When Will The Last Ever McDonald’s Restaurant Close Its Doors?

McDonald’s is one of the most successful franchises of all time — wherever you go, all over the world, there’s bound to be a Golden Arches nearby. They stopped counting how many billions sold decades ago. Its dominance seems destined to last forever… but nothing ever does. When will the final McDonald’s close? Also, what…

Which Female Hero ISN’T Going to Be Dead In Ant-Man?

Rumor has it a familiar face will show up in Batman v. Superman as a part of Bruce Wayne’s past. Plus another Wonder Woman rumor. We know a few details about Steven Spielberg’s The BFG and how it differs from the Roald Dahl book. Steven Moffat quashes rumors about a Doctor Who villain’s return. Spoilers…

A Very Special Witches of East End: Don’t Make Supercocaine With Magic

That’s evil 70s Dash, snorting the magically fortified cocaine he sells. With epic facial hair. What more do you need? Whatever it is, this episode has it. I’m basically just Stefon from Saturday Night Live right now. “This episode of Witches of East End had everything: girls kissing, casual murder, potions as allegorical drugs, actual…

Doctors Removed a Tooth Growing Into a Man’s Nose

No, this isn’t a case of a kid sticking a tooth into his nose and getting it stuck. This is a tooth that grew up into a guy’s nose. Basically, he was close to being a human Narwhal. You’re welcome for the nightmares. After a 22-year-old found himself suffering from nose bleeds in his left…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 is coming. After surprising everyone by unseating Guardians of the Galaxy with a $65 million opening weekend, Paramount’s already planning the sequel. Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, who penned the first, will return to write the second and executive produce. [The Hollywood Reporter]

These Game of Thrones House Sigils Are the Cutest

In these, artist Jonathan Cantero personifying the houses in very specific ways. Below, he does adorable versions of House sigils, with a very angry Martell sun. Beware that they might constitute spoilers. Cantero has a bunch of art like this on his blog, so do check them out. [via xombieDIRGE]

Outlander Leaves Us Wanting More. Like Now. Right Now.

Outlander, Starz’s adaptation of the Diana Gabaldon book series from Ronald D. Moore, premiered last night and it was very good. It’s rare that a pilot fires on all cylinders: look, character, plot, and tone. Also sex and violence, because this is cable. Spoilers now… I don’t think anyone watching Outlander was unaware that it…

Weather Channel Reporter Won’t Stop Mispronouncing This Moon’s Name

Earlier this week, The Weather Channel’s Matt Sampson hosted an interesting little news segment about violent volcanic activity recently detected on Jupiter’s moon Io. But Sampson didn’t call the planet by its name, which is pronounced “eye-oh.” Instead, he – well, we don’t want to spoil it. [Warning: Video Autoplays] [UPDATE: It appears the video…

This Secret Treasure Room May Be The Best Birthday Present Of All Time

When Sarah Goer and her husband discovered a disused storage space attached to their son’s room, they decided to convert it into a Secret Treasure Room. For years, they concealed the room’s entrance with a dresser, waiting for the perfect moment – their son’s fourth birthday – to reveal its existence. Here, Sarah describes how…

Guardians of the Galaxy Outpaces Transformers To Set 10-Day Record

To the surprise of many, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles unseated Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend, taking the top slot at the box office with a $65-million opening. But don’t feel bad for GotG –ten days out from its release, the film is projected to have grossed $175,922,000 (compared to Transformers‘ 10-day figure of 175,395,954),…

Babylon 5 Could Soon Be Rebooted As A Feature Film

Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski has announced plans for a feature-length Babylon 5 film that would begin production 2016. According to Straczynski’s SDCC announcement, the film would not be a continuation of the 1990s television series, but an outright reboot. That said, Straczynski has said he would like to use original cast members where…

The Cultural Curse of Knowledge and Movie Spoilers

I’ve always demanded spoilers for what I watch, but I understand that most people like to go into films unspoiled. It’s odd then, that the curse of knowledge makes spoilers for the most important films of our time unavoidable. The “curse of knowledge” is pretty well known. People who have some piece of knowledge, whether…

io9 Newsstand: Best Stories for the Week of August 4 – 9

It’s the start of a new month, and that means fresh stories hot off the virtual presses from the monthly magazines. This is also the time of the month when I’ll remind you that, though many of the best SFF magazines are online and free to read, they do count on subscription love to continue…

Mesmerizing Anatomical X-Ray GIFs

San Francisco based graphic designer Cameron Drake converted some X-ray footage into a series of GIFs for one of his recent projects. The resulting animations are really quite beautiful. Foot and Ankle Shoulder See the rest of Drake’s X-ray GIF series at his Behance page. He’s also put together a cool little blog entry on…

You Want A Deadpool Movie? Here’s Some Advice.

Recently, CGI test footage for a Deadpool movie set the internet on fire.We speculated that the test reel – produced by director Tim Miller and his company Blur Studio – was leaked to gauge interest in the project. Now it’s clear EVERYONE is interested, Miller has some advice on what we can do to bring…

Legend Of Korra Reminds Us Why Korra And Asami Make Such A Great Team

Wow, The Legend of Korra has been giving us everything we want lately: likable antagonists, battles that play with the bending elements in interesting (and sometimes terrifying) ways, and Korra and Asami working as a perfect team. So in the confusion of Comic-Con and the sudden move to Korra online, I have tragically missed not…

A New Chapter In The Amazon/Hachette Battle

Late last night, Amazon unveiled a letter in response to the 900+ authors who have united against the company and its ongoing commercial dispute with publisher Hachette.

Let’s Stop Trying To Teach Students Critical Thinking

Many teachers say they strive to teach their students to be critical thinkers. They even pride themselves on it; after all, who wants children to just take in knowledge passively? But there is a problem with the widespread treatment of critical thinking as a skill to be taught. Above: Socrates, father of critical thinking |…

Watch The Sun Slurp Its Own Plasma

Ours is a disgusting star, with terrible manners.

Just How Bad Is California’s Drought? Here’s A Scary, 10-Second Answer.

California continues to dry up. The latest figures indicate more than 80% of the state is in extreme drought, or worse, exceptional drought. These are sobering numbers, to be sure, but for an even better perspective on the drought’s unprecedented progression, check out this GIF, created by L.A. Times reader Alvaro Valiño. Each frame of…