Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Shrinking

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may need to come up with a new moniker—not only has the spot shrunk down to its smallest measure ever, its shape is changing. In the 1800s, the spot was measured at over 25,000 miles across. Today, that measure is at 10,250 and falling. Since 2012, Jupiter’s red spot has been…

Transformers 4 Trailer Tries To Explain The Science Of Transformers

Turns out the Transformers are made of a “molecularly unstable atom.” OK, guys, just give us robot dinosaurs. The new trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction has loads of new footage, including a ton of Stanely Tucci guffawing at the Transformers he’s been tasked with hunting down and… well, whatever the government is doing to…

Venture Capital Firm Appoints Machine Intelligence As Board Member

Hong Kong based venture capital firm Deep Knowledge Ventures (DKV) has appointed a machine learning program to its board. Called VITAL, it’s an “equal member” that will uncover trends “not immediately obvious to humans” in order to make investment recommendations. This is probably an attempt to attract media attention, but it could truly be the…

Where Are You From?

It’s a big world out there. Where are you in it? We’ve asked you to introduce yourself before (along with a few details about what you do, your hobbies, and what it was that brought you to io9), and now we want to know a little more about just where you’re reading from. So, tag…

The Rosetta Comet Has Developed A Coma

The comet that is the destination of the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has begun to reveal its true personality. This timelapse image of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko shows its dusty veil, the “coma,” expanding as it gets nearer to the sun. The sequence of images was taken between March 27 and May 4, as the gap between the European…

The Flash Is Faster Than A Speeding Arrow In His First TV Promo

During last night’s Arrow, we got our first good look at Grant Gustin in action in his Flash regalia. And he’s already joking around with Oliver Queen’s arrows. Here’s the official description of the show from the CW: After a particle accelerator causes a freak storm, CSI Investigator Barry Allen is struck by lightning and…

What’s Next For the Agents of SHIELD? And Is Prometheus 2 On Hold?

Get the first details about the Game of Thrones season finale. Watch some X-Men featurettes! Ridley Scott could be directing the movie adaptation of The Martian. The first photo from The Walking Dead season five shows a bloodied Rick. And could Arrow’s Deadshot get his own spinoff? Spoilers now! Top image: Agents of SHIELD The…

There Are Mechs in These Mountains

Sometimes, if you climb high enough, you’ll find an old, wandering mech in the snowy folds of the mountains. They’re still vigilant, still watching the skies, still reliving those long-ago decades when the Klaag invaded Earth with their massive synthetic lifeforms. This lonely mech is the creation of Kelly Christophers, a visual effects artist at…

Man Gives Himself A Tattoo By Letting 1,000 Bed Bugs Feed On Him

Letting a swarm of hungry bed bugs feed on your arm sounds squirm-inducingly unpleasant, but this entomologist decided to have a little fun with it. He gave himself a temporary tattoo while giving his bed bugs a nice big meal. It’s making us itch just thinking about it, but when his lab had a jar…

Tyrion’s Epic Game Of Thrones Speech Gets A Perfect Alternate Ending

If you saw this weekend’s Game of Thrones, you saw the episode close with one of the best, bitterest, and most badass speeches ever made on the show, by Tyrion Lannister, to his shitty family and all the assholes of King’s Landing. I did not think this scene could be any better. And then I…

First Look At More New Dinobots Of Transformers: Age Of Extinction

We have the reveal of two new Transformers: Age of Extinction figures, Slog and Snarl, which means a good look at both their dinosaur and robot forms! And they. Are. Bonkers. Snarl is the radioactive green stegosaurus above. Slog is below, and he’s… uh… covered in long, thin, cylindrical, ribbed, columns, I guess you’d call…

Last Night’s Originals Finale Actually Got Me Teary-Eyed

Not only that, but it was a pretty intense hour of television, with a lot of twisty plotting that paid off. On a night that also saw the superlative Person of Interest finale and the quite good Agents of SHIELD finale, this still stood out as something pretty special. I love the fact that Klaus…

The magnet in GE’s new MRI machine is 140,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field. Called 7 Tesla, it’s five times stronger than conventional MRIs and nearly as powerful as magnets found particle accelerators. The souped-up MRI will be used to investigate diseases and disorders in unprecedented detail. Image: GE.

The New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books That You Can’t Afford To Miss

The best days of science fiction and fantasy books aren’t in the past — they’re still arriving. Every month, new books come out that pack a hell of a whallop. Just check out our list of the 23 new books that you absolutely must not miss in May. Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan,…

This Ghost Story About A Phantom Limb Will Give You Chills

In the emotional short film Phantom Limb, a man finds himself haunted by the ghost of his partner’s amputated arm, which grows more monstrous as his guilt looms. Made by Alex Grigg, Phantom Limb is one of the segments from the Late Night Work Club’s Ghost Stories. You can watch all of them below: What…

Real-Life Dr. Zoidberg Cosplay Is Both Terrifying And Terrific

Effects artist Frank Ippolito designed this AMAZING Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama costume for YouTube series “Tested”—and it was a a HUGE hit at WonderCon 2014. Well done, everyone, but please don’t stand too close (you’re scary).

How The TARDIS Got Its Famous Dematerialization Sound

The sound of the TARDIS arriving is an unmistakable — and distinctive — sign that the Doctor is near. But, while the sound may be alien, it turns out that its origins are decidedly earthbound. After looking at the series of keys that have opened up the famous blue box throughout the years, commenter simon-on-the-river3…

A Giant Planet That’s Freakishly Far From Its Sun

Canadian astronomers have discovered a gigantic planet-like object that’s so far from its parent star that it takes 80,000 years to complete a single orbit — a distance that’s 50 times farther than Pluto is from our sun. The discovery may force a re-think into how and where planets are capable of forming. Called GU…

The Debate Over Killer Robots Is A Guy Thing

Diplomats, engineers and robotics experts from around the world are currently gathered at the United Nations in Geneva to debate whether lethal drones should be banned from warfare. And of the 18 experts presenting their views during the four-day conference, not a single one is female. “Clearly this is not ideal,” writes Meghan Neal at…

Want To Raise Money On Kickstarter? This Comic Can Help You Get Started

Want to raise money for your comics project on Kickstarter, but don’t know where to start? Here’s a comic that takes you through the whole process, from deciding how much money to ask for to fulfilling your backer rewards. C. Spike Trotman has successfully funded her books Poorcraft, The Sleep of Reason, and both volumes…