On Jupiter, You Can See Neon Rain

There isn’t enough neon on the surface of Jupiter. This rather prosaic fact might point to one of the most spectacular sights in the solar system. Inside Jupiter, it might rain neon streaks. Jupiter is a disappointed sun. It is a massive cloud of gas that gets denser and denser towards the center, but never…

A Simple Optical Phenomenon That No One’s Figured Out Yet

Most of us have seen halos around the sun. We know why they happen. And then there are Bottlinger’s Rings. No one has figured out why they exist. It’s not unusual, when traveling by plane, to look down and see the sun reflecting off a cloud below you. This little patch of reflected brightness is…

Why Do Your Pupils Get Larger When You’re On Drugs?

Normally, our pupils dilate in response to changing light; as it gets darker, our pupils get larger. But they expand in size for other reasons as well, including when we’re sexually aroused and when we’re performing complex cognitive tasks. But it’s also known that certain medications — including illicit drugs — can cause pupils to…

Keep Your Beer From Skunking — Using Science!

A cold beer seems made for drinking in the sun, but sometimes those summertime beers inexplicably develop a rotten flavor when served in the heat of the day. Why does that happen? It’s not for the reason you may think, and fortunately, there’s a way to put a stop to it. In this video from…

Simpsons World Preview: Nearly 300 Hours of Springfield in Your Pocket

As the longest-running sitcom on TV, The Simpsons has accumulated a trove of digital content that’s record-setting in almost every way: a staggering 552 episodes from 25 seasons. This October, FXX will launch an app that lets fans (with a cable package) stream every episode, on any device—plus give them unprecedented power to browse shows,…

​The Strain Is Not Acting Like The Season Finale Is Next Week

Oh, The Strain. You did it again. You wasted most of another episode — the one before the season finale this time — and had me ready to lose my mind at your continued dawdling. But then you redeemed the whole damn thing with the greatest characters of 2014. Again! After last week’s semi-climactic non-battle…

In The Movie Of Heinlein’s “All You Zombies,” Ethan Hawke Is A TimeCop

The most famous story of time travel and predestination is getting a movie adaptation, starring Ethan Hawke. Robert A. Heinlein’s “All You Zombies” features a guy whose very existence is a time paradox — but the movie looks like more of a gritty, noir-influenced thriller. Above is the brand new international trailer for Predestination, from…

11 Reasons You Should Be Watching The Legend Of Korra

The final season of The Legend of Korra starts streaming this Friday, summing up one of the best shows currently on television. If you haven’t been watching the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, we have a few reasons why you should hop on this series. You can binge-watch the earlier seasons of The Legend…

The Wind Rises, Spider-Verse Hardcover, Kindle Paperwhite [Deals]

Preorder The Wind Rises on Blu-ray to save at least $12 off MSRP, and check out the Kotaku Review. [The Wind Rises] https://kotaku.com/ghiblis-new-movie-is-beautiful-but-it-has-its-problem-876413696 Guys, that’s a lot of Spider-Men. Preorder the Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Verse Hardcover, that has an MSRP of $75, and get it for $26 or less. [Spider-Verse] “The scope of this event is…

David Fincher Originally Met With Lucasfilm About Star Wars: Episode 7

Before Disney selected J.J. Abrams as the man responsible for ushering in a new era of Star Wars, Gone Girl’s David Fincher met with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about the possibility of directing Episode VII back in 2012. Whoa. According to /Film, Kennedy wanted Fincher for the job, but Fincher turned it down. But based…

New Evidence That Aquatic And Land-Based Archosaurs Fought One Another

During the Late Triassic, some huge reptiles lived on land, others lived in the water, and it’s long been believed that they didn’t typically interact with one another. But the discovery of a tooth lodged in a 220-million-year-old thighbone reveals that two prehistoric carnivores frequently skirmished across their respective turfs. Scientists at the University of…

This Week’s TV: Ben Franklin Becomes America’s Dr. Frankenstein

While several shows settle into their second episodes of the season, Neil deGrasse Tyson lends his voice to Gravity Falls and Lost returns for one night only—on Phineas and Ferb. Plus, Star Wars Rebels premieres and Korra returns for its final season. Get all the details below! Top image from Dark Haul, Syfy’s newest original…

If you love dinosaurs, you need to go check out the amazing gallery of paleoartthat Irene Gallo posted over at Tor.com last year. She’s Tor’s art director (among other things) and pulls together everything from science illustrations to fantasy art and cartoons. Simply wonderful! This piece above is by io9 fave John Conway, and shows…

The Shrinking Aral Sea Has Been Reduced To A Mere Sliver

Dry conditions have caused the Aral Sea’s eastern lobe to completely dry up for the first time in modern history. It was once the fourth largest lake in the world, but owing to a disastrous irrigation project, it’s all but gone. Top: The Aral Sea in 2000 (left) and 2014 (right). Back in the 1960s,…

Jon Hamm and Oona Chaplin will be in Black Mirror‘s Christmas Special

Charlie Brooker’s fantastic dystopic anthology series Black Mirror is returning to Channel 4 later this December for a Christmas special – and it’s got one hell of a cast. The 90 minute special, which begins filming this week, will feature three interwoven stories – all connected through Jon Hamm’s character – of ‘Yuletide techno-paranoia’ according…

The Epic Story Of Johann Bernoulli, The Meanest Man In Math

No profession is free from the kind of miserable jerks who ruin it for everyone else. No intelligence level is either. When great intelligence, prestige careers, and big egos come together, things get ugly. Johann Bernoulli was, as a person, very ugly. Johann and Jakob The Bernoullis were a 15o-year dynasty of brilliant mathematicians and…

ISS Astronauts Recreate Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Poster

In a tradition dating back to the space shuttle era, NASA has created mock movie posters to promote its missions. Previous posters have included Reservoir Dogs and Pirates of the Caribbean. But, for ISS Expedition 42 — the answer to life, the universe and everything — there could only be one choice. Flight engineer Samantha…

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) recently said members of Congress have privately urged generals to resign “in a blaze of glory” if they disagree with Obama’s handling of Middle East conflicts. Amid criticism, Lamborn’s office later claimedhe was referring to earlier policy disputes such as the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The Timing Of Meteor Strikes May Not Be Random

Astronomers tend to assume that the timing of Earth-striking meteors are completely random, but a recent analysis suggests that meteor impacts are more likely to occur at certain times of the year and at certain locations. Such is the conclusion of researchers Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos of the Complutense University of Madrid.…

What Memories Of Yours Should Be Recorded For Historical Purposes?

Written histories tend to focus on a few large stories, but those stories are actually made up of hundreds of smaller stories that come from the people who witnessed or were part of events as they happened. So what stories and memories do you have that should be preserved as part of the historical record?…