These Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Make Absolutely Perfect Gifts

As Emily Dickinson famously said, there is nothing as frigging awesome as a book. And there’s no better present than a cool-looking book, that can adorn someone’s coffee table but also provide hours of mind-expanding entertainment. Here are 23 science fiction book gifts your friends will love. The Art of John Harris – Beyond the…

It Takes 6​ Minutes To Show Every Death In The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy

Someone has assembled this supercut of every single death shown in Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King, and suddenly it dawns on me that LotR is, in a sense, mostly a tale of genocide against orcs. Seriously, the ratio of orc to non-orc deaths here is kind of disturbing.…

Check Out These Awesomely Gross Mummy Toes

Scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum recently opened a 2,500-year-old sarcophagus as part of a restoration and stabilization project, revealing the “blackened toes” of its 14-year-old male mummy. They’re totally gross. So see them after the jump! Besides the occupant’s ancient digits, there was also a “a previously unknown drawing of the Goddess Nut on the…

Disney’s New Frozen Book Sounds Like Gone Girl On Ice

Frozen is branching out its extended universe and releasing a book based on the relationship of Hans and Anna, and it’s going to be told from each character’s point of view. So basically, it’s reverse Gone Girl. Spoilers for Frozen and Gone Girl ahead! According to Stitch Kingdom, Disney’s new Frozen spinoff book is titled…

What’s The Explanation Behind This Incredible Lake-Walking Video?

YouTuber Tomas N and his friend were hiking the High Tatra Mountain range along the border of Slovakia and Poland when they happened upon a frozen lake with astonishingly clear ice. The resulting visual effect – that of walking on air – is really something else. But how did this clear ice come to be?…

A Mesmerizing Video Shows One Year Of The Moon’s Phases In Five Minutes

The Moon always keeps the same face to us, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see it from slightly different angles over the course of a month. And when each month is compressed into 24 seconds, as in this video, our changing view of the…

Watch A Man In A Jetpack Fly In Formation With A Plane Above Dubai

Swiss pilot Yves “Jetman” Rossy is best known for piloting a jetpack of his own design above some of the world’s most gorgeous landscapes. Now, the “aviation enthusiast” has returned in a video that shows him tearing up the atmosphere high above Dubai – and this time, he’s got company. “To fly alone is great,”…

1960s Batman, Herzog, Agricola, Free SimCity 2000, More Deals

Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb, but you can get Batman The Complete Series Limited Edition Blu-ray for just $154 today. [Batman Complete Series] Here’s how much better it looks on Blu-ray, and some recommendations for must-watch episodes. It’s also part of io9’s Blu-ray Gift Set Guide. This awesome limited edition…

11 Secret Weapons Developed By Japan During World War 2

Normally, it’s the Western Powers who are remembered for developing some of the most innovative and conceptual weapons of the Second World War. But when it came to experimental military technologies, Japan suffered from no shortage of ideas. Here are 11 you should know about. Illustration: MXY-7 Okha Suicide Attacker, by Fiddlers Green Japan emerged…

Creeptastic Short About A Child Imprisoned By Foxes Will Become A Film

If you haven’t already seen the completely eerie stop-motion animated short Foxed!, get thyself to iTunespost haste, because it’s really, really messed up. And now it’s going to be an even freakier movie! THRis reporting that Martin Katz (Cosmopolis) has purchased the rights to director James Stewart’s short.Now for those of you previously unaware of…

See Every Possible Kind Of Snowflake Shape In One Chart

Every snowflake is different. But while each snowflake itself may be different from the one that came before it, the crystalline shapes that make up all these special little snowflakes are actually remarkably uniform. Andy Brunning over at Compound Chem turned the data from a recent paper in Atmospheric Research into this chart, detailing the…

Simon Pegg Cast As The Devil in The Gathering? Yes, Please

Some exciting news from the director of comedy-horror movie The Gathering (not to be confused with Magic: The Gathering, also in pre-production) has emerged: Simon Pegg has been cast as the devil. He’ll appear in the anthology film’s framing device, which director Jon Keeyes describes thusly in his Fangoria interview: On Halloween night, the devil…

The Congressional Debate Over What Makes Food “Natural”

A controversial bill that seeks to block mandatory GMO food labeling by individual U.S. states was the subject of a hearing held yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. Amid the testimonies, one key question emerged time and again: Are genetically modified foods “natural”? Activists in several states have been pushing for…

Suddenly, Everyone On Arrow Became Awesome

On this week’s episode of Arrow a number of characters did complete about-faces, and it was fantastic. It was like watching the climactic unmasking scene in every movie ever for 50 straight minutes. Then there was a sword fight! The League of Assassins Is Completely Right Cirque du Soslay is in town, and they truss…

Hey, By The Way, Riker Totally Wouldn’t Mind Directing Star Trek 3

Now that Roberto Orci is no longer directing the third Star Trek movie, the film like is a ship without a captain. But there’s someone with both captaining and film directing experience who’s more than willing to take the job — former first officer William T. Riker, a.k.a. Jonathan Frakes. Frakes has announced he’d be…

Which Unanswered Scientific Question Do You Most Want An Answer To?

For every scientific concept or fact we manage to uncover, there’s still so much left out there that’s unknown. Today we want to know which of those scientific unknowns you most hope to have revealed within your lifetime. Whether you’re curious about life on Mars, what’s going on deep in our oceans, or something else,…

This Greenpeace Stunt May Have Irreparably Damaged Peru’s Nazca Site

The Peruvian government is planning to file criminal charges against Greenpeace activists who may have permanently scarred the Nazca Lines World Heritage Site during a publicity stunt. As The Guardian reports, the Nazca lines “are huge figures depicting living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary figures scratched on the surface of the ground between 1,500 and…

More than 5 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 268,940 tons are floating in the Earth’s oceans, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. This latest estimate is based on models of floating plastics data gathered from a series of 680 surface net tows and 891 visual surveys from oceans around the world.

All The Details About What’s Next After Agents of SHIELD‘s Big Reveals!

One actress has already had meetings about Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters. Jenna Coleman squashes a rumor about Clara’s fate in the Doctor Who Christmas special. The return of a villain is confirmed for Arrow. And what’s so scary about Jurassic World? Spoilers now! Top image: Agents of SHIELD Ghostbusters On the Today Show, Rebel Wilson revealed…

A Gorgeous View of the Great Lakes from International Space Station

On Sunday, Commander Barry Wilmore of Expedition 42 took this photo of the Great Lakes and the surrounding region from the International Space Station. In addition to the spider-webbing of lights and the sweep of clouds, there’s also a “Wow, Michigan really is shaped like that!” factor to this beautiful shot of Earth. Image Credit:…