Death
This week Gizmodo explores death and deadly things, in all their forms—the physical, the digital, and the fantastical.
How Mold Kills
In 1997, doctors from Cleveland reported on a wave of infants in the area who had come down with severe lung…
The Psychology of Faking Your Own Death
Why would anyone fake their own death? Some seek a departure from royalty, a career as a pirate, or a quiet life after t…
The Best and Worst Afterlives in Sci-Fi and Fantasy
The concept of a great beyond, whether heavenly or hellish, exists across so many fictional universes—be they part of…
The Many Ways Lightning Can Kill You
When a 32-year-old man was struck and killed by lightning while visiting Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island, New…
Real-Life 'Zombie' Animals Walk the Earth Thanks to Thousands of Parasites
Consider the ladybug. Our polka-dotted little friend spends its days munching aphids, climbing leaves, occasionally…
12 Movies Featuring Ghosts You'd Actually Want to Hang Out With
Ghosts can be very scary—if you need recent evidence of this rather obvious fact, set aside several sleepless nights so…
The Monsters of Climate Change
Death lurks around every corner in Alex Garland’s Annihilation, but its most terrifying harbinger is a ghoulish bear…
How Thomas Edison Used a Fake Electric Chair Execution Film to Fight the Electricity War
You’ve probably heard about Thomas Edison’s infamous 1903 film where he electrocuted an elephant. It’s just as…
How Fear Can Kill You
In 1942, physiologist and Harvard Medical School researcher Walter Cannon published an academic paper with the sort of…
Will Cryogenically Frozen People Ever Be Revived?
Corpse-freezing hasn’t exactly gone mainstream, but most people are now familiar with the concept: you lay out a ton…
How the Universe Ends
Somewhere between a second and a millennium from now, you will die. Your body and all of its parts will cease…