Keith Veronese, Author at Gizmodo

This Is Lunarcrete, a Building Block for Moon Colonies

So, you are on the moon and need to build a new structure. As one of the first lucky colonists there, what are you going to use? Lunarcrete of course. Lunarcrete is a mixture similar to concrete that could be created using the loose layer of dust and rock covering the surface of the moon.…

io9 Keith Veronese May 16

A 73-Year-Old Man Tried to Assassinate JFK with a Buick Full of Dynamite

Weeks after John Fitzgerald Kennedy beat Richard Nixon in the 1960 United States presidential election, an elderly man nearly killed the President-Elect. Richard Pavlick, a disturbed man with anti-Catholic sentiments, packed his car and traveled from New Hampshire to Florida with one goal in mind – the death of President-Elect Kennedy. Pavlick’s brute force plan…

io9 Keith Veronese May 15

The birth of Scantrons, the bane of standardized testing

A series of one thousand ovals oriented on a delicate sheet of paper, often coming along with a 25-30 page test booklet full of multiple choice and devilish K-Type questions. Even if it’s been a decade since you darkened a classroom, a Scantron sheet can send chills up your spine. Scantron sheets grew in popularity…

io9 Keith Veronese May 13

Hawkman starts a fight club, and Nick Fury outs an Avenger as a Skrull!

What cartoon clips are on deck this Saturday morning? Shapeshifters and identity theft are definitely the theme of this week’s batch of cartoons — Skrulls invade the Avengers, and a bear tries to assume Finn’s identity on Adventure Time. Also, the Iacon City relic saga continues on Transformers:Prime, as well as the pro-bending championships arc…

io9 Keith Veronese May 12

Could Helium-3 really solve Earth’s energy problems?

If you watched the movie Moon, you remember Helium-3 as the substance Sam Bell was sending back to Earth, during his onerous three year tenure on the Sarang lunar base. Helium-3 is not a piece of science fiction, but an isotope of helium that really could provide for all of our energy needs in the…

io9 Keith Veronese May 11

During World War II, Japan plotted to unleash a plague on the United States

Japan’s Unit 731 is one of the best kept and most horrifying secrets of World War II. Unit 731 experimented on Japanese and Chinese civilians as well as Russian and American POWs during the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s and throughout World War II. Led by the enigmatic Dr. Shiro Ishii, Unit 731 committed…

io9 Keith Veronese May 10

Which data storage method will be the next to die?

The world is full of weird and obsolete old data storage forms, and they’re a huge problem for archivists and libraries. The changing types of data storage are a particularly large thorn in the side of libraries catering to the preservation of the written word in the early decades of the digital age, like the…

io9 Keith Veronese May 7

Adventure Time in Hell & Stan Lee rambles about Fin Fang Foom at an auto show

On this installment of Saturday Morning Cartoons, Hulk destroys downtown on Ultimate Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy (including Rocket Raccoon!) appear on The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and we get a two-part Adventure Time episode that sends Jake and Finn to the Nightosphere. Iron Man: Armored Adventures returns this week too (as re-runs), prepping…

io9 Keith Veronese May 5

When We Lost an Unexploded Nuclear Bomb Off the Coast of Georgia

The United States did not have a good year in 1958, especially when it came to transporting nuclear weapons. There was the incident where a nuclear bomb was dropped on a little girl’s playhouse. There was the plane carrying a nuclear warhead that caught fire and burned for seven hours, in Morocco. https://gizmodo.com/in-1958-america-accidentally-dropped-a-nuclear-weapon-5904633 And then…

io9 Keith Veronese May 4

Tantalum is the most important element you’ve never heard of

You have likely never paid much attention to tantalum when you’ve gazed at the periodic table. It sits there, in the middle of a sea of transition metals, kind of out of the way and in the corner. And yet, tantalum is increasingly important in the 21st Century, because it plays a large role in…

io9 Keith Veronese May 4

1920s engineers believed the Electric Age would die a quick death

Our electrical infrastructure spans the globe, lighting up every place on Earth. But it all relies on one singular metal: copper. And back in the early years of the 20th Century, many economists and engineers worried that we would run out of copper in no time. They looked at the fast pace of our copper…

io9 Keith Veronese May 3

Autobots and Decepticons are equally dysfunctional, in an exclusive Transformers: Prime clip

Season two of Transformers: Prime is coming to an apex, with a three episode blow-out between the Autobots and Decepticons. Check out an exclusive clip, in which both sides have some interpersonal issues to work out. This week’s episode kicks off a race to find four lost relics from Iacon City, the capital of Cybertron…

io9 Keith Veronese May 1

Appease your inner Indiana Jones and delve into The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology

Looking for a view of Maya technology that does not concentrate on absurd interpretations of calendars and December 21, 2012? If so, James O’Kon’s The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology belongs on your bookshelf. The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology is the culmination of civil engineer James O’Kon’s lifelong passion for studying the Maya and…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 28

Supergirl is grounded on Super Best Friends and Westeros is social studies fodder on South Park

Super Best Friends Forever returns this week, with Superman making a guest appearance and being a general party pooper. This week sees the first appearance of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Ultimate Spider-Man in SMC, Carol Ferris take on the helm of Star Sapphire, and an oddly nerdy interjection into the season finale of…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 28

Could eating chocolate really kill your dog?

Most dog owners go into a panic if their pet makes a lunge for the candy bowl — but is this worry really necessary? Theobromine, a bitter chemical found in cocoa beans, is the molecule in chocolate tied to illnesses in canines. But how much theobromine is there in most chocolate? And how much theobromine…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 27

Pottery shards were the first ever ticket stubs

Ever go to a college football game with nearly 80,000 crazy fans ready to tear the stands apart? Just imagine going to an event where players routinely died before your eyes, in a culture with a strictly stratified value of life — one where your life might be absolutely worthless to the person sitting next…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 27

Finn & Jake solve marriage disputes on Adventure Time and Ponies re-enact the Star Wars Trilogy

This week we welcome Adventure Time back to the lineup and include the Avatar spin-off Legend of Korra for the first time. We’ve got some great clips from South Park (including a live action spot), a wedding on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, some new aliens on Green Lantern, and a fan-made re-enactment of…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 21

The Open Polar Sea, a balmy aquatic Eden at the North Pole?

A warm sea at the North Pole — it’s a bizarre idea, but one several individuals sought and gave their lives to find for financial gain and the glory of their home countries. Explorers romanticized the existence of a Open Polar Sea during the 1500s, creating farfetched theories of its existence and losing a number…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 20

Could a microwave save your electronics during an EMP attack?

You sleep with your iPhone beside you, waking up in the middle of the night to check your e-mail? Feel anxious when separated from your smartphone? https://gizmodo.com/do-you-feel-more-lonely-after-using-your-smart-phone-5898841 An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a wave of energy that follows nuclear detonations and threatens to fry your personal electronics. Could something already in your abode save your…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 19

The Day Your Car Kidnaps You

Phillip K. Dick’s The Game Players of Titan takes place in a near future where cars drive their passengers, recording the day’s stops and visits. At the end of they day, the cars transmit everything they know about their drivers’ habits over to the police. Google’s fleet of self-driving Toyota Priuses have succeed in driving…

io9 Keith Veronese Apr 18

Keith Veronese

This Is Lunarcrete, a Building Block for Moon Colonies

A 73-Year-Old Man Tried to Assassinate JFK with a Buick Full of Dynamite

The birth of Scantrons, the bane of standardized testing

Hawkman starts a fight club, and Nick Fury outs an Avenger as a Skrull!

Could Helium-3 really solve Earth’s energy problems?

During World War II, Japan plotted to unleash a plague on the United States

Which data storage method will be the next to die?

Adventure Time in Hell & Stan Lee rambles about Fin Fang Foom at an auto show

When We Lost an Unexploded Nuclear Bomb Off the Coast of Georgia

Tantalum is the most important element you’ve never heard of

1920s engineers believed the Electric Age would die a quick death

Autobots and Decepticons are equally dysfunctional, in an exclusive Transformers: Prime clip

Appease your inner Indiana Jones and delve into The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology

Supergirl is grounded on Super Best Friends and Westeros is social studies fodder on South Park

Could eating chocolate really kill your dog?

Pottery shards were the first ever ticket stubs

Finn & Jake solve marriage disputes on Adventure Time and Ponies re-enact the Star Wars Trilogy

The Open Polar Sea, a balmy aquatic Eden at the North Pole?

Could a microwave save your electronics during an EMP attack?

The Day Your Car Kidnaps You

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

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

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

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

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

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

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