Annalee Newitz

Grumpy Old Men and Witch Bonding On Supernatural

On last night’s Supernatural, our monster of the week was a witch who defied all expectations about what witchiness should be. And Dean learned all about why cheeseburgers cause acid reflux. In “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester,” we took a little detour around the apocalypse to visit a town where young people are mysteriously…

The Most Awesome Creations In Our Costume Show This Week

Frankenstein, from patherring. From an alarmingly gigantic Frankenstein, to an extremely tiny steampunk mechanic whose wrench is bigger than she is, this week the io9 Costume Show is packed with awesome. Check out some standouts, and submit your own! All month long we’re running the io9 Halloween Costume Show in a Flickr pool. Want to…

Scare Fail!

A horror movie that fails to make you scared is worse than bad. There’s something embarrassing about watching it, akin to the feeling of having to turn down the advances of a well-meaning but unsexy friend. It seems to me that there are five basic characteristics of a scare fail, though I’m open to the…

During the Ice Ages, An Arctic Paradise Bloomed

This incredible map shows “Beringa,” a region that existed millions of years ago during the Ice Ages. What it reveals is that, oddly, far northern regions like the Yukon and Siberia were hotbeds of ice-free life. Over at Astrobiology magazine, Aaron Gronstal describes new scientific work that led to the creation of this map. What…

“Finch” Is Interdimensional, Extraterrestrial Biosteam Noir

Reading Jeff VanderMeer‘s latest novel Finch, out this week, you’re tempted to make up descriptors like “biosteam” and “spore noir.” Inventive and haunting, the book is a hardboiled detective story set in a city overrun by spore-hacking mushroom people. Set in the city of Ambergris that VanderMeer invented with his collection City of Saints and…

Let Us Contemplate a Monster and Antagonist Relative Classification Scheme

Over on MetaFilter, people have been a little concerned about the structure and purpose of our current monster smackdown, featuring cage matches between popular monsters. Commenter robocop is bleeding proposes an alternative to our (admittedly shallow) monster measurement contest. He writes: The io9 poll is flawed. It’s a popularity contest, pure and simple, an attempt…

A Nightmare of Genetically-Modified Animals

In her biotech apocalypse novel Oryx and Crake, author Margaret Atwood depicts a future where genetic engineering has warped the animal kingdom into “pigoons” (pictured), “snats,” glowing bunnies, and worse. Now an artist has captured her dystopia in images. The sequel to Orxy and Crake, called The Year of the Flood, came out this month.…

In France, Brown Bears Desperately Need Women

The brown bear population has been declining in parts of France for decades, but now a group of scientists say they have an unorthodox solution. Just bring in more female bears. But not for the reasons you might think. Normally relocating bears is frowned on as a way of saving populations. Conventional environmental science says…

A Rogue’s Gallery of Haunted Spaceships

Though spaceships exist firmly in the realm of science and rationality, that doesn’t mean they can’t be invaded by fantastical visions and spooky ghosts. Here’s a gallery of space vessels whose crews aren’t entirely of this universe. As I was putting together this gallery, I noticed a few themes in the depictions of haunted spaceships.…

A Pirate’s Life For Robots

When robots take over pirate ships, all the high seas thievery gets far more efficient. They can swashbuckle recursively and hoist their Jolly Rogers in parallel. These are some incredible shots of a few of the latest sculptures from retro futurist art maniac Nemo Gould. Specializing in robots and other outlandish creatures, Gould creates all…

Easter Egg in New Battlestar Galactica DVD Is For Fans of the Original Series

According to special effects designer Darth Mojo, who worked on the Battlestar DVD movie The Plan, there is an undocumented (until now) easter egg in the film. Want to find out more? Here’s what he says: I’m keeping my lips sealed on exactly what the clip is all about, but suffice it to say that…

Your Next-Generation DVD May Be Made From Mantis Shrimp Eyes

Scientists have discovered that the eyes of the mantis shrimp (pictured) possess a feature that could make DVDs and CDs perform better than ever before. According to the journal Nature: Nicholas Roberts and colleagues discovered that the wave plate in the mantis shrimp’s eye has an elegant design which includes an incredible level of achromaticity,…

Lovecraft 101: Get To Know The Master of Scifi-Horror

You’ve heard about Cthulhu, and you’ve probably heard about the man who created this tentacled horror, H.P. Lovecraft. Now you want to try delving into the world of Lovecraft, but where to start? Let us help you. Crucial Stories There are so many terrific, iconic stories by HP Lovecraft that no introductory list could ever…

Brand-New Ares Rocket Blasts Off Into A Cone of Mist

Early this morning, NASA launched the Ares I-X rocket on a sub-orbital test flight – this is the first new rocket tested in 30 years. A cone of cloud formed around the nose as it blasted upward. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

1929 “Skeleton Dance” Is Classic Spooky Graveyard Goodness

The first of Disney’s "Silly Symphony" cartoons, this 1929 gem "Skeleton Dance" will get you in the right mood to break the back of Halloween week. Who wouldn’t want to dance in a graveyard after watching this? [via Undead Backbrain]

Claire Kissed A Girl – And Sylar Slipped Inside Parkman!

I knew Monday night’s episode of Heroes was going to be good from the instant that the “story so far” clips showed Claire’s lesbian kiss with hot roomie Gretchen, King Jeremy’s dead parents, and Head Sylar going apeshit. Spoilers ahead! Also the episode had the greatest title ever: “Strange Attractors.” Before we could get to…

25 of the Scariest Science Experiments Ever Conducted

While science has the power to improve our lives and cure disease, it can also be used to torture, murder, and brainwash. Here are 25 scary experiments that destroyed lives, or have the potential to unleash doomsday. Creepy animal experiments Pig Powder From the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, comes regenerative powder.…

Get Ready to Hide Behind the Sofa – It’s Horror Week

This week we honor the most important holiday of the year – Halloween – with a celebration of all things horrifying. We’ll tell you all about the scariest pop culture and spooky science. Plus, there will be gorgeous costumes. It’s horror time, which means galleries, triviagasms, essays and reviews about everything from classic horror writers…

Why Do Some People See Ghosts While Others Don’t?

Apparently there are certain kinds of people who tend to see ghosts. A researcher has studied multiple cases of haunting and has come up with a profile of the sort of person most likely to get haunted. Says researcher Marc Micozzi: Our data show that anomalous perceptions parallel other forms of environmental sensitivity, such as…

Delightful – and delightfully awful – clips from movies you may have forgotten. Or may never have known about in the first place.