Watch the intense first trailer for Ender’s Game right now!

Harrison Ford transforms into Colonel Hyrum Graff for the very first trailer of Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game. It’s so damn shiny! We’re already spotting loads of technology, Formic ships and the big beautiful Battle Room! Can’t freaking wait. Ender’s Game hits theaters on November 1st, 2013.

You won’t believe how many cicadas are about to envelop the East Coast

No, really. Take a wild guess how many. The cicada onslaught grows nigh. Already the sex-crazed insects have begun burrowing their tiny bodies from out the depths of America’s southern soils, where ground temperatures have already reached a steady 64 degrees. But soon, the cicadas’ northerly relatives will reach the end of their 17-year dormancy…

Will Adam Baldwin steal Michael Bay’s post-apocalyptic show Last Ship?

Check out the first trailer for The Last Ship, the show about a deadly viral apocalypse from executive producer Michael Bay. TNT has officially greenlit this show about a single Navy vessel after the end of the world, airing in 2014. The Last Ship was originally a novel by William Brinkley about a single vessel…

War is Hell and we’re the Devil, on Revolution

This was a genuinely great moment in last night’s Revolution — Miles Matheson face to face with a guy he trained, trying to reason with him. And then sentencing him to death by firing squad, without looking back. If war really is Hell, we’re the demons who make it that way. Spoilers ahead… This was…

Holy Crap that’s a HUMAN! Behind-the-scenes footage from Mama

Watch how Guillermo del Toro and his team of insane special effects geniuses made a decaying corpse fly around and scare the shit out of absolutely everyone, in this exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from Mama. Yes, trapped inside that mask is contortionist and actor Javier Botet. Everything you saw in the horror movie Mama was either…

Everybody is avenging something in this week’s comics!

Seriously, there is so much avenging going on in this week’s comics, you don’t even know. Besides an insane amount of Avengers-related comics from Marvel, the first trade of Steed and Mrs. Peel (the original Avengers) it seems like everybody has some avenging to do in this week’s comics! New Issues Dark Horse: • X…

Why is this pioneering researcher fighting to have his work retracted?

When Rutgers evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers began to suspect that his co-author, William Brown, had faked the data on a widely circulated study, he was placed in the unenviable position of bringing the fraud to light. It has not been easy. Trivers first began to suspect that something was amiss in 2007, two years after…

The Secret Iron Man 3 Closing Titles You Didn’t See in Theaters

As fun as Iron Man 3was, when the screen goes black and the titles come up you’re smacked in the face with a whole other kind of fun—the awesome motion-heavy sequence from Creative Director Danny Yount. And if you thought that was cool, you should see what he originally had planned. Yount has an expansive…

This eldritch animation will stare straight into your soul

Animator Jake Fried has a knack for getting under your skin. Back in January, we called his captivating one-minute short “The Deep End” sixty of the most unsettling seconds we’d sat through in some time. His latest animation – titled “Raw Data” – confirms the Boston-based artist still has what it takes to hold us…

The io9 Book Club is in session! Let’s talk about The Summer Prince

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. In April, we read The Summer Prince, by Alaya Dawn Johnson. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! For those unfamiliar with the io9 book club, here’s how it works: You read the book. We create a special book club post on io9…

R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen, Monster Innovator and Visual Effects Legend

The ultimate creator of movie monsters is gone. The prolific visual effects artist, and creator of our epic fantasy dreams, Ray Harryhausen, has died. Above is a supercut of all his monster creations, which brings back powerful memories of crouching in front of the television set or in the back row of the movie theater,…

10 Biggest Missed Opportunities in Star Trek History

Next week, we rediscover our love for Star Trek. The classic space opera has had its ups and downs over the years, but it’s always turned death into a fighting chance for life. Still, it’s hard not to think about some of the amazing paths Trek could have taken. Here are 10 great missed opportunities…

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‘Monster’ Carcass Washes Ashore in New Zealand

A mysterious carcass washed ashore in New Zealand last week, fueling speculation about sea monsters and dinosaurs. The rotting animal was discovered by a group on four-wheel vehicles speeding along the beach in Bay of Plenty. According to a story in New Zealand’sSun Live newspaper, “beachgoers were stumped when they came across what they thought…

Why the Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Are Not Based in Scientific Reality

In her new book Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet and How We Live, University of Minnesota biologist Marlene Zuk explains why the paleo lifestyle is based on incorrect assumptions about how evolution works. In this excerpt, she lays out her argument — and it’s pretty damn compelling. Photo by Ciurzynski via…

Game Of Thrones engagement shoots announce: The Wedding is Coming

Hit the bricks prenuptial Walking Dead photo shoots, the new pre-wedding hotness is all George R.R. Martin. Yes, Game of Thrones engagement shoots are the new zombies, and it fucking rocks. Two elegant geeks posed for a fur-trimmed engagement shoot inspired by Game of Thrones., and it’s pretty gorgeous (then again anything remotely related to…

Old Spock battles New Spock in the greatest car commercial ever

Sorry, Volkswagen Darth Vader Kid. This new Audi commercial, starring both Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto, has beat you. You’ve got two Spocks smack-talking each other, Leonard Nimoy cursing, and best of all, an impromptu rendition of the “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” Now I kind of want to buy an Audi just on principle.…

This guillotine simulator is the most twisted use of Oculus Rift yet

Ever wonder what it would be like to have your head chopped off? Well, you may soon get the chance to find out. A group of independent developers has created a guillotine simulator using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. During the experience, you can look behind yourself to see the blade coming down, followed…

Defiance just got one hell of a lot better

So when I told the Defiance showrunners to focus on characters instead of CG inlast week’s recap? Clearly, they listened. And then went back in time and wrote and filmed “ A Well-Respected Man,” which was one hell of a good episode where every character featured got a moment to really, truly develop. You’re welcome,…

The long-running mystery of why birds seemingly change sex

It’s not often you do a search on a scientific subject and come up with a journal from 1888, but people were puzzled by this mystery for a while: Female birds, usually once they’ve reached a sufficiently advanced age, can suddenly grow male plumage and take on male behaviors. I read in a book that,…