Annalee Newitz

Sometimes you need to do cosplay thousands of feet in the air

This GoPro picture of costumed skydiving captures exactly how I feel some days on the internet. This photo by Mike Escamilla is from the GoPro photo website. (Spotted on Abduzeedo)

So now Homeland Security can detain suspected movie pirates?

This story is all kinds of weird. A guy wearing Google Glass in an Ohio movie theater was detained for hours by agents from . . . the Department of Homeland Security. What? Was this guy a terrorist with awful taste in consumer electronics? Nope. He was suspected of piracy. OK, OK I get that…

Mysterious 3,650 year-old pharaoh and “lost dynasty” found in Egypt

In the centuries leading up to the New Kingdom of Egypt that rose in 1500 BCE, many kingdoms in the region warred with each other. Now archaeologists have discovered evidence of one of these lost kingdoms, complete with the tomb of one of its leaders. Pharaoh Senebkay ruled a kingdom that existed centuries before Egypt…

When should scientists talk politics, and when should they shut up?

Scientists who study the environment often find themselves stuck. They see problems with how humans are affecting the planet, and they want to advocate for changing the way we are doing things. At the same time, they aren’t political experts. How can they offer informed opinions, without falling prey to propagandizing? Carnegie Institution global ecologist…

Nearly half of people under 30 read an e-book this year

Over the past year, the number of people who read an e-book has jumped a lot, especially among twenty-somethings. Interestingly, as you can see in this chart from Pew Research Center, the twenty-somethings lagged behind their 30-49-year-old counterparts, who had read more e-books the year before and maintained a steady appetite for them this past…

Hild and the triumph of the skeptical fantasy novel

Nicola Griffith’s latest book Hild has all the ingredients of a fantasy novel, including a medieval setting and a main character with powers that seem supernatural. And yet it’s also a brilliantly-researched work of historical fiction. Call it skeptical fantasy, or an epic that treats magic as politically-charged superstition rather than an otherworldly power. Griffith…

What is the one reboot that proves reboots aren’t entirely evil?

Just admit it — there was that one time you watched a reboot and realized it was better than the original. What reboot was it that made you realize that not all reboots are awful blemishes on the face of pop culture? Please include images, video, clips, pieces of hair or fingernails, whatever will make…

What caused a 10-year winter starting in 536?

A winter that lasts years isn’t just a problem in Game of Thrones. Roughly 1500 years ago, our world was turned upsidown by a winter that witnesses say “never ended.” Now there is scientific evidence that there really was a decade of winter. Scholars writing in Europe and Asia at the time reported that the…

On Helix, scientists go completely nuts in zombietown

We’re on episode three of Helix, which means it’s day three of the black goo zombie outbreak in a remote arctic research station run by a mysterious scientist and his hunky Canadian sidekick. And the hunky CDC people who’ve come to rescue them can’t do their jobs because scientists are crazy! Spoilers ahead. Helix is…

This is a blood cell balanced on the head of a pin

This incredible image was captured using a scanning electron microscope. It’s been colorized to provide contrast, but this is actually what it would look like if you balanced one red blood cell on a pin. Amazing. Via Microscope Pics

Twitter SNAFU lets researchers identify a new kind of harrassment

It’s a kind of online harassment that happens all the time, but which we haven’t really named. Over at Model View Culture, computer security researcher Leigh Honeywell calls it “opportunistic.” And a recent change at Twitter made it clear how this kind of harassment works. Honeywell describes what “opportunistic” harassment is: Online harassment varies dramatically…

What character managed to go from awful to awesome with perfect ease?

Sometimes you fall in love with characters who start out seeming like total assholes or scary creeps. The transition may be gradual, or it might be the result of a big reveal. Which characters do the best job of going from repulsive to wonderful? Please include pictures, video, links, or 3D printer plans that we…

Should we start de-extincting species that have died out?

Futurist Stewart Brand, founder of The Long Now Foundation, has a new mission in life. He wants to bring extinct species back from the dead. Some ecologists thing that’s an awful idea. Here are the arguments on both sides of the de-extincting debate. Over at Environment 360, Brand debates this idea with Paul Ehrlich, a…

Author Ann Leckie is here to talk to you about Ancillary Justice

In December, the io9 Book Club read Ann Leckie’s novel Ancillary Justice. Today from 12:00-1:00 PDT, Leckie is here to answer your questions! Ask her about Ancillary Justice, what it’s like to publish her first novel, or anything else! https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-book-club-is-in-session-lets-talk-about-ancil-1501276341 Just jump into comments and ask questions, and Leckie will get to as many as…

How did dinosaurs fight? Brian Switek explains over at National Geographic, highlighting work by researchers who are recreating dinosaur battles — with science! No, Dinobots are not involved.

Why is this bee wearing a tiny surveillance device?

Glued to the back of this Australian bee is an RFID chip that can track where it goes, what it eats, and when. But this bug won’t be tracking you — instead, it just might save the planet. One of the most pressing environmental issues right now is food security, or our ability to feed…

This scene pretty much sums up Revolution lately

You thought it was a post-apocalyptic show about nanotechnology that shuts down the electrical grid. But it’s really about daddy issues. And Jesus. You think I’m kidding but I am so not. This was a crucial scene in last night’s episode where baddie Monroe goes to Mexico to find his long-lost son. Who promptly whips…

What show was the WORST EVER about constantly shifting directions?

Sometimes TV shows bore us by trotting out the same formula in every episode. But some go to the other extreme, changing the setup and characters so much that it’s like plot whiplash every week. What show was the worst offender in the “constant changes” department? Please be sure to include clips, pictures, or links!…

How to shelter from fallout after a nuclear attack on your city

Terrorists have detonated a low-yield nuclear warhead in your city. How long should you hide, and where, to avoid the worst effects of radioactive fallout? We talked to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory atmospheric scientist Michael Dillon to find out. Yesterday Dillon published a paper on this topic in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.…

Scientific evidence that booth babes don’t sell products

There’s been a raging debate over “booth babes” in the tech community for years. Should companies hire sexy models to work in their sales booths at events like CES, or is this an outdated, degrading practice? But nobody had ever asked whether booth babes were good for sales. So Frontback head of marketing Spencer Chen…