Eddie Redmayne Shows The World His Adorable Audition For Bilbo Baggins

Eddie Redmayne stopped by the The Graham Norton and revealed this interesting little tidbit about his audition for the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. It’s just downright adorable. There’s actually a whole heap of adorable in this clip — from Redmayne confessing his desire to get into the Harry Potter movies, “There was…

An Ancient Greek Palindrome Has Been Discovered on this Amulet

Archaeologists working in Cyprus have discovered a 1,500-year-old amulet with a 59-letter inscription that reads the same backwards as it does forwards. As LiveScience reports, the amulet, which measures 1.4 inches by 1.6 inches, was discovered at the ancient city of Nea Paphos in Southwest Cyprus. On one side there are several images, including a…

Prepare For Book Two! Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades was one of our favorite books in 2014, and now you can read the first seven chapters of the sequel,The Providence of Fire, over at Tor.com. [via SFSignal]

The Future of Women on Earth May Be Darker Than You Thought

It’s easy to get caught up in the internet gender war trainwreck, where we’re still arguing over whether women belong in tech orrape victims are liars. But let’s set that shit aside and take the long view: Do we have any evidence that the future will bring greater freedom to women, or should we expect…

Helix Goes Full Lost In New Season 2 Trailer

Welcome to the Island, an exotic land of mysterious inhabitants with strange beliefs and a possible sinister agenda. Except it’s not the island from Lost, it’s the new setting of the second season of Syfy’s medical-scifi-horror show Helix. But if this new trailer makes you think of Ben Linus, you’re not alone. In all honestly,…

Help Me Coin a New Word

The word for “one” in Burmese is “tit.” The word for “eight” is “shitt.” This exemplifies a concept that doesn’t have a name yet – but it should. I was having lunch with my family the other day and there was a lull in the conversation. When we remarked on it, my father broke in.…

Galavant Clips Feel Like Watching Game Of Thrones‘ Show Choir

Still curious about the singing and dancing, madrigal-like series Galavant? Then take a look at one of the many songs — and a John Stamos cameo. It feels like a Robin Hood Men In Tights-style production of Game of Thrones. But this lead might be hotter than all the Starks. Up top is a clip,…

There Really Is An LSD Shortage, And Here’s Why

Lysergic acid diethylamide used to be everywhere. LSD played a huge role in shaping pop culture in the 1960s, and in the 1980s everyone lived in fear of LSD-laced temporary tattoos and acid-popping Satanists. But nowadays, you rarely hear about it. What happened? Top image: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, art by Tiago Dinis…

io9 Newsstand: What Are Your Favorite SFF Magazines?

Last week was all about the best stories of 2014. This week is all about the places that publish them. There are dozens—nay, scores of genre magazines out there. Some publish all speculative fiction, others concentrate on just one sub-genre (science fiction or horror!), some publish stories that fit into a very narrow type (fantasy…

10 Comics That Shut Down Terrible Internet Arguments

Is there a persistent Internet argument that you’re just sick of responding to? Don’t have the energy to explain the problem with the argument for the billionth time? These comics can help, countering those troublesome arguments with a few words and pictures. Image from someecards, likely inspired by this xkcd comic. 1. The Terrible Argument:…

Here’s The Details For The Next Avengers: Age Of Ultron Trailer

Well, 2015 has at least one thing going for it: We’re getting a new Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, and we’re getting it soon. As this otherwise worthless teaser says, it’ll premiere on January 12th at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, during the college football championship game. Sigh. Of course, if you’re an Avengers movie fan…

Clues About the End of Maya Civilization Come from this Blue Hole

Recent findings suggest the massive sinkhole off the coast of Belize known (quite logically) as the Great Blue Hole may hold the key to solving the mysterious end of the Maya civilization. As the Huffington Post reports, groups from Rice University and Louisiana State University found that the sinkhole, a popular scuba-diving site, contains evidence…

How “The Crab” Became A Unit Of Measurement And Why It Might Disappear

Ever heard of the Crab? No, not that one. And no, not that one, either. The Crab is a unit of measurement used by astronomers. Most space-based telescopes rely on it! But it might be going out of style. It’s all thanks to the Crab Nebula, one of the brightest things in the sky (well,…

This Freaky New Frog Gives Birth To Live Tadpoles, Not Eggs

Scientists have never seen anything quite like this before. It’s a newly discovered species of fanged frog that gives direct birth to live tadpoles instead of laying eggs. It isn’t that rare for scientists to find new species of animals, but finding an entirely new mode of reproduction is a different story altogether. The newly…

52 Years Of Spider-Man’s Mask On A Single Poster

When we think of Spider-Man, we usually think of that classic red and blue costume with the webbing motif. But Spidey’s outfit has gone through some changes over the years — some more drastic than others. Artist Salvador Anguiano (who also made the poster featuring 75 years of Batman’s cowl) put together this chart taking…

How To Use Psychological Torment For Self-Improvement And Profit

This post isn’t as evil as it sounds because it’s yourself you’ll be tormenting. The method you will use is counterfactual thinking. If you use it right, you can wring money from the gullible and improve all kinds of things about yourself… just not necessarily in that order. Poetry, Psychology, and Counterfactuals When poet John…

Neill Blomkamp’s Secret Alien Movie Looks So Good We’re Furious

Guess what? Neill Blomkamp was working on a secret Alien project that included Sigourney Weaver reuniting with Corporal Hicks, and the concept art is gorgeous. But now it’s dead, or was never going to be made in the first place, and I’m just going to scream “PROMETHEUS” into a pillow all day until I pass…

Math Suggests Most Cancers Are Caused By “Bad Luck”

Two-thirds of all cancers are caused by random mutations and not genetics or lifestyle factors, say scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. The new paper, which now appears in the journal Science, suggests that 22 out of the 31 cancer types analyzed are simply the result of biological bad luck. These include leukemia,…

Let The First GIF Party Of 2015… Commence!

The bad news: 2014 kind of sucked. The good news: It’s 2015 now! So let’s just let the old year burn and ring in the new by celebrating with your favorite GIFs! Got big plans for this year? Did you have a wild New Year’s Eve? Have a message to share, news to announce, a…

No, You’re Not Going To Float Away On January 4th

A bizarre rumor is going around claiming that the upcoming planetary alignment on January 4th is going to cause a “gravitational fluctuation” that will leave people weightless for a brief period. Here’s why “Zero Gravity Day” is a whole lot of malarky. The only people who’ll be floating on January 4th will be those on…