Why Do We Make College Graduates Wear Such Dorky Hats?

It’s the time of year where students of all kinds — high school, college, graduate school, etc. — are graduating. And everyone, except for doctoral students, has to wear the mortarboard. Which is, objectively, a ridiculous hat. So why are thousands of students struggling to keep these monstrosities on their heads this month? Top image:…

Die Hard 25th Anniversary, Planet of the Apes Collection, Humble

Save hard on this Die Hard 25th Anniversary set that includes all 4 films and lots of extra for just 20 bucks. [Die Hard 25th Anniversary, $20] The Planet of the Apes Collection is also marked down to 20 bucks today and includes 5 films in one excellent package. [Planet of the Apes 5-Film Collection,…

A Map of National Landmarks That Are Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

From Ellis Island to the Everglades, and from sea to rising sea, many of America’s most iconic landmarks and historic sites face the risk of severe damage or even eventual loss. A new report, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, highlights thirty vulnerable locations that were chosen because “the science behind the risks they…

The Isaac Asimov Blunder That Led To Three New Gene Wolfe Stories

Most people, having a great honor dangled in their faces and then snatched away, would harbor some unproductive thoughts. Gene Wolfe, apparently, is not most people. Over at File770, there’s a hilariously complete version of a story I’d only seen the outlines of before. At the 1971 Nebula Awards ceremony, toastmaster Isaac Asimov read the…

A Map Of Where El Niño Will Strike Around The World

It’s looking more and more likely that we’re going to have another El Niño year starting this summer — one that could possibly rival 1997’s infamously bad event. But just what does that mean? As this map demonstrates, it can mean very different things around the globe. https://gizmodo.com/this-could-be-a-horrific-year-for-el-nino-1576307459 The map is the work of NOAA…

Bowie Reveals The Secret Origin Of Ziggy Stardust In This Great Cartoon

The man responsible for the greatest scifi album of all time is Ziggy Stardust. And the man responsible for that man is of course David Bowie, who explains his creation of his iconic 1970s glam rock character in this 1998 interview with Joe Smith, now animated by PBS’s Blank on Blank. The interview covers —…

I Can’t Figure Out Whether This College Study is Sexist or Not

It was the 1930s, and America was changing. Women were going to college and communists were marching in the streets. But people really didn’t want those two things to combine. And thus was born a study that had its heart in the right place and its head in the wrong one. Here is the tale…

The Ten Most Bizarre Ideas For Using Nuclear Weapons

When you’re a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And if you have several thousand nuclear warheads just lying around, it seems a shame not to put them to good use. Here are ten of the most bizarre proposals for nuclear bomb use over the decades. 1) “Pillars of Fire in the Valley of…

Are the Spokes in Saturn’s Rings Merely an Optical Illusion?

Among all the strange things about Saturn’s rings one of the strangest are the mysterious radial “spokes” in its B Ring. At first thought to be caused by the same sort of gravitational interactions between Saturn, its moons and the ring material that create the myriad divisions in the rings, information gathered by the Cassini…

Thought crimes could prevent you from getting help to cover your medical bills. A woman who needed money to help pay for a dangerous skin condition found that her online fundraising site was demolished, and her money taken away, after she tweeted about pornography.

Breakthrough: Synthetic Meat Made From Stem Cells

Last year, scientists created the world’s first lab-grown burger — and by all accounts it didn’t taste half bad. Sadly, the cost of a single patty ran upwards of $385,000. Now, European researchers have developed a small-scale manufacturing technique for synthetic meat that could eventually prove revolutionary. The global demand for meat is steadily increasing.…

The Plot To Jurassic World Sounds Impressively Ridiculous

Is this the plot to the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, the Chris Pratt-starring Jurassic World? Find your local purveyor of salt, buy some, and then take it; but if it is real, then people are still making some impressively horrible dinosaur-cloning decisions. According to JoBlo, Jurassic Park is back in business, but…

Hugh Jackman: The Ultimate io9 Interview

Over Hugh Jackman’s 14 years as Wolverine, he’s seen the X-Men rise and fall, and he’s doing it again in X-Men:Days of Future Past. In our exclusive interview, Jackman explains what makes a good X-Men movie, his opinions on the new, younger group of mutants and the complex math behind delivering Wolverine’s signature line “Bub.”…

After 15 Years of Study, a New Theory of What Causes Fairy Circles

In Namibia, at the boundaries between grassland and desert, a strange phenomenon has puzzled people for centuries. Mysterious circles of barren land form in the middle of rich, thick grasses. Dubbed “fairy circles,” their formation has been attributed to everything from termites to poison gas. Now, a group of scientists has a new theory. Photo…

A Trove Of 400,000 Images From The Met That You Can Use For Free

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has put a collection of 400,000 (and growing) images online and made it all available for free use. Image: One of the now freely available images: View of Toledo, El Greco / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. You can…

Physicists Design A Collider That Turns Light Into Matter

Scientists have worked out an easy way of turning light into matter, a process thought to be impossible when first proposed 80 years ago. The proposed experiment would recreate events that occurred in the first 100 seconds of the Big Bang. In 1934, scientists Gregory Breit and John Wheeler suggested light can be converted into…

Watch Snake Venom Turn a Dish of Blood To Jelly In Seconds!

If you want to see what snake venom — or at least Russell’s viper venom — does to blood take a look at this chilling video. A drop of venom, and a quick swish of the dish of blood, and you get big hunk of solid blood jelly. Russell’s vipers do a number of unpleasant…

It’s Time For The Canine Medal Of Honor

Sasha, a yellow Labrador, has been posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of Britain’s highest military honor. In Afghanistan, she saved several lives by locating 15 caches of hidden bombs and weapons. Regrettably, while the UK honors its animals that serve in the military, the US does not. Sasha was killed along with…

The First Pics From Disney’s First Marvel Movie, Big Hero 6

Behold, Hiro Hamada and his robot Baymax from the little-known Marvel series Big Hero 6. That will assuredly change once this Pixar Disney movie comes out on November 7th, but for now, all we have are these few tantalizing pics. The movie summary is as follows: Set in a fictional metropolis called San Fransokyo (a…

Do We Already Know The Secret Bat-Villain In Batman Vs. Superman?

Check out a ton of behind-the-scenes “B-roll” footage from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Whether Pacific Rim 2 happens depends on the right story being written. And Dylan Bruce talks about what’s next for Paul and Rachel on Orphan Black. Spoilers now! Top image: Batman Vs. Superman X-Men: Days of Future Past Despite saying that…