Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

The Curveball Illusion Makes You Sure Your Computer is Pranking You

Look directly at the spinning disk and it will appear to fly straight. Look at the purple “fixation point” at the right, and the disk will keep sliding to the side. It is probably the eeriest thing you’ve seen today, and this paper will tell you why you haven’t really seen it. Like something coming…

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This Video Shows You Why Your Coffee Stain Forms a Ring

One of the more famous effects in physics is the Coffee Ring Effect. Leave a drop – or puddle – of coffee on any surface and you’ll come back to a dark ring of stain. This video shows you actual footage of your coffee particles making your coffee stain. If you want to know why…

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Sin City 2 Goes Straight to Hell

If you know Frank Miller’s oeuvre, you know that headline isn’t an insult. It is, however, a real departure from the tone of the last Sin City. How much you like the new movie will depend on what you actually want out of this story of vengeful hookers in murder town. What’s the Score? You…

Movies Esther Inglis-Arkell

Everything You Need To Know About Lemuria, The Lost Continent Of Lemurs

In 1858 a young zoologist, playing around with an idea, came up with a possible lost continent. This led to one of the longest and weirdest pseudoscience theories of all time, as Lemuria became a lost island of lemurs that had everything from sanskrit to sasquatch. This was thanks to Philip Lutley Sclater, who has…

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Did You Know There Are Tests For Sarcasm Detection?

And that was not a sarcastic question. If you’re feeling at all unsure about your ability to tell the difference between sarcasm and straightforward statements, learn all about the tests designed for just that. There are multiple conditions that can wipe out, or greatly diminish, a person’s ability to detect sarcasm. These include lesions on…

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Here’s Your Scientific Excuse to Drink a Beer This Evening

Want to get a beer on a Tuesday? Now you can blame your need to do a scientific experiment. First, though, you need to go to a bar and get a Guinness and some peanuts. And, what the hell, another Guinness. Now, stare into your beer. Resist the urge to stare at your fellow patrons,…

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The Physical Effect that Creates Tiny Electrical Storms in Your Body

Did you know that you can charge up a piece of ice like a battery? How about making tiny electric storms when a drop of water turns into a puff of steam? We’ll tell you about the little-known Thermodielectric Effect, and why it’s present everywhere, including your body. The Basics of Dielectrics To get this…

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Ancient Roman Tech Cache Shows How Horror Movies Would Really Play Out

Every few years, out comes a movie about scientists uncovering, in the ruins of a vanished civilization, an “ancient technology too powerful for mankind.” Turned out archaeologists already found it. But it didn’t quite play out like the horror movies. In 1961 Scotland, Professor Ian A. Richmond of Oxford University happened on a trove that…

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Poop Foam Causes Massive Explosions

As if anyone needed another reason to stay away from pig pens, pig farms have been exploding. The culprit is a highly-explosive form of gray mush that turns up, from time to time, in ditches full of pig poop. And this gray mush seems to be entirely new. Those of you whose closest encounters with…

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The First Angiogram Patient Nearly Died Of Terror

A coronary angiogram is a test for blockages in the heart’s blood vessels. It involves injected a considerable amount of dye into those vessels. The first such test was an accident; although the patient wasn’t in any physical danger, it’s a surprise he didn’t die of fear. If you’ve had serious heart trouble, it’s likely…

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Emmert’s Law Proves That Your Mind Forces You To See What It Expects

We see using our eyes, but we perceive using our brain. Both take the duty very seriously, and occasionally, there is a turf war. In cases of Emmert’s Law, the brain wins, and reality loses. It’s the brain that takes the shapes and colors that we see with our eyes and forms them into comprehensible…

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The Blob Was Based On A True Story

Well, maybe it’s better to say The Blob was based on a “true” story. No one got sucked into a garbage disposal like in the horror movie classic, but reportedly one policeman’s hands got sticky and that’s equally horrifying. Both the 1958 and 1988 Blob movies are “based” on a real incident that happened in…

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Surveys Can Make People Go Extreme

There are all kinds of reasons why people don’t tell the truth when asked questions. Sometimes they suddenly turn into fanatics. They hate, or love, anything. Here’s how you catch people when they go extreme, or when they try to just get along. We already know that people deliberately lie when given surveys on sex…

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The Schiller Effect Makes Stone Seem to Light Up Internally

This rock isn’t being lit from behind and it’s not see-through. It, like others, seems to light up internally. This internal glow baffled people for centuries, until a combination of physics and geology gave us a clue as to cause of the Schiller Effect. The Stones That Glow From the Inside The stone above is…

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Don’t Worry, It Will Almost Never Be As Bad As You Think

Apparently the idea that “the art of losing isn’t hard to master,” isn’t just a poetic conceit. Scientists doing studies on how people think they’ll feel after disaster have found that people have no idea how little it will affect them. Turns out we’re all going to be a lot less miserable than we expect.…

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Why People Who Feel Calm Experience Pathological Laughter and Crying

Here’s one of the eerier conditions out there. Pathological laughter and crying can cause patients to go into fits of laughter, or tears, out of the blue. The people who have it generally feel calm, but can’t physically restrain themselves in any way. Why? Exterior and Interior Emotions Pathological laughter and crying (PLC) has earned…

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Watch an Ice Cube Crack In Liquid Nitrogen

We’ve all heard ice crack in water, because the water is warmer than the ice. What if ice cubes were dropped in something colder than they are? Take a look at a slow-motion video of an ice cube being dropped in liquid nitrogen. Ice cracks up in water because its rigidity goes head-to-head with its…

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10 Classic Young Adult Novels That Would Make Amazing Movies

Fans have been waiting over 20 years for a movie version of Lois Lowry’s The Giver, and we’re finally getting one this weekend. But this isn’t the only classic novel that’s overdue for a movie adaptation. Here are 10 beloved YA novels that would make for incredible movies… and why they probably won’t get adapted.…

Books & Comics Esther Inglis-Arkell

Being the Boss Means Getting The (Second To) Last Cookie

Finally, there is an experiment that can fill me with ambition. A group of workers was given an insufficient cookie supply. (I know. Disgusting. It’s like a crummier version of the Stanford Prison Experiment.) And guess who got more than their share. In an experiment about power dynamics, researchers split students into groups of three…

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Proof That We Never Really Know a Bargain When We See One

We’ve all been taken in by “bargains” in a supermarket that sell us more stuff than we can possibly use by giving us a bargain price on bulk food. When it comes to real life issues, we do exactly the opposite. Offer us the bargain of a lifetime, and we just don’t take it. How…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Curveball Illusion Makes You Sure Your Computer is Pranking You

This Video Shows You Why Your Coffee Stain Forms a Ring

Sin City 2 Goes Straight to Hell

Everything You Need To Know About Lemuria, The Lost Continent Of Lemurs

Did You Know There Are Tests For Sarcasm Detection?

Here’s Your Scientific Excuse to Drink a Beer This Evening

The Physical Effect that Creates Tiny Electrical Storms in Your Body

Ancient Roman Tech Cache Shows How Horror Movies Would Really Play Out

Poop Foam Causes Massive Explosions

The First Angiogram Patient Nearly Died Of Terror

Emmert’s Law Proves That Your Mind Forces You To See What It Expects

The Blob Was Based On A True Story

Surveys Can Make People Go Extreme

The Schiller Effect Makes Stone Seem to Light Up Internally

Don’t Worry, It Will Almost Never Be As Bad As You Think

Why People Who Feel Calm Experience Pathological Laughter and Crying

Watch an Ice Cube Crack In Liquid Nitrogen

10 Classic Young Adult Novels That Would Make Amazing Movies

Being the Boss Means Getting The (Second To) Last Cookie

Proof That We Never Really Know a Bargain When We See One

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?