Golden Age Superheroines Who Were As Awesome As Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman gets all the attention as comic’s pre-eminent superheroine, but there are plenty of other female crimefighters worthy of our attention — even back in the Golden Age of comics. Here are 20 more wonderful women heroes you should know. Betty Bates, Lady at Law (1940) Ms. Bates didn’t have any superpowers, but that…

Even After The Apocalypse, Marriage Is Complicated On Last Man On Earth

Why get married when you’re the last two people on Earth? That’s the question Phil Miller faces when his sole human companion insists on walking down the aisle. But he begins to wonder if making the best (raisin ball) of a bad situation (Carol) isn’t so awful after all. Well…at least until the very end…

Brain-To-Brain Interfaces And The Science Of Telepathy

Recent advances in brain-computer interfaces are turning the science fantasy of transmitting thoughts directly from one brain to another into reality. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk a mile (or 1.6 kilometres) in somebody else’s shoes? Or have you ever tried to send a telepathic message to a partner in…

All The Reasons Why This True-Crime TV Movie Became A Cult Classic

Made-for-TV movie Helter Skelter aired in 1976, two years after the book it’s based on was released, and seven years after the Manson Family murders it depicts were committed. Over time, it’s become a cult classic among true crime fans, and it holds up amazingly well today. Here’s why. It feels chillingly authentic Despite so…

The Moral Philosophy of Calvin and Hobbes

Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most widely revered comic strips of all time. Why? You could pin Calvin and Hobbes’ success to its humor, its artwork, its creativity, or – probably the most frequent commendation – its capacity to speak to the kid inside readers of all ages. Over at The…

Tomorrowland Trailer Is Unlike Anything We’ve Seen In A Long Time. Good.

We’ve seen some neat visuals from the earlier Tomorrowland trailers, but this one…this one is just adorable. Between the crazy inventions and the action in our retrofuturistic city, it feels like Brad Bird is channeling 1980s-era Steven Spielberg. And just like that, we’re excited. George Clooney’s character, a former boy genius inventor, has some truly…

This Paper About Tongues and Genetics Fooled the Whole World

Rolling your tongue is not a genetic trait. Most of the people reading this were told, at some point during their schooling, that it was. At last you can read the paper that started the myth, and find out how quickly it was disproved. Some of us had our tiny egos crushed in the third…

A History Of Gundam, The Anime That Defined The Giant Robot Revolution 

Almost four decades ago, Mobile Suit Gundam aired in Japan and changed the way the country looked at giant robots. Here’s a brief history of how Gundam established a new genre of anime, changed the way the West consumed Japanese animation, and became a cultural touchstone for the robotics technology of the future. Gundam: The…

Daenerys Plots Her Return To Westeros In Newest Game of Thrones Trailer

This brand new season 5 trailer for Game of Thrones is offering up a whole mess of spoilers for the new season. And we can not wait. This newest trailer screened at the big Apple Watch event, along with the announcement that HBO Now is launching with Apple TV. Exciting, but this trailer has so…

New Footage Shows Wreck Of Japanese Super Battleship Sunk In WWII

Last week, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced the discovery of the sunken Japanese super battleship Musashi. His team has now released a second video showing the historic wreck in extraordinary detail. The 73,000-ton Musashi, along with her sister ship, the Yamato, were the largest and most heavily armored battleships the world had ever seen. Commissioned…

Dance Meets Motion Capture In This Otherworldly Performance

Artists Maria Takeuchi and Frederico Phillips’ Asphyxia is more than an experimental dance film; it’s also one of the more creative uses of Xbox One Kinect’s motion-data capture capabilities we’ve seen. Much of the piece’s power is due to dancer Shiho Tanaka’s elegant grace, which somehow manages to transcend her body being transformed into a…

10 Terrible Movies That Absolutely Everyone Should See

Sometimes you can learn more from a bad movie than a good one. And certain atrocious films have become cultural touchstones, influencing generations of creators and spawning endless memes. So here are 10 really awful science fiction and fantasy movies that everybody should watch at least once. 1) Dragonball Evolution We recently rewatched this film,…

These Are All The Areas Likely To Be Hit By The Coral Bleaching Outbreak

Coral bleaching is among nature’s spookiest reactions. One day, a section of coral is teeming with life and color. Then, suddenly, all that’s left is the bleached out outline of that empty coral, a ghost coral in empty waters. And we could be headed for a truly landscape altering coral bleaching this year. Top image:…

This Week’s TV: The Superhero Police Procedural We’ve Been Waiting For

It’s finally here: Powers, the cops-for-superheroes TV show based on the comic book debuts this week, and we’ll see if it lives up to the source material. (Eddie Izzard as a villain is a good start.) Plus, we’ve got tons of new Steven Universe this week and check out what Tara and Eugene are up…

The Walking Dead Hosts The Apocalypse’s Most Awkward Cocktail Party

Seriously. Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead — a show that’s about the dead reanimating and trying to eat the living — was entirely about a cocktail party. And I’ll be damned if it wasn’t somehow a damned good episode, too. Part of the reason “Forget” works is that Rick and the others are…

James Gunn Claims Marvel Is Skipping Comic-Con 2015

Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn is claiming that Marvel isn’t going to Comic-Con this year. This news could make a lot of other studios very happy, but sadden a ton of fans. In a Facebook Q&A (spotted by MCU Exchange) Gunn was asked “Will you be at San Diego Comic Con this year?” His…

Write Some Six-Word Science Fiction For Us!

Sometimes, just a few words are enough to build a universe. So take six words of your own, and tell us some science fiction stories! Maybe you want to write a multiple-part epic, like this chilling little tale put together by two commenters: (“Greetings. We mean you no harm.” – acgilson “With the sequel, ‘Apologies,…

See The Wellcome Trust’s Best Science Photos Of The Year

The finalists of the 2015 Wellcome Image Awards have been announced. From insectoid eyes and cat tongues to curved spines and boll weevils, here are the most spectacular science photos of the past year. Top image: The boll weevil as seen through a scanning electron miscroscope (Daniel Kariko/Wellcome Images). “The breath-taking riches of the imagery…

This Tree Bleeds When You Cut Into It

Pterocarpus angolensis, or wild teak, looks like a perfectly normal tree until it’s wounded. When you cut into it, it dribbles long trails of dark-red liquid down its trunk. Wild teak has come to be known as Bloodwood, for obvious reasons. Tannins cause the dark red color of the sap. Regular plants have parts –…

Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant only came out last week, but it’s already making steps to go to the big screen. In a Guardian article about the author being “on side of the pixies and the dragons,” Ishiguro confirmed that Scott Rudin had bought the film rights. [via Empire]