Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

The stock market is controlled by algorithms that are fighting with each other

Last year, the stock market suffered what’s now called “the flash crash.” The prices of shares in the US fell by 6 percent in 5 minutes. How could it happen? Algorithms. The algorithms that now control the stock market. In the London Review of Books, Donald MacKenzie has a fascinating article that introduces us to…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 11

What really causes Morgellons, the disease that makes colored fibers grow out of your body?

For over a decade, people suffering from Morgellons disease have been told that they’re experiencing delusions. Even when they show doctors evidence that strange, multicolored fibers are growing out of itchy patches on their skin. Now we may be getting closer to an answer. Last weekend, Guardian reporter Will Storrs published a fascinating article on…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 10

Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death” to become a feature film

This is the first piece of concept art for the movie Who Fears Death, based on the award-winning science fiction novel by Nnedi Okorafor, about post-apocalyptic Africa. The movie will be directed by Wanuri Kahiu, whose short film Pumzi, about Kenyan water wars of the future, we raved about before. Here’s the synopsis: In a…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 10

The kingdom was hewn from rocks that floated in air, joined only by the steel of bridges

They built on every surface of the mountain, even after it exploded into a million drifting shards. Each unmoored chunk became a small annex of the palace, connected to the main castle by trains that rushed over airborne tracks. I love these images that hover beautifully between science fiction and fantasy worlds. See more on…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 10

Troll Hunter turns myth into modern hardboiled tragedy

In Norwegian monster movie Troll Hunter, available as video on demand before hitting theaters in the US, fairy tales become humorously, touchingly realistic. You won’t be able to resist its satiric blend of government conspiracy and old Norse mythology. The movie begins in classic Blair Witch style, with a team of young documentary filmmakers stumbling…

Movies Annalee Newitz May 9

Welcome to the department of bellybutton studies

Have you ever wondered about the tiny ecosystem that lives in your bellybutton, untouched by soap, water, light, and air? So did the scientists who spearheaded North Carolina State’s Belly Button Biodiversity project. According to the Charlotte Observer: The idea germinated from exploring the “bellybuttons” of tiny bark beetles. “We’ve been identifying the creatures living…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 9

10 works of science fiction that are really fantasy

The boundaries between science fiction and fantasy have always been permeable, but sometimes there’s a story that feels just like scifi – until you think about it a little bit. And you realize it’s pure fantasy. Here is a handy definition of fantasy, from the venerable Encyclopedia of Fantasy: When set in this world, it…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 9

The mind-controlling infection that makes ants always bite at noon

There are several kinds of fungus that infect the brains of insects like ants and crickets. Each fungus controls the mind of its host, eventually killing it and sprouting from the bug’s brain. Probably the creepiest killer of all is a fungus called Ophiocordyceps. But first, some background on the whole zombie ant phenomenon. We…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 9

On Supernatural, it was the balls-out cosmology episode you’ve been waiting for

Last night’s Supernatural episode, “The Man Who Would Be King,” was written by goofball visionary Ben Edlund, and finally we got the full backstory on what happened to Cas after the Apocalypse We also got all the tragic details of his connection to Crowley, the man who would be king of Hell. Episodes that provide…

Television Annalee Newitz May 7

Ask Iain M. Banks anything you want about “Surface Detail”

In April, the io9 Book Club read Iain M. Banks’ Surface Detail. Now Banks is coming to answer your questions about the book on Monday, May 9. https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-book-club-is-in-session-lets-talk-about-iain-m-5798281 He’ll be popping into the comment thread on this very post Monday, May 9, between 12:00 and 1:00 Pacific Time. Start posting your questions for him now,…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 7

Damaged heart? We can rebuild it.

For the first time, scientists have coaxed a damaged heart to regrow healthy tissues on its own. They applied living “patches” to a heart, in what is a major breakthrough for people recovering from heart attacks. A group of engineers at Columbia University built on previous research into growing hearts using a “tissue scaffold,” a…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 6

One woman’s efforts to cheer up rats who are genetically engineered to be depressed

Revital Cohen is a designer who came upon an ad for rats engineered to be depressed, sold by Genoway. She couldn’t stop thinking about these sad animal-commodities. So she decided to design cages that would cheer the rodents up. These rats, she discovered, are genetically engineered to be incapable of absorbing serotonin in their brains…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 6

The horrifying history of people who used the internet for murder

This week a man from Minnesota was convicted of aiding in the suicides of two people he met online while posing as a female nurse. He gave them advice on the most painless ways to die, and entered suicide pacts with them. And it wasn’t the first time he’d done this. William Melchert-Dinkel, once a…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 6

Cities that hover in the clouds of gas giants

Ever since I read Iain M. Banks’ The Algebraist, about creatures who live on gas giant planets, I have dreamt of gas giant cities. Luckily, the amazing site ConceptArt.org issued a challenge a couple of years ago to design one. Here’s a gallery of some of the incredible work the concept artists came up with.…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 5

Listen to a live conversation between two legends of human evolutionary science

Tune in at 6:30 ET today to catch a conversation between two major figures in the field of human evolution and paleontology, Donald Johanson and Richard Leakey. They’re having a conversation about the importance of new discoveries in human evolution at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. Johanson discovered the game-changing “Lucy” skeleton fragments…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 5

The cost of keeping SETI’s radio telescopes going – a price comparison chart

Due to funding cuts, SETI’s Allen Radio Telescope Array will no longer be scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life. All the group needs is $5 million to keep working. Sound like a lot? Not really – let this chart put it all into perspective for you. https://jalopnik.com/with-seti-shut-down-is-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-5795888 via Microcosmologist

io9 Annalee Newitz May 5

Why Casablanca is the future of the world

Just before the uprisings now known collectively as “Arab Spring,” I took a short trip to Casablanca, the wealthiest and largest city in North Africa. And there I had a vision of the future. It’s become a truism to say that cities like Tokyo and Shanghai represent the future of the world, but as scifi…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 4

By 2100, the oceans could rise by 5 feet, according to a new scientific study

Previously, scientists had estimated that climate change would lead to glacier melts and sea levels rising by a few centimeters at century’s end. Now, a new international study offers a more dramatic picture of our changing coastlines. Climate change has transformed the face of the Earth for billions of years. At one time, Antarctica was…

io9 Annalee Newitz May 4

What about Cthulhu’s feelings?

Monster author A. Lee Martinez has just published a funny essay about H.P. Lovecraft’s brand of cosmic horror, and why it’s always written “by humans for humans.” What about cosmic horror from the perspective of someone — or something — else? Writes Martinez: It’s always struck me that dread cosmic horror, as a genre, is…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz May 4

Terry Pratchett’s Troll Bridge, as it was meant to be seen

Many have loved Terry Pratchett’s short epic “Troll Bridge,” about Cohen the Barbarian, a once-mighty warrior who has become a tottering old man, out of step with the post-barbarian times. Now a group of talented filmmakers want to adapt it. And you can help make their crazy-ass vision a reality! Even Terry Pratchett has given…

Movies Annalee Newitz May 4

Annalee Newitz

The stock market is controlled by algorithms that are fighting with each other

What really causes Morgellons, the disease that makes colored fibers grow out of your body?

Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death” to become a feature film

The kingdom was hewn from rocks that floated in air, joined only by the steel of bridges

Troll Hunter turns myth into modern hardboiled tragedy

Welcome to the department of bellybutton studies

10 works of science fiction that are really fantasy

The mind-controlling infection that makes ants always bite at noon

On Supernatural, it was the balls-out cosmology episode you’ve been waiting for

Ask Iain M. Banks anything you want about “Surface Detail”

Damaged heart? We can rebuild it.

One woman’s efforts to cheer up rats who are genetically engineered to be depressed

The horrifying history of people who used the internet for murder

Cities that hover in the clouds of gas giants

Listen to a live conversation between two legends of human evolutionary science

The cost of keeping SETI’s radio telescopes going – a price comparison chart

Why Casablanca is the future of the world

By 2100, the oceans could rise by 5 feet, according to a new scientific study

What about Cthulhu’s feelings?

Terry Pratchett’s Troll Bridge, as it was meant to be seen

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