Robbie Gonzalez, Author at Gizmodo

Quantum locking will blow your mind — but how does it work?

If case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the quantum levitation (or, more accurately, quantum locking) video that’s taken the internet by storm in the last 36 hours. And while quantum locking (also known as “flux pinning“) may not have anything to do with Weeping Angels, it’s still pretty freaking amazing. But how does it…

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Fauja Singh just ran a marathon. He’s also 100 years old.

Prepare to feel downright slothful. On Saturday, Fauja Singh became the oldest person to ever complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in just over 8 hours, 25 minutes (and no, he didn’t finish in last place). The British runner, who turned 100 back in April, chalks his success up to…

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Climate change is causing Earth’s animals to shrink

Earth’s species are shrinking. As temperatures rise, plants and animals the world over are adapting, some more quickly than others, by becoming smaller — a trend that scientists say could have serious implications for ecological diversity the world over. For decades, scientists have been uncovering evidence that Earth’s flora and fauna are becoming smaller in…

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Scientists sort out the secrets of bubble-rafting snails

For years, scientists have marveled at the seafaring abilities of snails like Janthina janthina (pictured above), which produce a biological bubble-wrap that enables them to float just below the water’s surface in oceans around the world. How some snails evolved to produce these sticky life rafts has long been a mystery. But now, a team…

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Watch this penguin resort to adorable thievery to assemble the perfect nest

Male Adelie penguins are some of the most conniving little creatures on the planet. And we let them get away with it. Why? Because they’re freaking adorable, that’s why. Come mating season, the penguins with the best nests are the ones most likely to attract a partner. This fact causes many of the birds to…

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The same gene promotes prostate cancer and prevents breast cancer

More and more members of the general public are becoming familiar with the idea that “cancer” is not one disease, but rather a word used to describe numerous diseases with countless underlying causes. Now, researchers have discovered a single gene that promotes one form of cancer when it’s turned on, and another when it’s turned…

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Astronomers say Saturn’s moon Iapetus may have once had a mini-moon all its own

Call it moonception, if you’d like. Astronomers say that a moon-with-a-moon scenario could explain some of the strange features of Iapetus, the third-largest of Saturn’s 62-known moons. Iapetus was first discovered over three-hundred years ago by astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, but it wasn’t until 2004, during NASA’s Cassini mission to Giovanni’s namesake, that astronomers noticed…

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Scientists are working on a “tractor beam” that could recover astronauts floating in space

It’s the interstellar version of a man overboard — an astronaut, thrown from his spacecraft, drifting helplessly into space. Until recently, safety measures to account for such a situation have been somewhat limited. But now, scientists have turned to laser-activated thrusters to develop a “tractor beam” that could recover these astronauts from the inky blackness…

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Behold the true colors of the North Pacific giant octopus

Water tends to absorb light in the red portion of the visible spectrum, often giving the subjects of underwater marine photography a blue-green tint that can wash out their natural colors. To get around this problem, photographer Mark Laita places his subjects in a decidedly unnatural setting, using tanks, studio lighting and black backdrops to…

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One in six UK phones is contaminated with fecal matter

Humans are dirty creatures. They’re also dirty, dirty liars. That’s the conclusion of a study conducted in Britain that found one in six mobile phones in the UK to be contaminated with E.coli bacteria from fecal matter. The Guardian’s David Battey reports: Researchers said that 16% of the devices were contaminated with E. coli, which…

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Scientists have used carbon nanotubes to engineer the most powerful artificial muscles ever

Will the wonders of carbon nanotubes never cease? Engineers have now used everyone’s favorite cylindrical übermolecules to create artificial muscles that can contract and twist, in a manner not unlike like the muscles found in elephant trunks and squid tentacles. The upshot? Researchers say these tiny little motors could soon be used to propel microscopic…

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Help astronomers come up with a better name for the Very Large Array

Science and acronyms have always gone hand-in-hand, and people over the years have come up with some pretty excellent abbreviations for long and technical scientific terminology — MACHO, RAMBO, and WIMP being three standout examples. So it’s downright unconscionable that the most famous radio telescope in the world — the Very Large Array, or “VLA”…

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The chemicals that cause leaves to change color in fall

Every year, the arrival of fall heralds one of nature’s most magnificent transformations. And while many will witness the green leaves of summer foliage transition into a vibrant spectrum of colors before falling from their trees, few will stop to ask why these color changes occur in the first place. The answer to this question…

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Tyrannosaurus rex was much, much bigger than we thought

An international team of researchers has used three-dimensional laser scans to determine that Tyrannosaurus rex were likely 30% more massive that we once thought — and a whole lot hungrier. Be honest, now…how many of you woke up this morning thinking you’d hear the words “three-dimensional laser” and “Tyrannosaurus rex” used in the same sentence?…

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The Most Well-Preserved Dinosaur Skeleton Ever Found in Europe

Researchers say this specimen is about as close to perfect as fossils come. Unveiled yesterday by scientists from the Bavarian paleontological and ecological collections (BSPF) in Munich, Germany, the unnamed dinosaur is believed to be 98% complete, and even includes bits of preserved skin. The specimen is thought to belong to a suborder of dinosaurs…

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August’s Russian rocket failure is unlikely to force evacuation of the International Space Station

Back in August, Russia’s Progress 44 cargo vessel ran into complications on its delivery to the International Space Station, falling to Earth after the Soyuz-U rocket propelling it into space failed unexpectedly. https://gizmodo.com/a-russian-cargo-shipment-to-the-international-space-sta-5834023 For weeks there’s been concern over the similarity of the Soyuz-U to the Soyuz-FG, the rocket used to lift manned spacecraft to…

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Even in the real world, women on the pill may choose dependable men over sexy ones

Here’s more evidence from the front lines of science that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. A recently published study out of Stirling University shows that women who are on the pill when they meet their partners are less likely to be satisfied with sexual aspects of their relationship, but more satisfied…

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High speed video reveals the bizarre physics of an ordinary water droplet

The video is of an effect known in fluid dynamics as the coalescence cascade, which can be observed (provided you have access to a video camera with a sufficiently high frame rate) when a drop of liquid is deposited very gently onto the surface of a layer of the same liquid. Fuck Yeah Fluid Dynamics…

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Absolutely stunning time-lapse footage of the American Southwest

Check out the latest installment in photographer Dustin Farrell’s three-part Landscapes series, a collection of jaw-dropping time-lapse videos of the southwestern United States. According to Farrell, each frame of the video is a raw still from a DSLR camera that’s been processed with Adobe software, which explains both the incredible clarity of the images and…

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Evolution finally explains the real story behind the birds and the bees

For nectar-eating animals like bats, birds and bees, there is only one way to feed: they are either born with a proboscis that sucks up sweet, tasty flower sugar or a tongue for spooning it up. Whatever nectar-acquiring tool these animals are born with ultimately dictates what kind of nectar they can consume: more-sugary (and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Robbie Gonzalez

Quantum locking will blow your mind — but how does it work?

Fauja Singh just ran a marathon. He’s also 100 years old.

Climate change is causing Earth’s animals to shrink

Scientists sort out the secrets of bubble-rafting snails

Watch this penguin resort to adorable thievery to assemble the perfect nest

The same gene promotes prostate cancer and prevents breast cancer

Astronomers say Saturn’s moon Iapetus may have once had a mini-moon all its own

Scientists are working on a “tractor beam” that could recover astronauts floating in space

Behold the true colors of the North Pacific giant octopus

One in six UK phones is contaminated with fecal matter

Scientists have used carbon nanotubes to engineer the most powerful artificial muscles ever

Help astronomers come up with a better name for the Very Large Array

The chemicals that cause leaves to change color in fall

Tyrannosaurus rex was much, much bigger than we thought

The Most Well-Preserved Dinosaur Skeleton Ever Found in Europe

August’s Russian rocket failure is unlikely to force evacuation of the International Space Station

Even in the real world, women on the pill may choose dependable men over sexy ones

High speed video reveals the bizarre physics of an ordinary water droplet

Absolutely stunning time-lapse footage of the American Southwest

Evolution finally explains the real story behind the birds and the bees

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