First Ever Trailer For Daniel H. Wilson’s The Nostalgist Looks Good

Before Robopocalypse was published we were already fanning over Daniel H. Wilson’s fiction work, specifically his short storyThe Nostalgist.And now that story has been turned into a short film, and it looks good. It looks really good. Watch. Directed by Giacomo Cimini the story is set in the futuristic city of Vanille. Here’s the summary…

Must Watch: John Brunner Breaks Down The Silliness Of Genre Categories

Back in (I’m guessing) the early 1970s, Hugo Award-winning John Brunner already understood that the division between “science fiction” and “mainstream fiction” was largely meaningless. In this must-watch video, the eloquent writer explains why science fiction is the mainstream literature of our technological world. In the above video, Brunner breaks it down as to why…

Watch How The Monstrous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Were Created

One thing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie had going for it was gigantic turtles. They were definitely giant, green turtle-esque looking monsters. And now watch the best scene from the entire movie (that was basically improved) get created. ILM’s VFX supervisor Pablo Helman released a video to Wired with the rest of his FX…

With Part III, Atlas Shrugged Becomes An Awesome, Torrid Romance

Like The Hobbit, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand was too awesome to adapt as just one movie. And now at last, the movie trilogy is complete. And the third movie is by far the most entertaining, because it focuses on the torrid romance between railroad genius Dagny Taggart and the dreamy, lion-coiffed John Galt. Spoilers…

Don’t Miss the Gothic Internet Horror of Broken Monsters

Lauren Beukes’ new novel Broken Monsters is about the dark forces that awaken in abandoned places — and abandoned people — when they yearn for the kind of attention they once had. Set in the back alleys and art warehouses of Detroit, it’s a supernatural thriller that will disturb you in all the right ways.…

Where Do We Sign Up For The World’s Most Extreme Haunted House?

The trailer for The Houses October Built already has us fuming with jealousy. It centers around a group of friends on a October search for the scariest and most intense haunted house ever. A trip I would give my last dollar to go on. And of course, things go terribly wrong. This POV footage film…

Watch The 3D Animated Lift-Off Of The Rocket That Will Take Us To Mars

NASA recently gave the green light to develop the Space Launch System, which will be the most powerful rocket ever built. The anticipated launch date is 2018, but you can watch it now in this stunning preview produced by the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Americans are more likely to work nights and weekends compared to citizens of other developed countries. In addition to spending more hours on the job, nearly 30% of Americans work weekends and — shockingly — more than a quarter toil away after 10pm. But people who work the extra-long hours tend to be highly educated…

Gwen Stacy takes on the mantle of Spider-Woman in this new One Shot

It seems Marvel’s on a bit of a female superhero kick recently, what withthe new Thor making an impressive mark, but it gets even better with a new one-off Spider-Man comic that’s set in an alternate universe where Gwen Stacy is bitten by Radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker – and gets a way cooler…

Archaeologists Have Discovered a Very Naughty Puritan in Boston’s Past

Boston is a goldmine for urban archaeologists. The city’s history goes back hundreds of years, and construction projects often unearth caches of historical items that are have been almost perfectly preserved. Such is the case with a buried outhouse, which revealed the naughty life of the lady who used it. As this NOVA video explains,…

Why Does Rabies Damage Your Body With Such Scary Speed?

A terrifying feature of the deadly rabies virus is how fast it moves along the body’s nervous system toward the brain, at speeds approaching half a meter per day. Its speed has been a medical mystery – but now researchers have a promising new lead that could explain how rabies spreads. Above: An electron micrograph…

Beloved Lone Wolf Adventure Books Return as an RPG

The Lone Wolf series may have been the apex of the 80s “choose your own adventure” craze, combining non-linear novels with game stats and dice rolling. They were essentially solitaire RPGs, so their reinvention as an actual RPG makes perfect sense. I distinctly remember playing through the Lone Wolf books around age 11 or 12,…

An Airbus A330 Recently Flew Into A Hailstorm — And This Is The Result

Earlier this week, an Air Europa Airbus A330 travelling from Madrid to Buenos Aires flew directly into a rather serious hailstorm, receiving serious damage to the nose and both windshields. Top image via Aviation Herald. Up until that point, things were rather uneventful on the 12-hour flight. But during the final 20 minutes things got…

Whoa–Water Ice Clouds Suspected In Brown Dwarf Beyond The Solar System

What are planetary atmospheres made of? Figuring out the answer to that question is a big step on the road to learning about habitability, assuming that life tends to flourish in atmospheres like our own. Artist’s conception of brown dwarf WISE J085510.83-071442.5, which may host water ice clouds in its atmosphere. Credit: Rob Gizis (CUNY…

The Greatest Black Women In Superhero Comics (Who Aren’t Storm)

Whenever anybody asks about black women in comics, the immediate response is to bring up Storm. But Storm isn’t the only black woman to rock superpowers and a costume. Here are 20 other black female characters in superhero comics who deserve more love and attention. Monica Rambeau (codename: Spectrum) was a lieutenant in the New…

Hot Jupiters Create Chaos for Their Stars

New research shows that star-snuggling hot Jupiters, despite being only a thousandth of the mass of their host suns, make their host stars wobble like a spinning top. Top image: Artistic impression via Hubble Space Telescope. Hot Jupiters were among the very first exoplanets ever discovered. Their existence caught astronomers completely off-guard, not only because…

io9 Newsstand: Best Stories of the Week for September 8 – 13

One of the best ways we, as a culture, process the tragic things that happen in our lives (individually or as a group) is through stories. Fiction is powerful that way. And there’s been a lot of powerful fiction written about and around 9/11. If you’re up for it and still working your way through…

Iran has premiered an awesomely bad knock-off of the awesomely bad Top Gun, which tells the “official true story” of Abbas Babaei’s role in the Iran-Iraq War and his rise from fighter pilot for the Shah to major general for the revolutionary Ayatollah. Titled Passion of Flight, there’s even a Persian version of Goose.

Burn Notice, A Better Typing Experience, Nintendo eShop Sale [Deals]

Pick up Burn Notice in its entirety for just 50 bucks today. [Burn Notice] Cherry MX Blues and Greens are currently locked in a battle to become my favorite mechanical switch, but you can get yourself a Cherry MX Blue Keyboard for just $60 today. [Rosewill RK-9000] You might not be familiar with the Rosewill…

10 Weird TV Show Ideas That The Networks Keep Trying Over And Over

Just like with movies, you sometimes see a few television shows about the same idea come down the pike. Recently, we had two “supernatural child” shows (Touch and Believe), and a handful of supernatural medical shows. But here are 10 TV show ideas that keep coming back again and again. When you think about it,…