At The End Of The World, A Robot Becomes Best Friends With Death

On a dying world, the cloaked personification of Death and a robot have one thing in common: They’re both extremely bored. But when they finally dare to come out of hiding and meet one another, they change not only each other, but their world. This extremely sweet stop-motion animation was conceived, directed, and animated by…

Look Out HDMI and DisplayPort, There’s a New Cable in Town

Ever heard of Mobile High-Definition Link, or MHL for short? Today, it’s a way to connect a smartphone to a HDTV or monitor via microUSB. But the new SuperMHL could challenge HDMI and DisplayPort dominance over your entire home theater. Today, the MHL Consortium (which consists of Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Nokia and chipmaker Silicon Image)…

This Concept Art Of Doctor Who‘s  Facehuggers Is Wonderfully Repulsive

Yes, the “dream crabs” in Doctor Who’s latest Christmas special were basically facehuggers from Alien — to the point where the show kept lampshading this. But they still looked cool and revolting, and this concept art shows how they could have been even nastier. Once again, the Radio Times has Doctor Who concept art from…

10 Grossest Bug Parts, Ranked

All insects possess the same fundamental body plan: A head, a thorax, and an abdomen. It is a testament to nature’s twisted creativity that some of the grossest body parts in the animal kingdom can be found bursting, curling, and wiggling from these segments. Here are the 10 most repulsive insect body parts of all.…

What’s the Correct Way to Bang Nuts Together?

I’ve heard references to “conkers” and “playing conkers” but never known what they were. It turns out, they’re chestnuts. And one plays them by banging them together. And according to this video, one can cheat at it. But no one seems to know how. I can’t say that playing conkers is stupid. I take such…

The Dark and Twisted History of the Children’s Friend Society

The Children’s Friend Society is among the most misleadingly-named charities in history. Supported by wealthy Londoners in the 1800s, the group promised to “do something” about the appalling abundance of vagrant children in England. And they did do something: the children disappeared. What came next was horrifying. The Vagrant Child Problem In 1830, Captain Edward…

Sleepy Hollow‘s Back!…But Is It Better?

When we left Sleepy Hollow, it was torching its premise, shaking the show to its foundations and setting up for a wild comeback. How can it recover from so dramatic a midseason finale? …Oh, you know. Stuff. As we discussed in the midseason finale recap, blowing up the show’s entire premise halfway through the second…

An Otherworldly Village Made Entirely from Ice Sculptures

In the city of Harbin, China’s 31st International Ice and Snow Festival has begun. This is one of the world’s largest such events, and always brings some psychedelic wonderment to the bitterly cold city. Here are some photos as the fest gets underway. As CNN reports, the festival’s multiple themed areas sprawl across some 750,000…

The Largest X-Ray Flare Ever Just Erupted From The Center Of Our Galaxy

Astronomers attempting to monitor a cloud of gas reacting to the black hole at the center of our galaxy got a huge surprise: A giant x-ray flare erupting from that black hole, the largest one ever detected. So what caused it? NASA has two theories — and both of them have a black hole at…

Shiny Deal on Firefly, Coen Brothers Classics, and More Deals

There are no superlatives left to throw Firefly’s way, this deal on the other hand… Firefly: The Complete Series ($15) | Amazon Quadruple Coen Brothers classics for 20 bucks. [ Coen Brothers Collection, $20] Cosmos, one of our most popular Blu-rays of last year, gets back down within a couple bucks of its lowest price.…

A new study could explain why we often get sick when it’s cold outside. Researchers have learned that the virus for the common cold replicates more efficiently at cooler temperatures — especiallyinside our noses. The finding suggests we should keep our nose warm and avoid cold air when we’re infected. Photo: vesna cvorovic/Shutterstock.

Mad Max: Fury Road Pics Are So Metal

Every time Mad Max: Fury Road puts outsomething new we end up dry heaving in the corner like an overexcited poodle. And this new crop of stills is no different. Behold the fury. This new Fury Road gallery from The Playlist showcases a whole mess of awesome. It’s so very intense, especially the pictures of…

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Sailor Moon Villain

When scientists finally fessed up that Pluto wasn’t really a planet, some people were upset — none moreso than Sailor Pluto, who discovered she’d suddenly lost membership in the Sailor Scouts. Here’s how Neil deGrasse Tyson accomplished what Wiseman never could. Lots of great Sailor Moon in-jokes for the faithful in here. Why the hell…

Marvin The Martian Channels Napoleon In This Glorious Royal Portrait

Earth’s diminutive would-be destroyer plots his next move in this perfect imperial portrait. In this picture, he’s already emperor of Mars and he’s ready to change the solar system to his liking. Ricardo Chucky painted Marvin’s “Martian Emperor” portrait, and it is fantastic. We imagine this is how the spaceman truly sees himself. After all,…

This Curiosity Image Suggests Microbial Life Once Existed On Mars

It may not look like much — just an old rock with dust on it. But after careful examination of this and other images taken of the Martian surface, a geobiologist is now claiming that these distinctive surface features could have only come from one source: microbes. This isn’t proof that life once existed on…

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Adaptations Are Statistically Too Damn Long

Look, we know everyone’s been complaining about the length of the Hobbit trilogy ever since the decision to make the adaptation into 3 separate movies. And they were right to! But now we have actual statistics to show that they’re some of the most gratuitous book-to-movie adaptations ever. Data blog FiveThirtyEight took the unenviable task…

How did this black-and-white shot of a far-off star cluster transform into the full-color star explosion photo that NASA released? A series of Hubble shots goes through the processof getting their colors back in to show you how the pictures of stars, planets, and galaxies that we can’t take our eyes off of are made.

Here’s Why the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” Routine Actually Works

You know the routine. A tough cop berates and browbeats a suspect until his partner sends him out. The partner is reassuring, and the suspect spills his guts. But does it work? Scientists did a few rather odd experiments to find out. Fear-Then-Relief Response The Good Cop, Bad Cop routine is supposed to work, but…

Damning Evidence That Gotham‘s Writers Belong In Arkham Asylum

Hey, you know the phrase “the inmates are running the asylum”? In response to last night’s mid-season premiere of Gotham, I’d like to suggest a change: “The inmates are somehow running a major primetime TV series.” It’s not quite as catchy, but I think it works. Hey, I’m Rob Bricken, the author of io9’s silliest…

Tell Us The Most Fascinating Story From Your Area’s Local History 

There’s national and even global historical events that we all generally learn about, but smaller locales also have their own histories that tend to be taught only to the people that live there. Today, we want to hear your favorite stories from your area’s local history. Tell us in the comments about a piece of…