Awesome science fiction postage stamps from around the world

The art on all these stamps is so bizarro world fantastic that I’m considering becoming a philatelist. From a Soviet Science Fiction stamp series, 1967 (via VintagePrintable1/Flickr) The spacecraft from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne on a Hungarian airmail stamp, 1969 (via Stampcommunity) UFOs from Paraguay, 1978 (via Fortean Times) Vietnam,…

How many clues to Matt Smith’s doom does this Doctor Who trailer hide?

This is the first trailer for Doctor Who’s Christmas special to give away serious plot information. So be warned: watching this “extended trailer” might make the wait until Christmas that much more agonizing. Spoilers ahead… It looks as though, among other things, we’re revisiting the spooky hotel room from “The God Complex,” and someone wants…

A Space 1999 spoof from the producers of Honey Boo Boo wants your money

It’s one of those sentences you never expect to read: the producers of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo are creating a spoof of Space 1999, the classic 1970s moonbase drama, and they want you to kick in $350,000. Oh, and did I mention it features bikini-wearing reality TV stars on the Moon? Meet Project Moonbase,…

Good News! Batman Vs. Superman gets some help from the writer of Argo

Ben Affleck has called in his greatest asset to save the Batman Vs. Superman script. The Hollywood Reporterbroke the news that Argo screenwriter Chris Terrio has been summoned by Batfleck for his help on the new Batman Vs. Superman script. And we can’t really blame Affleck for calling in Terrio, because Argo was great for…

The Heroic Parachuting Dogs of D-Day

On the eve of the Normandy invasion, three planes carrying the members of Britain’s 13th Battalion took off for France. In addition to the 60 men aboard, each plane carried one dog. The story of how these paratrooping canines got there — and what happened next — is nothing short of remarkable. Lazar Backovic has…

Six Amazing Books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and Others, For Just $6

This is a pretty sweet deal — there’s a Fiction Bundle on offer right now, that includes six books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and other great authors, for just $6 or whatever you choose. If you pay $10 or more, you get a second Pratt book! Top image: The Godmakers by Frank Herbert, art…

Geologists find diamond-producing rocks in Antarctica

For the first time ever, geologists working in Antarctica have found a type of rock that’s known to bear diamonds — a discovery that could expose the polar continent to opportunistic prospectors. Called kimberlite, it’s a volcanic rock named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-carat (16.7 g)…

The Apocalyptic Vision of Sol Yurick, Author of The Warriors

Sol Yurick’s novel The Warriors became one of the most colorful post-apocalyptic movies of all time, in which elaborately costumed gangs fight in the ruins of New York. But where did it come from? Gizmodo has a fascinating interview with Yurick, who died earlier this year. https://dailygrid.kinja.com/conic-sections-an-interview-with-sol-yurick-1485686382

This is not a glitch. It’s Mars.

Light and shadow play on the ridges of sand dunes that lie cloistered in an impact crater in Mars’ Noachis Terra region. “Sand dunes are among the most widespread aeolian (wind-formed) features present on Mars,” write HiRISE researchers Alfred McEwen and Ginny Gulick in their description of the planet’s continually morphing features. ” Their spatial…

Who’s the most unfairly maligned character of all time?

Today’s discussion of Sansa Stark raised some good questions about why certain characters are or aren’t hated, and how much that hate is actually warranted. Which character do you think gets way too much hate and grief from people? To start the Open Channel, let’s take a look at the proto-Sansa — Dawn from Buffy…

Watch a Story Literally Unfold From the Creases of this Kids’ Book

The Adventures of a Village begins like many stories do—by setting the scene. In this case, a small cluster of snow-covered buildings are intersected by winding train tracks. That’s it. What happens next is a clever play on the old Choose Your Own Adventure books—but, instead of turning pages to read ahead, their corners are…

Watch the epic first 3 minutes of Big Ass Spider right here, right now

Oh Big Ass Spider, you are the new Sharknado — but instead of being an unwatchable shark-filled tornado flick, you are a highly enjoyable giant-spider movie that knows exactly what it’s doing. So check out the first three minutes of the wondrous movie that is Big Ass Spider (set to a fantastic cover of the…

Here are Nature magazine’s 10 people who mattered in 2013. They range from engineers making breakthroughs in cloning and solar cell efficiency, to a scientist who studies sexual assault trends and a diplomat who called attention to global warming. These are the people who are changing the world of science.

This is the only piece of art we’ve left on the Moon

This tiny sculpture is called Fallen Astronaut, and was placed on the lunar surface by the crew of Apollo 15 on August 1, 1971. The figurine, which was crafted in the likeness of an astronaut-in-spacesuit, measures just more than three inches tall, but the “Smallest Memorial in the Universe,” as Walter Cronkite called it in…

The Most Amazing Science Images of 2013

From slow-mo footage on YouTube to deep-space satellite imagery to weird washcloths on the International Space Station, this was a big year for beautiful science. Here for your visceral viewing pleasure are thirty-three of our favorite photos and videos from 2013. Above: Cdr. Chris Hadfield shows what happens when you wring a washcloth out in…

How engineers build lovable robots

This Friday people will be watching Her, a movie about a man who falls in love with the AI system that runs his house. In the film, his love is serendipitous; but in real life, there are engineers creating robots expressly designed to win human love. How do they do it? Heartbot image via Masked…

30 images from X-Men: Days of Future´s Past take us back in mutant time

We’ve got a batch of new X-Men: Days of Future’s Past images — including an excellent look at Omar Sy as Bishop and a few new “Mystique kicks everyone’s ass” shots. Behold the mutant wonder! The first two images are from les toiles heroiques publication, and the rest of the pictures come from Fox, or…

Jesus is having technical difficulties in the new Penny Dreadul teaser

We still don’t know too much Showtime’s upcoming Penny Dreadful, other than it’ll star Dracula, Dorian Gray, some Frankensteins (the doctor and the monster), and Billie Piper. But thanks to this new teaser, I think we can safely say Jesus is not cool with the shizz that’s about to go down.

This Planetarium Show Will Blow Your Mind

With its new show Dark Universe, the American Museum of Natural History in New York has turned an already-awesome planetarium experience into something mind-blowing. Not only will you be filled with wonder, but you’ll be treated to an incredible science story about dark matter, dark energy, and all the other strange forces that shape our…

9 Everyday Items We Never Want to Have Connected to the Internet

Are you ready for the Internet of Things? It’s coming. Soon enough everything in your home will be plugged in to the net. Your refrigerator will know when you’re out of milk, and order more via Amazon! There’s no stopping this advance in human civilization — but here are nine items that we absolutely never…