io9 | Page 4526 of 5931 | We Come From the Future

The Backwards Fashion Evolution of 3D Glasses

How could 3D glasses go from the sleek, minimal shades we see here on the noses of 1951’s Festival of Britain-goers, to the clumsy, Oakley-style wrap-arounds of today? Dolby’s new lightweight ones aren’t even much competition, even though they’re only passive glasses and don’t even need to house the heavier active shutter components bundled with…

Movies Kat Hannaford

If giant squid monsters ever attack, we can defend ourselves with sound

A depressing study shows that military and industrial noise may be killing off cephalopods. On the bright side, at last we have a way to fight squid-like monsters. In real life, squid don’t do much except provide us with calamari and look disgusting when they’re shown mating on nature shows. But in fiction, they’ve attacked…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Relive the era of papier mache Stormtrooper helmets and home-made Starfleet uniforms

If you’re in San Francisco tonight, you have a rare chance to witness the early days of Star Trek and Star Wars fandom. A new documentary, Back to Space-Con, is showing at the Balboa Theater at 7 PM. The documentary, which already had one showing at a small theater in Oakland, includes tons of footage…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Massive intergalactic radio jets would totally dwarf the Moon…if only we could see them

This strange purple plume that dwarfs the Moon is what we’d see if our eyes could perceive radio waves. These jets, over a million light-years long, are spewing from the massive black hole in the Centaurus A galaxy. The black hole at the center of Centaurus A is many millions of times more massive than…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Game-play trailer for Anno 2070 wants you to feel guilty for destroying the environment

In the world of 2070, you face a stark choice: pursue sustainable, environmentally friendly development, or be a total industrialiast asswipe who deserves to be shot. At least, that’s what we gleaned from Anno 2070’s sledgehammer-subtle new gameplay trailer. Basically, you face a choice between sustainability or “mass consumption,” with the latter leading to a…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

How menthol helps scientists understand chronic pain

You can taste the cool, fresh flavor of mint for the same reason you feel pain. Flavors like mint have long been associated with coolness, no matter what temperature they were served at. This is because mint is a natural source of the compound known as menthol. Synthesized and natural menthol has been added to…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Peter Jackson takes you inside the first day of shooting on The Hobbit

Stop whatever you are doing, and watch this Hobbit set video right now. Peter Jackson has started a vlog all about making The Hobbit, and it’s absolutely shocking how much access he’s giving the public. Step back into The Shire! Jackson took his facebook cameras into the completely rebuilt sets of Bag End and Rivendell.…

Movies Meredith Woerner

This Terminator 2 Cake Is Perfect For Almost No Occasions

When you first espy the amazingly molten Terminator 2 cake, you’re stunned at the fine balance of technical prowess and artistry that went into its creation. And then you start to think: what exactly would a cake like this commemorate? Birthday, wedding, bat mitzvah—doesn’t seem quite right. But the next time you’re having a “Happy…

Movies Brian Barrett

Matthew Vaughn reveals his plans for X-Men: First Class sequels. Plus Terminator 5 hints and a possible Spider-Man cameo!

X-Men: First Class star Michael Fassbender discusses Magneto’s mission and mutant sex lives. Diane Lane drops a Man of Steel hint, Hugh Jackman talks Real Steel, and The Amazing Spider-Man might actually feature a certain sexy redhead. Spoilers from here on out! Top image from X-Men: First Class. X-Men: First Class Matthew Vaughn, Bryan Singer,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Watch the spine-tingling first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Let the ape-pocalypse begin! Watch the story of one lone chimp who sparks the primate revolution against humanity. The ape uprising begins now — with the first ever trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Here’s the official description: A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any…

Movies Meredith Woerner

What happens when you go on vacation, and leave a chatbot behind

Writer Joanne McNeil went on vacation earlier this year, but didn’t want to lose touch with people she knows online. So she set up a chatbot to carry on her friendships without her. And the results were intriguingly weird. She first sent out this email: I am going to be very busy over the next…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Why a tungsten dust cloud could help solve the space junk crisis

After fifty years of space exploration, humanity has left well over 5000 tons of debris up there, and the ever growing pile of space junk poses a serious risk to spacecraft. Now there’s a solution…and it’s only slightly crazy. Space debris is generally characterized as either large enough to be tracked or too small to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Peter Davison explains what’s wrong with Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver

Back when Peter Davison was playing that mysterious time traveler, the Doctor, he had a lot fewer tricks up his sleeve — and he couldn’t rely on the sonic screwdriver to get him out of jams. In this clip from one of two newly released Doctor Who DVDs, Davison vents about what he sees as…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Life could actually survive inside a black hole

Black holes have a well-deserved reputation for being cosmic destroyers, ripping apart anything that comes into contact with their intense gravitational forces. But a radical new theory says advanced intelligent life could live on planets inside black holes. Professor Vyacheslav Dokuchaev of Moscow’s Russian Academy of Sciences came up with this strange idea, which builds…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Alan Dean Foster Faces Off with Predators in Episode 34 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

Alan Dean Foster, author of Predators I Have Known, joins us to talk about meeting George Lucas, fixing bad movie scripts, and playing hide-and-seek with deadly otters. Photograph by Mirek Srb/Shutterstock (Note: the actual otter who tangled with Foster was a lot more menacing in appearance.) The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is hosted by…

io9 Johnjosephadams

Read stories from the winners of our Sharktopus contest!

On Monday, we announced a contest whose winner would get to take home this amazing Sharktopus plushie. Winners completed a paragraph starting with this sentence: “When Sharktopus fell in love, it was a mild spring day.” And here they are. There were so many amazing entries to this contest that I strongly urge you to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

New footage and concept art from The Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The new Planet of the Apes prequel is coming this summer, but we haven’t seen much of it yet — until today. In a fascinating online interview, effects masters Weta released some footage and concept art from the origins tale. Joe Letteri (Senior VFX Supervisor at Weta Digital), Dan Lemmon (VFX Supervisor of Weta Digital)…

io9 Meredith Woerner

Once we find extraterrestrial intelligence, how long will it take us to communicate with it?

It seems too cruel to believe we’re the only technologically advanced species in the cosmos. We couldn’t possibly be the only ones, with so many stars and so many habitable planets out there. So we’re all waiting eagerly for the discovery of incontrovertible proof that aliens are out there, mining their asteroids, building cities or…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

This TV Is Larger Than The Average American Man

Sharp’s whipped out the tape measure, hoping to win your TV-buying eyes with giganticness. Its new full array LED-backlit LC-70LE732U certainly is mammoth, packing 70 inches of screen size, along with the standard streaming video services (Netflix and Vudu). Sharp plans to add three more models to its 70-inch line this summer, but this one…

Television Kyle Wagner

This is what schizophrenia looks like at the molecular level

What you’re looking at are neurons grown from a schizophrenic person. An incredible study, published today in Nature, reveals how scientists grew schizophrenic brain cells to understand the inner workings of this still-mysterious neurological disorder. A team of scientists from research institutes across the US collaborated to conduct this first-of-a-kind experiment. Schizophrenia is known to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The Backwards Fashion Evolution of 3D Glasses

If giant squid monsters ever attack, we can defend ourselves with sound

Relive the era of papier mache Stormtrooper helmets and home-made Starfleet uniforms

Massive intergalactic radio jets would totally dwarf the Moon…if only we could see them

Game-play trailer for Anno 2070 wants you to feel guilty for destroying the environment

How menthol helps scientists understand chronic pain

Peter Jackson takes you inside the first day of shooting on The Hobbit

This Terminator 2 Cake Is Perfect For Almost No Occasions

Matthew Vaughn reveals his plans for X-Men: First Class sequels. Plus Terminator 5 hints and a possible Spider-Man cameo!

Watch the spine-tingling first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes

What happens when you go on vacation, and leave a chatbot behind

Why a tungsten dust cloud could help solve the space junk crisis

Peter Davison explains what’s wrong with Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver

Life could actually survive inside a black hole

Alan Dean Foster Faces Off with Predators in Episode 34 of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy

Read stories from the winners of our Sharktopus contest!

New footage and concept art from The Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Once we find extraterrestrial intelligence, how long will it take us to communicate with it?

This TV Is Larger Than The Average American Man

This is what schizophrenia looks like at the molecular level

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

‘Supergirl’ Will Feature David Corenswet’s Superman in a Sort of Big Brother Role

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

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