Last Girl On Earth Is Raised By Robots In Our New Favorite Short Film

David Levy has worked as a concept artist on Tron: Legacy, Prometheus, Ender’s Game, and Tomorrowland, and this short film proves he’s got some directing chops as well. After humanity has abandoned Earth, robots inherit the planet—and the one human girl who was left behind. Levy created Plug as the start of what he hopes…

Bats Can Transmit “Signal Jamming” Sounds 

Bats are dependent upon echolocation to catch their insect prey. But competition for resources is fierce among bats, so they’ve evolved the capacity to “jam” the signals of other bats to send them off target. Photo: Nickolay Hristov As is well known, bats make calls and listen to the echos they return. This allows them…

A Psychological Transformation That Only Astronauts Experience

We know very little about the effect of space travel on the human psyche – but what we have learned so far suggests that it’s profound. Above: The highest resolution photograph of Earth ever captured | Credit: NASA Perhaps you’re familiar with this quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, in which he describes the…

Frostborn Is The Fantasy Adventure Book I Wish I’d Had When I Was A Kid

Lou Anders’ new novel Frostbornis one of those middle-grade fantasy books that you’ll buy for your kid, just so you can have an excuse to read it yourself. The highest compliment I can give Frostborn is it gave me Lloyd Alexander flashbacks. Minor spoilers ahead… Until recently, Anders (no relation) was best known as the…

Why It’s Harmful to Describe Cancer as a “War”

When people talk about cancer, they often resort to the language of war – e.g. Mary lost her brave fight with cancer. Manycompelling objections have been made against the use of such “battle metaphors,” and a growing body of evidence suggests that, for some people, they can actually be harmful. Above: American Civil War, Union…

Why Is OLED Different and What Makes It So Great?

I have seen the future of high definition displays and lo, it is glorious. Not to mention rollable, foldable, and clearly superior to LCD/LED—really every other panel technology available today. What is OLED and how does it work? OLED, or Organic Light Emitting Diodes, are an offshoot of existing conventional LED technology. LEDs are semiconducting…

Meet the Mysterious Creator of Rumor-Debunking Site Snopes.com

Snopes.com creator David Mikkelson has been calling out bullshit on the Internet for two decades. (There’s no antifreeze in Fireball, people … merely the makings of a very regrettable hangover.) We caught up with Mikkelson to find out where Snopes came from, and what’s next for the site. Above, photo of a Bigfoot sighting in…

​12 Strange And Disturbing Facts About The Original My Little Pony

Some people are weirded out by the immense popularity of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But other than the terrifying Equestria Girls, FiM has nothing on the original My Little Pony cartoon. Here are a dozen weird bits of trivia about the classic show and the toys that may blow your pony minds. 1)…

Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Trailer Prepares For An Epic War

Here is your first, long look at the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies—or as we call it, a film that probably shouldn’t be this long, but who are you kidding? You’re going to watch it premiere weekend anyway. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will premiere on December 17th. Word…

The Secret That Botanists Are Keeping From The Public

With its small bright green leaves and dangling, pearl-white flowers, Raven’s Manzanita is instantly recognizable—except that nobody sees it anymore. Botanists won’t disclose the location of the last known wild specimen in California. They’ve concluded that secrecy is the best way to protect rare species. And it’s not just in California. “This is happening all…

Pandemic: The Cure, Kingdom Hearts Collector’s Edition, and More Deals

Pandemic: The Cure is a standalone, dice-based version of the awesome Pandemic Board Game, and rarely gets a discount. [Pandemic: The Cure] The Collector’s Edition of Kingdom Hearts HD II.5 Remix is a Square-Enix Store exclusive and costs $100, but yeah it’s pretty awesome, especially that Heartless Plush. [ KHII.5HDRCE] If that’s out of your…

Author Karl Schroeder Is Here To Talk To You About Lockstep

In October, theio9 book club read Karl Schroeder’s Lockstep. Today, from 11 A.M. – noon (Pacific time), he’ll be here to answer your questions about building a fictional space empire, imagining distant futures, and anything else you want to know. Start asking Schroeder your questions in the comments section right now and he’ll answer as…

Best. Episode of Arrow. EVER!

“The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak,” gives us a technically perfect superhero origin story. It’s so beautiful, so elegant, that I want to enter it in the Superhero Origin Story Olympics. Mommy Hottest We open with Felicity Smoak, in her jim-jams, getting ready for her day. Her day gets a jump on her when Ray…

Everything You Need To Know About The Making Of Big Hero 6

This week, Disney gives us its version of a superhero movie with Big Hero 6. We’ve got all the details on the huggable healthcare robot Baymax and the mashup city of San Fransokyo, plus how anime, Disneyland park mascots, and Clint Eastwood inspired the film. We have already talked a bitabout our visit to Walt…

This Gamer Used His Thoughts To Control The Movements Of Another Player

An upgraded brain-to-brain interface has allowed researchers to transmit signals from one person’s brain over the internet and use those signals to control the hand motions of another person. Remarkably, the system allowed the participants to collaborate on a computer game. Photo: Mary Levin, U of Wash. This latest experiment by University of Washington researchers…

Star Wars: Episode VII Has A Real Title Now!

The movie now known as Star Wars: The Force Awakens will premiere on December 18th, 2015. Looks like it’s dropped the Episode VII moniker as well. Hmm. Could be better, but it also could be a lot worse. I kinda dig it. Thoughts?

What would happen to your home if water levels in the Great Lakes rose six feet? A new predictor from NOAA lets you see exactly what any change in water levels from either six feet above or below current levels in the Great Lakes would mean for the surrounding Midwest properties — whether they get…

What The Elections Tell Us About The Future Of Marijuana Legalization

While voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia passed measures in favor of legalizing pot, Florida rejected the use of medical marijuana. The various campaigns and their outcomes offer valuable insights into the politics of pot, now that 17.5 million Americans live in states that permit retail marijuana. Philip Wallach and John Hudak,…

Why You Can’t Always Trust Your Brain

You’re probably familiar with the rabbit-duck illusion. Like other “ambiguous images,” this illusion can tell psychologists a lot about how we perceive our surroundings. The implications are as clear as they are unsettling: When confronted with ambiguity, we often see what our brains want us to see. How our brains deal with ambiguity is one…

Unprecedented New Image Shows A Planet-Forming Disc Around A Young Star

Now this is extraordinary. It’s the sharpest picture ever made of a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. The image, which bears a striking resemblance to prior artistic impressions, is set to revolutionize our understanding of how planets form. The new image was made possible by ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. And as the…