Marvel’s bringing two more super-characters to Agents of SHIELD

Now this is more like it. After announcing that Lady Sif would make an appearance on Agents of SHIELD, Marvel’s Jephn Loeb announced that two more comics characters were also appearing on the show — the cyborg Deathlok and the Asgardian sorceress Lorelei. And the kicker is that we’ve already met Deathlok. Here’s what Loeb…

Does a new Walking Dead photo spell disaster for one major character?

The Day of the Triffids and Assassin’s Creed movies both get directors. Simon Kinberg explains how Star Wars: Rebels will show the evils of the Empire on a children’s show. And Pan gets a Hook! Carrie Fisher wants to resurrect part of Princess Leia’s classic look. Check out a new poster for Hunger Games: Mockingjay…

This image reveals the extreme power of a single black hole

You’re looking at a black hole so massive and powerful that it destroys the stars around it before they can even form. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford/J.Hlavacek-Larrondo et al, Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/M.Postman & CLASH team According to a release from the Chandra Observatory: The black hole is in a galaxy cluster named RX J1532.9+3021 (RX J1532 for…

Revolution gives good plague

It is with great relief that I would like to report that last night’s Revolution was actually kind of awesome. With family drama at a minimum, we got a taste of creepy high-tech, post-tech fascist terrorism. With Gramps and Charlie sucked into taking care of the typhus victims, we actually get a “solve that medical…

You can finally buy World War Z’s ultimate zombie-killing weapon

Or as near enough as makes no difference. ThinkGeek is now offering the new “Crovel Extreme II”, a super-utility weapon that bears more than a passing similarity to the Lobo that helped our boys defeat the undead in the original World War Z novel. Obviously, the Lobo didn’t make it into the World War Z…

She’s trapped in a barbaric past, and she just wants to help people

I’ve written a lot about what it takes to create a new adventure hero from scratch — and now you can read a story where I tried to do just that. My story “The Cartography of Sudden Death” just appeared at Tor.com story “The Cartography of Sudden Death” just appeared at Tor.com, and it introduces…

On The Tomorrow People, it’s Cara’s life with the Thrill Kill Kult

For the second week in a row, Stephen didn’t quite feel like the main character of The Tomorrow People — which is a very good thing, since the more we see of the other stars doing their thing, the more fun this show seems to become. And this week, it was all about a gang…

Concept Art Writing Prompt: Stormy Ride on the Back of a Cyborg Insect

In a future where people can ride upon giant cyborg insects, do they race them like horses? Or are we watching an ordinary commute on an extraordinary vehicle? It’s up to you to create a story inspired by this low-flying bug. This digital painting by Abe Taraky is titled “Race,” and these bugs are certainly…

Did a Victorian-era penny dreadful inspire the creation of Batman?

Batman is one of the most watched and portrayed fictional characters we have. Earlier today, we looked the tangled history of his creation in comics. But is it possible his origins are even older? https://gizmodo.com/heres-how-awful-batman-would-be-without-the-existence-1507373880 Commenter Michael Munro suggests that we should take a look at an old penny-dreadful as an inspiration to Batman: IMHO…

The monstrous Sky Whale could be the future of air travel

This concept plane is called the AWWA Sky Whale and it’s the brainchild of Spanish designer Oscar Viñals. Should it ever leave the ground, the three-floor aircraft would hold 755 passengers and be powered by four large hybrid engines. The concept plane was designed with current and future technologies in mind, including micro-solar panels that…

Digitally inclined DIY-ers rejoice! MAKE Magazine is now available for iPad. Not only is it cheaper than the print edition ($20 vs. $35), it’s also upped its distribution frequency from quarterly to bi-monthly! (via BoingBoing)

The Most Beautiful Art Based on William Gibson’s Neuromancer

William Gibson’s Neuromancer has inspired generations of writers, with its visions of artificial intelligence and the rough edges of cyberspace. But it’s also inspired a ton of artists — especially in recent years. Here’s our absolute favorite art inspired by Gibson’s masterpiece. Top image: The Sprawl by IgnisFerroque on Deviant Art. Actually, even just a…

Whoa, this leech survived after being in liquid nitrogen for 24 hours

Scientists have learned that a common parasite of sea turtles is capable of surviving ridiculously cold temperatures — a finding that could lead to the development of advanced cryopreservation techniques. Okay, gotta say, this thing’s really weird. Most organisms cannot survive exposure to temperatures below 0°C, let alone temperatures as low as liquid nitrogen. Once…

This watercolor comic brings Middle Earth’s creation story to life

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion opens with the Ainulindalë, the story of how the universe of Middle Earth came into existence. Artist Evan Palmer has painted his own adaptation of tale, imagining the radiant forms of Tolkien’s universe taking shape. Palmer has given himself an unusual challenge for this endeavor, depicting more abstract concepts until his…

An earthquake threat is building up in the central U.S.

Seismologists have found that, contrary to popular thought, earthquakes in the central U.S. are not slowly tapering off — instead the threat appears to be building. A new research study, published today in Science by USGS seismologists Morgan Page and Susan Hough, looks at earthquake activity in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (see the red…

What movie went too far — in the best possible way?

Sometimes you know a movie has gone too far. A girl has to sacrifice a fluffy kitten to appease Satan, say, or a hero is killed senselessly with a pole to the head. But it just works. Tell us about a movie that works that way for you. It’s the rare movie that can push…

What happens after medicine finds a way to fight the zombie outbreak

In the midst of a zombie epidemic, a woman wakes in a medical facility that seems to have found a way to control the outbreak. But the epidemic may have left behind deeper scars than her physicians are ready to treat. David Freyne’s The First Wave is meant to be a prequel to a feature…

Cassette Tape Bookmarks Adorably Pair Two Dead Forms of Media

Like a buddy movie where two retired cops stuck in their ways have to return to active duty, these adorable bookmarks—designed to look like miniature unwound cassette tapes—work alongside antiquated printed books to help you remember what page you were last reading. The cassette portion actually folds over the edge of a page and then…

Why did they put canaries in coal mines?

In the old days, a canary went down to work with coal miners. The practice was so ubiquitous that it’s become a cliche. But why, specifically, is a canary such a good indicator of imminent suffocation? The canary in the coal mine is always the first to go, whether in reality or in metaphor. It’s…

Is this cannibal rat ghost ship thing even real?

We’ve been hearing all day about how there’s a ghost ship lurking in the waters off the coast of England, and that it’s probably packed with cannibal rats. We can verify the ghost ship part. But what about the rats? The tale of the ship is bizarre enough. The Lyubov Orlova is a cruise liner…