Robbie Gonzalez, Author at Gizmodo

If You’ve Never Seen An Insect Breathe, You Are Seriously Missing Out

Honestly, I’m not sure what to say except that YouTuber Precarious333’s video of a Giant Texas Katydid (Neobarrettia spinosa) chirping, breathing, and grooming is way more captivating than I expected it to be. Full screen it, and crank it to the highest resolution your Internet connection can muster. You won’t regret it. Pretty incredible, right?…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 7

Do Want: A Modular, Programmable Robot Made Of Paper And Cardboard

ZURI is a DIY, programmable “Paperbot” system, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: The parts are built with paper and cardboard. Plus, the design is modular. By combining leg- and body-types, users can create a range of robotic bauplans. According to Laughing Squid, the robot will be smartphone-controlled, and while it’s currently…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 7

Honor Our Heroic Space Robots with These Beautiful Posters

The folks at Chop Shop are crowdfunding a series of posters dedicated to three of NASA’s most awe-inspiring interplanetary robotic space missions: Voyager, Cassini/Huygens, and Curiosity. The missions were selected by members of The Planetary Society website and transformed into the screen-printed posters you see here. All three of the prints are gorgeous, but Voyager…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 6

A Psychological Transformation That Only Astronauts Experience

We know very little about the effect of space travel on the human psyche – but what we have learned so far suggests that it’s profound. Above: The highest resolution photograph of Earth ever captured | Credit: NASA Perhaps you’re familiar with this quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, in which he describes the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 6

Why It’s Harmful to Describe Cancer as a “War”

When people talk about cancer, they often resort to the language of war – e.g. Mary lost her brave fight with cancer. Manycompelling objections have been made against the use of such “battle metaphors,” and a growing body of evidence suggests that, for some people, they can actually be harmful. Above: American Civil War, Union…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 6

Why You Can’t Always Trust Your Brain

You’re probably familiar with the rabbit-duck illusion. Like other “ambiguous images,” this illusion can tell psychologists a lot about how we perceive our surroundings. The implications are as clear as they are unsettling: When confronted with ambiguity, we often see what our brains want us to see. How our brains deal with ambiguity is one…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 6

More Britons Believe In Aliens And Ghosts Than God

God’s polling numbers are down in the UK, where a recent survey found adults were more than twice as likely to believe in extraterrestrials than the creator and ruler of the universe. Above: Creationism for Geeks, via Wiki Fiction Via The Independent: The survey of 1,500 adults and 500 children, carried out online for Ripley’s…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 5

The Worst News From Yesterday’s Elections

Senator James M. Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who calls climate change “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” and compared the Environmental Protection Agency to the gestapo, will “almost certainly” be the next chair of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. All together now: Fucking fuck. Photo Credit: Sue Ogrocki/AP Senator Inhofe,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 5

Why Scientists Need Surfers to Study the Ocean

Earth’s oceans remain largely unexplored. But some of the most difficult waters to study aren’t in the middle of nowhere, but just off shore, where crashing waves can make data collection dangerous. Engineer Benjamin Thompson thinks he has a solution: water-monitoring surfboard fins. Above: Board Formula’s Smart Phin | Credit: Board Forumla Thompson’s invention, which…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 5

New Analysis Suggests GMOs Can Be A Very Good Thing

Results of a meta-analysis published in the latest issue of PLOS paint a favorable picture of genetically modified crops — which make a positive impact on farmers, crop yields and profits. Photo Credit: Stuart Williams via flickr | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. The last two decades have seen several investigations into the effect of GM crops…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 5

Why Do Zombies Shuffle?

This headline isn’t the set up for a joke (although I obviously welcome your punchlines in the comments); it’s a real question. Is there a neuroscientific basis for the prototypic zombie’s lumbering gait? Neuroscientists Timothy Verstynen and Bradley Voytek wrote Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? to provide readers a neuroscientific view of the zombie…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

You Either Solve This Riddle, Or You Die

Answer this week’s riddle incorrectly, and your life – and the lives of 22 others – will be forfeit. Sunday Puzzle #5: 23 Prisoners, 2 Switches A warden meets with 23 newly arrived prisoners. He tells them, “You may meet today and plan a strategy. But after today, you will be in isolated cells and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

Researcher Who Found ‘Puppy Sized Spider’ Received Death Threats

Last month, Harvard entomologist Piotr Naskrecki’s wrote a blog post about finding a “puppy-sized” spider in South America. The post went viral. A few days later, Naskrecki was receiving death threats. Why? For collecting one of the specimens he described in his post, and placing it in a museum. Naskrecki appeared on NPR yesterday to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

The 10 Greatest Changes Of The Past Millennium

Historian Ian Mortimer, author of Centuries of Change, has assembled an intriguing list of the ten biggest changes of the last 1000 years. Above: The French Academy of Sciences was established in 1666 The list, published atThe Guardian, focuses mostly on the UK and Europe, though a Eurocentric perspective on the last 1000 years isn’t…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

Jane Goodall To John Oliver: “I Don’t Like You”

John Oliver sat down with primatologist Jane Goodall recently to discuss the “objectivity” of scientific research and, more importantly, brainstorm dirty chimp names. It was a surprisingly productive meeting, notwithstanding Goodall’s feelings toward Oliver. Seriously, though. Jane Goodall is the best.

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

The “Ideal” Microbiome Is a Myth

Embracing the complexity of the microbiome means doing away with pat conceptions of its function. Your body is a habitat to trillions of microscopic organisms known, collectively, as your microbiome. Today, the microbiome is one of the hottest areas of biological research, and for good reason. This body-wide ecosystem not only adapts to our diets,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 2

You Know How This Experiment Ends, But You Should Watch It Anyway

Most of you know that any two objects dropped in a vacuum will fall at the same rate. Some of you have probably even seen it demonstrated in person. But you’ve never seen this classic experiment reproduced in the world’s biggest vacuum chamber – and you really should. Physicist Brian Cox recently visited NASA’s Space…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 1

Have You Ever Wondered What A Four-Acre Spiderweb Looks Like?

No? Really? Oh. Well, since you’re here, it looks like this. Question: What’s creepier than a four-acre spiderweb? Answer: Whatever the hell weaves a four-acre spiderweb. In this particular instance, the answer is “a Metric Sh*tTon,” and/or “an Imperial Sh*tLoad” of spiders. Those aren’t my units, by the way; I borrowed them from entomologist and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 1

China Is One Step Closer To Its Lunar Sample Return Mission

China’s Chang’e 5 test vehicle has successfully completed the most recent stage of its lunar return technology demonstration. Hit the jump for details from Mika McKinnon. https://gizmodo.com/china-gets-a-step-closer-to-their-lunar-sample-return-m-1653544933

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 1

Stephen Colbert Uses Star Trek, George Takei, To Fix Midterm Elections

People are more indifferent than ever about midterm elections. Midterm elections are expensive. Stephen Colbert thinks he’s found a money-saving solution, and he found it in “A Taste of Armageddon,” the twenty-third episode from the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series. Fortunately, George Takei was disinteported in to stick up for the democratic…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 1

Robbie Gonzalez

If You’ve Never Seen An Insect Breathe, You Are Seriously Missing Out

Do Want: A Modular, Programmable Robot Made Of Paper And Cardboard

Honor Our Heroic Space Robots with These Beautiful Posters

A Psychological Transformation That Only Astronauts Experience

Why It’s Harmful to Describe Cancer as a “War”

Why You Can’t Always Trust Your Brain

More Britons Believe In Aliens And Ghosts Than God

The Worst News From Yesterday’s Elections

Why Scientists Need Surfers to Study the Ocean

New Analysis Suggests GMOs Can Be A Very Good Thing

Why Do Zombies Shuffle?

You Either Solve This Riddle, Or You Die

Researcher Who Found ‘Puppy Sized Spider’ Received Death Threats

The 10 Greatest Changes Of The Past Millennium

Jane Goodall To John Oliver: “I Don’t Like You”

The “Ideal” Microbiome Is a Myth

You Know How This Experiment Ends, But You Should Watch It Anyway

Have You Ever Wondered What A Four-Acre Spiderweb Looks Like?

China Is One Step Closer To Its Lunar Sample Return Mission

Stephen Colbert Uses Star Trek, George Takei, To Fix Midterm Elections

We’ve Seen the First 18 Minutes of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’

The New ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Trailer Amps Up the Nostalgia

Hollywood’s First Big Budget AI-Generated Movie Is About Bitcoin, of Course

White House Is Reportedly Ready to Drop Its Anthropic Beef and Embrace the Spooky New Model

A Critical Ocean Current System May Be Unraveling Faster Than We Thought

Lana Del Rey Just Released the First Bond Theme We’ll Hear for Years

Tesla Wants a $50,000 Penalty for Anyone Who Tries to Resell Its Signature Model S and X

Google Wants to Put Gucci Smart Glasses on Your Face

Disneyland Makes Up for That Han Solo Situation With a Lovely Leia Look

The Cockroach of Dinosaurs Likely Survived Extinction Because of Its Big Wet Eggs

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

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

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

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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