When humans became a “crowd species,” epidemics followed

A pandemic could begin with one infected person flying across the world, shedding pathogens along the way. It’s a terrifying scenario, but it probably wouldn’t have happened thousands of years ago. Not because we didn’t have airplanes – but because humans had not yet become a crowd species. Today in the Guardian, Alok Jha reports…

Holy Hell, everything Laika makes is SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL

From ParaNorman to Coraline, each movie from Laika shocks us with overwhelming amounts of talent. And it looks like their next feature, BoxTrolls, is continuing the legacy of being so beautiful, it almost kills you. Look at the tiny cheese mounds. LOOK AT THEM! THEY ARE TINY AND *clutches chest* MY HEART, MY HEART! This…

Which dead movie project are you glad never happened?

Roland Emmerich’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation is dead — at least as a movie. And thus, it joins the hundreds of movies that could have been. What’s the dead (or moribund) project that you’re especially glad never came out? https://gizmodo.com/100-wonderful-and-terrible-movies-that-never-existed-5932803 Please include a picture or clip (or book cover) for your chosen project. And…

George Takei’s official, totally real perfume is named “Eau My”

Oh, indeed. This perfume — which I feel I need to stress is real and which can be ordered here, although there’s a bit of a backlog — comes out December 15th and was obviously designed by none other than Star Trek star George Takei himself. The official description reads: Set Phasers to Stunning. George…

I can’t stop watching this whale explode

Seriously. Can’t look away. Warning, there’s an exploding whale below the fold. It’s quite graphic. (What else you were expecting?) There are two types of exploding whales in this world. There are the whales that blow up with the assistance of explosives (à la this infamous example in Oregon), and there are the whales that…

Extreme Skaters and Their Creepy Neighbor in Paranormal Activity 5000

The endless Paranormal Activity franchise is branching out, with a spinoff called Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (to be followed, later in the year, by another PA sequel.) And this brand new trailer makes Marked Ones look kind of fun, thanks to the “extreme sports” vibe and the creepy VHS-hoarding neighbor. We posted a trailer…

Sleepy Hollow‘s haunted-house episode traps us in a maze of plot twists

This week in Sleepy Hollow, there’s nothing like a demon-infested home for the holidays, as Abbie and Ichabod march into a haunted house like they’re new around here, and find out more about themselves than you can shake a stick monster at. Haunted-house episodes are a genre of their own; they have the built-in creep…

Here’s why wine snobs should probably be called bacteria snobs

Differences in wine quality between vineyards have long been attributed to processing techniques and seasonal variation. But research now suggests that regional differences between wines are shaped by microbes — specifically, fungi and bacteria. Cultivating certain grape microbes may actually improve wine flavor. Without yeasts (fungi) and bacteria, wine wouldn’t be possible. These hungry microorganisms…

​Make someone’s holiday happier with our ultimate comic gift guide

Man is it a good time to be a comic fan. There are so many great titles — and so many great re-releases of classic titles — that we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to our friends and loved ones shopping for us. So do yourself a favor and make their job…

U.S. Methane Emissions Are Much Higher than Expected

A study published in the latest issue of PNAS finds U.S. methane emissions are 1½ times greater than current EPA estimates. “Most strikingly, our results are higher by a factor of 2.7 over the South Central United States, [a key region] for fossil-fuel extraction and refining” said Harvard researcher Scot Miller, lead author of the…

Get ready for The Poisoner’s Handbook TV special! Based on the bestselling book of the same name by science historian Deborah Blum, the new PBS American Experience episode will tell the true story of how forensic analysis began during the Jazz Age, when investigators started using chemistry to solve murders.

There are only four types of homes in science fiction

And a great article in the Financial Times breaks them down for you. There’s the “futuristic” home where everything is white and automatic, there’s the “retro” home, that looks Victorian or art deco, there’s the “dystopian” ruins. And finally, there’s the “modernist” home, which is someone’s actual house that they filmed in. The FT article…

io9 Book Club Reminder: Meeting 12/3 to discuss Neptune’s Brood

In November, the io9 Book Club is reading Neptune’s Brood, by Charles Stross. We’ll meet December 2 to discuss it, and we hope Stross will join us later that week for a chat! Neptune’s Brood is a sequel to Saturn’s Children, but you don’t need to read the first book to appreciate the second. (Here’s…

How did that silly snowman become the best part of Frozen?

When you watch the trailers for Disney’s Frozen, the absent-minded Olaf the Snowman looks like he could get seriously annoying. But when you actually watch the film, Olaf steals the show. How did the comedy side character become the best part of Frozen? We talked to voice actor Josh Gad about the process of creating…

Nothing about this Hercules movie even slightly resembles Hercules

When creating his Hercules: The Legend Begins movie, it appears that director Renny Harlin carefully researched every bit of the Hercules myth… so he could cross it all out and avoid doing any of it. Seriously, watch this trailer. HE’S A GODDAMNED GLADIATOR, PEOPLE. He even has a whip of electricity for some reason! This…

Why you really get sick on planes – and how to prevent it

If you’re about to fly somewhere for Thanksgiving, you’re probably dreading the possibility that you’ll catch a bug along the way. And with good reason: Many people come down with something nasty in the days following an airplane flight. Why does this happen, and how can you keep yourself from getting sick? A couple I…

Beauty and the Beast is sort of okay, except for its main characters

And it’s like this show is trying to give us bland protagonists on purpose. But we’ll get to everything that’s gone wrong so far this season after we discuss the yawner of a plot. Spoilers… This was the midseason finale, and, boy, was it boring. Obviously, Vincent didn’t die in last week’s explosion. Instead, he…

Are there more stars than grains of sand on the Earth’s beaches?

Carl Sagan is famous for saying there are more stars in our Universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. But is this actually possible? It’s an awesome question — and a great excuse to do some math. We know there are 100 to 400 billion stars in the Milky…

10 Most Unintentionally Funny Lines in All of Star Trek

Star Trek is full of quotable sayings and inspiring moments. But there are also some pieces of dialogue that cross the wrong final frontier. Here are the 10 most unintentionally hilarious bits of dialogue in all of Star Trek. 10) “I’m with Starfleet. We don’t lie” — TNG, “Justice” 9) “Storage compartment? Storage compartment?” —…

Neurosurgeons Use Water to Map Connections in the Brain

See that walnut-like object in this brain scan? It’s a tumor that needs to be removed. But to avoid damaging critical functions like speech and vision, surgeons have to see the brain’s tangled web of connections. The solution? Just add water. This brain scanning technique, called tractography or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), has been around…