Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

13-year-old shoots a chupacabra in Texas

A young man identifying himself as Carter Pope claims to have shot and killed what he believes was a chupacabra in Texas. How did he know it was the legendary monster? Apparently, it was hairless and had “shriveled up” back legs. Good going, Pope — you probably killed an old, injured dog. According to Live…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 24

Cowboys and Aliens will blow you away and make you cry

Jon Favreau introduced the Cowboys and Aliens premiere at Comic-Con last night by telling us that it would be like the surprise Christmas present under the tree that you kept shaking, trying to figure out what was inside. And then it turned out to be unexpectedly awesome. He was right — his new flick really…

Movies Annalee Newitz Jul 24

What is Damon doing naked in Elena’s room? The cast and creators of Vampire Diaries reveal all!

We saw a sizzling snippet from next season’s Vampire Diaries, and got a chance to find out a few details about what’s coming up for TV’s angstiest supernatural threesome and their friends in the fall. Audiences at Comic-Con were treated to one glimpse of what’s in store next season, when we saw a clip of…

Television Annalee Newitz Jul 24

Comic-Con Gives You The Best Of Everything

We’ve got the latest reviews, interviews, and general craziness from Comic-Con, including reports on Spider-Man, True Blood, Steven Spielberg’s Terra Nova, fall science fiction shows you’ll be dying to see, and the artists and writers who make it all happen. Click here for full Comic-Con coverage. Illustration Natalie Baaklini for io9

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 23

Short Film Premiere: Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement

We’re pleased to host the online premiere of award-winning short film Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement, which just showed at Comic-Con this morning. It’s the action-packed story of warfare at the edge of the galaxy, where an alien enemy can mess with human minds — as well as blowing up ships. Cockpit has pretty awesome…

Movies Annalee Newitz Jul 23

Head-exploding science fiction flick Scanners gets a TV show

These days, director David Cronenberg does Oscar-style fare like A History of Violence, but back in the 1980s he made splattery body horror cheesefests. Scanners is one of the best of the lot, giving us a spooky, memorably gross, look at the lives of outcast telepaths who were the victims of government experiments. Also, there…

Television Annalee Newitz Jul 23

The River mixes horror with improv acting to create a terrifyingly realistic TV series about magic

A beloved, famous scientist named Emmett Cole has gone missing on an expedition in South America. After six months, his wife Tess and grown son Lincoln give him up for dead. Until they get a call from his emergency beacon on a remote branch of the Amazon River. The only problem? They don’t have the…

Television Annalee Newitz Jul 23

The Best of Comic-Con So Far!

We’ve got the latest reviews, interviews, and general craziness from Comic-Con, including reports on Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, fall science fiction shows you’ll be dying to see, and the artists and writers who make it all happen. https://gizmodo.com/the-very-best-finds-on-the-floor-at-comic-con-2011-5823307 The very best finds on the floor at Comic-Con 2011 To some, Comic-Con…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

Person of Interest brings us the first post-9/11 surveillance superheroes

For months, we’ve been wondering about Person of Interest, the new show coming in fall from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. Starring Michael Emerson (Ben on Lost) and Jim Caviezel as “interested third parties” who try to stop crimes before they happen, the show seemed like it could go a lot of ways. Would it…

Television Annalee Newitz Jul 21

200 million years ago, half the world died from a massive methane eruption

A little over 200 million years ago, when Earth had only one mega-continent called Pangaea, fifty percent of life in the oceans died abruptly. What happened? Researchers long believed that this event, called the End-Triassic mass extinction, might have been caused by intense volcanic activity as Pangaea broke into two smaller continents. But a new…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

Cryptid or Not? You Be The Judge (Round Two)

We’ve gotten more intriguing cryptid photos from people trying to win our Cryptid Summer bounty. Here are a few of the pictures people have sent us over the past two weeks, ranging from highly plausible to downright bizarre. https://gizmodo.com/io9-offers-2000-bounty-for-authentic-photos-of-cryptid-5812013 Now you can vote on which you think might really be cryptids. We’ll consider your votes…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

This is what the aurorae would look like on a gas giant in another solar system

On Earth, the Northern Lights, or aurorae, are caused when particles erupt from the sun and go skidding across the surface of our magnetosphere, creating vast glowing streaks in the sky and sometimes interfering with satellite communications. But what would the aurorae look like on other planets? One group of astrophysicists wanted to find out.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

Six Biological Engineering Experiments That Could Save The World

The future of industrial production doesn’t depend on drilling for oil and mining minerals. It depends on biology. Scientists are transforming microbes and other life forms into tiny, specialized factories that extrude plastic, turn waste water into fuel, and even clean up radioactive waste. Here are five experiments in genetic engineering that are making the…

io9 Annalee Newitz and Keith Veronese Jul 21

New behind-the-scenes video from the set of The Hobbit, with hot dwarf action!

I’m really starting to get excited about The Hobbit movies, and this latest behind-the-scenes video from Peter Jackson is the main reason. After those two agonizing years when the movies were in limbo, at last it’s clear that director Jackson is having a ton of fun making them. Plus, he’s giving us an up-close look…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

The Supernatural anime series translates perfectly

We caught a peek at the Supernatural anime series from Japan, out later this month, with the two-part episode “All Hell Breaks Loose.” Based on the season ender in the American series’ second season, it pits our monster-hunting Winchester brothers against their first Big Bad, the yellow-eyed demon who killed their mother. For the English-language…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

io9 Comic-Con panel is this afternoon at 12:30!

Are you in San Diego? Well, come out to meet some io9 staffers and pals. The io9 panel at Comic-Con is today, 12:30:-1:30, in room 24ABC. We’ll be discussing science fiction stories from the past year that could change your life, and will be joined by io9 friends Marc Bernardin (Alphas), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (The Middleman),…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

The Millennium Bug delivers the evil hillbilly kaiju mashup you never knew you wanted

Need a new crazy indie exploitation film in your life? Then look no further than The Millennium Bug, a seriously gory flick that answers the age-old question of what would happen if Godzilla rampaged through a Rob Zombie movie. Though bits of the movie feel like warmed-over hillbilly stereotypes, there’s a deranged imaginativeness at its…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 20

Welcome to Comic-Con

Today the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con begins, bringing with it a new year of fantastic movies, TV, books, comics and games. Though this convention began as a humble gathering of comic book fans in the early 1970s, it has grown to attract over 100 thousand attendees as well as major Hollywood studios, producers sniffing for…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 20

Explorers find bizarre, spaceship-like object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

Several days ago, we reported that a Swedish team of shipwreck hunters discovered a strange, circular object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea that looks sort of like the Millennium Falcon. The group was using sonar to plumb the depths of the waters, hoping to find shipwrecks that might contain treasures they could sell.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 20

Why did the temperature of the Red Sea rise abruptly in 1995?

In 1995, the temperature of the Red Sea rose abruptly. It’s already-warm waters became 0.7°C hotter, which is a significant amount for a body of water whose reefs support life that’s adapted for a very specific temperature. Scientists studying the Red Sea recently published a study using satellite data to prove that the temperature spike…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 19

Annalee Newitz

13-year-old shoots a chupacabra in Texas

Cowboys and Aliens will blow you away and make you cry

What is Damon doing naked in Elena’s room? The cast and creators of Vampire Diaries reveal all!

Comic-Con Gives You The Best Of Everything

Short Film Premiere: Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement

Head-exploding science fiction flick Scanners gets a TV show

The River mixes horror with improv acting to create a terrifyingly realistic TV series about magic

The Best of Comic-Con So Far!

Person of Interest brings us the first post-9/11 surveillance superheroes

200 million years ago, half the world died from a massive methane eruption

Cryptid or Not? You Be The Judge (Round Two)

This is what the aurorae would look like on a gas giant in another solar system

Six Biological Engineering Experiments That Could Save The World

New behind-the-scenes video from the set of The Hobbit, with hot dwarf action!

The Supernatural anime series translates perfectly

io9 Comic-Con panel is this afternoon at 12:30!

The Millennium Bug delivers the evil hillbilly kaiju mashup you never knew you wanted

Welcome to Comic-Con

Explorers find bizarre, spaceship-like object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

Why did the temperature of the Red Sea rise abruptly in 1995?

Apple App Store Experiences Surge in New Apps Amid Vibe Coding Boom

Report Says Software Engineer Job Listings Are Up 30% This Year

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

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