you won’t soon forget. This isn’t generally what you expect to hear about a reboot of franchise that Tim…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 5

Here come the Aquabats!

How do you create a punk rock science fiction superhero kids show? Apparently it takes years of effort. But as this heartwarming tale of the Aquabats makes clear, it’s all worth it! Can’t wait to watch The Aquabats Super Show now.

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 5

Is your depression caused by brain inflammation?

It’s possible that depression could be cured by reducing mild swelling in your brain. Neuroscientists have linked depression to brain inflammation before, and now a new study suggests further evidence for this theory. Here you can see the distinctive signature of a glial cell responding to swollen tissue in a brain — the cell’s center…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 5

Scientists find evidence of liquid water on the surface of Mars

We’ve known for a while that there are frozen water deposits just beneath the surface of the Martian poles, but now it seems that there are seasonal streams of liquid water that wind across the red planet’s surface. Today, a group of scientists announced their discovery in Science, and told io9 what this liquid water…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 4

Proof that human-whale communication will begin with a mariachi band

Juno, a beluga whale in a Connecticut aquarium, is known for his lively interactions with visitors – sometimes he gets aggressive, but other times he bobs to a mariachi beat, as you can see here. It’s hard to say what we’re witnessing, but it certainly seems like Juno is imitating the motions of the musicians…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 4

Her sword was deadlier than her dragon

If I had to choose between facing her sword and facing her dragon, I would drop to one knee and offer fealty. This incredible image is just one of many incredible fantasy illustrations by Jason Engle. Here are some of our favorites. Engle has created art for games, comics, books, and cards. He brings vivid…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 4

Annalee Newitz

The City Stood Up

Anti-smoking PSA from the 1980s warns Brits about the scary posthuman future

Brain-eating amoebas claim the life of a teenager in Florida

Why we need memory-altering drugs

Barbarian beefcake fashions, from Conan to John Carter

Read the first two chapters of Ernest Cline’s new novel, Ready Player One

Win backstage passes to New York’s American Museum of Natural History, plus cocktails with scientists!

Ready Player One is a dystopian gamer novel that’s as addictive as a great game

A scientific investigation into non-humanoid, extraterrestrial sexuality

The very best fake monster pictures that you created!

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 8/23 to discuss Ian McDonald’s The Dervish House

New study shows that knowing spoilers doesn’t ruin a story

What caused a slowdown in climate change at the turn of the millennium?

Moore’s Law may soon be broken

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a surprise contender for best movie of the summer

Here come the Aquabats!

Is your depression caused by brain inflammation?

Scientists find evidence of liquid water on the surface of Mars

Proof that human-whale communication will begin with a mariachi band

Her sword was deadlier than her dragon

Microsoft Says You’re Not Supposed to Take Copilot’s Advice Seriously

Amazon Is Sticking With ‘Rings of Power’ to the End

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

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

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