Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

A “Cocktail Boat” Can Propel Itself Around Your Drink Using the Marangoni Effect

Yesterday we saw bugs using fluid dynamics to propel themselves around. It turns out that one scientist is turning that into a fun way to add alcohol to a drink. Here’s how to make a moving boat using the Marangoni Effect. You can observe the Marangoni Effect very easily if you have a dish, a…

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Scientists Discover That Proteins in Your Body Can Make Plutonium Glow

There’s bad news and there’s good news in this post. The bad news is proteins from your own body accidentally smuggle radioactive metals into you. The good news is that those proteins can make those materials glow. Do you know how the periodic table has that unconnected band of elements that kind of floats below…

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This is the First Time This Creature Has Been Seen in Over 30 Years

Allonautilus scrobiculatus is a species of nautilus that hasn’t made an appearance for over three decades. Take a look at how it compares to a more common species of nautilus, and learn how nautiluses are more isolated than you might think. Peter Ward, a biologist from the of the University of Washington, was baiting nautiluses…

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How Batman’s Butler Alfred Evolved from a Joke Character to a Total Badass

Bruce Wayne has always been a vigilante and billionaire. Since a vigilante needs a lot of help around the house and a billionaire has the money to buy that help, most Batman fans assume that Alfred was in the comics from the beginning. Maybe he wasn’t in that first issue back in 1939, but surely…

Books & Comics Esther Inglis-Arkell

Watch These Water Insects Engage in “Meniscus Climbing”

This wonderful video, “Life at the Interface,” shows how insects who live on the water make use of, or get tripped up by, fluid dynamics. You can see insects shoot up towards the edge of a container or fall helplessly into one another. Here’s a fun one! It shows you how bugs use fluid dynamics…

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What Can Make a Piece of Gold Turn Blue?

Believe it or not, when you suspend gold in water, it can turn a lilac-blue color. You just need the right amount of salt. And plasmons. See samples of this blue-gold liquid, and learn how a famously warm material can turn cool. Gold is frequently used as a way to add color. It’s used in…

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Here’s What “Mystery” Dramas Were Like 500 Years Ago

Everyone loves a good mystery. They even loved mysteries five hundred years ago. It’s just that, then, a “mystery” was nothing like the mysteries we devour today. Learn what the original mysteries were. Today a “mystery” could mean anything from a police procedural to one of those old-fashioned dramas in which sweet elderly English people…

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This Bird is the Highest Flier in the World. Guess How We Found That Out.

This is the Rüppell’s griffon vulture. It perches on cliffs in Africa, and has to travel a hundred miles at a time to get food. It manages this by going to high altitudes, which led some very unlikely people to make a scientific discovery. This vulture doesn’t have too many extraordinary features on the outside.…

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Wilson’s Bird of Paradise: Weird-Looking Bird or Weirdest-Looking Bird?

This is photograph is underselling how colorful Wilson’s Bird of Paradise is. This bird goes all out on the pigmentation, but pigment isn’t the only thing that’s producing color. What else is? Just as a hint, those aren’t blue feathers on its head. The only feathers on the head of Wilson’s Bird of Paradise are…

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This Book Will Make You Want a Banker’s Point of View of Game of Thrones

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, by Greg Steinmetz, is about Jacob Fugger, a man who never drew a sword, nailed up his theses on a church, or painted a picture, but still helped turn the Medieval era into the modern world. Learn how money, properly applied, changed everything. Whether you find this book is…

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Are We Going to Get a Whole New Theory of Gravity?

Have you ever heard of Le Sage gravity? It’s an attempt to come up with a mechanical explanation for why massive objects move towards each other. It’s three hundred years old, but some modern scientists think it might still be the best way to think about gravity. The Le Sage theory is sometimes called the…

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This Ordinary-Looking Chart Provided the First Proof of an Ocean Legend

This doesn’t look impressive, but it is. It’s an up-close look at data collected on New Year’s Day in 1995—and it’s the first official evidence we have to show that “rogue waves” really do exist. In the mid-1990s, Draupner E, an oil platform in the North Sea, was placed on a novel type of foundation.…

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This Experiment Suggests a Small Amount of Radiation Could Be Good For You

What happens when you trap 2000 fruit flies and expose them to a dose of 0.05 to 0.4 grays of radiation? You add another week to their lives—an,d considering they only live for two months, that’s saying something. The experiment on fruit flies was carried out at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, as…

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Acid Rain Was Discovered Way Earlier Than You Probably Think

When did people first know about the phenomenon now known as “acid rain”? Think of a date. Odds are, you’re off by at least a century. Robert Angus Smith was born in the early 1800s, and had two major interests: religion and chemistry. He spent his early school years studying to make a career as…

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Babies at a Banquet: The Longest and Most Influential Pediatric Food Experiment

In the 1920s, one pediatrician ran an “orphanage” like no other. It’s single purpose was a detailed, long-running, and bizarre experiment. Let babies figure out what they wanted to eat. Through much of the 1920s, Chicago was host to an experiment on children that is still being discussed today. At the time many women, especially…

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Why Certain Snakes Shimmer Like Rainbows

Of all the iridescent snakes in the world, the rainbow boa is the most famous, but the sunbeam snake, which we see above, is the most spectacular. The shimmer that they have comes from special structures called iridophores. Most of the time, you’ll see references to iridophores when reading about squids and other famous color-changers.…

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Slow-Mo Lets Us See How Hummingbirds Use Their Tongues Like Pumps

Hummingbirds are mysteriously efficient feeders—and in this video we finally see why. Not only are they precise fliers, they’re precise and creative lickers. Watch a hummingbird’s tongue at work. Hummingbirds have grooved tongues. These grooves made researchers think that the birds filled their tongues with nectar via capillary action—the same force that draws water up…

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How to Manipulate a Beaver

These river rodents are industrious workers and gifted engineers, but have some problematic instincts. These instincts make them very easy to manipulate with just a bit of sound equipment. In the 1960s, a biologist called Lars Wilsson took an interest in beavers. He studied some in the wild, but his most famous research involved capturing…

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How Did Scientists Discover the Neutrino When it Has No Charge and No Mass?

It’s the early 1950s, and people pretty much agree that a neutrino exists. No one has found it, and because it’s nearly massless and completley chargeless no one can figure out how to find it. Learn how two scientist finally managed it. The Paper Particle It was 1949 and the neutrino definitely existed on paper.…

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You’ve Heard About a Camera Obscura. What About a Camera Lucida?

A camera obscura and camera lucida work using different principles, but they both make use of mirrors to let us see the world in a different way. The camera lucida used to be a favorite tool of artists and amateur sketchers, because it lets people trace an image directly onto a page. The camera lucida…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Esther Inglis-Arkell

A “Cocktail Boat” Can Propel Itself Around Your Drink Using the Marangoni Effect

Scientists Discover That Proteins in Your Body Can Make Plutonium Glow

This is the First Time This Creature Has Been Seen in Over 30 Years

How Batman’s Butler Alfred Evolved from a Joke Character to a Total Badass

Watch These Water Insects Engage in “Meniscus Climbing”

What Can Make a Piece of Gold Turn Blue?

Here’s What “Mystery” Dramas Were Like 500 Years Ago

This Bird is the Highest Flier in the World. Guess How We Found That Out.

Wilson’s Bird of Paradise: Weird-Looking Bird or Weirdest-Looking Bird?

This Book Will Make You Want a Banker’s Point of View of Game of Thrones

Are We Going to Get a Whole New Theory of Gravity?

This Ordinary-Looking Chart Provided the First Proof of an Ocean Legend

This Experiment Suggests a Small Amount of Radiation Could Be Good For You

Acid Rain Was Discovered Way Earlier Than You Probably Think

Babies at a Banquet: The Longest and Most Influential Pediatric Food Experiment

Why Certain Snakes Shimmer Like Rainbows

Slow-Mo Lets Us See How Hummingbirds Use Their Tongues Like Pumps

How to Manipulate a Beaver

How Did Scientists Discover the Neutrino When it Has No Charge and No Mass?

You’ve Heard About a Camera Obscura. What About a Camera Lucida?

Calls to Regulate Smart Glasses Are Officially Deafening

Amazon Clears Out the Chefman Indoor Pizza Oven at 50% Off, Pizza Stone and Peel Included

‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Will Return for Season 2

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

Shark FlexStyle Air Styling System Holds at 31% Off While Dyson Airwrap Returns to Full Price After the Spring Sale

Sonos Ace ANC Headphones Quietly Drop Again to a New Low Right After the AirPods Max 2 Launch

Could Dave Filoni’s ‘Star Wars’ Cameo Have an Important Role in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’?

Amazon’s 50-Inch Smart Fire TV Is Still 40% Off After the Spring Sale, Price Could Jump Back Anytime

Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta Glasses Now on GlassesUSA With 50% Off Lens Upgrades, Get Vision AI Glasses for Less

This Windows 11 Pro Mini PC Shows Up at a Record Low on Amazon After the Spring Sale, No Need for a Tower Desktop

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

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?