Ria Misra

What Makes Water Wet?

Why is water wet? It’s not just a question to boggle the minds of the kid scientists you encounter: It’s a question of chemistry. Nautilus recently posed just that question to Richard Saykally, a University of California, Berkeley chemistry professor who specializes in water, and here is how he explained what is going on: When…

Which Book Have You Owned The Longest?

People have been sounding the death knell of paper-and-binding style books for awhile now, but the fact remains: you can’t beat them for longevity. So which book have you had in your own personal collection for the longest? Tell us what the book is, where you got it, if you still read it, and what…

Why A Clothespin Is One Of The Most Important Tools On A Movie Set

You may be more used to seeing these pinning your favorite shirts out for a line-dry in the sun, but on film sets, clothespins are used for something else entirely. io9’s comment of the day today comes from two commenters who waxed rhapsodic on the many, many virtues a clothespin has on a movie set.…

Why Are These Glow-In-The-Dark Clouds Migrating?

If you ever encountered a noctilucent cloud, you’ve probably never forgotten it. In part, that’s because it’s straight-up stunning but also because, if you saw it, you were probably near one of the poles. But something is happening to these clouds. They are getting brighter, more common, and they are coming to you. This satellite…

It’s Friday. You’re A GIF. And This Is A Party. 

Eat, drink, and be merry GIFs, for someday, you shall pixelate. Today, though, you shall only party. What tales and tricks have you to share with us this week? Settle in among our electronic punch bowls and tell us about it in the way that only you can: Through interpretive GIFing. GIF: Zack Dougherty (riffing…

A Surprising Scientific Use For Powdered Milk

Hey, friends, what do you recommend I do with this pile of powdered milk here? Stir it up with some water and drink it for the calcium? Use it to make some candy? OR MAYBE I SHOULD SCIENCE WITH IT? io9’s comment of the day today comes from commenter and biological researcher DarkPrince010 who explains…

There’s a mystery in your grocery store. Chicken prices have been falling at a fast rate, while egg prices have been changing equally fast — in the opposite direction. Why is this happening? Marketplace took a lookat the phenomenon and found that the problem lies in exactly how the avian flu hits.

What’s The Most Surprisingly Useful Tool That You Use In Your Work?

Astronauts may need tape to make their way into space, but what’s the glue (perhaps literal glue?) that holds your work together? Today, we want to know about the surprisingly necessary tools of your trade. https://gizmodo.com/astronauts-have-done-so-so-much-with-duct-tape-and-ele-1711503831 Tell us in the comments about what you use for work and why it’s so useful. It could be…

What Librarians Wish You Knew About How To Use The Library

Look, just put down the card catalogue (put it down) and take a very quiet seat, because the librarians are here. And they’ve got a couple suggestions for exactly what you can do with the old collection of vintage National Geographics you keep trying to pawn off on them. io9’s comment of the day today…

This Map Of 2100 Should Make You Nervous About The Future Of Farming

When we imagine the farms of the next century, the images tend to be cleaner, more clinical, perhaps more akin even to a laboratory than a field. But the future that’s actually on our horizon looks much darker and messier than all that. Researchers at the University of Hawaii just published a study in PLOS…

What’s The Best Thing A Book Ever Taught You How To Do?

Gather round, cookbook aficionados! Come forth, DIY home improvers! Hide yourselves no longer, quilting manual collectors! Today, we speak unto you. Sure, stories are great, but there’s also plenty of great books out there who have just one simple goal: To teach you something. We want to know about the things you learned how to…

This 16th Century Castle Was Destroyed and Rebuilt Three Times

For over 400 years, this castle perched on a hill in Japan has looked largely the same. It hasn’t always been the same castle, however. Here’s the story of how this castle just kept getting knocked down — and then coming back again. io9’s comment of the day comes from commenter ro37 who shared this…

Which Place Has The Most Fascinating Historical Stories Behind It?

It’s not just people who sometimes have surprising twists and turns in their backstories. Places—whether just a location, a house, or a building—also can lead complicated lives. We want to know about the locations near you (or even a place not so near that you’ve visited) with the most interesting histories. Tell us in the…

Just how different does the country look today than it did 141 years ago? Nathan Yau over at Flowing Data has recreated the original 1874 version of the U.S. Atlasof census information using modern data. It includes everything from maps of the road system to charts of where all the country’s money comes from. Image:…

A Videogame Tester Explains Why They Will Never Fix That Bug You Found

So, you’re playing a videogame and you spot a problem. You should alert the company, and eagerly await your patch to come through, right? Probably not. Here, a videogame tester explains why. io9’s comment of the day today comes from commenter and videogame tester NeoSocrateS who explains why the bug you’re so eagerly telling them…

Wait, How Did These Chunks Of Glass End Up In A Crater On Mars?

Mars is a strange place, whether we’re talking the seemingly nature-defying behavior of its liquids or just the tendency of even the most ordinary rock to have a secret life. But this latest look into one of its craters shows something odd even by Martian standards: There’s glass in there — and lots of it.…

What Are You Reading?

I’m at the end of my reading list, io9. So now I’m coming for yours. What have you been reading lately, and what did you think of it? Tell me about them — new or old, fiction or nonfiction. Whatever it is, I want to hear all about it. Or if you’re looking for a…

Sesame Street Martians’ Official Position On Whether Big Bird Is On Mars

Today we learned that conspiracy theorists had set their sights on Big Bird’s large yellow head, claiming the giant Muppet had cast his shadow across Mars. And in response, commenter Chick Counterfly shared this…well, we’re not sure exactly what it is. We only know that we can’t stop reading it. https://gizmodo.com/new-conspiracy-theory-big-bird-has-secretly-been-to-ma-1710818728 Here’s Chick Counterfly’s account…

Americans Agree: Everyone But Them Is Wasting Their Food

We know that Americans throw out a lot of food, but, hey, why are we doing it? A new survey tries something new to figure it out: It asks us. The survey (which is less an attempt at pinpointing actual food waste numbers and more an attempt at figuring out what’s behind it) was put…

These GIFs Have Come To Party

Cheer up, GIFs! Your party is here — and it brought you a balloon. You know what to do: Select your fashionably late party GIFs, practice some awkward digital mingling, try on an electronic party hat, and eat a slice of that vaguely depressing cheesecake that someone brought just to be polite. Because the GIF…