Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

The Physics of Kazoos

Find out how kazoos work, how they might be considered a body modification, and the horrifying way spiders are involved in their history. Most people know kazoos as the cheap plastic party favors which: 1. Break very quickly, but, 2. Not nearly quickly enough. To my parent’s great relief, as a child I could never…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 5

Ten Unbelievably Strange Units of Measurement

Not everything can be measured in meters, seconds, or the size of a breadbox. Sometimes, to quantify something, extreme and silly steps have to be taken. Find out how big Siberia is, and how long a beard grows in a second. 10. The France Russians have a difficult time describing just how massively big their…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 5

Sunglasses that let people hear the sights

Sometimes life is just too cool. Here are a smartphone and some earbuds that take information from a webcam attached to a pair of sunglasses and allow blind people to ‘see.’ Mass market implants that allow blind people to see directly are still some time away, although there is an individual who has an artificial…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 5

The Menger Sponge literally straddles the line between different dimensions

A particular fractal, called Menger’s Sponge, is all about surface appearances. It’s a purely theoretical shape that has infinite surface area and no volume whatsoever. And because of that, it doesn’t occupy three dimensions. Or two. It manages to exist in fractional dimensions. Almost everyone played with wooden building blocks at some point as a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 5

A test for multiple universes finds four . . . maybe

Multiple universes are accessed, in fiction, through portals in space or mystical necklaces or sometimes just in dreams, but always when characters break the rules of space time. In reality, alternate universes are not in other dimensions. They’re just far, far away. And the reason they are alternate universes is that they can’t be reached…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 4

Putting a stake in the heart of our astronomical Nemesis

There’s a popular theory about the comets that wiped out the dinosaurs and caused other cyclical mass extinctions on Earth: they might be under the gravitational control of a star called Nemesis. A new study shows that the entire idea may be a fantasy. If there’s ever an example designed to shows that PR works,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 4

This rat uses plant poison to make weapons that kill lions

The African Crested Rat has figured out a way to kill off the jackals and lions who try to prey on it. This little critter is 21 inches from head to tail, but no one and nothing can afford to take a bite out of it. Between its specially adapted physiology and peculiar behavior, this…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 4

The Sordid Secrets of Invisible Ink

People have always wanted to communicate privately. There once was a time when regular ink was secret enough, because not much of the world knew how to read. Then literacy ruined it for everyone, and drastic steps had to be taken. Enter invisible ink, the way to keep what was written secret, sometimes by unsavory…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 3

Scientists show that Peter Pan grows up with a shot of iodine

Axolotls are most well-known for their remarkable ability to re-grow amputated limbs. Their regenerative abilities come with eternal youth – that can be ended with a bit of iodine. Axolotls are small amphibians, that can be found – with increasing difficulty – in lakes in Mexico. Their name comes from the Aztec language of Nahuatl,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 2

Coin tosses don’t really give you fifty-fifty odds

The coin toss, the great equalizer of all odds, is not as random as it seems. When flipped by a human being, the odds are slightly stacked towards one side. One famous Futurama episode showed a universe where everything is the same, except the result of each coin toss. If a tossed coin came up…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 1

How to use dice to stop people from lying on surveys

Whenever we turn on the news, we’re treated to statistics about things there seem to be no way of verifying. How many people has the average person slept with? How many crimes has the average person committed? The numbers quoted are often the result of surveys. In a survey, there’s nothing to keep people honest,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 30

Why no one hears the ocean in a sea shell

They also don’t hear the blood going through their veins, although that is a popular misconception. What is it exactly that causes the roaring sound when the shell gets close to your ear? Children are told many ridiculous things over the course of their slow slog towards adulthood. Many of those things, they believe, until…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 29

The Birthday Paradox

How many people need to be crowded into a room before two of them are likely to have the same birthday? The answer is a mere 23 to have a fifty-fifty shot. To bring the probability to ninety-nine percent, you need a crowd of only fifty-seven people. And yet there are three hundred and sixty-five…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 29

Ten Delightfully Weird Museums

Most of us spent some chunk of our formative years in one museum or another. Scifi addicts are no strangers to the pleasures of accumulation, organization, and presentation of knowledge (not to mention obsessive collections of stuff). Sometimes that knowledge is of a broad subject which is well-regarded. Sometimes it’s a little more niche-oriented. Have…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 29

How your immune system fires off electrons to repair DNA damage

Scientists have found out how a famous sunburn-healing enzyme works. The way it zaps DNA damage sounds so science fictional that it seems like something that happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Sunburn does a lot of damage to skin. Sometimes the skin is just roughened or splotched. Sometimes the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 29

Look at the data stored on your credit card magstripe using flakes of rust

Sometimes, you want to feel like a secret agent. You don’t actually want to be one, since that involves danger (and probably having to run a lot and get up early in the morning), but you want to feel like one. Here’s a super-sneaky way to ‘read’ a credit card. To begin your brush with…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 28

Perfecting chaos radar

We are quickly perfecting devices that can see behind walls. The latest incarnation of this superspy tech uses radio waves and simulated chaos to pinpoint objects that can’t be seen. Radar has been, for quite some time, a good way to see things that aren’t in view. The waves are durable and large, letting them…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 28

Use epigenetics to place a long-lasting curse on your enemy’s family

There was once a time when witches could place a curse not only on their enemy, but on their enemy’s sons and daughters, stretching on into eternity. Then came the era of science, when what happened to people was a combination of chance, determination, and genetics, and no family curses could touch the young. But…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 27

New experiment shows that time travel is even less likely than we thought

A recent experiment stomps on the dreams of many theoretical physicists, hopeful children, and Star Trek IV fans. After a series of tests that suggested we might discover a theoretical form of time travel, scientists hit a brick wall. Or they had hit a brick wall. Or perhaps they will. Tough to get time travel…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 27

How to tell the difference between finger scans from the living and the dead

There was once a time when, upon the discovery of a chewed-on corpse in a secure underground military bunker, it was impossible to determine whether responders were dealing with a regular sociopath or a full-scale zombie invasion. Those dark times have ended. Scientists can now tell the difference between a fingerprint made by a living…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 26

Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Physics of Kazoos

Ten Unbelievably Strange Units of Measurement

Sunglasses that let people hear the sights

The Menger Sponge literally straddles the line between different dimensions

A test for multiple universes finds four . . . maybe

Putting a stake in the heart of our astronomical Nemesis

This rat uses plant poison to make weapons that kill lions

The Sordid Secrets of Invisible Ink

Scientists show that Peter Pan grows up with a shot of iodine

Coin tosses don’t really give you fifty-fifty odds

How to use dice to stop people from lying on surveys

Why no one hears the ocean in a sea shell

The Birthday Paradox

Ten Delightfully Weird Museums

How your immune system fires off electrons to repair DNA damage

Look at the data stored on your credit card magstripe using flakes of rust

Perfecting chaos radar

Use epigenetics to place a long-lasting curse on your enemy’s family

New experiment shows that time travel is even less likely than we thought

How to tell the difference between finger scans from the living and the dead

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

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