Tell Us Some Six-Word Science Fiction Stories!

Science fiction epics can stretch onwards through hundreds of thousands of words, but you can spin one for us in just six? We want to hear your very best (but also very, very brief) science fiction stories! Whether you have a potentially Faustian internet bargain to strike (Terms: tldr; for immortality, click agree. – dkasper)…

This Extraordinary Shot Of Jupiter Was Taken From The Earth’s Surface

Normally, images as detailed as this infrared shot of Jupiter can only be captured by space-based telescopes or planetary probes. But this picture, taken with a special camera on the Subaru Telescope, was captured from our planet’s surface. Ko Arimatsu of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency used the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) to capture…

​The Legend Of The Surgery With The 300% Mortality Rate

Robert Liston was a competent surgeon who contributed significantly to medicine as a science. Then he had the misfortune to have one seriously bad day, and became a legend in the medical community. A Scottish surgeon who practiced all over Britain, he earned respect for his skill in amputations. Liston practiced in the early 1800s,…

Patrick Stewart Wants To Team Up With Hugh Jackman in Wolverine 3

Aside from last night’s big Spidey news, The Flash casts a Walking Dead alum as an enemy of the Atom, while another Marvel hero is returning to Agents of SHIELD. Plus, sneak peeks at what’s in store for The Returned, Supernatural, Once Upon A Time and more. Spoilers Now! Top image: X-Men: Days of Future…

The Best Spy Comedy Is: Get Smart

It’sspy week here at io9, and every night we’ll be highlighting a particularly stellar example of spy fiction. Tonight: parody and humor. And the king of it all, Get Smart. (Don’t worry, you’ll get the chance to tell me how wrong I am.) There are a lot of spy comedies out there. In movies, there’s…

California’s submitted a plan to the EPA to bring it into compliance with federal safe drinking standards, after 2,5oo instances where the state authorized oil and gas operations in protected water aquifers. 140 of 2,553 injection wells were actively injecting oil-field fluids into “good water quality” aquifers. [New York Times]

In This Short, The Ghost Only Appears When You Hold Your Breath

This short focuses on two men who visit a location with woman who can only be seen when they hold their breaths. For an under-five minute movie, there’s a lot going on here that’s plenty eerie. [via Vimeo Staff Picks]

Poll: What’s The Best Spy Comedy of All Time? 

I’ve made my case for what I think is the best spy comedy of all time, but my opinion isn’t the only one that matters. So now we open it up to a vote: What do you think is the best spy comedy? Answer the poll and either find your answer validated or scream at…

Researchers in London Are Using Lego Bricks On Its Bug Specimens

Insects are fragile, and scientists researching them have to be very careful with their specimens. Unfortunately, the devices out there are expensive and size-specific. So a group of entomologists have turned to that most customizable of materials to serve their needs: Legos. Image credit: Figure 1, Dupont et al. “IMp: The customizable LEGO® Pinned Insect…

Thunderous Art From The Collector Scenes In Guardians Of The Galaxy

Some of the most cosmic connections in the Marvel Universe happened when the Guardians of the Galaxy went to visit the Collector, played by Benicio del Toro. We already showed you art of the most surprising characterin his collection. But here’s concept art of Cosmo the dog, and some other stuff. The artwork below comes…

It’s Official! Spider-Man WILL Appear In The Marvel Movies 

Big, big, big news! Spider-Man will no longer stand alone in Sony pictures, Peter Parker WILL be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Updated Now With More News! Marvel just announced that Spider-Man will appear in an unspecified Marvel film, that takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then after this “appearance”: “Sony Pictures will thereafter…

Bronn Gives Shae Unfortunate Advice In A Game Of Thrones Deleted Scene

Shae goes through a pretty drastic change of heart in the middle of Game of Thrones season four, and we only glimpse the reasons for it. But here’s a deleted scene from the second episode of the season, where Bronn gives Shae some advice that doesn’t work out that well for her… or for Tyrion.…

The Charging Dock Was Ancient, But Miraculously, It Still Worked

There couldn’t have been an Archian visitor to this planet in the last five hundred years. Even the once-glittering cities had become shadows of their former glory. But Harmok said a quick prayer of thanks to the Council for Temporal Interoperability when he plugged his ship in and heard the charger hum. This is “Another…

What You Need To Know About Lord Of The Rings‘ One Ring

You may have read The Lord of the Rings and/or seen the movies, but do you understand what’s going on with those titular pieces of jewelry? This video offers a quick explanation of the various rings in J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe, especially the One Ring. After giving his quick and dirty lowdown on the mythology of…

Why is slime, specifically snot-like green slime of the “I’ve-been-slimed!” variety, so endlessly fascinating? This impressively detailed article traces the history and lasting appeal of the gloriously gross substance, from Dr. Seuss to the Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles to Nickelodeon, and beyond.

Why Slow Zombies Are Still More Frightening Than Fast Ones

Something is going on with the zombies that populate our stories. Not only are there more of them, but they are also noticeably faster, almost acrobatic, capable of running full tilt and even leaping over the tops of walls after prey. And yet, for all that, their plodding predecessors had one thing they don’t. In…

Take A Virtual Trip Through The Amphipolis Tomb In Its Original State

Discovered only three years ago, the Amphipolis Tomb is the largest burial monument ever discovered in Greece. A new 3D representation of the tomb reveals just how gorgeous this ancient structure really was. The video, which was put together by AncientAthens3D using data published by the Greek Ministry of Culture, was created “in order to…

How We Imagined The Future Of Transportation Would Look In The 1940s

These ads made for the Detroit-based Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation were largely dreamed up by legendary illustrator Arthur Radebaugh during the 1940s. Radebaugh’s utopian visions and Bohn’s desire to appear as a forward-looking company combine for a slick retrofuturistic view of transportation. It’s not a surprise that aluminum and brass are crucial to build…

This May Be The Toy-Shillingest Batman Cartoon Of All Time

To pretend that WB and DC’s many, many Batman cartoons weren’t at least partially designed to sell Mattel action figures would be naive. But usually they’ve tried to tell a good Batman story in each series, and get kids interested in the characters that way. Well, until this new direct-to-DVD animated movie, that is. Batman…

Meet Tiffany Two, The World’s Oldest Cat (She’ll Be 27 Next Month)

Congrats to San Diego tortoiseshell Tiffany Two, who will turn 27 on March 13 … making her the world’s oldest living cat, according to Guinness World Records. That’s 125 in human years. Tiffany Two’s owner, Sharon Voorhees, paid $10 for her remarkable pet in 1988; the name is “a tribute to another tortoiseshell cat she…