Annalee Newitz

Common Treatment for Vampirism Could Help Ebola Patients

One of the typical tropes of the vampire movie is the “blood cleansing” scene, where vampires are cured by running their blood through a purification device. Now this grisly gothic idea has become a reality — and could ease the suffering of Ebola victims. Image from the “blood cleansing” scene in Near Dark. The device…

Study Reveals that Harassers Prefer Facebook Over Other Networks

Preliminary results from a study of online harassment reveal that the most popular venue for harassment, stalking and other abuse is Facebook. And it’s fairly common for online harassers to target their victims for over a year. Photo by oliveromg via Shutterstock These statistics come from one of the first studies ever undertaken of online…

What She Saw in the Sky Couldn’t Have Been a Complete Illusion

The ship and the whale, glimpsed diving through the sunset, were absolutely vivid. She could see the shadows on the whale’s dorsal side, and light glinting off the ship’s sails. Soon, she would have to decide what it was — or, more to the point, what would manifest itself like this. Artem Chebokha is an…

What’s the Most Realistic Movie About the Future of War?

There are a lot of war scenes in science fiction, but most of them emphasize the pew-pew-pew and spaceship CGI over realistic representations of combat. Are there any futuristic movies that actually show us the grim reality of what war might be like in years to come? My pick is the tight action flick Edge…

Possibly the Most Relevant Political Movement for Our Future

In a stunning example of how a political movement can actually change lives, the Strike Debt project has raised over $100 thousand to purchase and abolish student loans for a group of recent grads with a punishing amount of debt. They hope to turn this into a national movement. Strike Debt, which grew out of…

Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem Is a Grim Facebook Dystopia

In movies like Brazil and 12 Monkeys Terry Gilliam established himself as a master of the dystopian. With his new film The Zero Theorem, he’s created a garish, repulsive social media future full of “happy” surveillance and overworked techies. It’s a compelling vision, but the movie never quite lives up to its own designs. The…

Nothing Like the Welcoming Glow of the Spaceport’s Holograms

When you’ve been traveling a lot, even the lurid red and blue landing fields of the spaceport are a welcome sight. The arcs of its solar towers seem to embrace weary passengers as they touch down and glimpse the green fields of the city floating below. Chris Kesler is a concept artist in London who…

Court Determines that Bloggers Are Journalists, Then Screws Them Over

A New Zealand court last week found that bloggers are journalists, a belief shared by many U.S. and Canadian courts as well. This means that bloggers can legally refuse to hand over the identities of anonymous sources. It also means that courts can rob them of that right. Top image: Gargolyle on New Zealand’s High…

Texas Is About to Adopt Textbooks That Lie About Climate Change

The Texas State Board of Education meets this week to discuss the adoption of controversial science textbooks that are deeply misleading about climate change. Now, two groups are working to prevent Texas kids from learning junk science. Top image: Agustin Ruiz The National Center for Science Education and Texas Freedom Network have put together a…

It Might Not Happen Quite the Way You Expect

You think you know everything about launching a space vehicle, but the future is going to be a lot weirder than you might think. This is a sculpture by the famous designer Edward Tufte, taken from an image on his website. You can see more of his work there.

The best way to cope with traffic is actually to make multi-lane highways smaller, not bigger. Several long-term studies have shown that “road diets” that shrink 4-line highways to 3-lane highways significantly decrease traffic jams and accidents. Atlantic’s CityLab has the story.

Don’t Miss the Gothic Internet Horror of Broken Monsters

Lauren Beukes’ new novel Broken Monsters is about the dark forces that awaken in abandoned places — and abandoned people — when they yearn for the kind of attention they once had. Set in the back alleys and art warehouses of Detroit, it’s a supernatural thriller that will disturb you in all the right ways.…

Archaeologists Have Discovered a Very Naughty Puritan in Boston’s Past

Boston is a goldmine for urban archaeologists. The city’s history goes back hundreds of years, and construction projects often unearth caches of historical items that are have been almost perfectly preserved. Such is the case with a buried outhouse, which revealed the naughty life of the lady who used it. As this NOVA video explains,…

They Ate Sharks And Were Fifty Feet Long

This image of the gigantic dinosaur Spinosaurus, from Dinosaur Planet, is only half-right. New research shows that these massive, sailbacked animals probably didn’t rear up on their hind legs much. But they did spend most of their time in the water, engaging in badass battles with sharks. Over at the Washington Post, Rachel Feltman reports…

Seriously, Why Did Everybody Think This Movie Was So Scary?

Sometimes a movie comes out and everybody says it’s terrifying, so you go see it. And it’s no big deal — maybe there’s a jump scare or two, but basically you’re unmoved. What is the worst offender in this category? My pick is Insidious, which I know will make me unpopular — but what else…

The First Space Vessel Designed Entirely for Tourists

Right now, space tourism is just for the ultra-rich. But this experimental design for a cargo plane full of spaceships could make visits to low-Earth orbit part of everyday life. I think what’s most exciting is the idea that the cargo vessel shoots the spacecraft out of its bay using an “electro magnetic space catapult.”…

This Wearable Lets Us See the Future Better than the Apple Watch

Like Google Glass, the Apple Watch is the beta version of a technology that might one day exist. It suggests a future of effortlessly wearable data devices, more graceful than phones. But one science fiction writer thinks Apple has it all wrong — and that future wearables will be a lot simpler than you think.…

io9 Book Club Is in Session! Let’s Talk about Laline Paull’s The Bees

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In August, we read The Bees, by Laline Paull. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how it works: You read the book. We create a special book club post on io9 when the…

The Last Picnic on Earth

We were the last cleanup crew to leave the planet. It had been a decade since the vote that decided we would purge ourselves from the Earth’s ecosystems. We celebrated our impending local extinction with a few sandwiches, enjoyed under biodegradable shelters. Kait Kybar is a concept artist and designer in Amsterdam. You can see…

A New Kind of Baker’s Yeast That Gets You High

The powerful painkiller morphine comes from opium poppies, which only grow in a few places around the world. But now, a group of bioengineers are on the cusp of creating a modified form of baker’s yeast that can synthesize the drug. What happens when we can brew up heroin in a vat of yeast? Photo…