Annalee Newitz

Your Weight Doesn’t Just Depend on What You Eat, But When You Eat It

We all know that diet can dramatically affect our health, both mentally and physically. But a new study shows that an off-kilter eating schedule could also affect well-being, too. Here’s why. Illustration from a poster by Abram Games Our sleep cycles are governed by a complex biological mechanism called circadian rhythms. Put simply, all your…

In the Future, Your Umbrella Will Be Half-Vibrator, Half-Airgun

Umbrella technology innovation has really ground to a halt these past few hundred years, but luckily some inventors in Beijing and Nanjing have come up with an umbrella for the twenty-first century. It uses a high-powered fan to blow water up to three feet away from you. Called the Air Umbrella, it has the advantage…

What Makes Outlander So Similar to Battlestar Galactica?

Ever since Battlestar Galactica went off the air, we’ve been waiting to see what series creator Ron Moore would do next. After a few false starts, he finally claimed a new series as his own: Outlander, a fantasy romance that on its surface couldn’t be more unlike Battlestar. But the two shows have a lot…

In an unusual move, psychologists have published a paperexplaining that they failed. Specifically, they could not duplicate the results of an earlier experiment on how humans form memories. Many in the scientific community applaud the move, and say there should be more papers about failure to reproduce results.

The Food Crisis Is Coming — Are You Ready for It?

A geography professor who specializes in food security and an artist have teamed up to create one of the most interesting dystopian comics we’ve seen in a while. Welcome to the world of #foodcrisis, set in a famine-plagued future that is all too believable. Evan Fraser works at the University of Guelph in Canada, researching…

Meanwhile, in a Parallel Universe, Wall-E and EVE Are Badass

I’ve got no complaints about Pixar’s version of Wall-E and EVE, but I love this alternate version of the two heroic robots. Somehow it captures their essences, while still completely changing them. Rafael Benedicto is an artist who works doing 3D modeling. You can see more of his incredible creations on his website. Here’s the…

Organized Criminals Are Better than Evil A.I., on Person of Interest

On last night’s Person of Interest, there was a particularly interesting development with Elias, the mob boss who was the big bad of the show’s first season. Let’s be honest: Most of last night’s episode was an awkward and embarrassing After School Special. There was the kid who had to “learn to be a man”…

Is This the Single Most Important Statistic About Millennials?

The U.S. Council of Economic Advisers just released a fascinating report about Millennials, packed with statistics about their demographics and economic prospects. It charts a lot of differences between Gen X and Millennials, but there’s one statistic that reveals a true generation gap. What you can see in this simple pie chart comparison, above, is…

Once Again, Scorpion Wows Us With Some Genius Hacking

This week, Scorpion continues to deliver the head-smashingly terrible high-tech adventures of our geniuses. They’re in Vegas, baby, doing things like using wifi and talking about statistics! In the scene above, we’re deep in the middle of a dangerous hack, where Hardware Ninja is gaining access to data using what she authoritatively refers to as…

A Utopian Optical Illusion in San Francisco

Amazing mural artist Mona Caron has created a number of wall-sized paintings in San Francisco. But this painted utility box is one of her standout works — and it’s a great optical illusion, too. There are two incredible things about this work. One, it allows you to glimpse the intersection of Duboce and Church as…

We Are All Living Among the Dead

The longer you live, the more likely it is that your everyday life is inhabited by the dead. You see an old friend, who died last week, disappearing into a crowd. You hear your father, dead last year, cracking jokes you once loved. It’s like a zombie movie, only more melancholy — and with fewer…

Here’s Awe-Inspiring Evidence for One of the Planet’s Biggest Floods

About 15,000 years ago, as the latest ice age was winding to a close, glaciers that covered Canada began to melt. Then, one day, those shrinking glaciers unleashed the waters of a lake the size of Lake Huron, which scoured the land from Montana to the Pacific coast. Here’s what we know of the great…

The Greatest Menace to Public Health Is … Dog Poop

Picking up after your dog isn’t just polite. It’s an absolute requirement if you want to prevent the spread of what could become the next pandemic. https://gizmodo.com/pick-up-your-dogs-poo-its-important-for-public-health-1645911068

The remains of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, have been found in Greece. His injuries and burial goods match what archaeologists would expect from the royal’s grave. Intriguingly, he was buried with an unknown woman, who also appeared to be a soldier.

Every Night, the Robot Waited for His Friend to Come Home

But he never arrived. Sometimes, the people you miss come to define your life as much as the people in it. Nikolai Lockersten is lead art director at Storm Studios in Norway. You can see more of his awesome work on his website.

Why Are So Many People Living Underground in Beijing?

With a population of 23 million and growing, Beijing is dealing with a major housing shortage. That’s why thousands of immigrants looking for affordable homes in the city are going underground — literally and figuratively. A thriving gray market exists for windowless apartments buried deep below the streets. But why are so many people able…

Possibly the World’s Silliest (and Most Creative) Protest Against Cars

In Latvia, a group of bicycle enthusiasts decided to show the city of Riga what it would be like if every bicycle turned into a car. So they built these amazing contraptions, and reminded everyone that cars are what cause traffic jams. Bicyclists have often used creative demonstrations to encourage drivers to switch over to…

Dracula Gets a Makeover for the ISIS Age in Dracula Untold

Almost every modern Dracula retelling includes some kind of flashback to the vampire’s origin, which is more or less tragic depending on whether he’s the hero of the story. Now, with Dracula Untold, we’ve finally got an entire movie devoted to the undeath of Transylvanian prince Vlad Tepes — and it’s cheesy as hell. Probably…

What the Hell Is This Animal and Why Is It Moving Like That?

It’s like some kind of Cthulhu Mythos creature. And it’s real.

Societies Where Women Outnumber Men Are Just As Violent

There’s long been a common-sense idea — largely untested by science — that having a surplus of men in a society causes more violence. But now we have evidence that this isn’t true. Societies where the population is dominated by women are just as violent as ones dominated by men. Panel from Y the Last…