George Dvorsky, Author at Gizmodo

How We Died 200 Years Ago, Compared to How We Die Today

In honor of its 200th Anniversary, The New England Journal of Medicine has published a fascinating review of how our ideas about death, and the causes of death, have changed over the past 200 years. We no longer worry so much about dying from spontaneous combustion, or near-misses from cannonballs. Instead, our attention has shifted…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 25

Scientists twist light to transmit an astounding 2.5 terabits of information per second

Researchers in the United States and Israel have created infinite-capacity wireless vortex beams that can carry 2.5 terabits per second – that’s enough to transmit seven full Blu-ray movies every second. This may be the fastest wireless network ever created, a breakthrough that could revolutionize the development of faster wireless and fiber-optic networks. Scientists have…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 25

A Virtual Cabinet of Beautiful and Bizarre Medical Antiques

Dr. Laurie Slater’s Phisick.com was recently given an overhaul, and the results are stunning. The archive is a gorgeous repository of antique medical, surgical and dental instruments filled with pictures and insights into their use. Physick, which is a 16th century term for medicine, started with only a handful of objects used for teaching, but…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 25

Australians find a vampire-like mosquito that breeds and lurks beneath cities

As if blood-sucking insects weren’t nasty enough, Australian researchers have discovered an offshoot of the Culex molestus mosquito that has adapted to urban environments, breeding and lurking about in dark crevices and pipes found beneath cities. And unlike other mosquitoes, this one can lay its eggs before requiring its first blood feast. Most species of…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 25

Why are schizophrenics starting to respond better to placebos?

Studies of drugs that treat schizophrenia, what are also known as antipsychotics, are having fewer effects over time — and it’s not because these drugs are becoming any less effective. Rather it’s because patients are responding better to placebos – and it’s not immediately obvious why this is happening. Antipsychotics have been helping schizophrenics manage…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 22

Kepler scientists find freaky solar system that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before

NASA scientists working on the Kepler Mission have discovered an unprecedented solar system, in which two planets with vastly different densities and compositions are locked in a surprisingly close orbit around their star. The finding shows that there is much greater diversity in the composition of solar systems than we’d previously thought. Prior to our…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 22

Artificial finger brings us closer to prosthetic limbs with a sense of touch

A breakthrough in tactile sensor technology could pave the way for advanced prosthetics, that have a better sense of touch than regular human fingers. Researchers at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering have developed a robotic fingertip that can distinguish different materials by touch, a development that could not only lead to…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 22

Video of real-time cyber-attack alert system looks like your favorite cyberpunk movie

If you miss those great 1990s movies in which cyberspace runs amok, you’ll get a kick out of this video of a real-life system for monitoring cyber-attacks. The new DAEDALUS (Direct Alert Environment for Darknet And Livenet Unified Security) cyber-alert system has been in the making for several years, but now the developer has posted…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 22

Whoa, Mars might have as much water underground as Earth does

If you’re planning on helping to colonize Mars, you’ll be thrilled to hear that a recent analysis of Martian meteorites indicates that there may be more water on Mars than we previously thought — a lot more. Scientists now think that the amount of water that’s underground on Mars could rival that of Earth. The…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 22

Your preference for beer shows that you’re into casual sex — and other fun facts pulled from dating sites

Online dating sites are not only a boon for people looking to start relationships — they’re also proving to be extremely beneficial for people who like to crunch lots of data. Some psychologists and mathematicians are taking the copious amounts of information that you’re putting into these sites to get a better sense of our…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 21

Love activates the same region in the brain as drug addiction

Cynics of the world have long complained that love is an abstract concept, something conjured by poets and the hopelessly romantic. But the suggestion that love is a cultural invention is out of synch with the latest research. Neuroscientists working out of Concordia University in Canada appear to have shown that love and sexual desire…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 21

Scientists find a mass grave of extinct ‘mega-wombats’ in Australia

Paleontologists working in Queensland, Australia, have uncovered the biggest find yet of diprotodons, a pre-historic marsupial that’s also known as the “mega-wombat”. Scientists hope that the discovery of these 50 distinct skeletons may shed some light behind the reason for this species’ extinction. It was scientists from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane who uncovered the…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 21

The Curious Case of the Million Dollar Tyrannosaurus Skeleton That’s Been Seized by Homeland Security

This is one of the strangest arrest warrants we’ve heard about in quite some time: U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel signed a warrant on Tuesday authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to seize a Tyrannosaurus batarr skeleton from an art storage company. The seizure is part of an effort to get the bones back to…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 21

The Case Against Autonomous Killing Machines

Long a staple of science fiction, the notion of autonomous robots that can kill is starting to take root in the U.S. military. It’ll only be a matter of time before these “thinking” machines are unleashed on the battlefield — a prospect that’s not sitting well with people both inside and outside of the Pentagon.…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 21

The Technique that Silicon Valley Geeks are Using to Hack the Voices Inside Their Heads

Self-help schemes come and go, but a new framework has attracted the attention of a number of Silicon Valley techies — especially computer scientists and programmers. Called Internal Family Systems (IFS), it’s an integrated approach to individual psychotherapy that breaks conscious thoughts into individual, manageable parts that can be reprogrammed. And given its systematic methodology,…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 20

The War and Peace Nebula explodes with violent star creation

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a gorgeous new picture of the War and Peace Nebula, or what the cool kids call NGC 6357. It’s located 8,000 lightyears away in the constellation of Scorpius. By using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have been able to look at the detail of the nebula’s…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 20

Plants communicate with each other by using clicking sounds

It’s been known for a while that some plants are able to communicate with each other through chemical signaling — but new research published in Trends in Plant Science now suggests that plants not only respond to sounds as well, they can also talk to each other, by making “clicking” sounds. Plants like cabbage can…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 20

A Pill to Cure Your Pathological Rage?

Bruce Banner take note: Researchers at the University of Southern California and Italy have successfully identified a critical neurological factor in aggression. By studying overly hostile mice, they located a malfunctioning brain receptor — and by turning it off, they were able to calm the mice down. The discovery could have implications for people who…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 20

Belief in an angry God is the strongest predictor of a country’s crime rate

When it comes to predicting a country’s crime rate, sociologists typically look at such factors as income inequality and GDP. But new research suggests that a better place to look might be inside the religious beliefs of the population — or more accurately, their belief in Hell and the prospect of eternal damnation. Religion is…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 20

Decade-long apocalyptic game of Civilization II inspires some very cool fan fiction

Redditor Lycerius has been playing the same saved game of Civilization II for ten years, resulting in an awesomely dystopic swampy nuclear-irradiated wasteland in which war has raged relentlessly for a staggering 1,700 years. And now, inspired by this bizarre simulated world, a number of other Redditors have taken it upon themselves to write their…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 19

George Dvorsky

How We Died 200 Years Ago, Compared to How We Die Today

Scientists twist light to transmit an astounding 2.5 terabits of information per second

A Virtual Cabinet of Beautiful and Bizarre Medical Antiques

Australians find a vampire-like mosquito that breeds and lurks beneath cities

Why are schizophrenics starting to respond better to placebos?

Kepler scientists find freaky solar system that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before

Artificial finger brings us closer to prosthetic limbs with a sense of touch

Video of real-time cyber-attack alert system looks like your favorite cyberpunk movie

Whoa, Mars might have as much water underground as Earth does

Your preference for beer shows that you’re into casual sex — and other fun facts pulled from dating sites

Love activates the same region in the brain as drug addiction

Scientists find a mass grave of extinct ‘mega-wombats’ in Australia

The Curious Case of the Million Dollar Tyrannosaurus Skeleton That’s Been Seized by Homeland Security

The Case Against Autonomous Killing Machines

The Technique that Silicon Valley Geeks are Using to Hack the Voices Inside Their Heads

The War and Peace Nebula explodes with violent star creation

Plants communicate with each other by using clicking sounds

A Pill to Cure Your Pathological Rage?

Belief in an angry God is the strongest predictor of a country’s crime rate

Decade-long apocalyptic game of Civilization II inspires some very cool fan fiction

White House Is Reportedly Ready to Drop Its Anthropic Beef and Embrace the Spooky New Model

A Critical Ocean Current System May Be Unraveling Faster Than We Thought

Lana Del Rey Just Released the First Bond Theme We’ll Hear for Years

Tesla Wants a $50,000 Penalty for Anyone Who Tries to Resell Its Signature Model S and X

Google Wants to Put Gucci Smart Glasses on Your Face

Disneyland Makes Up for That Han Solo Situation With a Lovely Leia Look

The Cockroach of Dinosaurs Likely Survived Extinction Because of Its Big Wet Eggs

Why Fans Are Calling ‘Apocalypse Hotel’ the Real Anime of the Year

Spirit Airlines Could Liquidate by the End of the Week Due to Fuel Crisis

After 100 Years, Engineers Finally Discover Why Rubber Is So Tough

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

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?

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