A Few Possible Ways That We Could Fund Interstellar Travel

Stephen Hawking argues in the recent book Starship Century that humans need to spread out into interstellar space in the next thousand years, or we’re doomed. So over at Forbes, Elise Ackerman lays out three scenarios in which we could pay the immense cost of interstellar colonization. Image via Merbel on CG Hub. In a…

Human-caused earthquake rocks Chicago

On November 4, an earthquake shook the suburbs of Chicago. It was an incredibly rare event for the region, and now scientists say it was caused by human activity. Specifically, explosions in a quarry set off the quake — and could do it again. According to Alex Ruppenthal, on My Suburban Life: Scientists still think…

Comment of the Day: USA! USA! Edition

Today, we pitted Mockingjay against Catching Fire for the ultimate prize (bragging rights), closely observed a stunning showdown between two praying mantises, and pondered the legal ramifications of defamation of (fictional) characters. Georgetown law professor Rebecca Tushnet joined us for a Q&A on the legalities of fan fiction, artists’ mash-ups, and musical sampling. In response…

You can use your cheapo coffee machine to cook after the apocalypse

Here’s a clever piece of post-apocalyptic kit. You know that clunky drip-coffee maker you scored for like five bucks at your neighbor’s yard sale? Turns out it’s actually a pretty serious all-in-one culinary wonder machine – provided you know how to use it. NPR’s Michaeleen Doucleff lists the three basic cooking techniques afforded by your…

Does the apocalypse come in three stages?

Celebrated anthologist John Joseph Adams has teamed up with Wool author Hugh Howey to bring you a triptych of anthologies that sound like annihilation candy: The End is Nigh, The End is Now and The End Has Come. We talked to Adams and Howie about the three stages of apocalypse. Image by Julian Faylona The…

​Simon Pegg drinks his way through the apocalypse in This Week’s DVDs

Look, The World’s End is definitely the big release of the week, possibly tied with season five of the remastered Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray, but all I want you to know is this week’s DVDs includes a horror movie about shepherds fucking a broom. Seriously. • The World’s End Simon Pegg convinces…

The Trashed Remains of Abandoned Disney Projects

We’ve had galleries of abandoned amusement parks and toy factories, but nothing matches the sad splendor of abandoned Disney parks. https://gizmodo.com/the-crumbling-chaos-of-abandoned-amusement-parks-514682250 https://gizmodo.com/these-abandoned-toy-factories-and-shops-will-haunt-your-1458651194 The original ImageWorks: The What-If Labs, an interactive area (“the creative playground if the future” at Epcot’s Imagination! Pavilion, Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was opened in October…

Blade Runner, as recreated in 12,597 gorgeous watercolor paintings

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. I’ve seen Swedish artist Anders Ramsell “paraphrase” the movie Blade Runner by animating literally thousands of watercolor paintings, strung together in one unbelievable 35-minute video. All those moments…

Which “sexy” uniform sticks out the most like a sore thumb?

Uniforms (and costumes generally) tell us lots of stuff about a character. Where they come from, what organization they belong to, their rank, their skillset… and sometimes, how sexy they are. Which randomly sexy costume or uniform seems the most out-of-place in a science fiction or fantasy series? Please include a (tasteful) picture or clip…

Christmas Is Cancelled: It’s A Wonderful Life Sequel in Development

Hollywood wants to make sequel to the holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life. FUCK THIS SHIT. George Bailey is apparently great at giving angels their wings but shit at teaching his family life lessons, because Hollywood has a crackerjack idea for a sequel to the 1946 classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Variety is…

50,000 generations of bacteria prove that evolution never stops

In a remarkable experiment that’s been going on for nearly a quarter century, biologists have shown that lab-grown bacteria — even in a stable, unchanging world — will continue to evolve in a way that makes it increasingly good at reproducing. Above: On left is a petri dish with equal numbers of colonies of two…

New Plan: Let’s All Move to Iceland

Green aurorae unfurl above Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest glacier, in this spellbinding photo by French photographer Stéphane Vetter. Photo featured by kind permission of Stéphane Vetter Via NASA APOD points out a few more of the phenomena visible in this photo: On the far right is a long and unusual lenticular cloud tinged with green light…

Why The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is a Better Book than Catching Fire

Pretty much everybody loves The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ masterful dystopian novel. But the two novels that follow are divisive: Some people love Catching Fire, others love Mockingjay. Very few people seem to love both. And for me, personally, Mockingjay is the superior novel. Here’s why. Top image: Seia5018/Deviant Art Spoilers for both books below……

A recent paper published in Nature Geoscience claims that we’re overprotecting Mars from biological contamination. Authors Alberto Fairén and Dirk Schulze-Makuch argue that planetary protection policies should be reevaluated because they’re actually preventing more ambitious plans to help us find signs of life on Mars and other planets. Image: NASA/JPL.

The most inspiring nature photography of the year

‘Tis the season to be sorting through the most stunning images of the year. And as always, National Geographic’s yearly contest offers some of the best that nature photography has to offer. Take a look at our favorites. Top: Fight: Praying mantises in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. By Mehmet Karaca. Last year’s contest produced some incredible photos,…

Nolan mounted a camera to the nose of a Lear jet for Interstellar

Chris Nolan affixed a massive IMAX camera to the nose of a Learjet for his next movie Interstellar. This is going to look like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Interstellar was written by Nolan’s brother Jonathan, and was originally planned to be directed by Steven Spielberg. It stars Matthew McConaughey, John Lithgow, and Jessica Chastain…

The CW is really, really liking The Flash TV show

The Flash TV show must be looking good, because The CW just decreed that the scarlet speedster will get a stand-alone pilot, and not the “back-door pilot” he was previously given. This means that the Flash pilot will be presented as the first episode of The Flash TV show, instead of getting tucked in as…

D&D’s Sundering campaign becomes a cold war in Icewind Dale

The epic Dungeons & Dragons event The Sundering sunders on with a new in-store RPG campaign, a novel by Erin M. Evans, and the Arena of War app. Check out this icy new Sundering video trailer. The Sundering is a massive event reshaping the Forgotten Realms. Most of it is unfolding in a multi-author novel…

​Almost Human goes back to the 1980s future

Do you like Robocop? Blade Runner? Demolition Man? Alien Nation? Total Recall? And countless other police drama-esque science fiction movies from the ’80s? Then you’ll love Almost Human, which is an unapologetic pastiche of the genre, updated to reflect 21st century post-human politics and fears of pharmaceutical terrorism. Whether you like Almost Human or not…

How much was Isaac Asimov involved in Asimov’s Magazine?

Sheila Williams has been editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine since 2004 — but she’s been involved with the magazine for 31 years, since she came on board as an editorial assistant. Talking to Locus Magazine, she reminisces about working with Isaac Asimov himself at the magazine that bore his name. Says Williams: I ended…