The Terrible Beauty of Volcanic Eruptions and Lava Flows

We’ve seen a volcano eruption filmed by a drone, and we’ve witnessed the fictional wrath of Mt. Doom. But this gallery of photos reveals the many faces of vulcanism, and they are the very definition of awesome. https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-volcano-eruption-up-close-as-filmed-by-a-drone-1544036414 Lava spews out from the volcano Eldfell, close of the homes, Heimaey, Iceland, January 1973 (Photo by…

North Americans are about to experience a “tetrad” of lunar eclipses. Starting April 15th, the continent will be witness to a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses occurring at approximately six month intervals. This is a fairly rare phenomenon as eclipses tend occur about twice each year.

Biologists Have Built An Artificial Chromosome From Scratch

In a breakthrough seven years in the making, an international team of scientists have reconstructed a synthetic and fully functional yeast chromosome. It’s a remarkable advance that could eventually lead to custom-built organisms — humans included. We are clearly in the midst of the biotechnology revolution. Twelve years ago scientists created the first artificial virus,…

What Surprise Cameo Made You Fall Out Of Your Chair?

Sometimes just a glimpse of a beloved (or startling) face is enough to blow your mind. Especially when you didn’t expect someone to show up in a book, movie or TV show. What’s the surprising cameo in a science fiction or fantasy series that rocked your world the most? Please include a clip, picture, book…

Shot-for-Shot Cardboard Recreation of Jurassic Park‘s Epic T-Rex Chase

And now, a shot-for-shot remake of the wonderful Tyrannosaurus “we must go faster” car chase from Jurassic Park. Made entirely out of cardboard, toys and twine. Thanks to CineFix we now have yet another version of Jurassic Park’s famous T-Rex scene: And for posterity’s sake, here’s the comparison video. Well done!

io9 March Madness Championship Game: Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings!

After three weeks of March Madness, io9-style, it all comes down to this. Our quest to find the greatest work in all of science fiction and fantasy has brought us this winner-take-all battle between genre titans. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. Let’s do this. Vote now! No need for much of a preamble at…

Take a Look at the First Successfully Transplanted, 3D-Printed Skull

The first 3D printed skull transplant has taken place in the Netherlands — and they’ve released some of the early footage of the successful surgery. The surgery was performed in the University Medical Center at Utrecht University, after surgeons there began treating a patient with a condition that was causing a thickening of the skull…

Break Out The Black Goo And Celebrate! Helix Is Renewed For Season 2!

It was touch and go there for a bit — almost as if we were trapped on the sealed Level Z with a rampaging mob of scientist zombies, while being hunted by the severed head of Jeri Ryan. But now Syfy has announced that Helix is coming back for a second season in winter 2015.…

Noah Is the Best and Worst Bible Movie You’ll Ever See

Noah is the first of the great Bible epics coming in 2014, and it’s probably going to be the weirdest. Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky has created an intense, disturbing reinterpretation of the Old Testament flood story that owes a lot to obscure rabbinical debates and fantasy epics. Get ready to see the Bible through…

Peter Dinklage Will Use His Elite Donkey Kong Skills To Save The World

We’ve been excited for a while about the idea of a full-length version of the amazing short film Pixels, in which 1980s video game characters attack New York. And then it was turned into an Adam Sandler vehicle. But now our interest is spiking again, because Peter Dinklage may co-star as a classic arcade game…

Discover How The Prometheus Saga Continues In This Free Comic Preview

The first issue of Dark Horse’s Prometheus #1 comic isn’t due until September 10th of this year, but you can get an exclusive sneak preview right here! It seems a group has sent to LV- 223 to investigate what happened to the crew of the Prometheus, but it’s staffed by a much, much smarter group…

Zombie Aquarium, Roku Streaming Stick, All the Batman Games [Deals]

Remember The Walking Dead Season 3 limited edition aquarium set? It’s back, and it’s only $60 today. [Walmart] The Roku Streaming Stick is here, and it’s awesome. It’s already backordered by a few days, so secure your order now before it sells out completely. https://gizmodo.com/roku-streaming-stick-review-a-50-wonder-and-your-tvs-1552979170 Roku Streaming Stick | $50 Amazon is currently discounting its…

What If Jack Kirby And Stan Lee Had Created Akira?

We’ve seen numerous western superheroes drawn in the styles of Japanese manga artists, but what if famous Japanese characters had been designed by American artists? Jack Kirby’s take on Akira might have been an American version worth looking at. This week, Comics Should Be Good challenged its The Line It Is Drawn artists to draw…

Andy Serkis Built a New World for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

What has happened to the mighty leader of the apes since we last saw him in Rise of the Planet of the Apes? In our exclusive interview with Apes star Andy Serkis, the man behind the primate reveals all the details behind Caesar’s new world order — plus more information on his next feature Jungle…

Tesla, Electronica and Aliens — What Could Go Wrong?

We’ve got an exclusive look at the trailer for web movie ETXR, which is like Ziggy Stardust crossed with electronica. Some mad scientists have figured out that one of Tesla’s secret inventions can communicate with aliens — using electronic music! It’s your basic alien rave cult scenario — we’ve all been there, right? From FOX…

The World’s Smallest Sandcastles, Each Etched On A Single Grain Of Sand

These are sandcastles only in the technical sense; instead of temporary structures erected on the beach, they’re images engraved on individual grains of sand, best enjoyed with the help of a microscope. Artist Vik Muniz often plays with medium and scale; he recreated a photograph of Jackson Pollock in chocolate syrup, photographed giant portraits rendered…

How to Get People to Accept Unfairness

Say you want to swindle people. You want to force them to take your bad deals, and give you the minimum amount of lip in return. There’s an easy way to sway them. And scientists have demonstrated it with a simple game. Welcome to another lesson in practical evil! In the past, we’ve mostly talked…

​The Egyptian Gods’ 8 Biggest Dick Moves

Compared to some ancient religions, the Egyptian gods were pretty chill. They rarely tried to wipe out humanity, get in drunken bar brawls with their own followers, or eat their own babies — although “rarely” is not “never,” and Ra, Horus and the rest definitely had their moments of divine dickishness. Here are a few.…

The Purge 2 trailer asks: Can you murder away your sadness?

The answer is no. No, you cannot murder away the bad feelings inside of you. Seriously, why is “The Purge” an actual thing? This is a terrible government plan on which to establish a terrible society of murders and rapists and jewel thieves, etc. You’re a bad government, fake future America. Bad. Everyone who came…

This Is What It Looks Like When An Alien And A Terminator Make A Baby

Entertainment Earth posted this amazing, fan-made, life-size sculpture of a Xenomorph made out of pure scrap metal on Twitter, and now we’re more terrified of the inevitable robot apocalypse than ever. What do you suppose runs through its veins? Battery Acid? [Via Blastr]