Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

Everything’s coming up Speedy on Arrow

If you like Speedy, “Dodger” is your episode. If you like Felicity Smoak, you might want to wait until next week. If you like dating, you’re going to wince. If you like flashbacks from the island, they’ve got a good one. And if you like English accents, you may finally be reconciled to losing Walter.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Why aren’t these streams of liquid merging?

These streams are all the same thing — silicone oil — and they are engaged in a beautiful, yet baffling, display of fluid dynamics. Perhaps if the liquids were like oil and water, this photo would make sense, but these streams are both five-hundred-micrometer-wide streams of silicon oil. Clearly each stream has some internal cohesion,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Rossiter-MacLaughlin Effect Can Actually Change the Color of Stars

It’s obvious that an object passing in front of a star can dim the star’s light, but it can also change the color of the star’s light. The Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect, which explains the mechanism of that shift in color, has been used to find “hot Jupiter” exoplanets, and has even been measured during the transit…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The science of yeti footprints

We’re at last getting into spring, which means that whatever abominable prints that yetis have left in the snow this year will be melting away into nothing. Possibly, though, they’ll be melting into existence before they return to nonexistence. Here’s how a little melt can make a yeti track that could fool anyone. Yeti history…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Forgotten Gadget That Powered The Industrial Revolution

Recently, a group of students at Purdue University used a simple device to make a ping-pong ball break the speed of sound. But that’s not the coolest part. The device they used, called a de Laval nozzle, is actually centuries old. It’s no exaggeration to call this the gadget that made the industrial revolution possible…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How do you get someone to lose interest in their hobby? Pay them to do it

Think a little money would make you more interested in your hobbies? Think again. The overjustification effect says that paying someone for a task they enjoy is a sure way to get them to drop it. All it takes is a little money and a little planning to ruin anyone’s pleasures. One of the time-honored…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The guy who discovered the truth about tree rings

There are some science facts so ubiquitous that it takes a while to realize that, oh yes, someone actually discovered that. Anyone who went to a state park, or looked down at a freshly-sawed stump, has held their parents’ hands and heard how you can tell about the life of a tree by studying its…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The mystery of the disappearing iridium

One of the ways that we know when and where comets came crashing into Earth is by checking the ground for iridium. Although this platinum-colored metal is common in space, Earth’s supply of iridium seems to have vanished. Why is it so common out there, but so very rare down here? Iridium is a silvery…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Why are black holes so bright?

Black holes are so named because they exert such extraordinary gravity, that not even light can escape them. You’d expect them to be dark. But there are some black holes whose concentrated brightness outshines all the stars around them. Here’s why. Black holes are what happens when matter collapses into so small a space that…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Science makes rainbows dance to elevator music

This video combines the fascination of watching colors shift on the surface of a soap bubble with the old-fashioned enjoyment of watching laundry spin in a tumble dryer. But it’s more complicated than both. These are smectic films — although they look like soap, they are tiny liquid crystals along a thin plane. The film…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Meteorite Explodes Over Russia, Hundreds Injured

Over a hundred people are injured after a meteor or meteors reportedly exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia this morning. Although there are no confirmed deaths, the full extent of the situation is still being assessed. But for those of you are worried, asteroid DA14 is still projected to miss Earth. Chelyabinsk is a city of about…

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How The Shapiro Time Delay Effect Proves Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

There are a couple of reasons why people react with puzzlement to ideas like General Relativity. The idea of “spacetime” is difficult enough to picture, without talk about the idea that mass distorts it the way a bowling ball distorts a trampoline. (Note to self: Promote trampoline bowling as the world’s new most dangerous sport.)…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Arrow puts Bros before Moms

And perhaps that’s for the best. Moira gets a few good scenes, but this episode belongs to Deathstroke. Slade Wilson fans get a thousand character Easter eggs. It also brings up a new character from Green Arrow continuity and a new tattoo for Ollie. And it gives me gender-neutral manly handshakes. So everyone should be…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Cthulhu rises for Valentine’s Day

What happens when you discharge a 4,500 Volt capacitor into a bucket of copper sulfate? Apparently you raise the spirit of Cthulhu. He just happened to come back to us in the form of a tentacled ball of plasma. Copper sulfate (CuSO4), is a copper atom, a sulfur atom, and four oxygen atoms. Plasma happens…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How to use the “serial position effect” for fun and profit

Let’s say you want to try to sneak something past a person, but don’t want to take the rap for it if you’re caught. You need to make use of the serial position effect. The effect reveals how our memories can be tricked by listing items in a certain way. Put whatever it is that…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Physicists discover what a multiverse might really be like

It’s likely that you’ve seen video of ferrofluids doing things like growing spines when exposed to magnets, or being built up into sculptures by artists using magnetic fields. But what if they’re not just artistic triumphs? What if ferrofluids can act as models and let scientists learn about the multiverse? Researchers at The University of…

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Why Spanish Fly only works on men. And is deadly.

Spanish Fly is an aphrodisiac that you’ve probably heard of from frat house sex comedies of the 1980s. Supposedly it could be slipped into a drink to make ladies hot. It turns out it is not just a legend. This aphrodisiac does exist, but it only makes gentlemen (physically) hot. And it would also probably…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How the Streetlight Effect keeps scientists in the dark

It seems that streetlights make not only a way to be wrong a scientific phenomenon, but a handy metaphor for being wrong about science in general. The Streetlight Effect is a bias in scientific research that costs time, money, and occasionally, lives. The Streetlight Effect got its start as a joke. A police officer is…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The people who can turn streetlights off just by walking by

Ever had a streetlight go out, or come on, just as you walk under it? Most people have, and yet it’s so consistently seen as a strange and selective occurrence that it has earned its own name (Street Light Interference Syndrome), a group of people who claim to do it on cue, and an actual…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The most perfect sphere ever made tests Einstein’s theories

This is a refraction of an image of Einstein in the most perfect sphere ever made. The flaws on this quartz sphere are no bigger than forty atoms. It, and other spheres like it, have been sent to space to test out a couple of Einstein’s ideas. These near-perfect spheres are going to be sent…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Esther Inglis-Arkell

Everything’s coming up Speedy on Arrow

Why aren’t these streams of liquid merging?

The Rossiter-MacLaughlin Effect Can Actually Change the Color of Stars

The science of yeti footprints

The Forgotten Gadget That Powered The Industrial Revolution

How do you get someone to lose interest in their hobby? Pay them to do it

The guy who discovered the truth about tree rings

The mystery of the disappearing iridium

Why are black holes so bright?

Science makes rainbows dance to elevator music

Meteorite Explodes Over Russia, Hundreds Injured

How The Shapiro Time Delay Effect Proves Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

Arrow puts Bros before Moms

Cthulhu rises for Valentine’s Day

How to use the “serial position effect” for fun and profit

Physicists discover what a multiverse might really be like

Why Spanish Fly only works on men. And is deadly.

How the Streetlight Effect keeps scientists in the dark

The people who can turn streetlights off just by walking by

The most perfect sphere ever made tests Einstein’s theories

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

Artemis 2 Day 3: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Researchers Discover How to Add Psilocybin, DMT, and Other Psychedelics to Tobacco

Fake Videos Are Already Spreading After Two US Air Force Planes Go Down Near Iran

We’re Obsessed With the Meta Fits on These New Star Wars Toys

Behold These Breathtaking Views of Earth Captured by the Artemis 2 Astronauts

‘Chainsaw Man’ Briefly Returns in ‘Dandadan’

Meta Smart Glasses Can Now Track All the Food You Put Into Your Mouth

Here’s Who the Mysterious Main Characters Are in ‘Disclosure Day’

Rubin Observatory Spots Over 11,000 Asteroids in Record Haul

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

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life