io9 | Page 4786 of 5933 | We Come From the Future

Baltimore college is schooling undergraduates in the undead

This semester the University of Baltimore is offering English 333, a.k.a. the pop history of zombies. Sadly, Spam and fruit cocktail hoarding does not appear to be on the syllabus. The class is taught by Arnold Blumberg, the curator of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore. Here’s a snapshot of the curriculum: Students will watch 16…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 8

Amazing Star Wars short explains what was in Han Solo’s dumped cargo

Now this is a Star Wars prequel we can support. Stop whatever you’re doing and watch this hilarious Star Wars-inspired CG short, The Solo Adventures, right now. The Solo Adventures from Daniel Smith on Vimeo. UPDATE: Because you asked for it. A Youtube version sans 3D. The film was directed and co-written by Daniel Smith…

io9 Meredith Woerner Sep 8

An unlikely contender for Spidey’s new love interest, plus the most awesomely scary Resident Evil Afterlife clip yet!

Battleship and Journey of the Center of the Earth 2 are adding some major class. Watch the most horrific clip yet from Resident Evil Afterlife. The look of Captain America villain Red Skull is totally terrifying. Spider-Man Reboot: A Toronto Globe feature on actress Hillary Duff mentions she has a script marked “Spider-Man” sitting on…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 8

25 unexpected lessons we can learn from Tales of the Unexpected

Tales of the Unexpected was a long-running DC scifi/horror series that specialized in stories about stuff nobody anticipated would happen. Its covers were also unexpectedly unexpected, and we can learn a lot about expectations just by looking at them. Unexpected. [Scans via Cover Browser] Unexpected Lesson 1: Gorillas are adept at the art of identity…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 7

After the media apocalypse, stories survive as patchwork cloth

A solar flare wipes the world’s electronic media stores clean. Electricity no longer flows. And a new dark age begins, along with a new form of storytelling. It’s all chronicled in a strange art show from the future. Artist Stephen Hendee’s new show, Dark Age Era North America: The Ice Next Time, is on display…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 7

There must be some way this horror movie could have more Southern stereotypes

The walls of the old Bryce Plantation ooze blood, in creepiest scene from 2004’s Evil Remains. This horror film about a slasher wearing the head of a dead dog mostly relies on ridiculous Southern gothic cliches. Allow us to demonstrate. So Evil Remains is mostly a pretty undistinguished entry in the “young people go out…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 7

Volcano-hunting on other planets

We’ve become very adept at finding extrasolar planets, but we’re still working on the trickier task of figuring out what those planets’ atmospheres look like. Now astronomers have found a way to test whether an Earth-like exoplanet has active volcanoes. Currently, our atmospheric tests for exoplanets only work on Jupiter-sized gas giants, leaving the handful…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 7

Martin Freeman turned down the role of Bilbo Baggins?

We’re not sure whether to believe this rumor — because, honestly, who in their right mind would turn down The Hobbit? Martin Freeman would have been a particularly inspired casting decision as Bilbo Baggins, too. According to the U.K.’s The Sun, the very same paper that swore Eddie Murphy would be the new Riddler in…

io9 Meredith Woerner Sep 7

In “Zero History,” William Gibson gets inside the military-fashion PR complex

A dark caper whose players stretch from paramilitary contractors in the U.S. to secret label fashion designers who fetishize “slubby” jeans, Zero History is William Gibson’s hommage to the fashion industry. Especially its dangerous, geeky, corporate-espionage underpinnings. The third book in Gibson’s Bigend Trilogy, which includes Pattern Recognition and Spook Country, Zero History brings back…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 7

R.I.P. Larry Ashmead, Isaac Asimov’s long-time editor

Former book editor Larry Ashmead died aged 78 on Friday. During his 43-year career in publishing, he edited more than 40 books by Isaac Asimov. According to AFP, he also rescued Simon Winchester’s account of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Professor and the Madman from the “garbage bin” after everyone else had…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Sep 7

The bottomless staircase that became a tourist attraction

What if there was a staircase that seemed to descend forever? It would become a tourist destination, and a place to commit suicide. But it would also be a place to lose yourself, as Peter M. Ball’s new story proves. The story, “L’esprit de L’escalier,” appears in the latest issue of Apex Magazine, which just…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 7

The great atomic bomb cake controversy of 1946

In 1946, a mushroom cloud-shaped cake was served at a Washington D.C. military party celebrating the task force that oversaw atomic tests in the Pacific post-World War II. The photo of this garish pastry caused a bizarre international fracas. The blog Conelrad Adjacent details the cake controversy, which permeated the highest echelons of the US…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 7

The evil eye in space signifies a star’s death

It’s the final hours for the Hourglass Nebula, as the central star runs out of nuclear fuel and becomes a white dwarf. And wow, don’t those dying embers look like an unblinking gaze of evil? This new Hubble Space Telescope image shows the rings of flowing gases outlining the fading walls of the nebula’s “hourglass.”…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 7

Evidence of an ancient, advanced society in the Amazon forest?

In the depths of the Amazonian forest, long believed to be uninhabitable, archaeologists say there is evidence that a thriving civilization existed. 20 million people lived there, managing the forest, and left evidence of their complex lives behind. Over at the Washington Post, Juan Forero reports on the archaeologists looking for evidence of a lost…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 7

Syfy is making a Billy Ray Cyrus UFO show

Syfy’s latest TV series is called UFO: Unbelievably Freakin’ Obvious. It stars country singer (and Miley Cyrus’ father) Billy Ray, and his emo son Trace. Together the two will travel the globe investigating paranormal phenomena. We’re not making this up. According to Variety aliens have been a long time passion for BRC… who knew? “The…

Television Meredith Woerner Sep 7

The Gates tells the real truth about vampires

The vampire genre is weird these days. Imagine if there were tons of movies and shows about lovable reformed serial killers… who still lapse into murder every now and then. Sunday’s The Gates was a welcome deconstruction of “nice” vamps. So what exactly is Nick Monohan’s job anyway? As police chief of The Gates, is…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 7

A gravity-defying coffee cup for math lovers

There’s no better way to enjoy your coffee than with this “zero gravity” cup, which stays balanced at a perfect angle when at rest. Plus, it includes a graph that demonstrates the exact trajectory of love. Once you fill the cup with coffee, you have to set it down perpendicular to the table. But while…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 7

The curious Chess City of the Russian steppe

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the eccentric president of the Russian federal subject of Kalmykia, stepped down from office today. Ilyumzhinov believed he’d been visited by aliens and poured an estimated $50 million into building a “Chess City” at the Kalmykian capital Elista. https://gizmodo.com/russia-investigating-whether-or-not-regional-president-5532553 Ilyumzhinov, a fanatical chess fan, has also been the President of FIDE (a.k.a. World…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 7

A scientific comparison of apples and oranges

Here we consider two conjunctions of apples and oranges in the world of science. 1. This video shows someone finding out how many round, juicy oranges it takes to power an Apple iPhone. 2. Scott Sandford’s classic article “Apples and Oranges,” published in volume 1, no. 3 of the Annals of Improbable Research. Sandford writes:…

io9 Marc Abrahams - Annals of Improbable Research Sep 7

How Canada will become a superpower, making the Northern Rim the envy of the world

Although climate change could still have devastating effects for much of the world, some regions stand to benefit immensely. Canada, Scandinavia, and even Greenland could all become economic powerhouses, making “The New North” a very attractive destination. This is one of the central premises of respected climate scientist Laurence Smith’s new book, The World in…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 7

Baltimore college is schooling undergraduates in the undead

Amazing Star Wars short explains what was in Han Solo’s dumped cargo

An unlikely contender for Spidey’s new love interest, plus the most awesomely scary Resident Evil Afterlife clip yet!

25 unexpected lessons we can learn from Tales of the Unexpected

After the media apocalypse, stories survive as patchwork cloth

There must be some way this horror movie could have more Southern stereotypes

Volcano-hunting on other planets

Martin Freeman turned down the role of Bilbo Baggins?

In “Zero History,” William Gibson gets inside the military-fashion PR complex

R.I.P. Larry Ashmead, Isaac Asimov’s long-time editor

The bottomless staircase that became a tourist attraction

The great atomic bomb cake controversy of 1946

The evil eye in space signifies a star’s death

Evidence of an ancient, advanced society in the Amazon forest?

Syfy is making a Billy Ray Cyrus UFO show

The Gates tells the real truth about vampires

A gravity-defying coffee cup for math lovers

The curious Chess City of the Russian steppe

A scientific comparison of apples and oranges

How Canada will become a superpower, making the Northern Rim the envy of the world

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AI Training Data Giant Mercor Is Reportedly Looking to Buy the Work You Did at Your Old Job

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

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