In This Week’s Comics, Godzilla Goes to Hell. Literally!

It’s a quiet week for new comics, but that doesn’t stop the King of all Kaiju from stomping onto the scene—and into Hell itself! But that’s not all: Scott Lang and Hank Pym team up in an Ant-Man special, Valiant begins their new Summer event, and the comic book adventures of Steven Universe get collected!…

Which Brilliant Creator Could Have Saved a Terrible Idea?

NBC has hired the acclaimed, uber-talented Tarsem Singh to direct its grim, gritty, Game of Thrones-esque retelling of The Wizard of Oz miniseries, and I’ve gone from disinterested to eagerly awaiting it. The news got me thinking: Who else could have saved a terrible project and turned it into something great? Obviously, just putting someone…

Walk Around the Enterprise in Star Trek Beyond Charity Video

Several months ago, our first look at the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a charity video by Omaze. Now, the same can be said about the third new Star Trek film, Star Trek Beyond. Major members of the cast – Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, John Cho,…

On “Mouth Breathing,” and Other Rare Causes of Death in America

Among the rarest causes of death listed in the CDC’s national mortality registry are such ailments as “mouth breathing,” “pathological fire setting,” “flatulence and related conditions,” and “sexual aversion and loss of sexual enjoyment.” Stuart Buck provides an even longer list, and links to his data analysis, in a recent article for Scientific American. It’s…

The Worst Badvertising and Best Radvertising of Comic-Con 2015

The panels and events at San Diego Comic-Con are only part of the story. Every year, companies spend millions of dollars to market to this captive audience of fans. Some of it is pretty clever. Some of it… is horrible. Here’s the worst badvertising, and the best radvertising, of Comic-Con 2015. Badvertising Insurgent Toilets Fans…

Emily Bett Rickards Is Sad That Felicity’s Been Crying So Much On Arrow

Felicity Smoak is our favorite character on Arrow—but she had a rough year last year. She was basically in tears for a lot of season three. We missed the funny, capable Felicity from the first two seasons. And during interviews at San Diego Comic Con, actor Emily Bett Rickards said she felt the same way.…

Author Ken Liu Is Here to Talk About The Grace of Kings

This month, io9 read Ken Liu’s novel The Grace of Kings. Today, from noon – 1 p.m. (Pacific time) he’ll be joining us to answer our questions about writing epic stories, tales of war and rebellion, and whatever else we want to know. In addition to his new novel, Liu was also the translator for…

Armada Will Make a Great Movie, But the Book Is Disappointing

Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One is one of my favorite books. I’ve read it multiple times and the first time I devoured it in a single sitting. So it goes without saying I was very excited about his follow-up, Armada. Unfortunately, while I think it’ll make a great movie, I was ultimately left disappointed. In…

No, We Aren’t Heading Into a “Mini Ice Age”

Recent headlines are warning that the Earth will enter into a “mini ice age” in about 20 years because the sun is heading towards a period of very low output. Here’s why this scenario is extremely unlikely. Wouldn’t it be great if scientists could make their minds up? One minute they’re telling us our planet…

Does The Walking Dead Spinoff Hold Up? Here’s Our Spoiler-Free Review!

We’re totally excited about AMC’s companion show to The Walking Dead: new characters, a new setting, and a story that takes place “during Rick’s coma,” according to the AMC exec who introduced the Comic-Con screening of the Fear the Walking Dead. Here are our spoiler-free first impressions! The timing of the show is important, for…

How Ex Machina‘s Director Wants To Film VanderMeer’s Crazy Annihilation

Ex Machina rocked our world with its story of artificial intelligence and messed-up dynamics. And its director, Alex Garland, is in line to direct the movie of Jeff VanderMeer’s acclaimed book Annihilation next. Is that really going to happen? How do you pull that off? We asked him. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to talk…

Does Talking Count as Exercise? Even a Little Bit? Asking for a Friend.

I’d classify this question as so dumb it’s actually kind of interesting, in a hair-splitting, pedantic sort of way. At Popular Science, Daniel Engber takes a stab at answering it: For a study published in 1998, speech-language pathologist Bridget Russell, of the State University of New York at Fredonia, asked participants to read aloud using…

Another Study Proving That Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism Won’t Do Any Good

It’s time to stop trying to prove that autism and vaccines aren’t linked. Why? Because parents who believe in the link, and believe that Big Pharma is covering it up, have much more in common with Big Pharma than they think. To clarify: I don’t mean that doctors who are interested in the technical aspects…

An Ancient Viking-Age Hut Has Been Uncovered in Downtown Reykjavik

A team of Icelandic archaeologists working in central Reykjavik were looking for the remnants of a farm cottage built in 1799—so imagine their surprise when they found a longhouse dating back to the 9th century AD instead. Above: The “long fire” in the center of the hut. As reported in the Iceland Monitor, the longhouse…

What Did Pythagoras Mean By “All Things Are Number”?

We all know that numbers can help us understand the beauty of nature. But in this excerpt from the new book A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek, he shows how it goes a lot deeper than that. Did the ancient mathematician Pythagoras know something we don’t? ALL THINGS…

Contact the author at [email protected].

8 People Who Didn’t Realize They Were Dead

For some people, dying is a traumatic event. For others, not so much. In fact, for some ghosts, it seems that dying is something that is very hard to notice or remember—because they have no idea that they’re actually dead. Here are some spooks who should have paid more attention to their mortality (or loss…

New research suggests humans have more “primitive” hands than chimps. The study, while controversial, raises some provocative questions about the origin of human toolmaking and the importance of specialized hands. Image: Denise Morgan, University of Utah

Marvel’s What If? Comics Are Coming Back, and They’re All About Thanos

For years, Marvel put out a What If? comic series, pondering alternate realities in the Marvel universe, covering everything from “What If Wolverine was a Vampire?” to “What if Aunt May was a Superhero?”. You know, the big questions. But this year, the series is back for a short run, with its eyes on the…

What the Hell is the Warcraft Movie About? Our Complete Guide!

Warcraft made a splash at Comic-Con this year—both on the floor and in Hall H, and fans have been waiting ages for news. But if you’re not familiar with the series, you may be confused as to what all the fuss is for. Don’t know your Gul’dans from your Durotans? Here’s our complete guide to…