Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

VolTRON fights for the giant robot users

I am completely in love with this shirt, which the designer points out combines the powers of two great icons of the 1980s. Thankfully, Voltron and Tron will never meet CLUeless, which would combine the powers of CGI Jeff Bridges and late 1990s Alicia Silverstone. You have less than 24 hours to snap up the…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 17

“Leviathan Wakes” is as close as you’ll get to a Hollywood blockbuster in book form

When you dive into Leviathan Wakes, the first in the Expanse series from James S. A. Corey, you’ll feel like you’re watching the opening scene in any of a dozen awesome science fiction films. There’s a terrifying alien force that’s converted the crew of a hapless ice hauler into a throbbing ooze of flesh and…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz May 16

Why are so many teens fleeing to Bordertown?

It’s a city on the edge of our world, full of elves and magic. It’s rumored to welcome outcasts, artists, and dreamers. And now that its gates are open to humans again, teens are fleeing to Bordertown from everywhere. In this awesome trailer for Holly Black and Ellen Kushner’s new anthology of Bordertown stories, Welcome…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz May 16

10 works of fantasy that are really science fiction

Sometimes you’re immersed to your eyeballs in a story about supernatural monsters, or medieval lands full of eldrich gods – when suddenly, you realize the whole damn story is really about science or an alien planet full of advanced technology. You thought you were in the realm of fantasy, but instead you found yourself suddenly…

Movies Annalee Newitz May 16

Cloud or UFO? You be the judge.

In this gallery, photographers show us unidentified cloudy objects. These are clouds that look so weird that it’s as if some kind of alien vessel shaped them. And who knows? Maybe one did. One of the truly great things about Flickr is that you can search for “UFO cloud” and get over 6,000 results. Here…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 16

Only “Priest” could make goth vampire cowboys with motorcycles look silly

Priest is one of those movies whose concept design is so beautiful and intriguing that you want desperately to see a story set among its medieval/steampunk Blade Runner-style citiscapes and radioactive wastelands. Until the film’s story starts unfolding. And that’s around the time you’ll realize that even with hives of cool-looking vampires, cowboys on motorcycles,…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

More shocking portraits of robot abuse

Over at the German Aerospace Center, humans and robots enter into combat pretty regularly. This time, they’re testing out a robotic arm to see if it responds to abuse the same way a human arm does. Over at IEEE’s Automoton blog, Erica Guizzo explains: It’s called the DLR Hand Arm System. It has an anthropomorphic…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

How philosophy explains why Steven Moffat’s monsters are seriously fucking scary

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has created some of the series’ most frightening monsters, including the Weeping Angel aliens in “Blink” who creep up when you glance away. This season, the Edvard Munch-inspired aliens called The Silence have a strange but potent superpower: the instant they leave the frame of your vision, you forget they…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

That dread you’re feeling is called paraskevidekatriaphobia

Do you fear Friday the 13th? Well, you’d better stay inside today and nurse your paraskevidekatriaphobia, which is the official term – derived from Greek – meaning “fear of Friday and thirteen.” Apparently the phobia was originally called friggatriskaidekaphobia, but that pissed off language nerds because it combined a Norse root (frigga, for Friday) with…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

I am sorry you have to live in the time of terraforming, and not in the spring that follows

It was what she always said, late at night, when the environment-makers moaned and the distant cliffs ran with magma. We were the first generation, doomed to live before the history of this planet began. I am sorry you have to live in the time of terraforming, and not in the spring that follows. She…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

Why the world will end on May 21

Over at Salon, there’s a great article by Peter Finocchiaro about all those mysterious billboards and ads online about how the world is going to end on May 21 – a week from tomorrow. Apparently, they’re the work of a splinter group of Christians who follow Harold Camping. Though decades ago Camping incorrectly identified 1994…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 13

Watch Antonio Banderas ogle the Higgs Boson

In the noir flick Big Bang, out tomorrow, Antonio Banderas is a detective trying to track down a missing stripper while the bodies pile up around him. Inexplicably, his investigation takes him to the mansion of a weirdo bazillionaire who is trying to find the Higgs Boson. This is science camp at its campiest. Love…

Movies Annalee Newitz May 12

Infographic explains the Phantom Time Hypothesis, in which the Middle Ages never happened

Are we living out the results of a temporal conspiracy in which hundreds of years were smuggled into the Roman calendar to convince us that the Middle Ages happened? Are we really living in the 1700s? This chart explains. According to Michael Paulkner, the source of this bizarrely lovely infographic, this theory can be traced…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 12

Watch a gorgeous video of the Mount Etna eruption

Early this morning, Italy’s Mount Etna erupted, spewing lava and ash high into the air. Most of the lava flowed into uninhabited areas and no humans were harmed. An airport in Catania shut down when its runway was covered in lava. Here’s an amazing video of the eruption, from the BBC.

io9 Annalee Newitz May 12

Everybody wants to wear t-shirts with swords on them

Your Game of Thrones tee fashion statement has arrived. Now you can emblazon your chest with all the swords from the throne this weekend when you’re getting drunk and dancing on the sofa with Tyrion. I love these tees from Alrightok, which are part of their cunningly inexplicable “Keep It Safe” series. The purple sword…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 12

In 2015, the Toronto waterfront will be covered by hundreds of giant weather balloons

This is a glimpse of the future of Toronto. It’s the winning entry in a contest to design a pavillion for the 2015 Pan-American Games Award Pavilion in Toronto. Yes, those are hundreds of weather balloons filled with helium, clustered attractively together to create a surreal plastic cloud layer over the area. It will shelter…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

What can evolutionary biology tell us about the future of the human brain?

Are our brains still evolving? How do we sequence genomes to figure that out? Is technology changing the way our brains evolve? Now you can get the answers from Rob DeSalle, an evolutionary biologist. DeSalle is a curator at New York’s American Museum of Natural History and a researcher at the Sackler Institute for Comparative…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

Bug Fixes on io9: Now It’s Easier To Share Stories, and Our Blog View Looks Rad

Yesterday our awesome tech team fixed several bugs on the site that will make things easeir for readers who like sharing links on sites like Facebook and who prefer old the blog layout. We’ve tweaked our URL structure by eliminating the “hashbang” (#!). This means that thumbs and excerpts will now show up when you’ve…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

How do you put a scale model of the TARDIS on top of a building? CalTech pranksters reveal all!

After successfully putting a scale model TARDIS (with lights!) on top of a building at MIT, the CalTech pranksters behind the caper took their show on the road. In this video, they reveal how they set up the giant structure on top of a UC Berkeley building (it’s hard to tell for sure, but I…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

Has the Empire taken over the New York Times?

It seems that the New York Times has finally sold out to the Dark Lord. I guess it was only a matter of time. At least they’re still going for the hard-hitting stories, though – they’ve got the exclusive scoop on Vader’s triumphant announcement that notorious terrorist Obi Wan Kenobi is dead. Check out the…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

Annalee Newitz

VolTRON fights for the giant robot users

“Leviathan Wakes” is as close as you’ll get to a Hollywood blockbuster in book form

Why are so many teens fleeing to Bordertown?

10 works of fantasy that are really science fiction

Cloud or UFO? You be the judge.

Only “Priest” could make goth vampire cowboys with motorcycles look silly

More shocking portraits of robot abuse

How philosophy explains why Steven Moffat’s monsters are seriously fucking scary

That dread you’re feeling is called paraskevidekatriaphobia

I am sorry you have to live in the time of terraforming, and not in the spring that follows

Why the world will end on May 21

Watch Antonio Banderas ogle the Higgs Boson

Infographic explains the Phantom Time Hypothesis, in which the Middle Ages never happened

Watch a gorgeous video of the Mount Etna eruption

Everybody wants to wear t-shirts with swords on them

In 2015, the Toronto waterfront will be covered by hundreds of giant weather balloons

What can evolutionary biology tell us about the future of the human brain?

Bug Fixes on io9: Now It’s Easier To Share Stories, and Our Blog View Looks Rad

How do you put a scale model of the TARDIS on top of a building? CalTech pranksters reveal all!

Has the Empire taken over the New York Times?

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Wisconsin Remains a Gooning Sanctuary State After Governor Rejects Age Verification Bill

The Artemis 2 Astronauts Are Now Farther From Earth Than Any Have Gone Before

The Imperial Credits From the ‘Andor’ Aldhani Heist Are Up for Auction, Which We’re Sure Is Not a Commentary on Capitalism at All

Check Your Medicine Cabinet for These Eye Drop Bottles After Millions Recalled

Artemis 2 Astronauts’ Epic iPhone Photos Are All… Selfies?

OpenAI Releases Its Vague Vision for Reorganizing Society Around Superintelligence

Lego Is Getting Mark Hamill on the Phone to Sell You Its Smart Bricks

Scientists Are Recycling Centuries-Old Bullets for a Badly Needed Toxic Compound

Amazon Drops Kasa Smart Light LED Bulbs (4-Pack) to Around $6 Each as Stock Clears Out

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