Katharine Trendacosta, Author at Gizmodo

This Solar Flare Image Is Beautiful In Its Simplicity

A solar flare peaked at 7:28 p.m. EST on December 19, and the NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught this image of it. It was classified as X1.8-class. X-classes are the most intense flares, with an X-2 being twice as strong as an X-1. Image: NASA/SDO

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Science Shows Why Reindeer Are Perfect Sleigh Pullers

On the latest episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart, host Joe Hanson delves into the science behind a number of Christmas-related science quandaries. Including: Why do the lights always tangle? What’s makes reindeers noses red? And what could let Santa visit every child in one night? [via Tastefully Offensive]

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

First Glimpses Of Some Returning Favorites In Game Of Thrones Season 5

There’s a wild rumor about Marvel’s plan to replace Tony Stark as Iron Man. New artwork gives a better look at some key Star Wars characters. Find out how Gotham will explore the backstory of Robin’s family, and how Agents of SHIELD will reveal May’s past. Check out a ton of Kingsman featurettes. Spoilers now!…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Stop Picking On Crows: Study Reveals the Birds Aren’t Evil Predators

We are huge fans of crows here, and now a new meta-analysis of 42 studies reveals that corvids don’t have a negative impact on prey species. So South Africa’s campaign to poison crows appears to be misguided. Image: Crow (disambiguation) by Kevin Cole/flickr/CC By 2.0 Dr. Arjun Amar, an ornithologist at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

An Unusually Strong Winter Storm Produced Beautiful Ice Formations

This is just one of a series of photos taken by Marko Korošec of Mount Javornik, part of a mountain range in eastern Slovenia. Ten days of snow, high winds, and freezing fog produced layers of rime ice over everything up the mountain, including 3-foot ice spikes. See the rest of Korošec’s photos on his…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Star Trek‘s New Director Is Fast and Furious’ Justin Lin

Deadline‘s reporting (and The Hollywood Reporter’s confirmed) that Paramount’s found its replacement for Roberto Orci: Justin Lin, best known for a bunch of the Fast and Furious movies. Oh, and Community’s “Modern Warfare.” Lin’s name was on the list of five candidates that emerged after rumors that Edgar Wright was being eyed died down. He…

Movies Katharine Trendacosta

Legend of Korra Creators Confirm that Korrasami Is Canon

Both Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko took to the Internet today to make clear what, exactly, the relationship between Korra and Asami ended up becoming. Now it’s official: whatever ambiguity could has been read in the finale of Legend of Korra, the intention was that the two ended the show in romantic, not platonic,…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

What Shocking Event Forces Ant-Man To Join The Avengers?

Check out what appears to be our first glimpse of Chewbacca’s look in The Force Awakens. Yet another character is supposedly in the running to appear in Suicide Squad. Bruce Campbell spills the details on the Evil Dead TV series. And did Clark Gregg just hint at an Avenger cameo in Agents of SHIELD? Spoilers…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Rare Behind-the-Scenes Footage of Star Wars: Episode IV

Eyes On Cinema recently uploaded this nearly-six-minute video of soundless footage from filming in 1976. As the footage shows George Lucas, Mark Hamill, and Garrick Hagon (Biggs Darklighter) on the Tatooine set, it’s not only set footage, it’s set footage of a scene that got cut. https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-deleted-scenes-reveal-the-utter-disaster-that-1663817712 [via Slashfilm]

Movies Katharine Trendacosta

On The Librarians, Bruce Campbell Is the BEST SANTA EVER

There are Christmas-themed episodes that are saccharine affairs from start to finish (usually, they rip off It’s a Wonderful Life in some way) and then there are glorious holiday romps that are absurd and fun all the way through. This episode of The Librarians was the latter. Bruce Campbell as Santa Claus! THIS IS EVERYTHING.…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Do Not Taunt the Girls With Animals In Their Hair

The latest trend in magical hairstyles is a pack of animals rather than the usual hair follicles. You are never alone when you have animals for hair! This is a series of truly excellent works by Reimena Ashel Yee, and the rest of them are below. You can buy “A Sloth of Bears” as a…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Modern Technology Brings Ancient Greek Vases to Life

Panoply is a project that combines the animation talents of Steve K. Simons and the ancient Greek history expertise Sonya Nevin to produce beautiful animations of the scenes on artifact vases. Above is their version of the Pandora myth, developed from a circa 450BCE vase of a woman holding a casket and the descriptions of…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Ex Machina‘s Version Of The Turing Test Has A Lot Of Willy Wonka In It

Director Alex Garland’s debut film, Ex Machina, follows the story of a computer coder named Caleb who, Golden Ticket-style, wins a week in the mountain house of the CEO of the company he works for. Only instead of getting the company, Caleb gets to participate in an experiment testing the capabilities of the CEO’s pet…

Movies Katharine Trendacosta

The Most Worrying Rumor Yet About Star Trek 3‘s Director Change!

A casting call sheds a surprising light on Batman v. Superman’s take on Bruce Wayne. Andy Serkis debunks a bunch of rumors about his Star Wars role. Evangeline Lilly says some intriguing things about Ant-Man, and there’s a look at Jessica Chastain in Crimson Peak. Plus the first look at Neil Patrick Harris in American…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Sony’s Letting Robert Rodrgiuez Finally Make Fire and Ice

Sony’s just completed a deal that brings Robert Rodriguez’s dream project — a live action version of Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice — to the big screen. This is passion project for Rodriguez, who has been trying to make this homage to his friend for years. And it looks like it will finally happen. Image:…

Movies Katharine Trendacosta

Christoph Waltz Explains the Joys of Krampus to a Befuddled Jimmy Fallon

We love Krampus, the dark side of Santa, who punishes the naughty while Santa rewards the nice. But not everyone is aware of this Germanic folktale, leaving Christoph Waltz to act as an ambassador for the creature. He’s right: the Elf on a Shelf just does not compare. [via Laughing Squid]

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Two Different Satellites Take Two Different Pictures of the Same Galaxy

What a difference a wavelength makes: On the left is the M82 Galaxy as seen in the visible light spectrum, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope — and the image we most associate with that galaxy. On the right is an x-ray image of the same galaxy, taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Image credit:…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Mark Wahlberg’ll Be Back For More Transformers Films. And Soon.

Contrary to earlier rumors that Mark Wahlberg’s first appearance in the Transformers franchise, Wahlberg himself has said that he’s contracted for a “couple” more and that he expects to be back on the set “soon.” From Wahlberg’s comments, it’s pretty clear that the studio’s done some movement on the Transformers front. Speaking to MTV, Wahlberg…

Movies Katharine Trendacosta

Steven Moffat Says 2 Major Characters Could Still Return To Doctor Who

Joss Whedon hints at some hinky stuff in store for Hawkeye and the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Peter Jackson feels like he could always return to Middle Earth, if given the chance. And Jeremy Irons explains why he took the role of Alfred in Batman v. Superman. Spoilers now! Top image: Doctor Who…

Television Katharine Trendacosta

Video Games Make Surprisingly Beautiful Pulp Novels

From artist Ástor Alexander come these video game-inspired pulp covers: Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. My favorite is the Mario one, mostly because I imagine that it’s a series, and every book ends with Mario heading to another castle. Alexander’s also done this beautiful cover based on Bioshock Infinite: And here are…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

Katharine Trendacosta

This Solar Flare Image Is Beautiful In Its Simplicity

Science Shows Why Reindeer Are Perfect Sleigh Pullers

First Glimpses Of Some Returning Favorites In Game Of Thrones Season 5

Stop Picking On Crows: Study Reveals the Birds Aren’t Evil Predators

An Unusually Strong Winter Storm Produced Beautiful Ice Formations

Star Trek‘s New Director Is Fast and Furious’ Justin Lin

Legend of Korra Creators Confirm that Korrasami Is Canon

What Shocking Event Forces Ant-Man To Join The Avengers?

Rare Behind-the-Scenes Footage of Star Wars: Episode IV

On The Librarians, Bruce Campbell Is the BEST SANTA EVER

Do Not Taunt the Girls With Animals In Their Hair

Modern Technology Brings Ancient Greek Vases to Life

Ex Machina‘s Version Of The Turing Test Has A Lot Of Willy Wonka In It

The Most Worrying Rumor Yet About Star Trek 3‘s Director Change!

Sony’s Letting Robert Rodrgiuez Finally Make Fire and Ice

Christoph Waltz Explains the Joys of Krampus to a Befuddled Jimmy Fallon

Two Different Satellites Take Two Different Pictures of the Same Galaxy

Mark Wahlberg’ll Be Back For More Transformers Films. And Soon.

Steven Moffat Says 2 Major Characters Could Still Return To Doctor Who

Video Games Make Surprisingly Beautiful Pulp Novels

Toshiba’s 65-inch Smart Fire TV Now Matches 43-Inch Pricing After 44% Drop on Amazon

Kash Patel’s Email Account Hacked, Iran-Linked Group Takes Credit

Repair Workers Accidentally Stumble Upon Lost Remains of Legendary ‘Fourth Musketeer’

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum Mop Drops 20% Shortly After Launch in the Spring Cleaning Sale

Darth Maul’s Legs, Ranked

April Set to Unleash Some Wild Weather Across Parts of the US, Meteorologists Warn

Scientists Create ‘Living Pharmacy’ Implant That Doses 3 Drugs at Once

Dyson Supersonic Nural Hair Dryer Cuts Into Its Premium Price Tag in the Spring Sale, Bid Frequent Salon Visits Goodbye

I Wouldn’t Plan on Wearing Smart Glasses to Court Anytime Soon

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Comes Down $130 Amid a 2025 Smartwatch Lineup Clearout on Amazon

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?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees