How A Look Tells Us The Temperature of Distant Stars

One of the incredible things about astronomy is how much we can tell about stars that we can never, ever approach. But we can take the temperature of a star with our eyes, thanks to the Doppler effect. This, of course, is the effect that causes the horn of a car speeding by to drop…

Here are four amazing posters being printed for this weekend’s MondoCon

Yes, Mondo – those beloved makers of gorgeous posters – have their very own convention coming up this weekend in Texas. Alongside a bevy of panels, the company will also be screen-printing a set of posters live over the weekend, exclusively for Convention goers. The artwork – including a MondoCon 2014 design from Daniel Danger,…

Inside The Sadistic Mind Of Outlander‘s Villain Captain Black Jack

One reason Starz’s Outlander works so very well is due to the menace of Captain Jack Randall, a.k.a. Black Jack, played with chilling delivery by actor Tobias Menzies. We had the pleasure of speaking with actor Menzies about the show — spoilers for last week’s episode ahead! Menzies actually plays two characters in Outlander: Frank,…

Sunshine Superman Review: An Exhilarating BASE Jumping Origin Story

Sunshine Superman, a nostalgia-flecked look at the beginnings of modern BASE jumping, is an exuberant look at the life of Carl Boenish, the sport’s founding father. The footage is breathtaking, and director Marah Strauch has created a debut feature that is on par with Man On Wire, another movie exploring the vertiginous daredevil inclinations of…

How Can We Improve Scientific Literacy?

Being able to understand and interpret basic scientific concepts and methods is incredibly important, and it’s also become increasingly controversial. So what should we be doing to improve scientific literacy? Should we be focusing on science in schools or working on creating more opportunities to explore science outside of schools? What about those who are…

Another Classic Flash TV Show Star Joins The New Series

We knew that TV’s original Barry Allen, played in the 1990 series by John Wesley Shipp, had been cast in the new Flash TV show as Barry Allen’s dad. But now his co-star Amanda Pays joins him, reprising her original character Dr. Tina McGee — another S.T.A.R. Labs scientist helping the Flash understand his powers.…

A Density Map Showing 219 Million Stars Of The Visible Milky Way

It took University of Hertfordshire astronomers 10 years to do it, but their meticulous efforts have resulted in a mindboggingly detailed catalogue of the visible part of the northern section of the Milky Way — a vast swath of space that contains new fewer than 219 million stars. Looking below, the axes show galactic latitude…

This Shadow of Mordor short is Lord of the Rings on a budget

Warner Bros.’ upcoming videogame set in between The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings just got itself a new live-action short – and considering it’s an extended advert for a game, it manages to capture the vibes of Peter Jackson’s fantasy movies pretty well. The 7 minute movie sees the game’s protagonist Talion, a…

First Avengers 2 Synopsis, Plus Ben Affleck Explains Batman’s Main Flaw

Liam Neeson is ready to bring Qui-Gon back to Star Wars. Gotham’s executive producer explains how Christopher Nolan paved the way for the new show. Plus Ryan Murphy explains why Jessica Lange lobbied for American Horror Story’s new setting. Spoilers now! Top image: Avengers: Age of Ultron Star Wars Mark Ruffalo really wants to be…

MTV Made a Reality Show Out of The Maze Runner. It Was a Mess.

A while back, the CW made a Hunger Games-like reality show. Not to be beaten, MTV made an actual Maze Runner tie-in competition called The Million Dollar Maze Runner. It blew the The Hunger Games’ Subway sandwich out of the water. https://gizmodo.com/subway-is-making-official-hunger-games-sandwiches-like-1460430307 Honest congratulations to Peter and Diane, the winners of this nonsense. They each…

Legendary TV has acquired the rights to John Scalzi’s Lock In. They’ll be adapting the novel into a pilot, with the hope of it being picked up as a series. Here’s hoping to see a depiction of a world where 1% of the population is rendered paralyzed, but aware, by a disease on TV. [Variety]

Is Captain America 2‘s Secret Hero the Punisher? (Probably Not)

In any other world, the presence of a similar looking Penske trucks in two key moments would be a coincidence. Not in the Marvelverse. It’s the same truck driver, say directors Joe and Anthony Russo. With the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier on DVD, the Russos have revealed a bunch of secrets from…

Diver Becomes Friends With the Cuddliest Eel

Australian diver and shark expert Valerie Taylor details her growing friendship with a large spotted moray eel. My cats have never been this happy to see me. [via Tastefully Offensive]

Nicola Griffith Explains Why You Shouldn’t Fear Writing Sex Or Violence

We love Nicola Griffith’s writing for its intensity, but also for its realism. And talking to Locus, she explains why she thinks it’s important to include real sexuality as well as real violence in her books. Griffith says: I’m very much a creature of the body. In my books, physical violence is not cartoon violence;…

First Ever Footage From Helix Season 2: It’s Outbreak On A Boat!

Here’s the first ever look at the brand new season of Helix, and it is on a boat! Cue up the SNL jam. No more snowy abyss — the new season of Helix takes place on a boat! And presumably in a jungle or forest in a tropical island (since the new Helix header is…

Cool Experiment Puts Asimov’s First Law Of Robotics To The Test

Isaac Asimov’s First Law of Robotics states that “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” That sounds simple enough — but a recent experiment shows how hard it’s going to be to get machines to do the right thing. Roboticist Alan Winfield of…

Court Determines that Bloggers Are Journalists, Then Screws Them Over

A New Zealand court last week found that bloggers are journalists, a belief shared by many U.S. and Canadian courts as well. This means that bloggers can legally refuse to hand over the identities of anonymous sources. It also means that courts can rob them of that right. Top image: Gargolyle on New Zealand’s High…

Graham Joyce’s Brilliant Novel About Being Haunted By The Class System

Graham Joyce’s death last week was a huge loss, but at least he’s left us with one last confounding masterpiece. The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit, out now in the U.S., is a weird, semi-autobiographical novel in which the fantasy elements are mostly at the margins. And yet, it’s a strangely haunting ghost story.…

Is This WWII-Era Cipher The Most Unbreakable Code Ever Written?

Many cryptographers throughout history have claimed that a particular code is the most-unbreakable ever written. But does a rarely-used code, invented in 1917 and briefly employed during World War II, have a potential claim to the throne? In response to this story of how Stargate: Universe used cryptography to drop some on-screen clues to an…

No Movie Would Dare To Include Such Weird Futuristic Costumes As These

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Hollywood pushed the envelope in terms of weird “futuristic” costumes — just look at Zardoz and Logan’s Run. But these days, apart from the odd extra in the Hunger Games, the movies are tame. And the real strange futuristic garb appears on fashion runways. The other day, at the…