Annalee Newitz

It’s Late Spring on Mars, and the Frost Hasn’t Quite Melted Yet

Just expand this image a little bit and you’ll see amazing detail — that’s frost forming on ripples of sand, its distinctive wrinkly appearance created by wind whipping along this slope on the inside of a Martian crater. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona This image was captured last month by the HiRISE camera on the…

If Your Robot Buys Illegal Drugs, Have You Committed a Crime?

A group of Swiss artists recently set a bot free on the darknet, allowing it to purchase whatever it could with Bitcoins. Among other weird things it bought were a few ecstasy pills and a fake Hungarian passport. Now an attorney asks whether the artists could be arrested under the law as it currently stands.…

Get into Black Mirror, the Best Dystopian Show Ever Made

Now that the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror is available on Netflix, Americans are discovering what people in the UK have known for years. This show is so dark, intense, and smart that it will rewire your expectations about what television can be. Created by beloved/reviled UK media satirist Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror at…

The Future of Women on Earth May Be Darker Than You Thought

It’s easy to get caught up in the internet gender war trainwreck, where we’re still arguing over whether women belong in tech orrape victims are liars. But let’s set that shit aside and take the long view: Do we have any evidence that the future will bring greater freedom to women, or should we expect…

I Told You This Village Was Under My Protection

Seriously. I’m not fucking around. Jakub Rozalski is a concept artist and illustrator in Krakow. This work shows what the monster Ded Moroz looks like, according to Slavic myth. No, he’s not exactly Santa. You can see more of Rozalski’s intense, gorgeous work on his Art Station site.

Do These NASA Photos Reveal a Coffin on Mars?!

I’m excited to report that in 2015, it looks like the Mars rover Curiosity has found Dracula on Mars. At least, that’s what UFOlogists think — and if you look at this picture, you’ll probably be convinced too. Occam’s Razor and all that. Here’s NASA’s original picture. Here’s Dracula’s coffin! And a close-up, below, which…

The Best io9 Stories of 2014

io9’s staffers have put together their favorite stories of last year, for your delectation and amusement. You may have missed these the first time, so dig in. And of course, Happy New Year to those of you who track time using the Gregorian calendar! Earth timelapse, imaged by Russian satellite Elektro-L Entertainment How Could Disney…

Nice Solar System, Would Travel Around Its Star Again

The main sequence star Sol sits at the center of a pretty nice system on the outer edge of a spiral galaxy. I did a full revolution on its third planet, and the view was great. Definitely up for another one. This lovely image of Sol’s corona comes to you from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric…

Physicists Tackle Our Favorite Science Fictional Debate

This debate comes up every time I watch a time travel movie: Is the timeline fixed, or is it constantly changing depending on what we do? Turns out that this is also an argument among physicists, some of whom believe the passage of time is illusion — while others view it as very real, and…

The Best Science Books of 2014

There’s no better way to learn about science than by reading a book that makes it relevant to your everyday life. That’s why 2014’s best science books show us how science and culture are interconnected, two threads in the same story, braided together in ways that can be funny, engrossing, and often deeply moving. Here…

This River Flows for Only a Few Days a Year, But Has Scarred the Land

This massive, winding river in Namibia flows mostly underground, emerging only for a few days per year. Despite its ephemeral journey, it has left a lasting impression on the Earth’s surface. According to USGS: Namibia’s Ugab River only flows above ground for a few days each year. The subterranean waters underlying this ephemeral river, however,…

A Scary-Lovely Dress That Can Defend You from Unwanted Attention

It’s called the Spider Dress, and it clings to your body like an exoskeleton. If anyone gets too close, parts of the dress can lash out at them with what seem to be skeletal appendages. Who doesn’t love what 3D printing and microcontrollers have done for fashion? Writes dress designer Anouk Wipprecht: Aptly called the…

Musician’s Recreation of Ancient Sumerian Songs Will Haunt You

These songs are examples of how art and science can come together to create something incredible. Musician Stef Conner learned to read several ancient Babylonian and Sumerian tablets written in cuneiform script, using historians’ research to figure out likely pronunciation. Just listen to the results. Conner is accompanied here by Andy Lowings, who recreates ancient…

It’s hard to determine what the WORST anti-science bullshit was over the past year, but Mother Jones has done it. In this list of the most egregious examples of climate denialism, the venerable magazine will remind you why a high school science education should be mandatory for all politicians.

The True Origins of , the Most Hated HTML Tag in History

You’ve probably seen blinking text on the internet, then clutched your head and wondered why your elders ever invented such an affront to eyeballs everywhere. Now its inventor Lou Montulli has come forward to take responsibility, and to explain why was never supposed to exist. Writes Montulli on his blog: Back in 1994 I was…

The Village Was Built on the Eroded Pillars of an Ancient Canyon

Who knows how it first started? Maybe the village was once on solid ground that washed out from under our ancient homes. Or maybe our ancestors knew how to climb and build in ways that we have forgotten. Now we just weave more rope for the bridges and ladders, and hope the floods never come…

Now the CIA Wants to Take Responsibility for All UFO Sightings

One of the most popular documents released by the CIA in 2014 was an account of U-2 testing from 1954-1974. In a creepily sarcastic comment, the CIA’s Twitter rep wrote, “Reports of unusual activity in the skies in the ’50s? It was us.” You can imagine what the citizens of Twitter had to say about…

Home Fecal Transplants Are On the Rise

This guy believes his home fecal transplants saved his life. In this video, you shows you how to transplant somebody else’s poop into your own colon. But researchers remain skeptical. Earlier this year, the BBC ran a big story about a woman who, like the star of this video, believes that home fecal transplants can…

Once-in-a-lifetime experiences are amazing while they happen, but they may make you depressed in the long term. A new study shows that your incredible vacation may come at a personal cost — Discover’s Carl Engelking has the story.

An Aerial View of Two Ecosystems

The border between Mongolia and China falls roughly on the border between two ecosystems. In this satellite image from the US Geological Survey (USGS), you can see where the southern steppes of Mongolia give way to the northern Chinese desert. The transition zone is known as the Edrengiyn Nuruu. The US Geological Survey explains: The…