​Why people’s problems with a female Doctor Who are wrong, wrong, wrong

Look, before we get started, let me assure you all that I know the character is called The Doctor, and not Doctor Who. But you can’t just have an article headline, even on io9, that only mentions the Doctor, because many people won’t realize you’re referring to Doctor Who. The same is true in my…

Meet the new ape army from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Director Matt Reeves (Let Me In) tweeted out the new Dawn of the Planet of the Apes website, which is hosting an image collection of apes about to go all Braveheart over some human asses. Hot damn. Plus, Reeves also released the news that the first ever Dawn trailer will be released on December 18th,…

Scientists are close to solving one of 2013’s greatest mysteries [UPDATING]

Earlier this year, graduate student Troy Alexander discovered an oddly intricate maypole-like structure in the Peruvian Amazon. Since then, nobody has been able to conclusively say what made it. Now, a team of biologists says it’s close to solving the mystery. https://gizmodo.com/we-have-absolutely-no-clue-what-built-this-crazy-comple-1243871592 The first major update on the structures came yesterday evening from Phillip Torres…

In Norway, all library books must be digitized — by law

A law in Norway has their National Library scanning all literature and then making it publicly available to anyone to anyone coming in under a Norwegian IP address. Pretty cool, if you’re in Norway now or in the near-ish future. But it’s also pretty awesome for the much more distant future. Why? The Atlantic explains:…

Freakishly realistic telemarketing robots are denying they’re robots

This is how it starts, people. First we get our chatbots to sound and act realistic — and then we get them to convince everyone they’re actually human. Listen to this crazy conversation between Time’s Michael Scherer and a telemarketing robot who refuses to admit her true artificial nature. **An update to this story can…

What if humans dated like animals?

Weird animal sex is weird, and we love it. https://gizmodo.com/your-sex-life-is-boring-and-every-animal-on-earth-is-la-5962530 https://gizmodo.com/this-is-a-video-of-a-dolphin-masturbating-with-a-decapi-1463711897 https://gizmodo.com/10-most-bizarre-animal-mating-behaviors-5776098 https://gizmodo.com/this-mammal-is-dying-to-have-sex-literally-1442440074 This panel is excerpted from “I Wanna Date You Like an Animal” – a brand spankin’ new comic by Leigh Cowart and Jeannette Langmead, who are clearly every bit as intrigued by animal sexuality as we are. Check out the rest of…

Zero Dark Thirty’s Jason Clarke is in talks for the role of John Connor in the increasingly good-sounding Terminator reboot. Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke is the front-runner to play Sarah, Schwarzenegger is set to cameo, and it’s going to be directed by Thor: the Dark World’s Alan Taylor, with a plot that includes time-travel…

Will Sony Soon Have to Find a New Spider-Man?

There’s another new Star Wars casting rumor. Peter Jackson explains why he added elves to The Hobbit, and whether he’ll direct an episode of Doctor Who. And Robert Kirkman says you will always know when it’s a character’s last moment on The Walking Dead. Plus, the first poster from Godzilla. Spoilers now! Top image: Godzilla…

The Dragon Was Plagued By Butterflies

Nothing could terrify the dragon whose scales were made of titanium, and whose mouth dripped with toxic smoke. Well, actually, there was one thing. He could not abide flocks of butterflies. You can see the whole illustration below. Frederick Richardson was an early twentieth century illustrator, perhaps best known for his work with L. Frank…

Did Neal Stephenson predict the NSA spying on World of Warcraft?

New leaked documents from Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA and British intelligence have been spying on people in World of Warcraft and other online games. And Neal Stephenson’s epic spy novel REAMDE predicted this whole mess back in 2011. https://kotaku.com/american-and-british-government-may-have-spied-on-wow-a-1479468945 https://gizmodo.com/neal-stephensons-reamde-is-a-high-tech-incarnation-of-t-5849371 Over at Ars Technica, Sean Gallager reports: “Al Qaida terrorist target selectors and…

Here is everything we know so far about a massive freshwater lake on Mars, which existed about 3.5 billion years ago. It was pretty damn muddy, and may have harbored life.

Charles Stross gives us a sneak peek at his new novel

Today, author Charlie Stross, from this month’s book club selection, joined us for a Q&A, where he filled us his thoughts on how new writers get traction, the skyrocketing of ebook sales (from 1% to 50% of his sales in the last five years), and gave us the first line of his new book coming…

Starpocalypse is coming! You chipped in over $76,000 in the Kickstarter for Starpocalypse, the zany science fiction webseries from the sketch-comedy masters SMBC. Now at last, it’s coming out this Christmas. Rejoice! [Thanks for the heads up, Danny.]

​Experts Gather at Yale to Discuss Whether Animals Are People

This past weekend, the IEET hosted the world’s first conference dedicated to the topic of nonhuman animal personhood. Energized by the NhRP’s recent initiative to have captive chimpanzees legally recognized as persons and not property, the event brought together legal experts, scientists, philosophers, and futurists from around the world. Here’s a recap. https://gizmodo.com/these-4-chimps-could-soon-be-legally-recognized-as-peop-1474998568 Called Personhood…

Rosemary’s Baby will be rebooted as a NBC miniseries

The trend of horror television will not stop — hooray! Entertainment Weekly reports that the classic 1968 movie Rosemary’s Baby is getting a rebooted as a four-hour, miniseries on NBC. The new version will be set in Paris (instead of New York City). Scott Abbott and James Wong, of the The X-Files and Final Destination…

​Can a child-beating demon save Christmas in This Week’s Comics?

If Ernest can do it, I don’t know why Krampus, the legendary child-terrorizing European Christmas demon can’t — but will he? You’ll have to pick up Image’s Krampus #1 to find out. Meanwhile Iron Fist, Doc Savage Parker and many others return in this week’s comic releases! New Issues Dark Horse: Brain Boy #0: An…

​How to Stop being a Completist

How do you know when it’s time to stop being a completist? For me, the moment came in the mid-1990s, when I saw the above Doctor Who underpants for sale in a London shop — marked “ONLY WORN ONCE, NEVER WASHED.” But everybody hits a wall sooner or later. Here’s how to let go of…

Canada says it owns the North Pole, despite not having a proper map

The Canadian government is claiming 463,323 square miles (1.2 million square kilometers) in the Arctic, a wide expanse of territory that includes the North Pole. Trouble is, Canada hasn’t yet fully mapped the area, nor does it have the scientific evidence to back the claim. Along with Russia and Denmark, Canada is currently in a…

Which TV show has the best opening credits sequence of all time?

A great opening sequence tells you more than just a TV show’s backstory: it drags you, kicking and screaming, into the show’s world. A truly great opening sequence is a masterpiece of raw style. But which science fiction or fantasy TV show has the absolute best opening credits? Please include a clip or still image…

Johnny Depp will give birth to a machine god in Transcendence

We’ve been waiting forever to hear more about Transcendence, the new movie directed by Wally Pfister, best known as Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer. Transcendence has been shrouded in mystery — until now. And holy hell, its official synopsis sounds ambitious. Here’s the synopsis that was just released by Warner Bros. (in its 2014 preview kit): Dr.…