Lauren Davis

Latest Clip From Syfy’s The Magicians Shows How You Get to Magic College—With Snark

Brakebills University, the secret school of magic in Syfy’s upcoming show The Magicians, isn’t Hogwarts. You don’t get a charming letter saying you’ve gotten in. In fact, this clip shows Brakebills’ admissions are about confusion, entrance exams, and no small amount of snootiness. Syfy just showed this clip from its adaptation of Lev Grossman’s novel…

Incredibly Disgusting Zombie Mouth Cupcake Looks Like It Might Bite You Back

Update: Picture removed at the request of its creator. There are some cupcakes that look too good to eat, but this one looks almost too horrific to consume. We’re sure it’s delicious, but we can’t shake the feeling those teeth are about to start snapping. Over at Instructables, user SemadarG explains how to make this…

It looks like Minority Report is already on the chopping block. Fox cut the episode order on the TV adaptation from 13 episodes to 10, with plans to wrap up production after that. Insert requisite “You didn’t need a Precog to see this coming” joke here.

The Rosetta Space Mission, Explained with Claymation

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has been posting some adorable space-themed animations, but this one detailing the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission and the landing of Philae on comet 67P is particularly charming. Can we have clay versions of all our space robots? [via The Kid Should See This]

In the Webcomic Stonebreaker, Demonic Slaves Have Expelled Their Human Masters from an Ancient City

Long ago, humans thrived in the great city, using golem-like demons to do their bidding. But after the demons rebelled, they forced humans to abandon the city and live on the fringes, dreaming of the day they’d reclaim their home. Peter Wartman’s webcomic Stonebreaker and its prequel Over the Wall focus on Anya, a young…

There’s Going to Be an Attack on Titan Anthology Featuring Comics by Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, and More

Need more Attack on Titan in your life? Some of our favorite comics creators, including Gail Simone, Scott Snyder, Brenden Fletcher, Kevin Wada, and Faith Erin Hicks, are giving us more human-munching giants in an upcoming comics anthology. Comic Book Resources brings us the news from New York Comic Con’s Kodansha Comics panel, where the…

A Stand-Up Comedian Tries to Cope with a World Where People Are Becoming Transhuman

In the near future of the short film Enhanced, people can undergo a procedure that blends their bodies with technology, becoming smarter, healthier, and less anxious. But one stand-up comic finds he’s uneasy with the promise of perfection. Jeremy David White just took home the Best Director prize for Enhanced in Fantastic Fest’s shorts program.…

Watch a Tyrannosaurus Rex Train for American Ninja Warrior (He’s Pretty Good!)

Okay, so it’s actually American Ninja Warrior competitor Reko Rivera in a T-Rex suit. It’s a good thing, too, since those little T-Rex arms would have trouble on the training course. The folks at Brentwood Photography got Rivera to suit up at the FTC Ninja Warrior Course in Florida. This isn’t their first foray into…

My God, It’s Full of Stars (And Dogs)

Lauren and Robbie’s dogs lounge forlornly on the departing spacecraft as it disembarks from the io9 mothership. Farewell, io9. We will miss you all. Outside the window image: Hubble 25th Anniversary Image: Westerlund 2. Photo of Skoda and Lucca by Lauren Davis.

A Group of Historians Debates How the World Ended, But Their Evidence Is…Funny

The short anime comedy Bureau of Proto Society takes us to a post-apocalyptic bunker, when the last remnants of humanity live isolated from the world. The bunker’s historians gather each day to try to debate how the world ended—and once you see their historical sources, you’ll understand their confusion. Sadly, this short, by writer/director Yasuhiro…

I Am Awaited in Valhalla: Farewell to io9

The time has come for me to make a difficult announcement: August is my last month as a staffer at io9. I am taking many slow, deep breaths and trying not to cry. I realize this is terrible timing, what with Robbie Gonzalez heading off to Wired to spread his tireless curiosity and funny animal…

How did H.P. Lovecraft conquer popular culture? In The Atlantic, writer Philip Eil examines the posthumous history of Lovecraft’s works and the current mania for all things Cthulhu. At the same time, he asks: How can fans reconcile their affection for Lovecraft’s fiction with the author’s virulent racism? [via Boing Boing]

Neil deGrasse Tyson Describes NASA’s Mission in Latest Peek at The Martian

We’ve gotten a few looks at Ares 3, the mission at the heart of the upcoming film The Martian, and this one comes courtesy of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Coming to us from the year 2035, Tyson explains the challenges that the crew of the Martian mission will face. It’s fun to see an actual…

Watch Gas-Guzzling Androids Battle in a Mad Max-Style Dystopian Future

The music video for The Chemical Brothers’ “Sometimes I Feel So Deserted” takes us to a literal desert, one that looks straight out of an Australian post-apolyptic movie. And when a woman finds herself on the run from some rather nefarious figures, it quickly becomes clear that it’s not just the cars that run on…

Rival Archaeologists Find Space Rocks at Opposite Ends of the World

Wonders Never Cease is a fashion film that takes full advantage of its setting: London’s Museum of Natural History. When two archaeologists engaged in a game of oneupmanship make the same discovery at opposite ends of the world, it ignites a lot of moody wandering through the museum halls. Wonders Never Cease was made by…

This Webcomic Perfectly Captures the Awe and Poetry of Astronomy

Boulet has done it again. The cartoonist’s latest installment is a quasi-animated pixel comic that challenges the notion that science has somehow robbed the universe of poetry. Recalling his own experiences looking at the night sky through his telescope, Boulet takes us on a lovely and lyrical tour of the cosmos. “Brassens in Space” is…

A Viking Battles Monsters in This Cartoon—And Every Second is Hilariously Gruesome

With a title like Odin’s Afterbirth, you would hope that this short animated film brought plenty of over-the-top gore. And it doesn’t disappoint with its grotesque story of a viking heck-bent on revenge, even in defiance of the Norse All-father himself. NSFW for violence and monster junk. Joseph Bennett released the first chapter of Odin’s…

This Surprisingly Empowering Retelling of Sleeping Beauty Stars a Hamster Princess

How on Earth do you tell a story about a princess under a Sleeping Beauty-type curse and make her truly heroic? You put her in the hands of Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer and cartoonist Ursula Vernon, whose new book Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible finds the silver lining of the soporific curse. Vernon has…

A 100% Accurate (and Totally Ludicrous) Reenactment of the Dinosaurs’ Extinction

Let’s face it, you can’t show the extinction of the dinosaurs without including showing these prehistoric beasts mowing their lawns, going grocery shopping, and getting ridden by Jesus… Well, okay, so maybe this isn’t the most accurate video, but it is wickedly funny. The Slow Mo Guys and Field Day bring us this ridiculous take…

In This Webcomic, Dr. Jekyll Tries to Make Mad Science a Respectable Profession

After perfecting his secret formula, Dr. Henry Jekyll’s life doesn’t fall apart in the webcomic The Glass Scientists—at least not right away. Rather, he travels the streets of London, rescuing poor mad scientists from angry mobs so that he can give the profession a public relations makeover. Actually, in Sabrina Cotugno’s webcomic, Jekyll prefers to…