Annalee Newitz, Author at Gizmodo

Breathe in Space with New Pulp Scifi Game “Slipstream”

If you want to participate in some old-school scifi swashbuckling on savage planets with alien women, your rocket ship has arrived. The game is the latest from Savage Worlds, which specializes in adventures organized around Plot Points rather than GM-created scenarios. io9 co-conspirator Ed Grabianowski writes on his Robot Viking blog: My favorite element of…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 29

Online Media Will Never Threaten Print Media

Back in 1981, this newscast showed us an amazing new technology: Newspapers online! The newscaster chuckles that it can’t really compete with print. And the editors say they’ll never make money on it.

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 29

Hackers Warn Texas of Coming Zombie War

Over the weekend, Austin, TX drivers received some important warnings from their road signs about the impending zombie invasion. And the hackers who did it may know something we don’t about the undead. The road signs, which normally warn drivers about traffic conditions, displayed these warnings: “Zombies ahead . . . the end is near…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 29

A Trilobite Made of Welded Steel and Time

Its carapace has turned to steel in the hundreds of millions of years since it went extinct, but the watch in this Trilobite’s brain never stops tracking the seconds passed since the Cambrian ended. Jud Turner calls this sinuous sculpture Trilo Temporalis, in reference to the Trilobite fossils it’s modeled on – and in reference…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 29

Liberia Declares Emergency After Massive Worm Invasion

The worst invasion of army worms in decades has reduced Liberia’s farms to ruins in a matter of days. Now the worms are menacing neighboring countries. Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said her country would be doing aerial spraying of the army worms, but it may be too late to prevent their spread to Sierra Leone…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 29

Watchmen Director Zack Snyder Reveals His Secret Past

io9’s Nisha Gopalan has a great interview with Watchmen director Zack Snyder up at Nylon Guys. Snyder spills his guts about his secret past – as a jock! How does he reconcile his jock side with a mega-geek movie like Watchmen? Here’s a funny bit from the interview where Nisha says, “You’re both jock and…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 28

A Computer Virus That Turns Your Brain to Goo

In this week’s Fringe, called “The No-Brainer,” Olivia and the scoobies got to investigate their most cyber opponent yet: A pop-up window that turns people’s brains to goo! Spoilers ahead, weirdos. While I enjoy the overarching conspiracy plot in Fringe with the Pattern and Massive Dynamic, I think some of the best episodes are devoted…

Television Annalee Newitz Jan 28

Science Fiction That Gets Medieval on Your Ass

With Vikings vs. aliens movie Outlander rocking our gauntlets in theaters, it’s time to take stock of the long and glorious history of science fiction set in the Middle Ages. We’ve got a list, gentlefolk. Before you go nuts telling me what I left out, let me explain a few of the ground rules for…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 28

Where Tectonic Plates Meet in a Volcanic Pool

You’re looking at the Afar Depression in Ethiopia, a 12-foot-wide hot springs that exists at the junction of three massive tectonic plates. It also sits on top of a volcano. This photo was taken by Carsten Peter for National Geographic. The magazine explains: [In the Afar Depression,] spreading mid-ocean ridges forming the Red Sea and…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 28

Stinky Robot Can Sweat from 125 Nozzles

Just what we needed: A sweating robot. And did it need to have those creepy pipes instead of a face? Watch the vid for B.O. history in the making. Via Daily Mail, thanks Regis!

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 27

Remembering Apollo 1

It’s the anniversary of the tragic but historic flight of Apollo 1, one of the first crewed missions to space. io9’s Andrew Liptak has a post about it over on his blog. He writes: Ironically, it was not a mission that claimed the lives of the three astronauts, but a routine test leading up to…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 27

Meet the Ancestor of All Animals on Earth

This humble, gooey Trichoplax is a “living fossil” whose progeny include everything from humans to snails. And now, say scientists, it has revealed something very strange about our brains. Scientists have long searched for a common ancestor of all animals, suggesting perhaps that sponges might be it. But now the sponge has lost its status…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 27

A Rocket to Save the Earth

This Japanese H-2A rocket blasted off on Friday with a payload of six satellites, including the Ibuki, whose sole purpose is to gather data on greenhouse gas emissions. The rocket lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island. Below is a gorgeous image of it. SOURCE: Japan Launches Rocket with Greenhouse Gas Probe via…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 27

Don’t Stand So Close to Dr. Frankenstein

Things were different in the 1980s – Sting wasn’t world beat, Jennifer Beals was hot, and somebody thought it would be a great idea to pair them in a sexy Frankenstein variant called The Bride. If you look closely in this timeless trailer for the flick, you’ll catch a glimpse of Cary “Princess Bride” Elwes,…

Movies Annalee Newitz Jan 26

Don’t Mess with Post-Apocalyptic Siamese Twins

I’ll tell you what is best in life: Watching dozens of amazing artists vie to create the best images of post-apocalyptic siamese twins. These drawings came out of last week’s “character of the week” thread topic in the Concept Art forums, and it made my eyes bleed with happiness. Go check out the whole thread.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 26

Firey Scandinavian Meteor “Turned the Sky Blue”

Last weekend, a meteor hit the atmosphere over Scandinavia with a huge boom, filling the sky with blue light. Hundreds of Danish and Swedish people saw it, many of them from their cars as they drove home in the early evening. No one was hurt, and the video footage is amazing. Using eyewitness reports and…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 26

A Map of Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960

Back in 1951, Colliers magazine went scifi with a special issue devoted to what would happen if the US occupied Russia. They called it the “preview of the war we do not want.” According to Strange Maps, this map “shows the UN flag flying over Moscow, with the Eastern Bloc countries, the Baltic Soviet republics…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 26

Is Battlestar Galactica Relevant in the Obama Era?

Major plot points from Battlestar Galactica were also front page headlines over the past few years: terrorism, secret tribunals, prisoner abuse, war. Will the show continue to feel relevant with Obama running America? With only a few episodes left in the series, BSG is about to disappear from the airwaves. The question is whether it…

Television Annalee Newitz Jan 25

It’s Your Friday Night Battlestar Liveblog

I’ll be liveblogging Battlestar Galactica on PST, so watch this space with that in mind. For the rest of you, feel free to start commenting whenever the spirit moves you. Spoilers ahead! Just read all your SPOILERY comments as I got ready to settle down with some ice cream and warm up ye olde plasma…

Television Annalee Newitz Jan 23

Could We Turn the Earth into a Giant Hard Drive?

As our geo-engineering capabilities grow more sophisticated, is it possible that we could manipulate the Earth in such a way that it could turn it into a massive hard drive? That’s what io9 pal Geoff Manaugh asks over at BLDG BLOG. He writes: The earth would become a kind of spherical harddrive, with information stored…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jan 23

Annalee Newitz

Breathe in Space with New Pulp Scifi Game “Slipstream”

Online Media Will Never Threaten Print Media

Hackers Warn Texas of Coming Zombie War

A Trilobite Made of Welded Steel and Time

Liberia Declares Emergency After Massive Worm Invasion

Watchmen Director Zack Snyder Reveals His Secret Past

A Computer Virus That Turns Your Brain to Goo

Science Fiction That Gets Medieval on Your Ass

Where Tectonic Plates Meet in a Volcanic Pool

Stinky Robot Can Sweat from 125 Nozzles

Remembering Apollo 1

Meet the Ancestor of All Animals on Earth

A Rocket to Save the Earth

Don’t Stand So Close to Dr. Frankenstein

Don’t Mess with Post-Apocalyptic Siamese Twins

Firey Scandinavian Meteor “Turned the Sky Blue”

A Map of Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960

Is Battlestar Galactica Relevant in the Obama Era?

It’s Your Friday Night Battlestar Liveblog

Could We Turn the Earth into a Giant Hard Drive?

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar With Dolby Audio Finds a Prime Day–Level Price Point Outside the Sale Window

Bitdefender Total Security Now Costs Less than Your Coffee Order — Covers Up to 5 Devices With One Subscription

10 Cursed Islands to Visit Ahead of ‘Widow’s Bay’

NASA Sets the Record Straight on That ‘Missing Chunk’ of Artemis 2’s Heat Shield

Beats Solo 4 Falls Back to All-Time Low, Now Emerging as a Cheaper Alternative to AirPods Max in Apple’s Headphone Lineup

‘The Meta Brand Is Not Something People Want to Put Anywhere Near Their Face,’ Says Snapchat CEO

DNA From 1,500-Year-Old Korean Mass Grave Exposes a Brutal Ancient Ritual

Intel May Have an Answer to AMD’s Most Powerful Gaming CPUs

Google Nest Cam (Wired, 3rd Gen) Hits Its Lowest Price as 2025 Gemini Indoor Security Cameras Go on Clearance

The New ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ Trailer Is Ready for Revolution

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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