​Dear Mr Watterson is a love letter to Calvin & Hobbes

Nobody dislikes the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. This is the premise of the documentary Looking for Mr. Watterson, and one I can personally attest to — I have never met a single person who didn’t enjoy the wonderful art, the humor, the philosophy and/or the strip’s creativity. I only know people who haven’t read…

Why red velvet cake was originally red (and why it can’t be anymore)

With the emergence of Big Cupcake, almost all of us have seen some red velvet cake with white cream cheese frosting. And so let us delve into a little kitchen science, which may help us realize why our great grandparents’ cake is not the same as ours. Today, red velvet cake gets its coloring from…

Will Smith to sail New York City across the Atlantic like a boat

This could very well be the most fantastic premise for an urban fantasy movie ever. Will Smith is set to star in The City That Sailed, about a New York street magician who is separated from his daughter in London…. and winds up sailing the entire island of Manhattan to England to retrieve her. That’s…

The creepy Sleeping Beauty experiment changes the odds of a coin flip

Ever heard of the Sleeping Beauty experiment? It’s an experiment that, for many reasons, will never be conducted. If it were, we’d have to rethink the way we calculate the odds of a coin flip. Allow me to describe the Sleeping Beauty experiment’s surpassingly creepy procedure: Sleeping Beauty is put under sedation on a Sunday.…

Astronomers Fooled by the Largest Optical Illusion in the Universe

For years, astronomers thought that a galaxy floating 100 million light-years away was a single celestial object, a perfectly on-edge spiral galaxy with a colossal jet streaming away from it. But it’s all just an optical illusion — and a rather massive one at that. In a statement released by NASA yesterday, the space agency…

It’s Time for a Gif Party! And All Your Gifs Are Invited

It’s Friday and that means that you — and all of your gifs that have been waiting so patiently throughout the week — are invited to a gif party. Why? Because you guys are awesome. So send in your favorite gifs and let’s gif this party started! (Note: Gifs are encouraged but gif-puns will be…

Bad Robot just tweeted the first official production picture from Star Wars: Episode VII, featuring director J.J. Abrams meeting R2-D2 in person, and it’s the first real, tangible proof that this sequel is really happening. Anyone else feel it’s weirdly surreal to see the two of them together?

Everything you need to know about MAVEN, NASA’s next Mars mission

MAVEN, NASA’s next spacecraft launching to the Red Planet in barely three days time on November 18th, seeks to unlock one of the greatest Martian mysteries: Where did all the water go? Above: Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians prepare the MAVEN spacecraft for encapsulation…

Artist Discovers Unseen Color Photos of JFK’s Final Moments

After sitting forgotten in storage for more than 45 years, the daughter of an amateur photographer has uncovered a set of remarkable images taken mere minutes before President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The photos, which now appear in TIME and LightBox, were taken by H. Warner King, a Dallas Jewelry wholesaler and amateur…

Which Guardian of the Galaxy might be heading to Jurassic World?

Almost Human is thinking about robo-rights. There are new pictures of the Governor from Sunday’s Walking Dead. Monroe’s parents have been cast in Grimm. And we finally know who Stevie Nicks will be playing on American Horror Story. Spoilers ahead! Jurassic World It looks like producers are trying get Chris Pratt to star in the…

Google is Jesus in the only good plot development on Revolution

At this point, the post-apocalyptic American politics on Revolution have become the “torture and sadism” subplot. So now all we have left to enjoy is the nanotech plot – and luckily, last night’s episode delivered in that department. Here’s the best scene. We got a little back story on the Patriots’ chief scientist, whose father…

Did a UFO cause this plane to crash in Argentina?

A mysterious crop duster crash in Argentina has yielded bizarre evidence of a UFO! See it there, in the upper right corner of the picture? Could aliens be trying to send us a message about the problems of factory farming? Reports Inexplicata: An unidentified flying object – presumably a “flying saucer” – was photographed by…

What if the Bayeux Tapestry told the history of Doctor Who?

We only just saw the prequel minisode to the Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary, which turned our while idea of the Doctor’s history on its head. So this is a great time to have a refresher course in all things Doctor-related, with a Doctor Who-themed Bayeux Tapestry. This tapestry is the work of Bill Mudron, whose…

Comment of the Day: JJ Abrams and the Case of the Disappearing Words

Today, we compared cliff notes on the classic novels we just can’t make it through, asked when we would finally be able to 3D print a wooly mammoth skeleton of our very own (today!), and weighed the truth of J.J. Abrams’ number one pet peeve about futuristic fiction. In this post, we looked at a…

Here’s what it’s like to live with an invisible disability

What happens when you have a disability that’s so embarrassing that sufferers are afraid to talk about it? Tessa Miller has written an incredible essay about life with irritable bowel disease, shedding light on what it means to live with an invisible disability. Miller, who writes for io9’s sister site Lifehacker, posted her article on…

American Horror Story resurrects a bitchy witch

Last night’s American Horror Story had all sorts of bitchy witching. So “Witch Up,” ladies, and bust out the “We don’t have the rights to Quija” board, because it’s time to fuck with some ghosts. Probably literally, knowing this show. Spoilers ahead… Last night’s historical witch flashback focused on a coven of suffragettes. And these…

The Greatest Soviet Propaganda Posters Ever

We’ve seen some space propaganda, anti-alcohol posters, and even anti-Communist political propaganda. And now, we present the very best, in high resolution, ready for your desktop. The revolution marches on, comrades! https://gizmodo.com/inspiring-and-intense-soviet-space-propaganda-posters-1213553199 https://gizmodo.com/these-soviet-anti-alcohol-posters-offer-a-lurid-view-of-451625435 https://gizmodo.com/anti-communist-propaganda-is-more-awesome-than-any-horr-1460028336 Freedom, American Style Pictured above. Top-left: “Freedom of Press” (with the words lies and slander on the ducks) Top-right: Freedom of…

Wonder Twins, starring Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher?

The poster is either the best joke ever, or an early warning of the oncoming apocalypse. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher could be playing the Wonder Twins, or it could all just be a hoax. Please be a hoax. Midtown Comics received this suspicious package in the mail from Warner Bros. heralding a Superfriends movie…

Comet ISON Approaches

Last night, potential “Comet of the Century” ISON brightened by an order of magnitude or more as it continued on its dive toward the Sun. That means it is now visible to the naked eye. This photograph, captured by astrophotographer Mike Hankey, shows the comet as it appeared this morning, in outburst, with multiple streamers.…

Which classic novel did you quit reading halfway through?

The greatest science fiction or fantasy novel is the one that speaks to you at the time you read it. So there’s nothing wrong with giving up on a book halfway through, even if it’s considered one of the genre’s all-time classics. Which acclaimed science fiction or fantasy book could you not manage to finish?…