Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

Comic-Con Day One: What Does It All Mean?

It’s the first official day of annual pop culture preview fest Comic-Con. Want to know more? We’ve created this helpful flowchart showing what most people are doing here. Bonus: We include some tips on getting laid and/or meeting Joss Whedon. Click to expand the image below. Chart design by Stephanie Fox!

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 23

California Will No Longer Yield Fruit in 100 Years

Warming winters in California mean that the state may no longer produce its fruit and nut crops in the 22nd century. A new study reveals that the state famous for its fields of delicious fruit could soon be barren. The study, published today in PLoS One, is the result of work on climate modeling based…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

Come See the io9 Panel at Comic-Con Tomorrow at 10:30

Tomorrow morning, as the day breaks over Comic-Con, join io9 staff and pals at our “Science Fiction That Will Change Your Life” panel. We’ll discuss scifi that can blow your mind without using giant explosions (though we like explosions). Representing io9 will be Annalee, Charlie Jane, Meredith, and Graeme. Joining us will be mega-stars Douglas…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

A Gripping, Scary Viruscore Tale in Free, Online Novel “Vector”

Want to read a free, serialized novel about the world after a DiY virus apocalypse? Then look no further than MCM’s new online novel Vector, which you can download to your smart phone or read this afternoon on your computer. Here’s the plot, in a nutshell: It’s the age of the home-made virus, and humanity…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

In the Early Days of Comic-Con

The year after humans walked on the Moon, a small gathering called the West Coast Comic Book Convention met in a California hotel. Now called Comic-Con, it packs in crowds of over 100 thousand and launches careers. What happened? Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer told us that from its beginnings in 1970, the Con was always…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

Ice Volcanoes of Enceladus Created By Liquid Water Beneath the Moon’s Surface?

This image from the Cassini probe shows an ice volcano erupting on the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Scientists have suggested that these volcanoes might come from water beneath the moon’s surface, and new evidence makes this theory more plausible. Not only are these ice volcanoes massive – you can see from this image how…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

Get Tentacular Summer Beach Reading With “Mall of Cthulhu”

Nothing epitomizes the fun summer geek read more than Seamus Cooper’s Mall of Cthulhu (Night Shade). A charming buddy team – lesbian FBI agent Laura and loser barista Ted – fight monsters and white supremacists in a Providence mall. When the novel opens, Ted and Laura are still trying to get over a trauma they…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

Use Your Cell Phone To Diagnose Blood Diseases

The medical tricorder is now closer than ever to reality. A group of Berkeley engineers have invented a mobile phone microscope that can photograph microbes in your blood, and analyze them for disease. The research group, who published an article about their CellScope in today’s edition of PLoS One, wanted to figure out a way…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 22

A Dust Cloud That Lowered Temperatures Around The World

Using satellite data, scientists tracked dust clouds created by a massive Chinese dust storm in 2007, and discovered that they circled the globe in 13 days. And the clouds may have affected weather half-way around the world. According to a release from Nature Geoscience, where the study was published yesterday: Itsushi Uno and colleagues used…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 21

Eighteen Science Fiction Authors Remember the Moon Landing

Over at Tor.com, there is a lovely collection of essays by everyone from Jo Walton to Charles Stross about what the 1969 Moon landing meant to them. io9 pal Andrew Liptak has collected all the posts into a handy list over on his blog.

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 20

Amazon Secretly Removes “1984” From the Kindle

Thousands of people last week discovered that Amazon had quietly removed electronic copies of George Orwell’s 1984 from their Kindle e-book readers. In the process, Amazon revealed how easy censorship will be in the Kindle age. In this case, the mass e-book removals were motivated by copyright . A company called MobileReference, who did not…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 18

The Earthquake Dragons Who Embody Planetary Catastrophe

This terrifying, glorious creature is an Earthquake Dragon, whose body is connected to the fabric of the earth that he destroys. And he’s just one of dozens in this collection of concept designs created on the theme of Earthquake Dragons. Over at the blog ArtOrder, a group of concept designers spent the past week coming…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

Species Diversity Not Caused By Environment

Accepted scientific wisdom holds that new species arise because of geographic separation – the same bird evolves differently on two different islands. But a new study overturns this idea, challenging the importance of environment as a driver of evolution. Published this week in Nature, the new study shows that even when a group of creatures…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

Satellite Photos of the Lunar Landing Site, 40 Years Later

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken a series of images of the original Moon landing site, complete with astronaut footprints that are still visible in the regolith. I hope we’ll get some higher-resolution images in days to come. Here’s one image of the site, and you can check out more on Gizmodo. via Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com/first-new-images-of-the-apollo-landing-sites-in-40-year-5317057/

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

A Wave of Cattle Mutilations and “Strange Lights” in Argentina

Last week, seven cows were found mutilated on a farm in Southwestern La Pampa, Argentina. These were just the latest in a wave of such mutilations, which locals say occur on a cyclical basis. Central Argentina is full of people who tell stories of strange lights that accompany outbreaks of cattle mutilations. In the past,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

At Last, Someone Has Come Forward to Defend “Syfy”

Seems like everyone has been griefing the Syfy Channel about its new brand. What could be lamer than switching from Sci Fi to Syfy? At last, a designer and typographer has explained why “Syfy” is cool. Alfonso Gómez Arzola is a designer, photographer, and typographer who writes essays about media design. He’s written a defense…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

The Weirdest Giant Worm Monster You Have Ever Seen

Imagine some kind of unholy combination of the worm scene in Galaxy of Terror, the Cremaster movies, Pink Floyd, the feminist art of Cindy Sherman, and that bean orgy in Tommy. Then you’re ready for this snippet of The Worm. Be warned: Don’t watch this video unless A) you have a stomach of steel or…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 17

Floating Alaskan Bio-Goo Video

A quick update on the weird, miles-long bio-goo floating down the northern coast of Alaska. The Alaskan North Slope Borough Planning Department has released this video of the stuff, shot from a plane. via Story Balloon

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 16

Neanderthals Far Lonelier Than Previously Believed

For thousands of years, two intelligent hominid species shared the European continent: early humans and Neanderthals. About 30,000 years ago, Neanderthals went extinct. Now one study suggests a possible reason: The Neanderthal population was very small, and very interrelated. In the new study published today in Science, a group of European researchers sequenced five mitochondrial…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 16

Giant Simpsons vs. Marvel Mural in Queens, NYC

A huge mural has just been completed in Queens, NYC, depicting an epic battle for New York fought by Marvel characters done Simpsons-style. We’ve got a bunch of cool images of the cartoon mashup you’ve been wanting. Gusto, who created the mural with help from a team of artists, writes in to tell us about…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 16

Annalee Newitz

Comic-Con Day One: What Does It All Mean?

California Will No Longer Yield Fruit in 100 Years

Come See the io9 Panel at Comic-Con Tomorrow at 10:30

A Gripping, Scary Viruscore Tale in Free, Online Novel “Vector”

In the Early Days of Comic-Con

Ice Volcanoes of Enceladus Created By Liquid Water Beneath the Moon’s Surface?

Get Tentacular Summer Beach Reading With “Mall of Cthulhu”

Use Your Cell Phone To Diagnose Blood Diseases

A Dust Cloud That Lowered Temperatures Around The World

Eighteen Science Fiction Authors Remember the Moon Landing

Amazon Secretly Removes “1984” From the Kindle

The Earthquake Dragons Who Embody Planetary Catastrophe

Species Diversity Not Caused By Environment

Satellite Photos of the Lunar Landing Site, 40 Years Later

A Wave of Cattle Mutilations and “Strange Lights” in Argentina

At Last, Someone Has Come Forward to Defend “Syfy”

The Weirdest Giant Worm Monster You Have Ever Seen

Floating Alaskan Bio-Goo Video

Neanderthals Far Lonelier Than Previously Believed

Giant Simpsons vs. Marvel Mural in Queens, NYC

Ozempic Shreds Bones? How a Small Study Turned Into a Big Health Myth

Anker’s Soundcore Translation Earbuds Are Now Nearly 7x Cheaper Than AirPods Pro 3 After a Sudden Price Drop on Amazon

Volkswagen Shuts Down Tennessee Plant’s EV Production at the Worst Possible Time

Using Emojis at Work? You’re Not Going to Like This Study 😮

A Terrifying Invasion Feels Eerily Familiar in This Short Horror Story

Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum at 51% Off Quietly Undercuts Dyson’s Stick Cleaner Prices

Tubi Manages to Turn People Against Recommendations With Bad AI Branding

Gizmodo’s Favorite Photos From NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission

Lucasfilm Keeps Telling Authors Not to Bring Back Mara Jade

As Mass Drownings Add Up, Emperor Penguins Officially Join the Endangered List

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

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