Frequent consumption of spicy foods has been linked to longer life. A 7-year study of nearly a half-million people in China shows that eating spicy foods one or two days a week can reduce death by as much as 14%. But correlation is not causation, leading some to question the study’s findings. Image credit: chrizzel_lu/Pixabay/CC0

Sleepy Hollow Drops the Headless Horseman for Season 3. Wait, What?

We knew Sleepy Hollow was going through a pretty major retooling for season 3 after its troubled (and frequently boring) second season.But this might be the biggest change of all—the show is also dropping its iconic villain, the Headless Horseman, as well. But frankly, I’m kind of cool with it. First of all, let’s remember…

A New Report Reveals Inequality In Hollywood Is Worse Than We Thought

The ongoing debate about equal representation in movies is more important now than ever—but it turns out we didn’t really realize just how bad the situation really was. It turns out that, according to a new report, if you’re not straight, white, male—or in the case of a Marvel movie, named Chris—in Hollywood, you’re screwed.…

India’s Time Travel Comedy Has A Great Idea: Take A Selfie With Gandhi

This trailer for the new Tamil time travel film Indru Netru Naalai has a few things going for it. First, the time machine looks hella cool. Second, they draw diagrams, which is an essential part of truly great time travel. And there’s a song about using a time machine to go back and take a…

This is Why a Fire Burns Everything But the Matches That Start It

California is in its fire season again, and drier than usual, so many of us have spent days watching the devastation that a fire can cause. Few things survive it, even in bits and pieces. Often, though, the matches that began the fire are the most recognizable things left behind. Why is that? Diatoms swim…

Maybe It’s The Movies That Suck, Not The CG Visual Effects

This video is freaking great. Made by the team at RocketJump Film School, it makes a strong argument that while people love to crap on computer graphics in movies, those people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Called “Why CG Sucks (Except It Doesn’t),” the video features strong examples of films and sequences…

Humans Are the Most Dangerous Animals on This Week’s Zoo

“This is What it Sounds Like” raises the expectation that we might hear some Prince on Zoo this week, but don’t hold your breath for any more Purple Rain references beyond the episode title. Instead, hold your breath during the following: bear attacks, macho stand-offs, a horrifying bit of ocular surgery, and a big-ass betrayal!…

Sony Dropped a Ton of News About Dark Tower, Spider-Man, Jumanji, More

Well, Sony’s had a productive day. They’ve just released a bunch of news about a bunch of movies—including the long-awaited Dark Tower adaptation, the Jumanji remake, the live-action Spider-Man reboot and the animated version and more—and here are all the details you need to know. First and foremost, The Dark Tower movie finally has a…

Our Planet May Be Sprouting Super-Dense “Hairs” of Dark Matter

Calculations made by a JPL-California research scientist suggest that thin strands of dark matter filaments are spreading out from large planetary bodies like Earth and Jupiter. If true, it’s a possible sign that we may be able to finally detect these hypothetical forms of matter. “As the evidence of dark matter’s existence has become overwhelming,…

Get This Mindblowing Mad Max: Fury Road Poster Right Now

There’s so much awesome in Mad Max: Fury Road, the notion of making a poster for it seems daunting. Unless, of course, you put all of it together in one crazy poster, which is what artist Scott C did. His Mad Max poster, “A Lovely Day,” is now on sale now, through August 7. Here’s…

Webcomic MFK Stars a Superpowered Girl on a Quest to Scatter Mom’s Ashes

Abbie is the heroine of Nilah Magruder’s webcomic M.F.K., but she doesn’t want to be a hero. She just wants to carry her late mother’s ashes to their final resting place and live a quiet life. But in a land where sleeping gods are starting to wake, life can’t be quite for a girl with…

Why This Rainbow-Colored Object Gets Put Into Your Drink

Something you put in your drinks has a special property that, along with special polarization, causes it to erupt into rainbows. Find out what it is, and what makes it so colorful. This is a thin section of an ordinary ice cube. Seen through a pair of polarized filters, it’s colored because ice has the…

LIGHTSPEED Presents: “The Smog Society” by Chen Qiufan

io9 is proud to present fiction from LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE. Once a month, we’ll be featuring a story from LIGHTSPEED’s current issue. This month’s selection is taken from LIGHTSPEED’s August 2015 issue. The story is “The Smog Society” by Chen Qiufan (translated by Ken Liu and Carmen Yiling Yan). You can read the story below or…

We’re Facing Star Wars Overload, And It Scares the Crap Out Of Me

At a certain point in life, you learn about pleasure in moderation. A lot of something is great, until you get sick of it. A slow, steady enjoyment has always worked though and as a Star Wars fan, the aggressive plan for the franchise may sound good—but it also scares the living shit out of…

Here Are the Winners of National Geographic‘s Traveler Photo Contest

This year, over 18,000 photographs were submitted to National Geographic’s annual Traveler Photo Contest. These ten are the very best. First Place: Whale Whisperers Photographer: Anuar Patjane Diving with a humpback whale and her newborn calf while they cruise around Roca Partida … in the Revillagigedo [Islands], Mexico. This is an outstanding and unique place…

Wait, Is There Really Going To Be No New Season Of Doctor Who In 2016?

Doctor Who fans are just over a month away from an explosive new season of the show—but apparently that might be the last drip of new episodes we get for a while, with a rumor claiming that the show won’t be returning in 2016. At least for a full season. The rumor comes from British…

This Is What They’re Doing With Their Expired Food in Sweden

We waste an incredible amount of food—and a lot of it is because we just don’t like the way it looks. Here’s one way they’re dealing with that problem in Sweden. These food powders (or FoPo, as they’ve named them) are the work of students at Sweden’s Lund University in their food product program, and…

Don’t Expect Fear the Walking Dead to Be Just Like The Walking Dead

For anyone who’s wondering why we needed another Walking Dead TV series, we’ve seen the first two episodes of Fear the Walking Dead, and we have a (spoiler-free) answer. YES, there are similarities; ahem, zombies. But Fear is its own tense and gory beast, and we can’t wait for more. We gave you a sneak…

Watch the Dark Side of the Moon as It Passes in Front of Earth

From a million miles away, a NASA satellite caught this unusual view of the moon and Earth moving through space together, but from a flipped perspective from the one we usually see. NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite grabbed these shots while taking footage designed to monitor earth’s atmosphere and it’s an unusual look…

Breaking Down the Bat@#$% Badassery of the Deadpool Trailers

Deadpool footage is finally here, and it is looking awesome. But we’re not just here for the violence and the fourth-wall-breaking—we’re here to find out what secrets we can uncover from Fox’s new take on the merc with a mouth, as well as the decidedly NSFW differences between the two trailers. Join us, won’t you?…