Ryan F. Mandelbaum, Author at Gizmodo

Annihilation Author Jeff VanderMeer Tells Us How He Makes His Sci-Fi Feel Authentic

Science fiction author Jeff VanderMeer doesn’t just envision a better world. He hopes to live in a less stupid world. VanderMeer is famously known for his novel, Borne—the universe in which his most recent novel, Dead Astronauts, is set—and his Southern Reach trilogy, the first book of which was adapted into the 2018 Alex Garland…

Books & Comics Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Astronomers See Ancient Remnants of Incredible Galactic Explosion

Scientists have discovered evidence of the largest energy outburst ever recorded. The clues to this ancient explosion come in the form of a giant bubble of ancient radio waves. The researchers observed the Ophiuchus Cluster of galaxies, the second-brightest galaxy cluster in the sky when viewed in x-rays, which sits 390 million light-years from Earth.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Image: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

China’s Space Agency Reveals What It Learned from Deep Radar Probe of Moon’s Far Side

On January 3, 2019, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) accomplished a human first: It successfully placed a lander on the far side of the Moon. Today, the team is revealing new insights about what they found beneath the lunar surface. The Chang’e 4 team has released the first ground-penetrating radar study of the Moon’s…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Stone Tools Suggest Supervolcano Eruption Didn’t Decimate Humanity 74,000 Years Ago

Humans may have continued to thrive in spite of a supervolcano eruption 74,000 years ago, according to a new study. The finding could have important implications for our understanding of human history. Researchers in based in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and India found evidence of stone tools and other artifacts in the Dhaba locality…

Human History Ryan F. Mandelbaum

There’s a Lot More Happening Inside Mars Than We Knew

Scientists have published a treasure trove of new research from the InSight lander’s first year on Mars, showing just how active the Red Planet really is. InSight touched down on Mars’ Elysium Planitia in November 2018. It has an impressive suite of instruments, including cameras, weather sensors, magnetic field sensors, a heat probe, and a…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Solar Storms Could Confuse Whales and Cause Mass Strandings

Gray whales seem to strand themselves more often during solar storms, according to a new study. Researchers still don’t know exactly how whales navigate the ocean’s dark depths during their epic migrations, and it’s difficult to study them in action. But recently, scientists discovered that sperm whale strandings in Europe’s North Sea seemed to correlate…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum

NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson, ‘Hidden Figures’ Hero, Dies at 101

NASA mathematician and subject of the 2016 movie “Hidden Figures” Katherine G. Johnson passed away today at age 101. Johnson was born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia to a family dedicated to her education—her father moved his family to Institute, West Virginia so she could continue her studies past eighth…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Photo: JENNIFER LEIGH WARNER / CATERS NEWS

Here Are Some Gulls Playing With a Dildo

Conservation photographer Jennifer Warner visited the Children’s Pool in La Jolla, California on Tuesday in order to photograph the pupping harbor seals that have taken up residence on the beach. She soon noticed some juvenile gulls chasing each another around and causing a ruckus; one of them had what she thought at first was a…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Bird That Looks Like It Died Yesterday Turns Out to Be 46,000 Years Old

On Jacquelyn Gill’s first day doing field work at the Siberian permafrost caves during the summer of 2018, a local fossil hunter approached her with a dead bird in his hands. The translator hadn’t yet arrived, but from the freshly dead look of the bird, Gill assumed it had just recently flown into the cave…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum

These Birds Learned to Avoid Yucky Food by Watching Videos on the Computer

Wild-caught birds in Finland seemingly learned to avoid certain foods by watching videos of other birds eating the snacks and reacting negatively, according to a new study. Some prey come in bright colors to advertise to predators that they’re poisonous and to attract and sicken naive predators. But if a new brightly colored animal enters…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Study Suggests Early Humans Had Even More Interspecies Sex

Before we became the only remaining humans on the planet, Homo sapiens mated with Neanderthals and the closely related Denisovans. New research is now revealing that the common ancestor of Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred with its own predecessor, a population of “superarchaic” hominids. This new model suggests a rewritten history of human evolution, and, if…

Human History Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Scientists Create Atomic-Level Image of the New Coronavirus’s Potential Achilles Heel

Scientists studying the new coronavirus that has infected tens of thousands of people in China have published an atomic-resolution image of the protein that the virus uses to gain access to cells. This feat, which was accomplished using a Nobel Prize-winning method, could aid in the development of treatments or vaccines. The novel coronavirus (officially…

Health Ryan F. Mandelbaum

German Man Finds Rock From Early Solar System in His Front Yard

Scientists have released their initial analysis of a meteorite that fell over Europe last September. They report that the rock, the remnant of a daytime bolide that impacted Earth with an energy of 0.48 kilotons of TNT (around this much), is a carbonaceous chondrite—the kind of meteor that contains material from the earliest epoch of…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Searching for Dark Matter With Quantum Computers, One Blip of Light at a Time

For decades, scientists have struggled to define the stuff that comprises a quarter of the universe: dark matter. As experiments continue to turn up empty-handed, one team hopes to find dark matter by incorporating the laws that govern subatomic particles—quantum mechanics—with a nascent kind of technology called a quantum computer. It’s what’s brought Fermilab scientist…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

SpaceX Plans to Send Tourists to ‘Twice the Altitude’ of Any Other Private Space Trip

SpaceX will work with space tourism company Space Adventures to send up to four people into space onboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, according to a press release. The mission will send wealthy tourists to “twice the altitude of any prior civilian astronaut mission or space station visitor,” according to a statement by Space Adventures chairman…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Newly Discovered Neanderthal Skeleton Hints at Intentional ‘Flower Burial’

New excavations at a well-known Neanderthal site have revealed a previously undiscovered Neanderthal skeleton, along with more evidence that these extinct hominins may have had “flower burials” for their dead.  In the 1950s, archaeologist Ralph Solecki uncovered Neanderthal remains and tools in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Shanidar Cave, a find extremely influential to our modern understanding of…

Human History Ryan F. Mandelbaum

What Would It Be Like to Take a Road Trip Across Pluto?

You begin to wake up from stasis as your lander descends to Pluto’s surface. You strain to locate the Sun in the sky as you peek out the window; you finally spot it at the zenith as you wipe your eyes. Though brighter than anything else in the sky, the Sun is now 40 times…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Near-Earth Asteroid Sets Off Alert, Turns Out to Be Two Asteroids Hanging Out Together

An asteroid that whizzed within 3 million miles of Earth last week turned out to be two objects in a binary system, according to new observations. The automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawaii discovered 2020 BX12 on January 27. It immediately determined that the asteroid was a potentially hazardous…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Oh Yeah, Betelgeuse Is Definitely Looking Weirder

At this point, we’re all crossing our fingers that the dying star Betelgeuse will hurry up and explode already, because who doesn’t love a good show? The red giant star (visible in the constellation Orion) has been growing dimmer since late last year, leading many to speculate it could soon go supernova. Scientists operating the…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Mysterious Object Beyond Pluto Could Help Explain How Our Solar System Formed

Nothing you encounter is truly “pristine.” Nearly every atom on our planet has been processed in some way, either by humans, the Sun, Earth’s core, or other influences. But on New Year’s Day 2019, the New Horizons mission flew past one of the most pristine objects in the solar system: Arrokoth, an object far beyond…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Annihilation Author Jeff VanderMeer Tells Us How He Makes His Sci-Fi Feel Authentic

Astronomers See Ancient Remnants of Incredible Galactic Explosion

China’s Space Agency Reveals What It Learned from Deep Radar Probe of Moon’s Far Side

Stone Tools Suggest Supervolcano Eruption Didn’t Decimate Humanity 74,000 Years Ago

There’s a Lot More Happening Inside Mars Than We Knew

Solar Storms Could Confuse Whales and Cause Mass Strandings

NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson, ‘Hidden Figures’ Hero, Dies at 101

Here Are Some Gulls Playing With a Dildo

Bird That Looks Like It Died Yesterday Turns Out to Be 46,000 Years Old

These Birds Learned to Avoid Yucky Food by Watching Videos on the Computer

Study Suggests Early Humans Had Even More Interspecies Sex

Scientists Create Atomic-Level Image of the New Coronavirus’s Potential Achilles Heel

German Man Finds Rock From Early Solar System in His Front Yard

Searching for Dark Matter With Quantum Computers, One Blip of Light at a Time

SpaceX Plans to Send Tourists to ‘Twice the Altitude’ of Any Other Private Space Trip

Newly Discovered Neanderthal Skeleton Hints at Intentional ‘Flower Burial’

What Would It Be Like to Take a Road Trip Across Pluto?

Near-Earth Asteroid Sets Off Alert, Turns Out to Be Two Asteroids Hanging Out Together

Oh Yeah, Betelgeuse Is Definitely Looking Weirder

Mysterious Object Beyond Pluto Could Help Explain How Our Solar System Formed

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

How to watch UFC Fight Night Adesanya vs Pyfer live this Saturday

‘Steel Ball Run’ Will Return This Year…Eventually

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, Cut Your Daily Coffee Costs at Home

Amazon Clears Out Govee LED Smart Light Bulbs (2-Pack) at a Record Low, Each Bulb Costs Just a Few Dollars

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

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees