Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

This Is The World’s Smelliest Chemical

Ever heard of thioacetone? If you live in Freiburg, Germany, you probably have. It takes a lot for people to forget a stink that once evacuated an entire city. A factory in Freiberg attempted to make thioacetone in 1889. Thioacetone is not easy to make — the compound (CH3)2CS stays liquid only at temperatures of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

There’s A Special Kind Of Wolf Spider That “Purrs”

Most spiders neither make nor receive airborne sounds. But there is one exception. A specific kind of wolf spider makes purring noises when seeking a mate. Find out what gets a female spider in the mood. According to the University of Cincinnati, spiders don’t have any physical structures that will let them hear airborne sounds,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

This Is What Made Your Cheese Yellow (For Way Longer Than You’d Think)

Studies have shown that most consumers taste with their eyes. We think a cheese tastes best when it’s a deep yellow or a vivid orange color. This plant influences what goes in your mouth, and it’s been doing that for longer than you’d imagine. The achiote tree grows in Central and South America. Its seeds…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Murdering Things With Laughing Gas Was A Proto-CSI Technique

Sir Humphry Davy learned quite a bit from experiment in which he exposed animals — including himself — to laughing gas. One of the things he learned was how to look at blood and determine a cause of death. (Usually that cause of death was exposure to Sir Humphry Davy.) Sir Humphry Davy was a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How The Soviet Union Tracked People With “Spy Dust”

The US started hearing about a substance that could be used to track the movements of any person who touches, or walks across, a contaminated surface. in 1963. It wasn’t until 1984 that they got a sample of the stuff. A defecting agent revealed that powder containing both luminol and a substance called nitrophenyl pentadien…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

How Does Aspirin Actually Work?

There was once a time when the cutting edge in pain relieving technology was a stick to bite down on. It was only when sticks ran short that people turned to pills. How do these work? When it comes to stopping pain, there are some pills that manage it by deadening the entire area. They…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Action Heroes We Love: Jack Ryan? But He’s Just An Analyst!

Hands down, my favorite action hero is Jack Ryan — stockbroker, CIA agent, president, and subject of many failed reboots. He’s the action hero who is at his best when he’s not actioning at all. And having Sean Connery in his film doesn’t hurt. Jack Ryan has had a long career in Hollywood, and spent…

Movies Esther Inglis-Arkell

What Was In This Mysterious “Cure” For Alcoholism?

The most famous medical man dedicated to treating alcoholism was Leslie Keeley, who operated the Keeley Institute and sold Keeley’s Gold Cure. When patients got the facility they were given a nice room, encouragement, and four shots of “gold bichloride” a day. There’s no such thing as gold bichloride. It’s natural that the rest of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Watch A Diamond Burn In Pure Oxygen

It takes a lot to make a diamond burn — but it can be done. Watch these people prank a Nobel Prize winner, while demonstrating that diamonds are made of carbon and can burn like carbon. You can’t get a diamond to burn under normal conditions, but scientists aren’t limited to normal conditions. And what’s…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Top 10 Prehistoric Mammals That Were Way Cooler Than Dinosaurs

As much as I’m looking forward to Jurassic Park, I will never quite forgive dinosaurs for the sin of being birdlike. How can I fear something that I eat in nugget form? Now prehistoric mammals — that’s where the action is. Here are the top 10 mammals that ruled more than any dinosaur ever. 10.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

You Will Not Believe The “Winner” Of The Arrow Finale

Last night’s Arrow was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. That’s saying something, considering the fact that I’ve seen every single previous episode of Arrow. But none of the previous episodes forced me re-think the very title of the show like the season 3 finale just did. The Flashback Finally Ends Let’s clear up the…

Television Esther Inglis-Arkell

Did You Know There Is Such A Thing As Gold Acid?

If you want to find out what’s unusual about chloroauric acid, look at the “Au” in the middle. It indicates that this is an acid made using gold. We’ll tell you why people make this acid, and how it can hurt you. Gold is tough to make into an acid because it’s tough to dissolve.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Behold The United States’ Fifty Cent Bill

What you’re seeing is called fractional currency. The federal government issued a number of fractional bills during the Civil War. Find out why, and take a look at the mini-bills. In November of 1861, the USS San Jacinto intercepted the RMS Trent. On board the Trent were two Confederate officials and one mail packet, all…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

What Psychological Problems Do You Need To Be An Action Hero?

You’re a cop on the edge, an ex-marine with nothing left to lose, or just an everyday guy who’s too old for this shit. Whatever you are, the one thing you’re not is psychologically healthy. In fact, in order to be an action hero, you basically need to be maladjusted in these very specific ways.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Maybe Our Ancestors Knew The Real Secret Of A Good Night’s Sleep

I have a friend who says three in the morning is the time we all spend laying awake, staring at darkness, and thinking about all the mistakes we’ve made in our lives. Everyone reading this knows that she’s right. But it doesn’t need to be this way. We could use this time productively, the way…

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Here’s A Video Of A Catheter Going From Someone’s Thigh To Their Eye

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Here’s a video of a catheter, placed in a femoral artery, going up to a person’s eye. Again, oh my god. There’s an actual reason for this. Retinoblastoma is cancer of the retina, the layer of light-sensing cells at the back of the eye. Fortunately, the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Surefire Guide To Getting Famous… In Only 300 Years!

You can be famous. You don’t need any skills. You don’t need to do any good deeds (in fact, the more self-involved you are, the better). You only have to be patient and have a tolerance for being surrounded by crap. Take our advice, and start off on the multi-century road to fame. Top Image:…

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This Gemstone Is Two Different Colors At Once

Don’t worry. This isn’t a repeat of Dressgate, nor is it a matter of perception. Iolite, or cordierite, really does change color depending on where the light is coming from. Find out why. Iolite is the gem-quality version of cordierite. It’s relatively cheap and found all over the place. It can be either a beautiful…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Improve Your Monday By Learning About The Adorable Bush Dog

I generally like my animals to be macabre, but look at those faces! That is the bush dog, one of the few canids indigenous to rainforests. Learn about these adorable little guys and their adorable little societies. Bush dogs are the Smurfs of the rainforest. They live in peaceful, egalitarian communities that share labor and…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

A Blow To The Back Of Your Head Can Shatter The Front Of Your Skull

A blow to the back of the head is dangerous enough, but when doctors have examined such head injuries, they’ve found a strange phenomenon. A hit to the back of the head cause breaks in the front of the skull. It’s called a contrecoup injuries, although it usually refers to brain injuries. But it’s the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Esther Inglis-Arkell

This Is The World’s Smelliest Chemical

There’s A Special Kind Of Wolf Spider That “Purrs”

This Is What Made Your Cheese Yellow (For Way Longer Than You’d Think)

Murdering Things With Laughing Gas Was A Proto-CSI Technique

How The Soviet Union Tracked People With “Spy Dust”

How Does Aspirin Actually Work?

Action Heroes We Love: Jack Ryan? But He’s Just An Analyst!

What Was In This Mysterious “Cure” For Alcoholism?

Watch A Diamond Burn In Pure Oxygen

Top 10 Prehistoric Mammals That Were Way Cooler Than Dinosaurs

You Will Not Believe The “Winner” Of The Arrow Finale

Did You Know There Is Such A Thing As Gold Acid?

Behold The United States’ Fifty Cent Bill

What Psychological Problems Do You Need To Be An Action Hero?

Maybe Our Ancestors Knew The Real Secret Of A Good Night’s Sleep

Here’s A Video Of A Catheter Going From Someone’s Thigh To Their Eye

The Surefire Guide To Getting Famous… In Only 300 Years!

This Gemstone Is Two Different Colors At Once

Improve Your Monday By Learning About The Adorable Bush Dog

A Blow To The Back Of Your Head Can Shatter The Front Of Your Skull

Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Humanity’s Epic Return to the Moon 🔴

NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission Blasts Off

Disney’s Robot Olaf Dying Is the Funniest Thing to Happen in 2026

Kia’s EV3 Is Headed to the US This Year With Up to 320 Miles of Range

This Is the Way to Lego’s April Releases

Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

Amazon Facilities in Bahrain Hit Again as Iran Follows Through on Threat, Report Says

Why the PS6 Handheld Will Matter More Than the PS6

DNA Study Casts Even More Doubt on Shroud of Turin’s True Origin

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?