We’re getting a Max Steel movie instead of a Thundercats movie

Max Steel — a cartoon that looks like Tron but isn’t — is getting its own movie. Seriously, who do we have to jazz-dance seduce to get a live-action Thundercats movie instead? Max Steel is an action figure line from Mattel, which spawned an animated series that ran from 2000 to 2002, and a reboot…

How to Spot Comet ISON in the Early Morning Sky

OK, you’ve waited patiently for “Comet of the Century” ISON to brighten and reappear in the dawn sky. Now it has. Now you’re chomping at the bit for a look at it in your telescope. Before you set the alarm and venture into the night, let’s prepare for what to expect. The better you know…

Campbell Award winning writer Mur Lafferty is here today! Talk to her!

In August, the io9 book club read Mur Lafferty’s hilarious fantasy novel The Shambling Guide to New York City. Since then, she’s won the coveted Campbell Award for best new author. Now, Lafferty is here today from 12:30-1:30 PDT to chat with you! Just jump into comments and ask questions, and Lafferty will get to…

Watch Simon Pegg trick his Trek castmates into wearing “Neutron Cream”

When Star Trek Into Darkness came out in May, Simon Pegg was constantly talking on the publicity circuit about how he pranked his fellow actors by claiming their were dangerous ions on the set, and they needed to wear “neutron cream” to prevent any negative affects. Now we have behind-the-scenes footage of Pegg’s deception in…

10 Physical Gestures That Have Been Patented

If you’re making a flicking gesture with a pen near your computer, watch out. Microsoft may own the rights to the gesture you’re making. And if you like to draw letters of the alphabet using one penstroke per letter, you may one day find yourself paying a licensing fee to Xerox. Photograph of Martha Graham…

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet trailer celebrates the inventor

From the director of Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) comes a whimsical adaptation of Reif Larson’s novel The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, a story about a little inventor and his journey to Washington D.C. to collect an award. The marriage of wonder and charm is just perfect in both of these trailers; fingers crossed for giddy…

The Artist Who Made Spaceflight Seem Real

Artist Jack Coggins illustrated several books about rockets and spaceflight, but his reputation rests largely on two books: Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Spaceships (1951) and By Spaceship to the Moon (1952). Written by SciFi author Fletcher Pratt, they were the first serious books about space travel ever published for young people. Coggins was born…

Mythological creatures are cooler when they’re anatomically correct

From the wickedly creative mind of artist and author E.B. Hudspeth comes a series of illustrations depicting mythological beasts in the meticulously labeled style of anatomy textbooks. The images here are borrowed from Hedspeth’s The Resurrectionist, a two-part volume that includes The Codex Extinct Animalia, “a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts, [including] dragons, centaurs, Pegasus,…

Transformers 4 is officially going to be titled Age of Extinction. Which is not a bad name for a Transformers movie starring Dinobots, in all honesty. Now, as long as we get a transforming robot that vaguely resembles Grimlock, we may be in business!

Sony Launches the First 4K Download Service With 70 Titles

The biggest problem with all the big fancy UltraHD televisions practically every major manufacturer has released over the last year is that there’s practically no 4K content out there. Thanks to Sony’s new Video Unlimited 4K service, now there are 70 films you can rent or download. Sony had promised the new service would go…

The Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel/Shazam Clusterf*ck Explained

As a fake mailman living in the future, sometimes it’s funny to me what you people in 2013 freak out about. Ben Affleck as Batman? He actually ends up being okay. Not great, but definitely better than Kilmer or Clooney. But man, you guys are going to completely lose your shit in 20 years when…

Watch ten years’ worth of global weather unfold in just three minutes

When NASA decommissioned the GOES-12 on August 16th, the weather satellite had been locked in geostationary orbit around Earth for a little over 12 years, snapping regular photos of the western hemisphere. Here now are a decade’s worth of captured images, compressed into a three-minute stop motion masterpiece. Via NOAA: From April 2003 — May…

Carrie featurette shows off her new batch of powers

Sure, sure we all know the outcome of Stephen King’s Carrie movie. However, we’re still insanely excited to see how director Kimberly Peirce twists and turns the narrative to surprise the audience (and because she’s an awesome director who truly understands the psyche of teens). So what’s different? Well, it looks like Carrie has a…

A new Arrow season 2 promo gets to the point

Get it? Point? Arrow? Whatever. Here’s just a reminder that if you’re not watching the CW’s still bafflingly great Green Arrow show, you might want to DVR Arrow’s season 2 premiere on October 9th. We’ve got Ollie moving from vigilante to hero, more backstory on the island, more DC cameos… I have no doubt it’s…

What number do you see? What number?

This is a plate from the Ishihara Color Perception Test. Right now, the number you read should let you know whether or not you have normal vision or are red-green color blind. If you look at the above plate and see a 74, you have normal vision. If you see a 21, you are red-green…

HDMI 2.0 Is Here: 60fps 4K, 18Gbps and 32 Channel Audio

HDMI 2.0 has just been officially announced, just in time for the world to adopt Ultra HD TVs, and it looks set to provide your AV set-up with some kick ass capabilities. Announced by HDMI Licensing, the new connection standard boasts a bandwidth capacity of up to 18Gbps, which means it can carry 3,840 x…

Just how long will we be waiting for Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, anyway?

After the regeneration at Christmas, we’ll almost certainly be waiting a while for the 12th Doctor’s first adventures. Benedict Cumberbatch’s people insist he isn’t going to be in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars. Marvel Studios reveals tons about Thor: The Dark World. Plus it’s reshoot time for Mad Max: Fury Road. Spoilers! Top image from The…

Genetic evidence that humans’ “default state” is not solitude

Environment plays a key role in how our genes behave. Now evidence is mounting that our social world is part of that environment, and that interpersonal connection shapes the gene expression in animals from bees to humans. In humans, a lack of social connection can even compromise the immune system. Photo by Stargazing Adventures Over…

George Clooney hangs a photo of himself as Batman, as a warning

Lots of actors regret taking on one role or another — but few go as far as George Clooney, who actually hangs a picture of himself as Batman prominently in his office to remind himself what happens when you make a movie for purely commercial reasons. This fascinating Clooney tidbit comes out in a new…

Childbirth Simulator definitely educational, mostly horrifying

This birth assistant training aid appears to be a great training tool for birthing, and a great teaching tool. But dear god some of these images are terrifying, especially when it starts spewing out simulated blood and plastic babies. Created by Laerdal, the folks who also sell CPR dummies and a lot more, MamaNatalie is…