Ursula Vernon’s “Jackalope Wives” will haunt you

In “Jackalope Wives,” there’s something so seductive about the dance of the skin-changers in the desert. Every young man wants to claim one for his bride — but only a few young men are stupid enough to actually try and seize one. This is the most beautiful story I’ve read in ages. Ursula Vernon’s prose…

Stephen Hawking says there are no black holes

At least, not as we’ve defined them. In a new paper, Hawking says that one of the defining features of black holes — the complete inability of even light to escape — may not hold true. “The absence of event horizons mean that there are no black holes — in the sense of regimes from…

Welcome To io9 Deals: Studio Ghibli, Hunger Games, Audiobooks And More

Welcome to the new io9 Deals feature! Our superpowered Commerce Team will be bringing you regular updates about the best deals on the shiniest DVDs, games, books, comics, tech and more. Let us know if you’d like to see more or less of something! We do this because we love you, but yes we also…

People Who Said “I’ll Hold Them Off” — And Didn’t Die

Whenever someone speaks these four words, he or she is marked for death. No, not “I love you too” — but “I’ll hold them off.” Whoever volunteers to hold off the bad guys while everyone else gets away is doomed. Except not always. Here are people who held off the bad guys and lived. Note:…

The second half of Walking Dead s4 is full of sunshine and rainbows

Wait, did I say “sunshine and rainbows?” I meant “violence and despair.” My bad! This four-minute, new-footage-laden preview for the second half of the show’s excellent fourth season has the showrunners and the cast members revealing that yes, everyone is still split up, and everyone is also pretty damned upset about leaving the prison. And…

But how does it taste? Watch NASA’s 3D pizza printer in action

Last year, NASA announced that it would be funding 3D food printing, kicking things off with a 3D pizza printer. Now we can watch the project in progress as the 3D printer builds a possibly tasty pie. https://gizmodo.com/nasas-next-3d-printing-frontier-is-pizza-509023404 NASA awarded Anjan Contractor’s company, Systems & Materials Research Corporation, a $125,000 grant to develop a prototype…

Today on radio show Studio 360, there’s a special episode on how science fiction influences today’s culture — featuring ISS superstar Chris Hadfield, New York Times science columnist Carl Zimmer, and me! You can listen to it now online.

Game of Thrones behind-the-scenes look at season 4 will make you squee

There’s a brand new behind-the-scenes featurette from the new season of Game of Thrones — and it is glorious. Get an eyeful of the Red Viper, and a whole lot more Brienne of Tarth. This promo is championing everything we love about GOT: the elaborate sets, costumes, production design and location shots. But really, we…

​10 Comics Marvel Would Desperately Like to Forget They Published

It’s been over 50 years since Marvel effectively began the Silver Age of comics, and while the company has had its ups and downs, their output cannot be denied: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Avengers — their contributions to pop culture have been enormous. But not every comic Marvel published was a masterpiece — in…

Amazing Footage: The Spaceship User Interfaces of Star Wars

Noel Rubin designed the user interfaces for Star Wars Episodes 1 and 3, and now he’s put together a sizzle reel, showing just how awesome the computer screens on those ships really looked. “This reel features my own personal favorite shot takes and not George’s,” Rubin tells io9. “It’s extremely rare to see. Plus, there…

Book changes temperature or vibrates, depending on the plot

Ever get caught up in a book, to the point where it felt like you had left your everyday world and gotten caught up in the protagonist’s experiences? A new type of book could vastly increase that immersion, using temperature and vibration to reflect what’s happening in the book as you read. This “Sensory Fiction”…

Everyone has bizarre secret fears. Here they are in comic form.

Sometimes while the mind is ticking away, it comes up with absurd terrors that are unlikely or even impossible. But that doesn’t make them any less frightening. Deep Dark Fears pulls back the curtains on the strange personal fears we think no one else knows about. Some of the fears in the comics belong to…

The Greatest Rocket Scientist Who Ever Lived

A fringe thinker is someone who thinks outside the box. Sometimes they even invent their own box and then think outside of that. Astronomy and astronautics have certainly had more than their share of these people, who range from the usual UFO nuts and hollow earth enthusiasts to mathematical geniuses who have proved that everything…

Listen to the Lego Movie song that will dominate your life

Take a listen to The Lego Movie original song “Everything Is Awesome” by Tegan & Sara and The Lonely Island, and get ready to have your brain assimilate to the Lego lifestyle. This song is a pivotal part of The Lego Movie, and by the end of the film this song will be in your…

The world’s oldest cancer is 11,000 years old — and contagious

Scientists have finally unlocked the sequence of the world’s oldest surviving cancer — an 11,000-year-old, sexually-transmitted genital cancer that still affects dogs today. Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, led by Elizabeth Murchison, published the new research in Science. The cancer first arose in a single dog over 11,000…

Loving Vincent, the First Ever Feature-Length Painted Animation

Imagine, if you will, a feature-length animation about the life and death of post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh. Now imagine that the animation is made entirely from paintings created in Van Gogh’s iconic style, and you’re beginning to understand why we’re so excited about Loving Vincent. The movie is currently in production at Oscar-winning studio…

The Day of the Triffids remake actually sounds kind of great

The 1962 “so bad it’s great” The Day of the Triffids movie is getting a remake that kind of sounds rather awesome. Mainly due to the people the studio just hired to remake the gigantic, deadly plant movie. Deadline is reporting that Mike Newell of Donnie Brasco and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire…

It’s Friday! Let’s GIF this party started

We’re wrapping this week up with a party! No need to crash, GIFs. You’re all invited. How did the week go for you? What did you see and do? Tell us about the high points, the low points, and everything in between through our chosen language of GIF.

The closest supernova observed in 25 years is getting brighter

Three days ago, a white dwarf went supernova in nearby Galaxy M82. A starburst galaxy, M82 is a popular target for telescopes on account of its brightness. But its newly formed supernova, which astronomers have named SN 2014J, just became the brightest object in all the galaxy – and it’s only going to get brighter.…

Rediscovering Acres of Forgotten Books In a Grand Old Albany Basement

Amidst endless stories about the death of the printed word and the closing of America’s libraries, another issue remains unresolved: What’s to be done with all the leftover books? In Albany, administrators at the former State Library are embroiled in a debate over the value of books—and what’s “too precious” to throw away. The 102-year-old…