Annalee Newitz

You May Not Know About One of the Most Important Organs in Your Body

Billions of microbes live in your gut. Together they form a “microbiome,” and they are so important to your health and moods that biologists now call the gut microbiome an internal organ. But what is this organ and how does it work? This video from Youreka Science explains it all for you.

10 Worst-Case Scenarios of Computers Controlling Your Emotions

The internet is still reeling from recent revelations that Facebook workers have been conducting weird experiments with the emotions of Facebook users. Now it’s time to see what science fiction has to say about machines that control our feelings. Here are ten cautionary scenarios. 1. Nexus, by Ramez Naam The experiment conducted on Facebook was…

When the City Rose Up and Challenged Dragons

Cities outlast empires, but not for the reasons you might think. Some of these old places aren’t just made of stone and vines. They’ve got bones hidden beneath their streets, and will rise up to meet a battalion head on, their arms made from towers, and faces armored by the spires of city walls. Kekai…

NASA’s New Satellite Could Unravel the Mystery of Our Changing Climate

Right now, io9’s Mika McKinnon is at the launch for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a satellite which will track where the Earth draws carbon out of the atmosphere. It could give us hints about why the climate is changing — and how we can intervene more quickly. Here’s how the OCO works. https://gizmodo.com/nasas-new-satellite-could-unravel-the-mystery-of-our-ch-1598348848

Sharktopus Is Back — And He’s Fighting Pteracuda!

Shark fans, this is your summer on Syfy. On July 30, we’ll be seeing Sharknado 2, and then on August 2, Roger Corman brings you Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda. https://gizmodo.com/please-add-sharknadoes-to-the-problems-plaguing-the-nyc-1598213918 So far, no word on how or why Pteracuda came to exist, though I have to assume it’s a half-pterosaur, half-barracuda. Which means it can swim…

The Best Mecha Kaiju Ever. That Is All.

Concept artist Greg Broadmore, creator of Doctor Grordbort and many fine creatures for Peter Jackson’s Weta Studios, has done it again. He’s created a monster so blisteringly awesome that it almost defies words. Meet the MECHA-HOP. I love the way its spine looks like a bike chain. And here it is, fighting its greatest foe…

Runes Solve Mystery of 1,100-Year-Old Viking Amulet

In the first millennium CE, Vikings wore little replicas of Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, like this one discovered recently in Denmark. What’s incredible about this find are the runes on the hammer. Amulets like these have been discovered all over the Viking world, but until now, archaeologists couldn’t say for sure that they were supposed to…

Australian Government Edits Climate Change Out of Environment Website

A document on the Australian Department of the Environment’s website once explained the dangers of extreme weather, with a special warning that climate change might intensify the situation. Now, that warning has been removed — likely to reflect Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s views. Above, Australian bushfires seen from space. Reports Oliver Millman in the Guardian:…

A Simple Experiment Could Change Our Understanding of Quantum Reality

The rules of the quantum world — where everything is probabilistic, until observation fixes it — may be a lot less indefinite than we thought. A new experiment shows that liquids have properties that physicists once thought were confined to the quantum level. And this could be a big breakthrough. Essentially, it could change how…

Psychologists Find that Nice People Are More Likely to Hurt You

People who are agreeable are also more likely to make destructive choices, if they think doing so will help them conform to social expectations. That’s the finding of psychologists, who suggest that disagreeable, ornery people may be more helpful than we think. Researchers recently conducted a version of Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience experiments, where people…

We may have been wrong about the speed of light. A new paper from an American physicist suggests that we may have slightly overestimatedhow fast light travels in some situations, which would mean that starlight is reaching us a bit more slowly.

It’s a GIF Party and I’ll Transform If I Want To

Don’t worry — this GIF party is ready for action! Let’s do this thing.

Why Going to Other Planets Could Save the Earth

Ellen Stofan is Chief Scientist of NASA, and a field geologist. In a fantastic interview with the Guardian, she explains why people who want to save the Earth must also look to space. One of the common complaints about space programs, especially from environmentalists, is that it’s a waste of resources to send things offworld…

Lovely, Creepy Necklaces Made from Insects Caught in Amber

Etsy seller DinoDNAjewelry has created the ultimate necklace for Jurassic Park fans — or just amber fossil geeks. A gorgeous insect is suspended in glowing yellow amber, just waiting for you to extract some dinosaur DNA from its belly and do some mad science. No, these are not real Jurassic-era fossils (which — I think…

If You Want to Understand Cities in the 21st Century, Read This Essay

In 2008, a young model from rural Canada was brutally murdered in a Shanghai apartment building. The story of how her assailant was (maybe) caught, chronicled by journalist Mara Hvistendahl her engrossing essay And the City Swallowed Them, reveals how 21st century cities are changing the world. What seems like a cut-and-dried crime story becomes,…

What Rots Your Brain More? The Internet or Television?

Pundits have been debating whether media destroys our brains for at least 70 years. Strangely, the terms they used to criticize TV decades ago sound a lot like the ones they use to criticize the internet now. See if you can guess which of these quotes are about TV, and which are about the internet.…

What Happens to the Animals Who Are Used to Treat People in Therapy?

Dogs, horses, and even dolphins are used in animal-assisted therapy. While some animal “therapies” are bad news all around (looking at you, dolphins), others have had positive results. Trained, domesticated animals like dogs or horses can be quite beneficial for humans. But how do therapy animals themselves fare? https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-the-animals-who-are-used-to-treat-peopl-1596530924

What Happens to the Animals Who Are Used to Treat People in Therapy

Dogs, horses, and even dolphins are used in animal-assisted therapy. While some animal “therapies” are bad news all around (looking at you, dolphins), others have had positive results. Trained, domesticated animals like dogs or horses can be quite beneficial for humans. But how do therapy animals themselves fare? https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-the-animals-who-are-used-to-treat-peopl-1596530924

I Think I Just Saw the Future, in This House

The future is always weirder than what you imagine. What you’re seeing is an off-the-grid house made entirely from specially-treated fabric that can withstand 100-mile-an-hour tornado winds, store energy, recycle water, and maintain comfortable temperatures year-round. Called Techstyle Haus, it’s made with rapid prototyping, and can be rebuilt to handle rapidly-changing climates. It’s powered by…

Did This Ancient Civilization Avoid War for 2,000 Years?

The Harappan civilization dominated the Indus River valley beginning about five thousand years ago, many of its massive cities sprawling at the edges of rivers that still flow through Pakistan and India today. But its culture remains a mystery. Why did it leave behind no representations of great leaders, nor of warfare? Archaeologists have long…