Maybe the most epic convocation speech delivered by anyone ever

You’re probably sitting there thinking A convocation speech? Really? Yes, really. Stop what you’re doing and watch this now. And make sure your face is firmly attached, lest you lose it in the deluge of oratory excellence you’re about to experience. The event: Georgia Tech’s Freshman Convocation. The speaker: Nicholas S. Selby, sophomore mechanical engineering…

Hot Jupiters are the most astounding planets in the galaxy

They’re big, full of gas, and have a penchant for hanging out way too close to their parents. These “hot Jupiters” are among the most common extrasolar planets in the galaxy. Here’s what the latest science is telling us about these celestial wonders. To date, astronomers have catalogued over 850 planets outside our solar system.…

New TMNT cartoon stars underwear, butt-cannons and Lil’ Casey Jones

By all accounts Nickelodeon’s new CG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon is thoroughly all right — a nice mix of action, comedy, and TMNT lore. So I won’t give it guff for a preview that focuses primarily on asses and ass-accessories, because it’s just a preview. The new Casey Jones, however, is a different story.…

The Mortal Instruments is like The Avengers of teen fantasy

Remember when The Avengers came out, and it was just so gleefully jam-packed with crazy shit? Like, they shook the bag until every last thing fell out? The Mortal Instruments is like that, except for teen urban fantasy. This movie has everything in it, and it will make you laugh until you pass out. Spoilers…

NASA Captures Footage of South Pole During Aurora, Makes a GIF

Ever seen an aurora? Ever seen an aurora from space? You have now. https://gizmodo.com/a-breathtaking-aurora-from-earths-largest-geomagnetic-s-5879920 Via the usagov tumblr: This is an animation of the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights), eight days after a record-setting solar flare sent a shower of charged particles towards Earth. From Earth, this glowing ring would appear as a curtain of light…

Would a Marvel/Star Wars crossover be the worst idea ever?

Greetings, fellow denizens! Today’s mailbag has a bit of an international flair, with letters coming all the way from Belgium and the Philippines! How did a fake mailman in post-apocalyptic America with nothing but a horse receive these letters? I have no fucking idea. Top image by Jonathan Moore. Make Mine Mon Mothma Ross A.:…

Isolated Peruvian tribe attempts to make contact, asks for food

Members of the Mashco-Piro tribe — one of the most isolated on Earth — recently attempted to make contact with outsiders, resulting in a tense stand-off at a river hamlet. The Mashco-Piro, who live in Peru’s southeastern Amazon, are one of several tribes designated by officials as “uncontacted people.” This particular tribe, which numbers in…

Extraordinary sleuthing connects Rita Hayworth and the atom bomb

Rita Hayworth was one of the most celebrated celebrities of all time, and a favorite wartime pin-up. But she became an infamous pin-up when a picture of her was rumored to have been put on an atomic bomb. Thanks to some amazing detective work, we now know the rumors were right. Orson Welles, who was…

Space exploration goes awry in the beautiful scifi short “Beyond”

A woman with special genetic code which allows her to survive teleportation is tasked with exploring new worlds in Raphael Rogers’ quite gorgeous scifi short. But when a mission takes her beyond the universe, will she find the answers she seeks or just more mysteries?

Watch as this comet plunges directly into the Sun

Earlier this week, NASA and ESA scientists working with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft caught a glimpse of a tiny comet barreling towards the Sun. As you’ll see in this video, the poor thing never had a chance. According to Karl Battams of the U.S. Naval Research Lab, the object was only a…

Found: Bryan Cranston’s High School Chemistry Club Yearbook Photo

Heisenberg: The early years. TMZ managed to dig up these and other yearbook photos of the Breaking Bad star, seen here posing with his fellow chem club members at Canoga Park High school in 1973. A little more hair than we’re accustomed to these days, but dashing as ever, that W.W. https://gizmodo.com/in-breaking-bad-allies-are-hard-to-come-by-1166350046 See more photos…

Netflix has added a feature called “My List” that lets you save the stuff you want to watch later on your streaming account. It’s basically a smarter Instant Queue that automatically updates your picks on a row or in a gallery, and magically sorts these titles based on which ones you are most likely to…

Steven Moffat and Neil Gaiman preview Doctor Who‘s bold new era!

Plus, before Peter Capaldi takes over, there’s still the matter of Matt Smith’s hair. Edgar Wright drops some hints about Ant-Man’s villain (or lack thereof) and the enemy in The World’s End. What’s next for True Blood’s main vampire hunks? Plus Invertigo imagines a world with gravity… only reversed. Spoilers now! Top image from The…

The io9 Preview: Everything That Will Rock Your Cosmos This Fall!

Summer is almost over, but the fun isn’t stopping. The fun isn’t even slowing down. Science fiction and fantasy are on fire over the next few months. Here’s our jam-packed guide to this fall’s movies, television, comics and books. https://gizmodo.com/fall-movie-guide-our-forecast-on-20-science-fiction-an-1138983993 https://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-this-falls-science-fiction-and-f-1149999892 https://gizmodo.com/this-fall-s-greatest-comics-will-blow-your-mind-and-you-1173211879 https://gizmodo.com/all-the-books-that-will-explode-your-mind-this-fall-1167469236

Sheer Brilliance: Star Wars’ Emperor voiced by Mark Hamill’s Joker

Mark Hamill is best known for being the voice of the Joker in various Batman animated TV shows. But long before that, he played another role, that of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. What if the two Mark Hamills met? Youtuber Parry Hotter has created this brilliant fan-edit of the Emperor-Luke scenes in Return of…

What if Pixar made the Pacific Rim sequel?

It’s a valid question. And if Pixar did somehow get the rights to make a sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s wonderful monsters-vs-robots movie, it could look something like this great art by artist James Chung. Chung posted this Pixar/Pacific Rim mashup, called “Pixar Rim,” over on his Deviant Art page. Where he also has some…

Everything Wrong with Batman Begins

2005 was quite a long time ago! That was back when everyone had an iPod, that was when we knew Android as just being a robot and that was the year that Batman Begins came out. And though Batman Begins certainly was a fantastic movie that kicked off an even more fantastic trilogy, there were…

In Memories with Maya, human sexuality gets an upgrade

What happens when you mix virtual reality, haptic interfaces, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence? That’s what Clyde deSouza explores in his highly entertaining near-future science-fiction novel, Memories with Maya. DeSouza introduces the “Wizer,” an augmented-reality, see-through visor driven by AGI (artificial general intelligence) — Google Glass on steroids. It’s coupled with 3D scans of real…

The UFO that buzzed the ISS yesterday has been identified

Early yesterday morning, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy was peering through a window aboard the International Space Station when he spotted something strange and unidentifiable coursing through space alongside the orbital outpost. When he couldn’t discern for himself what the mysterious object was, Cassidy phoned home to mission control. At first, they didn’t know either, but…

Honest Trailers aims its phasers at Star Trek Into Darkness

It’s been a long time anybody has mentioned that Star Trek Into Darkness is not, in fact, a very good movie, so thanks to the Honest Trailers guys for getting this important message back out there. Looking back, I have no idea why we thought a movie that didn’t have the sense to use a…