What’s the Most Revolting Thing You’ve Ever Seen in a Horror Movie?

Some horror movies are carefully constructed operas of psychological dread. And others are just out to make you feel like you’re gonna yak into your popcorn. While we love the former, today’s question is all about the latter: what is the single most repulsive, gore-gastic thing anyone’s ever dared to put onscreen? NO SCENE TOO…

io9 Newsstand: More Proof That Andrea Hairston is a Fantastic Author

This week’s stories are about dying languages, about the stuff of dreams crossing on over—and about how the world can come to an end more than once. Saltwater Railroad by Andrea Hairston [Part 1 | Part 2] | Lightspeed Magazine Miz Delia’s Island was protected by deadly reefs on the Georgia/Florida side and nine hundred…

Spider-Gwen Comic Can’t Create New Characters Because Of Sony—Or Can It?

There’s been plenty talk of how Marvel’s movies influence their comics—but the story took a seemingly strange twist today following alleged comments from Spider-Gwen artist Robbi Rodriguez claiming the comic can’t create new characters, otherwise Sony would have “first crack” at adapting them for the big screen. The claim came from an interview with Rodriguez…

This Unusually Dusty Comet is Spewing Mysterious Chunks of Debris

A new comet is currently making its inaugural trip to the inner Solar System from the Oort cloud where it likely originated. New images show a tremendous amount of dust streaming away from it, along with strange blobs that have attracted the attention of astronomers. The comet is currently being investigated by Johns Hopkins physicist…

The Animal-Lover’s Dilemma: I Don’t Eat Meat, but My Pet Does

When moral philosopher Gary Steiner first adopted his cat Pindar, the vet advised him to put the cat to sleep. A rescue animal, Pindar had tested positive for FIV (feline AIDS) and feline leukemia, and has since developed other chronic health issues, including kidney disease. Steiner decided to keep Pindar, triggering an ethical dilemma he…

A Starship Troopers Tragedy Becomes Hilarious Real Fake History

Few movies bring me as much pleasure as Starship Troopers. The satire, the seemingly intentionally bad performances, the insane action and never-ending quotable dialogue… it all gels together perfectly. And that makes a video like this one so much better. What you have above is the latest video in Machinima’s Real Fake History series. The…

Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home?

Unlike a certain companion animal that will go unnamed, dogs lose their minds when reunited with their owners. But it’s not immediately obvious why our canine companions should grant us such an over-the-top greeting—especially considering the power imbalance that exists between the two species. We spoke to the experts to find out why. Call of…

The U.S. Doubled Its Farm Production In Just 60 Years. Here’s How

Something strange has been going on in farm country in the last sixty years: Farmers are using less labor and less land, but they’re growing more—a lot more. Here’s how they did it. A new USDA report looks at the curious set of trends that’s been showing up on farms in the U.S. since 1948.…

Has Filming A Movie And Its Sequel Back-to-Back Ever Had a Good Result?

James Cameron wants to film three sequels to his mega-hit Avatar, all in one go. This sounds like a hugely ambitious undertaking—but he’s not the first director to try this. There have been some disasters, but also a few triumphs. Here’s our complete history of people directing a movie and its sequel back-to-back. The Three…

Luke Howard Named All the Clouds You Learned About in Grade School

You know about cirrus, stratus, and cumulus clouds, but do you know about the man who gave them those names? The names are the result of one guy—a weather (and Latin) nerd named Luke Howard. Before the 1800s, people used any old words to describe the wind, rain, and clouds. This led to some surprisingly…

Nic Cage Says You Can See Superman Lives With The “Power of Imagination”

Would-be-Superman Nicolas Cage is not really in the new documentary about his failed superhero film Superman Lives. He didn’t have time to be part of the film during production—but he’s now offered up some suitably nostalgic (and slightly crazy) comments on the project. Speaking to Yahoo Movies, Cage said he didn’t want to comment too…

First Look At The Attack on Titan TV Show Is Decidedly Lacking In Titans

Which honestly isn’t that surprising—considering that if this live-action TV series featured as much CGI Titan shenanigans as the upcoming movies did, it would probably be called Attack on Oh God Wait Stop Our Budget Can’t Afford This. Actually, that’s not exactly true. While there’s plenty of footage of Titans in the trailer for Attack…

Mission Impossible 5 Will Restore Your Faith In Tentpole Action Movies

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation starts off on another level. Literally. In the first scene of the film, Tom Cruise runs from the ground and flies through the sky on the side of an airplane. It’s the film’s way of screaming at the audience, “You are in for a fucking crazy ride.” And then, it delivers.…

X-Rays Reveal a Mysterious Component of Human Hair

A new and surprising component of human hair has just been discovered, according to research recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association. Remarkably, it’s a discovery that could lead to improved hair products. Above: An electron microscopy image of a human hair cross section. The top region shows the external part…

Come on In, GIFs! It’s Party Time

Quit your hesitating and come on in, GIFs! We’ve been waiting on you. What have you been doing this week? Tell us about summer vacation schemes, news from your life, plans, confusions, cares, and whatever else is on your minds and screens these days, using our common tongue around these parts: The interpretive GIF.

The Kodkod is the Cutest Cat You Never Knew Existed

The kodkod is the smallest wildcat—smaller, even, than the average house cat. It’s a tiny, Andean pocket panther that takes tree-dwelling to a whole new level. Everything about this cat is small and high up. It is the smallest cat in Americas, and it has the smallest range of any cat in the Americas. The…

Could New Live-Action Star Wars TV Shows Really Be Heading To Netflix? 

Bruce Boxleitner says that he’s done with Tron. Stephen Amell says Arrow will never give Oliver Queen his comic book goatee. Transformers 5 gets its writers. Plus, new pictures from Batman v Superman and The Walking Dead, a new clip from Fantastic Four, and a look at the cool spaceships of The Expanse. Spoilers! Tron…

HBO may have killed David Fincher’s Utopia over budget issues. Deadlinereports that the show, about fans of a graphic novel and what happens when they find out about a secret sequel, has released its actors.

An Artist’s Visit to Pluto

There’s probably nothing much more exciting for a space artist than to have an entirely new world to play with! I’ve been busy ever since the New Horizons flyby creating new landscapes of Pluto based on the data that has been arriving-ever so slowly—-from the distant spacecraft. It seems that every square inch of each…

See the Animated Take on Star Lord’s Origin From Guardians of the Galaxy

If you saw Guardians of the Galaxy and were wondering about what life was like for Peter Quill on Yondu’s ship — well, here’s your answer. This is from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Origins (shudder… Marvel should maybe not name its prequels “Origins” for a bit. It brings back Wolverine memories), which is a…