Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

The Green-Tailed Hummingbird is disappearing for reasons far weirder than you thought

Over at Strange Horizons, Kyri Freeman’s short story “Out of Sombra Canyon” takes two biologists to a remote canyon, where they’re tracking the rare Green Tailed Hummingbird. What they discover is much more disturbing than an endangered species. What’s interesting about “Out of Sombra Canyon” is the way it begins as a present-day story about…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 29

The airship emerged from jagged peaks, its body swollen with gas

Earlier this year, the Nucleus Gallery in California had a stunning exhibition called “Lift Off: The Art of Airships.” Here are some of our favorite images of zeppelins and other fantastical aircraft from the show. There are dozens more incredible images via Nucleus Gallery By Kazu Kibuishi By Jake Parker By Jason Caffoe By Myke…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 29

A musical version of Conan the Barbarian that must be seen to be believed

Have you ever wanted to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger sing (with a chorus) the line, “Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women”? Now you can. And oh, it is glorious.

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 28

New trailer for “The Golden Phoenix” is hip hop kung fu fantasy craziness

Basically there is nothing more sublime than this. RZA teams with Eli Roth to bring you hard core kung fu – set in “another world – where everybody fights!” Here is the original trailer for the flick: And now RZA has released a new trailer (below) for his movie, which has already been 10 years…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 28

Stroke victim learns to read with his tongue

Several years ago, mystery author Howard Engel awoke to discover that he couldn’t read the morning paper. In fact, he couldn’t read anything. But he could still write. What happened next is one of the most bizarre neuroscience cases ever. NPR has a story about how Engel wrote to Oliver Sacks, who covers Engel’s story…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Jun 28

Why we evolved the ability to dream

At a recent scientific meeting, Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett explained why dreams are useful, and how they evolved. Unlike Sigmund Freud, who famously observed that dreams are wish-fulfillments, Barrett thinks dreams serve a useful purpose in the real world. They are a realm where humans solve problems – especially visual problems. Live Science reports: A…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 28

Are you ready for Snowball Earth?!

Watch as Earth becomes a mega-snowball, just like it did 650 million years ago! To watch this video properly, you have to yell “dude!” every time a scientific fact is followed by a dramatic reenactment where the WORLD IS DESTROYED. Whoa! Icy! I love how National Geographic vids about geological history always try to recreate…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 26

Which animals make war, other than humans?

Earlier this week, the New York Times covered a study that proved chimps make war on each other, slaughtering enemies and eating their children. But does that really count as “war”? https://gizmodo.com/the-deadly-inheritance-of-chimps-and-humans-5569991 Mark Moffett, author of Adventures Among Ants, told io9 that what chimps do isn’t war. He believes that ants are the only other…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 25

Strap on your swords and grab your bag of holding – it’s the D&D comic book!

In August, IDW is debuting its new Dungeons & Dragons comic, and we’ve got a sneak peek for you. Get ready for swashbuckling, monstery action. From the official solicitation: Take your first strides on a long and majestic adventure-fight to stay alive-fight for honor-fight for glory!In this special issue you’ll get two stories introducing you…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Jun 25

The health insurance dystopia of grim, horrific short “The 3rd Letter”

Grzegorz Jonkajtys, director of Cannes-nominated animated short “Ark,” writes to tell us that he’s finished a new dystopian short called “The 3rd Letter.” We’ve got art and a teaser from this nightmarish world of evil health insurance bureaucracy. Here’s the synopsis: “The 3rd Letter” is a distinctive dystopian vision where humans utterly depend on health-care…

Movies Annalee Newitz Jun 25

A coal-powered airplane from Warsaw

You’ve heard of alternate futures where everybody is flying zeppelins, but what about coal-powered airplane engines? One artist has imagined air travel whose carbon footprint is utterly abominable. And yet it looks awesome. Michal Kwolek, who created this image and many more, is a Warsaw-based concept artist. Check out his amazing gallery on his website.

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 25

The real Ghost Rider is an Irish punk from the projects

A stark and intense series of photographs taken by Ross McDonnell in the Ballymun flats at the edge of Dublin, Ireland, offer a glimpse of a real-life Ghost Rider. And it ain’t pretty. McDonnell grew up in Ireland and works as a professional photographer and filmographer, mostly dealing with documentary subjects. In these photos from…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 24

Naughty personal genomics company makes good

The sometimes-controversial company 23AndMe – which will run a battery of tests on your genome for $500 – has finally offered proof that their methods can help scientists figure out the genetic basis for everything from freckles to disease. A lot of people use the company’s services to find out what their ancestry might be,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 24

Buy the Terminator’s scorched cyber-arm from the original movie!

In one of those “life imitates cyber-awesomeness” moments, an art director on the original Terminator movie rescued this cyborg arm from a special-effects explosion – just the way Cyberdyne did in T2. And now it’s for sale! This is the arm from the original T-800 Terminator model that was blown up at the end of…

Movies Annalee Newitz Jun 24

Breakthrough: The first functional, vat-grown lungs

In a first for medical science, rats were able to breathe and oxygenate their blood using lungs that had been grown in the lab. This a major step toward being able to grow replacement organs. Led by biomedical engineer Laura Niklason, a team at Yale constructed the tiny lungs for rats using a relatively new…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 24

io9 Book Club – Ask Cherie Priest about “Boneshaker”

Cherie Priest, author of io9 book club selection Boneshaker, is joining us here to answer your questions about the book. She’ll be here tomorrow (Thursday, 6/24), from 3-4 PM Pacific Time. Pipe up in comments with your questions. We’ve already had a lively discussion about Priest’s novel in our book club post. Now you can…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Jun 23

An exoplanet whose atmosphere ripples with intense winds

For the first time, scientists have determined the absolute mass of an exoplanet. And the new technique they used revealed high winds in the atmosphere of Osiris, a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a star 150 light years from Earth. What’s exciting about this discovery, reported today in Nature, is the way the scientists were able to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 23

How Cthulhu helped one couple find love

In what is possibly the cutest “geek meets geek – geek finds love” video that we have ever seen, a guy explains how “Cthulhu kisses” made his wife fall in love with him. This is a video from “The Man’s Guide To Love,” where you can see a new video about men and, well, love…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 23

Important: Your mails to us may be published unless you tell us they are off the record

Something important to keep in mind when you write to us: Unless you say it is off the record, we reserve the right to publish the email. If it’s a tip, however, we’ll keep your personal information completely confidential.

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 23

How will people regulate population growth in an eco-friendly future?

A lot of scifi transports us to a future world of high-tech plenitude. But in Carrie Vaughn’s short story “Amaryllis,” we get a more realistic future where human life is restricted to preserve the environment. The central conflict in this story is ancient – a young woman wants a child, but she and the potential…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 23

Annalee Newitz

The Green-Tailed Hummingbird is disappearing for reasons far weirder than you thought

The airship emerged from jagged peaks, its body swollen with gas

A musical version of Conan the Barbarian that must be seen to be believed

New trailer for “The Golden Phoenix” is hip hop kung fu fantasy craziness

Stroke victim learns to read with his tongue

Why we evolved the ability to dream

Are you ready for Snowball Earth?!

Which animals make war, other than humans?

Strap on your swords and grab your bag of holding – it’s the D&D comic book!

The health insurance dystopia of grim, horrific short “The 3rd Letter”

A coal-powered airplane from Warsaw

The real Ghost Rider is an Irish punk from the projects

Naughty personal genomics company makes good

Buy the Terminator’s scorched cyber-arm from the original movie!

Breakthrough: The first functional, vat-grown lungs

io9 Book Club – Ask Cherie Priest about “Boneshaker”

An exoplanet whose atmosphere ripples with intense winds

How Cthulhu helped one couple find love

Important: Your mails to us may be published unless you tell us they are off the record

How will people regulate population growth in an eco-friendly future?

ICE Reportedly Acknowledges Its Use of Notorious Graphite Spyware

Intel Jumps On Board Elon Musk’s Terafab Chipmaking Project

Anthropic’s New Model Is So Scarily Powerful It Won’t Be Released, Anthropic Says

Musk Asks Court to Give Potential Winnings in OpenAI Suit to OpenAI’s Nonprofit

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

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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?

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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