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Walk through this portal with me into another world

The “portal fantasy,” where somebody walks through a magical door (or wardrobe) into a fantasy world, has become a terrible cliche. So why do we keep walking through those portals and loving the hell out of it? I heard a lot of grumbling about portal fantasies last weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in Ohio,…

Movies Annalee Newitz

Sean Connery’s chest hair vs. a rogue meteorite fragment — to the death!

Sean Connery, shirt unbuttoned halfway to his navel, plays chicken with a meteor fragment heading straight for his base, while Natalie Wood and Martin Landau watch. Will it strike before he can launch his missiles to destroy the big meteor? 1979’s Meteor isn’t exactly the greatest movie ever made — it’s really, really slow and…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Hot Tub Time Machine’s director to take on the Toxic Avenger

This looks like a perfect mash-up of minds, gore and sex jokes. Steve Pink, director of the smutty Hot Tub Time Machine is going to direct a Toxic Avenger movie. Let the New Jersey jokes fly. [Deadline]

Movies Meredith Woerner

Megamind answers the question, “What if Lex Luthor won?”

DreamWorks latest animated outing Megamind infuses the rote battles of serial film superheroes with a heaping of existential malaise. In this fun, fart-joke-free kids’ flick, a supercriminal vanquishes his foe…and loses his reason to wake up in the morning. Megamind wears its pastiche on its sleeve. The titular supervillain (Will Ferrell) and his foe-for-life Metro…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar

How will Tuesday’s election results affect the future of science?

Science was rarely mentioned on the campaign trail, so what exactly does the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives mean for science? For environmental science, it looks very bad. But on other issues, there’s reason for a little optimism. The Republican platform, “The Pledge to America”, never mentions the words “science”, “technology”, “NASA”, “research…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Inside Tu Books, a new publisher focusing on multicultural SF and fantasy books for kids

Science fiction and fantasy books for younger audiences are booming — but they still mostly feature white heroes and are aimed at white audiences. So Stacy Whitman is launching Tu Books, a new publisher of multicultural children’s and young-adult SF. Whitman, a former editor with Wizards of the Coast imprint Mirrorstone Books, decided to start…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

What caused global warming 40 million years ago?

Whatever you think about today’s prognosis for global warming, there’s no denying that the planet has been a lot hotter in the past. Now we know some of that heat was generated by carbon dioxide emissions 40 million years ago. At that time, called the Middle Eocene, the Earth was going through a long phase…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Concept art reveals Megamind could have looked like Galactus

Megamind, Will Ferrell’s lovable supervillain, originally looked like Galactus, destroyer of worlds, as new concept art reveals. A new book, The Art of Megamind, includes tons of early art, showing killer mecha, strange henchmen, and random supervillains. Check it out. The Art of Megamind, written by San Jose Metro film critic Richard Von Busack, gives…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Spider-Man publicly apologizes for “Turn Off The Dark”

Spider-Man took a little time out from his busy day of web-slinging and ruining musical theater to deliver an important message. It’s time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms. It’s a “why don’t you caption it” PSA! The Fire Department of New York and your friendly neighbor Spider-Man held a press conference to…

Movies Meredith Woerner

How the hunt for the Higgs boson began

In this excerpt from Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science (Basic Books), author Ian Sample tells the story of how Peter Higgs went from being a joke to a legend with just one lecture. Peter Higgs arrived in Chapel Hill to set up home on September 6, 1965, having left…

io9 Ian Sample

Gravity finally starts cooperating with quantum mechanics…maybe

Gravity is usually the arch-nemesis of quantum mechanics, stubbornly refusing to play nice with the forces governing the interactions of subatomic particles. Now we’ve discovered a rare instance where gravity actually assists quantum interactions, which just might help unify physics. There are four fundamental forces: gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Leaked cover of new Buffy comic gives major spoilergasm

The Buffy comics have gotten so weird it seems like nothing could happen that would top the last few issues. But as Jo Chen’s cover for upcoming issue #39 reveals, things can always be weirder. Take a peek. Spoilers ahead! Thanks to Dark Horse for providing us with this exclusive look at the new cover…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Sensory deprivation and psychedelic drugs: Fringe gets back to basics!

Our month of painful Fringe withdrawal ended last night with yet another outstanding episode. Is there any doubt left that this show is on its way to being one of the genre’s all-time classics? Spoilers ahead. The whole storyline where Walternate and Science Gnome brainwash Olivia into thinking she’s Fauxlivia could have been painfully contrived…

Television Charlie Jane Anders

Goose eggs could help polar bears survive global warming

The polar ice caps are melting, damaging habitats and robbing animals of their basic resources. But polar bears have a decent chance of surviving the upheaval, thanks to snow goose eggs…and a little random good luck. If an animal moves from one habitat to another – or if their habitat changes around them – there’s…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Zac Efron in talks to star in Akira

Zac Efron in Akira? We’re not surprised. Ever since Albert Hughes came on as director for the live-action adaptation of Akira, rumors of the studio demanding a more family friendly, PG-13 movie have followed. So why not cast Efron too? https://gizmodo.com/trouble-in-neo-tokyo-the-akira-movie-could-be-pg-13-5572134 Slashfilm is reporting from various sources that Zac Efron is “in talks” with the…

Movies Meredith Woerner

Final Tron Legacy poster pieces together the Tron City skyline

The final Tron Legacy poster has been released. Together the previous posters join together to form a neon triptych of Clu, Baby Sam, and the original Flynn. Your Tron City indoctrination starts now. [Empire]

Movies Meredith Woerner

Improve your math skills by strapping this simple device to your head

Having a little trouble in your number theory class, or just want to be able to add up a bill in your head? Scientists have discovered they can boost math ability just by applying mild electrical current to your skull. Image of TDCS via MAPrc. A study published today in Current Biology explains that researchers…

io9 Annalee Newitz

There’s Another 21:9 3DTV in Town

Until now it’s only been Philips that’s had truly-widescreen 21:9 TVs, but Taiwanese company AUO has got in on the action with what they’re claiming is the world’s largest 3DTV with that aspect ratio, at 71-inches. Of course, when only one other company has taken a stab at 21:9 TVs (and invented the damn things),…

Television Kat Hannaford

Islamic jihadists are huge fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Muslim extremists are hugely into the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, says British satirist Chris Morris, who studied terrorism for three years before directing Four Lions. “They see themselves as the force for good and Sauron is basically George W. Bush.”

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Build the ultimate paper airplane

Now you can learn to make paper airplanes from a guy who has set world records with his planes. Ken Blackburn has a website with his preferred patterns for folding paper airplanes. Blackburn is an engineer for the Air Force, holds the world record for longest paper airplane flight, and owns a horse. So naturally,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Walk through this portal with me into another world

Sean Connery’s chest hair vs. a rogue meteorite fragment — to the death!

Hot Tub Time Machine’s director to take on the Toxic Avenger

Megamind answers the question, “What if Lex Luthor won?”

How will Tuesday’s election results affect the future of science?

Inside Tu Books, a new publisher focusing on multicultural SF and fantasy books for kids

What caused global warming 40 million years ago?

Concept art reveals Megamind could have looked like Galactus

Spider-Man publicly apologizes for “Turn Off The Dark”

How the hunt for the Higgs boson began

Gravity finally starts cooperating with quantum mechanics…maybe

Leaked cover of new Buffy comic gives major spoilergasm

Sensory deprivation and psychedelic drugs: Fringe gets back to basics!

Goose eggs could help polar bears survive global warming

Zac Efron in talks to star in Akira

Final Tron Legacy poster pieces together the Tron City skyline

Improve your math skills by strapping this simple device to your head

There’s Another 21:9 3DTV in Town

Islamic jihadists are huge fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Build the ultimate paper airplane

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