Annalee Newitz

Is Second Life About to Become a Ghost World?

Second Life, one of the most hyped virtual worlds in history, is heading towards ghost town status. Intrepid tech reporter Wagner James Au broke the story over the weekend, noting that Second Life makers Linden Lab are at work on a top-secret new virtual world. It’s possible that this new virtual world is part of…

The best way to stop tornados might be to build a giant wall. At least that’s the theory of one physicist, who proposes enormous weather barriers that would be almost 1,000 feet high, stopping twisters before they start.

We’ve Discovered the Fossilized Remains of a Griffin

Nobody believed it could be done. Griffins are just mythological animals, right? But then mytho-archaeologists invented the multiverse engine, and we began to see our natural history in a whole new light. This incredible image by Finnish artist and science writer Maija Karala shows the skeleton of a dinosaur, Protoceratops, which anthropologist Adrienne Mayor believes…

This Story Was So Incredible I Took a Pilgrimage to the Places In It

Not every beloved science fiction or fantasy story is set in an alternate world, which is why sometimes you desperately want to visit the places where they’re set. Are there any stories that inspired you to travel to their settings? Photo is a detail of the original book cover of Child of the Owl, via…

3D Imaging Could Solve the Mystery of China’s Terracotta Army

A cache of over 8,000 life-sized warrior statues was discovered in the 1970s near China’s ancient capital of Xi’an. Each terracotta figure has unique facial features, which has led to one of the ancient world’s greatest mysteries. Who are these people? Are they modeled on an actual army? Photo by Maros Now scientists are using…

Rare 1980s UFO Abductee Interview Is a Slice of Fringe Science History

UFO abductions were all the rage in the 1970s, and by the 1980s there were dedicated UFOlogists and even some scientists who were studying the phenomenon. And now you can take a peek at that era, when alien abductions were a new idea, in this rare interview with UFOlogist Budd Hopkins and an alien abductee.…

io9 Book Club Reminder: Meeting 7/7 to Discuss The Memory Garden

This month, the io9 Book Club is reading The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert. We’ll meet on July 7 to discuss it. Join us! We’re hoping Rickert will join us later that week to talk about the book. What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book…

I Am So Tempted to Say that These European Crows Are Racists

In Europe, there are two groups of crows who are almost identical — except for for thing. Carrion crows are all black, while hooded crows have patches of gray. Each group prefers to mate with their own color. It sounds like what humans would call racism, but instead it’s a lesson in the limits of…

Why Do I Keep Hate-Watching This Goddamn Show?!

You know what hate-watching is. It’s when you despise a show so much that you have to keep watching it, week after week, just to see HOW TERRIBLE IT DARES TO BE WHY IS IT SO TERRIBLE. What science fiction or fantasy show caused your most incurable case of hate-watching, and why? Of course we…

Professors Prank Their University to Protest Crappy Education System

College is incredibly expensive, but the quality of undergraduate classroom experiences has gone downhill. That’s because universities aren’t spending any money to hire professors. Now, a group of Canadian professors have become overnight legends for pulling a prank that called attention to this sorry situation. Are these four awesome professors equivalent to one administrator? Here’s…

This Mathematical Model Shows You Exactly Where to Park Your Starship

You may have heard of Lagrangian points — they are five gravitationally stable locations around our planet, created by the forces exerted by the Earth and Moon on each other. They’re a perfect place to put a satellite (and indeed we have). In this incredible model, you can see exactly where they are, and why.…

What’s the Best “Yep, I’m an Alien” Coming Out Scene?

Sometimes when you’re an alien or a monster, you have to just have to come clean about it and tell your friends. Sometimes hilarity ensues — and sometimes lots of bite marks. What’s your favorite alien or monster coming out scene in a science fiction or fantasy story? Tell us what the story is —…

I Was Already Having Kind of a Bad Week, and Then This Happened

I know it sounds petty now, but we were having a giant office drama over whose bioengineering project should get more priority. Would it be the hyper-gymnosperm group, or the dire rodent group? Well, that whole debate came to a crashing halt when somebody else’s project started to eat Los Angeles. The show-offs over in…

A Song About Why Schrödinger’s Cat Is Actually Kind of Pissed

Geek chanteuse Sarah Donner has created a lovely, snarky song out of the rather outraged musings of Schrödinger’s famous cat. Called “The Rebuttal of Schrödinger’s Cat,” it was filmed entirely on location at the Princeton Plasma Physics Library. And it is hilarious. My favorite line: This quantum mechanics thought experiment on a macroscopic level just…

There May Be an Ocean’s Worth of Water Deep Below the Earth’s Surface

After a series of experiments, geologists have come to a rather startling conclusion. There may be a ocean-sized amount of water far beneath the Earth, trapped inside the high-pressure mantle zone between our planet’s liquid metal core and its outer crust. For decades, geologists have speculated about what created Earth’s vast oceans of water. One…

Are We About to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier, and Transform Medicine?

One of the greatest frustrations for doctors dealing with brain tumors is called the blood brain barrier (BBB). It’s the defense our bodies have created to keep toxins from passing from our blood into our brains — but it also stops medicines from making the crossing too. Now that may be about to change. Today…

This Isn’t a Utopian Vision — It’s Actually What London Is Like Today

There’s a common sense idea that cities are the opposite of nature. And yet if you look at this visualization of green space and gardens in London, what you’ll find is that this giant metropolis contains more plants and wildlife than buildings. This image is part of a campaign to turn London into a “National…

Is There a Brain Region Associated with a Belief in Social Justice?

Some people believe that we could live in a just world where everybody gets what they deserve. Others believe that’s impossible. Now, neuroscientists say they have evidence that the “just world hypothesis” is a cognitive bias that’s connected with a specific part of the brain. This does not mean there is a “social justice center”…

In Cutezilla, Your City Has Been Destroyed By Giant Adorable Animals

The film geeks over at Dissolve like to show off their wares by making awesome shorts with nothing but stock footage and some Photoshopperie. Such is the case with Cutezilla, which is possibly the greatest movie about giant puppies, squirrels and turtles ever made. It will definitely brighten your afternoon. You may remember Dissolve’s first…

Congress has asked Dr. Oz to stop peddling weight loss “miracle cures” on his show. And the doctor has agreed, after admitting that there is no medical evidence verifying the efficacy of many supplements he promotes, including green coffee beans.