Annalee Newitz

Elysium‘s Neill Blomkamp shares the secrets of designing a dystopia

Now that you’ve seen the first stunning trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium and picked apart the screencaps, you can start to see a few similarites to Blomkamp’s first movie, District 9. The politics, the cool gear, and the massive object floating in the sky. We caught up with Blomkamp a while ago, and he told…

Epic Superhero Art in a Traditional Native American Style

Jeffrey Veregge is a designer and artist who studied traditional coastal Salish art after growing up on a reservation in the American pacific northwest. Vergegge’s main inspirations are geeky pop culture combined with the culture he grew up with. He writes: A member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, I was raised and spent a…

Because you always wanted to know what was worse than being bitten by a bedbug

It’s hard to say what’s worse: knowing the science behind bedbug sex, or watching bedbugs do the Harlem Shake. I leave it up to you to decide.

This awesome Iron Man cosplay could actually control robotic exoskeletons

This light-up Iron Man power source isn’t just part of an awesome costume. It’s also proof-of-concept for muscle-controlled computers that could one day guide your robot army. Whenever you see a piece of awesome DiY tech, you know Arduinos are somehow involved, and this system is no different. Created by AdvancerTechnologies, it’s a system that…

It’s the currency of the future. It’s the scourge of central banks. But what the hell is it? Sam Biddle explains BitCoin to you.

New conspiracy documentary claims that oil companies are covering up UFOs

Sometimes you get a perfect storm of conspiracy theories. Witness this trailer for forthcoming documentary Sirius, where the energy crisis, global warming, and aliens are all wrapped together into one giant plot masterminded by corporations and government. I can’t decide what I like best about this movie, which comes out April 22. I love it…

The wrong way to write about science

Over at Download the Universe, the science ebook review, I have a new article about one way that well-intentioned science journalism can go very, very wrong. The trouble starts when Scott Johnson, author of an essay called “Ghost in the Cell,” tries to write about two extremely complicated issues — violence and epigenetics — without…

Are you really a virgin?

If somebody asks whether you’re a virgin, you know the answer. But do you really? The idea of “virginity” is actually surprisingly difficult to define, and decidedly unscientific. So let’s start with some basics. In the west, most of us would define a virgin as a person who hasn’t yet engaged in any sexual activity.…

The io9 Book Club is in session! Let’s talk about Tobias Buckell’s The Apocalypse Ocean

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In March, we read The Apocalypse Ocean, by Tobias Buckell. 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 planetary defense mecha were on high alert

When the huge, dusty metal balls sprouted legs and started crabwalking around, we knew something was wrong. But then they unfolded their lasers like long tongues, as if they were nyah-nyahing the sky itself, and the vastness of space beyond. That’s when it was time to take cover. Neil Blevins in a concept artist in…

A new post-apocalyptic vision from Angry Robot Books

Angry Robot Books has made a name for itself with smart, action-packed novels like Ramez Naam’s recent Nexus. Now they’re about to start a new post-apocalyptic series, the Dustwalker Cycle, by videogame designer and author Jay Posey. We’ve got an excerpt from the first novel, called Three. If you like hardboiled writing about tough guys…

Cities of the Future Will Be Swarming With These Insects

Evidence suggests that the climate is warming, but it’s hard to get a concrete idea of what the planet will be like when Earth is a few hotter warmer everywhere. Now a group of scientists have found a slice of our sultry future in an unexpected place: the heat islands of southern US city Raleigh,…

Everything you need to know about the five ice ages of Earth (including ours)

Did you know that as our climate warms, we are actually returning to a more typical weather pattern for the Earth? That’s right — we are living in an ice age, which means the temperatures and ice caps we think of as “normal” are actually extreme aberrations in the history of our planet. Image via…

The cities hovered in clouds

Vast mountains hulked like inverted pyramids beneath the streets and viaducts. Below, the atmosphere was an endless hazy blue, marred occasionally by the smudges of towns drifting in the wind. Everyone came here for one thing. They wanted funding for their quantum software startups. Tyler Edlin is a freelance concept artist in the United States.…

Cisco is working with the Chinese government, on Person of Interest!

There are few things I love more in this world than goofy hacker talk in a techno-thriller, and we got that in abundance this week on Person of Interest. But you know what I love more than that? When this show delivers an absolutely paranoid conspiracy theory that I secretly believe is mostly true. Like…

So they updated Evil Dead by making it torture porn with a little exorcism all up in it

If you’re a fan of the Evil Dead movies, which vibrate with Sam Raimi’s visual psychosis and Bruce Campbell’s bug-eyed mania, you may find yourself disappointed by the Evil Dead reboot that the two just produced. The original movie trilogy was a slapsticky sendup of 1970s horror movies. Unfortunately the reboot is just straight torture…

Could You Actually Build BioShock Infinite’s Floating City in Real Life?

By Kyle Hill. The craziest part of BioShock Infinite isn’t the idea of combining a first-person shooter with jingoism, religious purity, and intense xenophobia. It’s the idea of floating an entire city. Within the first twenty minutes of BioShock Infinite, you are introduced to Columbia, a city above the clouds, above the “Sodom” below. It’s…

Tomorrow’s Material World is Being Built at the Molecular Foundry

The Molecular Foundry sounds like a laboratory out of a science fiction story, but it’s as real as the rubber gloves sticking out of this metal-organic chemical vapor deposition tool. Last weekend, I went on a tour of this UC Berkeley facility, where scientists and entrepreneurs work at nanoscale, literally rebuilding our world one atom…

Even the great ones will meet their demise

Even with a few goofy feathers sticking out of its back, T. rex was the greatest predator of the late Cretaceous period. It may have had the cunning of a raven, combined with the mass of a truck. Still, this formidable creature cried just like a sparrow sometimes. And it could do nothing to prevent…

This t-shirt gives you one kitty to beam up

Over at the aptly-named Pussies on Parade, they’ve got this adorable and slightly demented t-shirt called “One to Beam Up.” Love the kitty communicator pin. You can pick one of these fine tees up at Pussies on Parade, for $24.