George Dvorsky, Author at Gizmodo

A guy in a Darth Vader suit may have run the hottest mile EVER

This past June 30th, as part of the Darth Valley Challenge — an insane annual event where people run through Death Valley in their favorite Star Wars costume — Jonathan Rice ran a mile in 6 minutes and 36 seconds. It was 129 degrees at the time, so that might actually be a world record!…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 3

New trailer for In Saturn’s Rings is guaranteed to give you goosebumps

South African filmmaker Stephen van Vuuren is currently working on an IMAX production called In Saturn’s Rings in which he’s stitched, processed, and animated over a million images to give viewers a remarkable sense of motion and full immersion. The result can only be described as spectacular. Van Vurren’s not-for-profit project, formerly known as Outside…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 2

Human head transplants? Neurosurgeon says ‘we have the technology’

An Italian neuroscientist says that human head transplants are possible using currently available medical techniques. And he’s setting up a project to prove it. Dr. Sergio Canavero, who works for the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, published his proposal in the medical journal Surgical Neurology International —and he’s calling it the “Head Anastomois Venture,” or HEAVEN…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 2

In the future, our food will come alive and interact with us

Food is so boring. It just sits there, waiting to be eaten. But what if it could writhe around and interact with us, prior to being devoured? This is the dream of bio-artist Minsu Kim, who envisions the day when our food comes alive. The food in the above video is not real, but it’s…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 2

Red Dwarfs Could Host 60 billion Habitable Planets in the Milky Way

A new study has effectively doubled the estimated number of life-friendly planets in orbit around red dwarfs. And remarkably, the astronomers attribute the revised figure to the presence of clouds. Top illustration by Lynette Cook. We know there’s a crap-ton of terrestrial planets in the Milky Way, many of them spinning around red dwarfs —…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 2

Watch as this Russian rocket takes a fateful nosedive [Updated!]

Earlier today, a Russian Proton-M rocket failed less than a minute after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, returning to the Earth completely aflame. A Russian newsfeed captured the entire ill-fated journey — including the massive fireball explosion. No casualties were reported, but a toxic cloud is moving towards the nearby city of Baikonur.…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 2

A pristine ‘temple of the dead’ has been uncovered in Peru

A massive royal Wari tomb has been unearthed in Peru — and it’s full of mummies and artifacts made of silver and gold. Remarkably, the 1,200 year-old site has never been touched by looters, which is a rarity as far as these things go. Above image: A pair of heavy gold-and-silver ear ornaments featuring a…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 28

The shockwave from the Chelyabinsk meteor circled the Earth — twice!

You know an explosion is powerful when an explosion requires a team of researchers who normally look for illicit nuclear bomb tests shift to study it. And yes, the group’s results show that the Russian meteor created a big boom indeed. Looking to understand more about the February 15 Chelyabinsk asteroid explosion, a research team…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 28

A Test to Measure How Rational You Really Are

Standard IQ tests are problematic on many levels — not least, because they do very little to tell us about the quality of our thinking. Looking to overcome this oversight, psychologist Keith Stanovich has started to work on the first-ever Rationality Quotient test. We spoke to him to learn more. Keith E. Stanovich is Professor…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 28

New Insights Emerge About Voyager 1’s Epic Journey to the Edge

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered into a turbulent and dynamic region of space that’s once again resetting our notions of what’s out there at the edge of the solar system. Late last year the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered into the so-called magnetic highway, and now we’re learning a bit more about this surprisingly dynamic…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 28

U.S. feds make their first-ever Bitcoin seizure

It may be the currency of the future, but it now appears that Bitcoin is not immune to the U.S. government’s prying eyes and hands — especially when it’s being used to fuel black market activities. A few days ago, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency announced that it had seized 11.02 bitcons (~USD$814.22) from South…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 28

Planets can form and survive in insanely dense star clusters

Could you imagine a view of the night sky that looks like this? It’s a star cluster — a region of space in which as many as 10,000 stars are jam-packed to within a few light years of each other. Now, evidence shows that even these areas can give rise to planets, implying that someone…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 27

Proposed ‘deflector shield’ could protect astronauts from radiation

As if Star Trek didn’t already provide enough futuristic inspiration, scientists from the UK are working on an actual deflector shield that could protect astronauts from dangerous levels of radiation. And it would work in a way that’s very similar to how we’re protected right here on Earth. https://gizmodo.com/how-nasa-might-build-its-very-first-warp-drive-5963263 https://gizmodo.com/nasa-shows-off-a-prototype-of-its-new-xenon-ion-engine-510277963 It’s well known that a…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 27

Scientists Clone a Mouse From a Single Drop of Blood

Japanese researchers have successfully cloned a mouse from a drop of blood taken from a donor’s tail. The breakthrough means that animals don’t have to be euthanized when extracting their cells, which could prove important if we’re ever going to clone endangered animals. Typically, somatic nuclear cell transfer — the same technique used to clone…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 27

Would it be evil to build a functional brain inside a computer?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about using supercomputers to simulate the human brain. But as scientists get progressively closer to achieving this goal, they’re going to have to consider the ethics involved. By making minds that live inside machines, we run the risk of inflicting serious harm. https://gizmodo.com/new-1-6-billion-supercomputer-project-will-attempt-to-5980117 Brain mapping is all the…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 27

How to move a 17-ton particle physics experiment 3,200 miles

The sign on that truck is stating the blazingly obvious as it pulls the 50-foot long Muon g-2 electromagnet along its convoluted journey from Long Island to Chicago. Once installed at Fermilab, the device will help scientists measure the internal magnetic workings of the mysterious muon particle. Muons are subatomic particles that have a ridiculously…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 27

A project to build a robot with the intelligence of a three year-old

Hanson Robotics has launched a new Indigogo campaign to create “the world’s smartest robot.” Named Adam Z1, the robot will eventually be able to speak, play with toys, draw pictures, and respond with emotions. And the project is no joke. Robot designer and researcher David Hanson has pooled together three other experts in this area,…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 26

New evidence that humans developed big brains to cope with society

For the past several decades, scientists have been fascinated by the “social brain theory” — the idea that certain animals evolved big, powerful brains to cope with the complexities of social life. A new computer simulation has now shown that this assertion is likely correct. Our bulbous brains require a lot of energy to function.…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 26

Previously unseen photos show a harrowing assault during Vietnam War

Back in 1970, a Viet Cong sniper began shooting at a U.S. Army camp. Unsure of his location, the troops unleashed a barrage of fire that turned the hillside into a veritable hellstorm. Now, four decades later, Vietnam War veteran and photographer James Hensinger has released the incredible images he took that night. All images:…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 26

This giant blob was found floating off the coast of Cuba

Earlier this month, a human-sized pinkish blob was discovered floating near the surface of the Caribbean. The Cuban divers who found the thing had no clue what it was. Their photos eventually reached the hands of a marine biologist at Brown University — and she thinks she knows what it is. It wasn’t easy, but…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 26

George Dvorsky

A guy in a Darth Vader suit may have run the hottest mile EVER

New trailer for In Saturn’s Rings is guaranteed to give you goosebumps

Human head transplants? Neurosurgeon says ‘we have the technology’

In the future, our food will come alive and interact with us

Red Dwarfs Could Host 60 billion Habitable Planets in the Milky Way

Watch as this Russian rocket takes a fateful nosedive [Updated!]

A pristine ‘temple of the dead’ has been uncovered in Peru

The shockwave from the Chelyabinsk meteor circled the Earth — twice!

A Test to Measure How Rational You Really Are

New Insights Emerge About Voyager 1’s Epic Journey to the Edge

U.S. feds make their first-ever Bitcoin seizure

Planets can form and survive in insanely dense star clusters

Proposed ‘deflector shield’ could protect astronauts from radiation

Scientists Clone a Mouse From a Single Drop of Blood

Would it be evil to build a functional brain inside a computer?

How to move a 17-ton particle physics experiment 3,200 miles

A project to build a robot with the intelligence of a three year-old

New evidence that humans developed big brains to cope with society

Previously unseen photos show a harrowing assault during Vietnam War

This giant blob was found floating off the coast of Cuba

FCC Exempts Netgear from Foreign-Made Router Ban for Some Reason

Jamie Dornan Is Your New Aragorn in ‘The Hunt for Gollum’

Trump’s Fed Pick Is Knee Deep in Tech and Crypto Investments

The First Trailer for ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Takes Terror Stateside

The Trump Phone Still Looks Like Total Trash

‘Masters of the Universe’ Really, Really Wants to Be the Next ‘Barbie’

Samsung’s Micro RGB TVs Provide So Much Color It May Be Too Much

The Crypto Bros Want to Get Their Hands on Anthropic’s ‘Super Dangerous’ Model

This Is What a Music Industry ‘Plant’ Looks Like in 2026

As Starship V3 Lags Behind, Blue Origin Prepares Third Launch of New Glenn

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

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

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

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