A Fascinating New Alternate History In Which Egypt Rules The World

Alternate histories – with their roads not taken and mix of real and supposition – can be dreams come true for junkies of world-building — and Ramona Wheeler’s Three Princes might contain enough awesome to make you overdose. Spoilers ahead… Though the most common times to twist into alternate history are those surrounding World War…

A Map Of Everywhere In The World People Are Migrating To And From

This web may not look much like a map at first glance, but it is. Instead of mapping physical geography, though, this map charts where in the world people are moving to and from, to give us a snapshot look at the worldwide migration patterns over 20 years. Top image: A working map of migration…

The Human Face Is Far More Expressive Than We Thought

In a study that now seems embarrassingly overdue, scientists have tripled the list of human facial expressions from six to 21 — adding such emotions as “sadly surprised” and “happily disgusted.” Previous studies on emotional facial expressions have focused on six basic categories — happiness, surprise, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust. There’s obviously more to…

Could This Precious Goblet Really Be The Holy Grail?

Crowds are flocking to León’s San Isidro basilica in Spain after two historians published a book claiming that the precious goblet of the Infanta Doña Urraca is the mythical chalice from which Jesus drank during the last supper. The basilica’s curators had no choice but to remove the goblet from display after visitors started swarming…

The Origin Of Lightsabers, According To George Lucas

This 15-minute Star Wars featurette won’t tell you how to make an actual lightsaber, but it will explain how director George Lucas and his team created the first lightsabers for A New Hope, and Mark Hamill tells what it was like to wield them. You may recall this video from the original Star Wars trilogy…

Early Design Specs Show The Space Shuttle Could Have Been Much Cooler

The first Space Shuttle didn’t reach orbit until 1981, but NASA was working on designs for nearly a dozen years before that. And looking at the progression of these concept drawings, you can see how compromises were made and budgets were cut. Here’s the evolution of the Space Shuttle, in pictures. Top image: Rockwell Aerospace,…

​What Are You Working On?

We’re doing a show-and-tell thread today and we want to know what you’ve been working on! Are you working on a new project or do you want to update us on one you told us about last time? Whether you’ve got a graphic novel going, a scientific experiment entering trials, or an art project you’re…

This Battery-Operated Sex Toy Was Just A Battery

More specifically, the first battery-operated sex toy was a voltaic pile, which was the primitive form of the battery. Unfortunately, this particular voltaic pile was made by Johann Ritter, who put it to unnatural, but entertaining, uses. Johann Ritter was a brilliant young scientists with many major accomplishments. His most famous scientific contribution was the…

A Compact Toolbox That Camouflages Itself As a Book On Your Shelf

Hunting down your toolbox and finding the right tool for a quick fix is never really ‘quick’ enough. And it usually leads to an ever-growing to-do list of things to fix around the house. Here’s a better solution: Strelka’s ToolBook lets you hide a basic set of screwdrivers and hex wrenches on a bookshelf, so…

A Memory Experiment That Would Make A Good Parlor Game

There are all kinds of ways to make people misremember things. But can you make a person misremember a specific word? This might be an interesting parlor game, or an interesting mass experiment. We all know the game Taboo, in which people attempt to make their partner say a word or a phrase, while being…

The show 24 has left Netflix for the greener pastures of Amazon Instant Video, where it is now exclusively carried. Prime subscribers can stream all eight seasons of the saga of Jack Bauer starting today.

World’s Slowest Flash-Mob Plays Most Awesome Game Of Thrones Cover

A youth orchestra took to the streets of Logroño, Spain, for this spectacular flashmob performance, and when I say “flashmob” I mean “slowly assemble over the course of four minutes.” Still, don’t let this dissuade you from checking out their phenomenal cover of Game of Thrones’ opening theme. [Via Warming Glow]

Meet New io9 Staff Writer Mark Strauss

Welcome the newest staffer to join the io9 team and get his brain implant! Mark Strauss will be our tentacle in Washington DC, covering the increasingly dystopian world of politics and science, as well as other topics that strike his fancy. Mark Strauss has been an editor and journalist for more than 20 years, writing…

What Will Open The Walking Dead‘s Season 5? Plus a New Costume For Cap!

Robert Kirkman explains the thinking behind one of the mysteries of The Waking Dead’s season finale. Sebastian Stan explains his hopes for the Winter Soldier’s future. And Nikolaj Coster-Waldau talks the women in Jaime’s life in Game of Thrones. Plus, Extant adds a guest-star from Scandal. Spoilers now! Avengers: Age of Ultron Photos and video…

George Lucas Explains the Birth of Lightsabers

The light saber is perhaps the best ever sci-fi weapon—but how did it come to appear in the Star Wars movies? In this short documentary, George Lucas, actor Mark Hamill, and sound designer Ben Burtt discuss how the lightsaber was born. Originally created for a 2004 boxset, this 15-minute documentary has now been made freely…

A Fascinating Timepiece, Engineered to Look Like Deep Space Nine

It’s a breathtaking, intricate clock. And it’s a sculpture of Star Trek’s most famous space station. Called the “Starfleet Machine,” this gorgeous item was created by famous Swiss watch designer L’Epée, with microengineering from the lab MB&F. According to Cool Hunting: Starfleet Machine features many of the same mechanisms as a wristwatch, only larger in…

The Greatest Flying Motorcycle Scene You Will Ever Be Proud To Witness

This scene from 1982’s Megaforce is the reason why flying motorcycles were invented. Watch as Hunter not only rides his motorcycle onto an airplane in mid-flight, but does a fancy dance while doing so. Because the good guys always win… even in the 80s. Earlier today, we were talking about “megafranchises,” and someone brought up…

New Pink Panther Film Will Put That Cartoon Panther In The Real World

The last Pink Panther movies featured Steve Martin playing the perfectly incompetent Inspector Jacques Clouseau, to perfectly awful reviews. But now, MGM has announced a new Pink Panther movie, which ditches the Inspector in favor of the literal Pink Panther himself, who appeared in previous movies’ opening credits. David Silverman, who directed and produced The…

Uh, Why Is This Satellite Image Of The U.S. Glowing Red?

This satellite image of an eerie red glow lingering over the midwestern and eastern US may look alarming, but it actually comes bearing good news. So what’s behind the red glow? It’s photosynthetic activity over four years from 2007-2011. And using that data, scientists at NASA say that they’ve found that the midwestern U.S. is…

We Can’t Stop Staring At The Tongue Of The Ocean

This submarine canyon is the Tongue of the Ocean. The dark blue is truly deep water, up to 3,000 meters in depth. The pale blue waters of the shelf are are less than 15 meters deep. https://gizmodo.com/tongue-of-the-ocean-1550931325