Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

Welcome to the Photosynthetic Restaurant, which serves gourmet sunlight for plants

At the Crocker Museum in Sacramento, CA, you can visit the world’s first restaurant for plants. Light-filtering panels will serve up “prepared” sunlight to the plants, allowing them to taste wavelengths one at a time, instead the usual spectral mess. Want to visit the photosynthetic restaurant and enjoy artisanal light with some leafy pals? We’ve…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 26

Are you a teen who wants to write scifi and fantasy? There’s still time to sign up for the summer “Shared Worlds” workshop!

Every year, author Jeff VanderMeer organizes a two-week workshop for teens devoted to worldbuilding. It’s called “Shared Worlds,” and this summer’s workshop at Wofford College in South Carolina still has some vacancies. VanderMeer writes in to say: We have the awesome Nnedi Okorafor, Minister Faust, and Ekaterina Sedia as some of our writer guests this…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 25

In “The Alchemist and The Executioness,” magic destroys the environment

Last year, award-winning science fiction authors Tobias Buckell (Sly Mongoose) and Paolo Bacigalupi (Windup Girl) teamed up to write two fantasy novellas set in the same universe. Both novellas, Buckell’s “The Executioness” and Bacigalupi’s “The Alchemist” are set in the city of Khaim, where an early Renaissance culture has stalled out because the magic that…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Apr 25

10 of the most badass dragons ever

There are friendly dragons who help small children, but they’re not badass. Then there are tame dragons who fight for humans, but very few of them are badass either. Luckily, we’ve got some truly hardcore dragons here to eat your face off. 10. Sapphiron (World of Warcraft) She’s an ultra-powerful blue dragon, who could channel…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 25

Scientist learns the secret of royal jelly by creating mutant super flies

Queen bees are much larger than worker bees, and live years longer, for one reason. They gorge on a sugary protein called “royal jelly.” Now a scientist has made ultra-large flies using royal jelly too. Are humans next? Sadly, it doesn’t look like tomorrow we’ll be creating giant women who live for hundreds of years…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 25

On Supernatural, you don’t get a soulonoscopy for nothing

Just last week I was complaining that I hate Old West episodes, but Supernatural managed to make it (mostly) work this week in “Frontierland.” After all, who could say no to a meeting between Sam Winchester and Sam Colt? Spoilers ahead! The episode starts back in 1861 with some pretty hilarious Western-style credits and the…

Television Annalee Newitz Apr 23

Your Summer Beach Reading List, 2011

Need some books to jam into your backpack before you head to the beach, lake, or other sparkly, water-filled location this summer? Here are some books hitting bookstores from May through July that fit the bill. Note that this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the books we’re excited about this summer – we’ve picked…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Apr 22

A plan from the 1920s to drain the Mediterranean Sea and create the nation of Atlantropa

On the cusp of the Great Depression, architect Hermann Soergel had a radical idea: Why not expand the landmass of Europe by draining part of the Mediterranean? It was all part of his plan to found the nation of Atlantropa. Here you can see one of his plans for the dams that would be part…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 22

There’s a biological reason why abused kids become depressed adults

Young adults who were abused as children share a similar neuroendocrinal trait. When they confront ordinary situations of stress, like taking a test, their brains are flooded with abnormally high levels of the hormone cortisol. According to Queens University psychology professor Karen Harkness: This kind of reaction is a problem because cortisol kills cells in…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 21

The ephemeral beauty of the melting Arctic

Off the Canadian Arctic coast, an archipelago of islands is rapidly losing the sheets of ice that once blanketed them. A group of scientists today published a long-range study of what this means, and documented the changing landscape. These images capture a place that hasn’t existed before, nor will it in the future – it…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 21

How to stop a pandemic (and how to make it worse)

We already have many of the medicines we need to kill pandemic diseases. But to stop a pandemic itself, we need math. Statistical analysts and mathematicians can model how a pandemic is likely to unfold across the globe, in many societies – and their work provides the maps for the best systems for stopping the…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 21

What cannabis actually does to your brain

Archaeologists recently found a 2,700-year-old pot stash, so we know humans have been smoking weed for thousands of years. But it was only about 20 years ago that neuroscientists began to understand how it affects our brains. https://gizmodo.com/world-s-oldest-pot-stash-offered-an-afterlife-high-5099717 Scientists have known for a while that the active ingredient in cannabis was a chemical called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 5/3 to discuss “Surface Detail”

The io9 Book Club meets once per month to discuss a book, and then the author usually joins us for a chat. In May, we’re meeting on the 3rd to discuss Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks. Watch for a post that day announcing the book club, and jump into comments for discussion! There’s still…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

A conspiracy movie about Gundam-style mechs and cloning set in a dystopian future

Want to see an original scifi movie with great mech battle effects and a dark conspiracy story set during the new Cold War? Now you can make it happen by donating a little (or a lot) of cash to The Last Cause. Writer/director Linh Mai describes the film as a conspiracy story set in a…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

The most advanced hive mind in the jungle

All ants form hive minds, working together with uncanny precision to build giant colonies. But weaver ants do a lot more: They domesticate other insects and “milk” them for food, use tools, and go on group scorpion hunts. There are other kinds of ants that do some of these things, but weavers seem to excel…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

On The Event, you’re trapped between burning castles and frozen pus

Last night’s episode of The Event was so Earth-shattering that you’re going to need to sit down to read about it. There are knives, burning castles, mobile phones, Leila barking at something, and the Vice President is naked. Spoilers! I’m kind of bummed I missed the episode two weeks ago, where Simon tried vainly to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 20

Enormous waterjet boat could be the next generation of warships

Waterjet boats are propelled by a fast jet of water that’s forced through pumps and shot out of the back of the ship. And now the military is implanting this technology in huge boats to make them achieve super speeds. The ferry you see here is a concept design from Incat, and is under construction…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 19

Could you stop tornadoes before they start?

The past few days have seen hundreds of tornadoes touching down in the southeastern United States, driven by massive storms. We talked about the megastorms with atmospheric scientist Karen Kosiba, whose work is showcased in documentary Tornado Alley. Kosiba is a researcher at the Center for Severe Weather Research in Colorado, where she studies ground-level…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 19

Supernatural tempts Fate with a Titanic-themed episode

It’s been weeks since our last Supernatural fix, and somehow the show managed to pull off a Titanic-related episode that was original, whimsical, and tragic all at once. In sum: Goddamn I was I glad to see the Winchesters again. Before I watched last night’s episode, which I knew would involve the Titanic in some…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 16

China Miéville’s “Embassytown” hurtles you through a linguistics thriller on another planet

Embassytown is a breakneck tale of suspense about weird philosophy and a deeply alien culture. It’s disturbing and beautiful by turns. And yes – China Miéville’s new novel is one of his best. Spoilers ahead… Embassytown is a riveting trip through a monster-haunted subspace called the immer, and down into a tiny human ghetto called…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 15

Annalee Newitz

Welcome to the Photosynthetic Restaurant, which serves gourmet sunlight for plants

Are you a teen who wants to write scifi and fantasy? There’s still time to sign up for the summer “Shared Worlds” workshop!

In “The Alchemist and The Executioness,” magic destroys the environment

10 of the most badass dragons ever

Scientist learns the secret of royal jelly by creating mutant super flies

On Supernatural, you don’t get a soulonoscopy for nothing

Your Summer Beach Reading List, 2011

A plan from the 1920s to drain the Mediterranean Sea and create the nation of Atlantropa

There’s a biological reason why abused kids become depressed adults

The ephemeral beauty of the melting Arctic

How to stop a pandemic (and how to make it worse)

What cannabis actually does to your brain

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 5/3 to discuss “Surface Detail”

A conspiracy movie about Gundam-style mechs and cloning set in a dystopian future

The most advanced hive mind in the jungle

On The Event, you’re trapped between burning castles and frozen pus

Enormous waterjet boat could be the next generation of warships

Could you stop tornadoes before they start?

Supernatural tempts Fate with a Titanic-themed episode

China Miéville’s “Embassytown” hurtles you through a linguistics thriller on another planet

All Hell Breaks Loose in a Tease of the End of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2

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

NASA Administrator Says Odds of Finding Alien Life Are ‘Pretty High’

The ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ Movie Did Rosalina Dirty

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

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