Annalee Newitz

Physics Student Declares The Diameter of the Universe Is 1.4 Hellameters

A California physics student has petitioned the International System of Units to declare 10 to the 27th power (a trillion trillions) to be a “hella.” As in meters, kilometers, hellameters. If he prevails, the universe officially becomes hella big. Austin Sendek is studying physics at UC Davis, and felt it was time that extremely large…

“Battle Angel Alita” Plot Details Have Been Decided

Producer Jon Landau, who worked with James Cameron on Avatar, spilled new details about the duo’s next franchise, based on scifi manga Battle Angel Alita. The movie will focus on the robot warrior Alita’s early life among cyborg roller-gladiators. The movie, now called Alita, is really starting to take shape. Writer Laeta Kalogridis convinced Landau…

Police Call Off Search For Nuclear Scientist Who Vanished Mysteriously

Lachlan Cranswick, an Australian nuclear scientist who worked at a research facility near his small hometown of Deep River, vanished under extremely mysterious circumstances a month ago. Now authorities have given up on the strange, tragic search for him. The last time neighbors saw Cranswick, he was taking out his garbage bins. A few days…

“Clash Of The Titans” – Old Vs. New Monster Smackdown

The new Clash of the Titans flick is promising some seriously good monster. I mean, have you see that kraken’s mouth? Holy crap. But how do its monsters stack up against the original 1981 Clash with Ray Harryhausen effects? Let us contemplate the differences, shall we? Click each image to learn more, and to find…

Why “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” Is A Steampunk Masterpiece

With Tim Burton’s revisionist 3D flick Alice hitting theaters this Friday, it’s time to revisit the origin story: Lewis Carroll’s original novel. Why has this story endured, and been championed by artistic rebels from 1960s hippies to today’s steampunks? Though there have been many movie and cartoon versions of Carroll’s mid-19th century novel of nonsense,…

At Last The Protons Are Getting Ready To Smash In The Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest physics experiment, is finally ramping up to do some serious proton smashing. Over the weekend, scientists began cycling protons through the miles-long accelerator. Over at Symmetry Breaking, Daisy Yuhas reports: The beams had an energy of 450 billion electron volts (GeV), which is the energy at which they…

What Will Americans Of The Future Look Like?

In 1910, the New York Tribune published this photo composite of what a “future American” might look like. Time magazine repeated the experiment in 1993 with a computer-generated blend of faces. Could either be right? SF author Nalo Hopkinson called attention to the 1910 image on twitter, asking, “Who’s missing in this pic?” In retrospect,…

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Caprica Is Quickly Becoming The Best SF Show On Television

Friday night’s episode of Caprica, “There Is Another Sky,” moved the already-intriguing show to the status of must-watch. It was simply one of the best SF representations of futuristic videogames and internet culture that I’ve ever seen. Caprica was occasionally shaky in its first few weeks, but with this episode the series found its sea…

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You need to talk about science, comic books, and giant monsters. We understand. That’s why we’ve got a commenter forum where you can talk about anything, any time. It’s called Observation Deck, and you can go there right now. That’s right – Observation Deck is here for you all day, every day, no matter how…

Don’t Drink And Play With Oxygen Tanks On An Asteroid

Life as a miner in the asteroid belt is rough and ugly. But then you score enough nickel to get all your friends drunk at a bar on Ceres, and things start looking up. Until they go downhill fast. This week I passed a milestone: My first fiction publication. And I wanted to share it!…

6th Century B.C. Palace Proves That To Destroy Something Is To Preserve It

Archaeologists have made an incredible discovery: The remains of a palace that belonged to Rome’s last royal family before the rebellion that created the Republic. But what rebels did to destroy this symbol of monarchy ironically preserved it. Researchers at the dig believe that the palace was destroyed in the Roman revolt of 510 B.C.,…

“The Crazies” Reinvents Military Horror For The 21st Century

On paper, The Crazies sounds like a B-grade cliche: Bioweapons-made zombies terrorize small town. But the movie defies expectations. The Crazies is a scary, smart thriller that tweaks its tropes and offers a non-preachy fable about the military’s dark side. When seemingly unmotivated acts of violence break out in a tiny Iowa town, the sheriff…

Iceberg The Size Of Luxembourg Threatens Ocean Currents

A massive iceberg has broken off Antarctica and gotten stuck in a position that could cause global ocean currents to change dramatically. That would affect everything from shipping lanes to animal migration. The iceberg broke off from the Mertz Glacier last month, and has since lodged in a position where it is blocking heavy, ultracold…

The Alternate History of Gundam In World War II

In the alternate history of Project Arbeiter, it’s 1943 and the Nazis have invented the ultimate weapon: Mobile armor suits. But the allies have stolen the tech. And now it’s a mobile suit mano a mano to win the war. I’m not sure if the plot is enough to sustain a feature, but this trailer…

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer Announce “Steampunk Reloaded” Anthology Lineup

Writing/editing team Ann and Jeff VanderMeer are following up their insanely successful Steampunk Anthology (Tachyon Press) with a second book, Steampunk Reloaded, that focuses more on steampunk art and culture, including nonfiction essays and gorgeous illustrations. Here’s what’s in store. The anthology comes out October of this year, and the VanderMeers have announced the lineup:…

Ask Paolo Bacigalupi About Windup Girl

For the past few days, we’ve been discussing Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel The Windup Girl in our io9 book club meeting. Now you can ask Paolo about the book! He’ll be joining us here in comments tomorrow at 12 PST. Please reserve the comments section here for specific questions to Paolo – you can continue debating…

Is There A Politically Correct Term For “Robot”?

When the robot revolution comes, you may not find yourself at the end of a pain stick. Instead, the liberated robots could merely insist on a PC name for “robot.” What will it be? The Escapist magazine forums have ideas. It all started when teknoarcanist asked: So say you’re in a futuristic setting. What are…

Scientists Report On Nasal Leech Infestation

Over at the NCBI ROFL blog, we’ve learned about a crucial medical research paper recently published in a scientific journal: A study of seven leeches removed from six people’s nostrils. Do the math. Yuck. One leech was 12 cm long! From the European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology: Nasal leech infestation rarely occurs in society today and…