Disco Chair welcomes you to the future

Meet Disco Chair. It was created out of electroluminescent wire by Kiwi&Pom, and makes me think of a happy Tron future where everything is covered in glowing shapes. According to the designers, “the chair transforms into a neon rainbow when powered. A pulse setting enables the chair to flash on and off creating an instant…

The Cybermen terrorize an isolated Arctic base. What could be better?

The second installment of Doctor Who’s downloadable game tie-in is out now, and according to blogger Adam Whitehead, it’s better than the first one, featuring the Daleks. And fans of the original series’ Cybermen will be very happy. Spoilers ahead. In the Arctic, a research team have stumbled across something buried under the ice. A…

A drug for pregnant women that prevents lesbian daughters

A New York doctor named Maria New has been advising pregnant women to take a steroid called dexamethasone to prevent homosexuality and “masculine behavior” in their daughters. How did she get away with this form of anti-gay genetic engineering? New is an endocrinologist who studies, among other things, a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).…

Falling Skies Gallery

Falling Skies Gallery

23 new images from Steven Spielberg’s alien drama Falling Skies

Behold the devastation brought upon our planet by invading alien forces. All that’s left are Noah Wyle and his band of muted-tones-clad refugees. Check out a bunch of pictures from Spielberg’s alien drama Falling Skies, which is coming to SDCC. TNT announced that the Speilberg-produced alien resistance drama Falling Skies is coming to San Diego…

Global warming started 15,000 years ago with uncontrolled mammoth hunting

It turns out humans have been affecting the Earth’s climate for a long, long time. Overhunting the woolly mammoth 15,000 years ago kick-started a chain reaction that changed the surrounding ecosystem and heated up the Earth. How could humans have affected the prehistoric Earth’s climate at a time when their population only numbered in the…

The BBC says there’s no Doctor Who movie in the works. Not even with Johnny Depp.

You can scratch that rumor about Johnny Depp starring in a big-screen Doctor Who extravaganza. We checked with the BBC, and a rep says there are “no plans” for a Who movie, and any talk is “pure speculation.”

Stephen King’s It script is almost done. Say goodbye to showering!

Warner Brothers is still set on bringing Stephen King’s clown monster to life. Screenwriter Dave Kajganich (The Invasion) has the difficult job of adapting the book into a 120-page screenplay. And his latest update makes us all kinds of nervous. We loved everything about It. Loved it. Loved the complicated and incredibly long and drawn…

A modern-day esoteric shrine, deep beneath the Alps

Why is this ornate, gorgeous “spiritual machine” so threatening that the Vatican wanted to blow it up? Rapture-seeker Erik Davis recently visited the mystical Damanhur temple beneath the Italian Alps to find out. Davis writes: Over thirty years ago, a handful of initiates into a vibrant and esoteric Italian mystery school took up hand drills…

Finally, a Menstruation Machine That Allows Men to Experience the Monthly Cycle!

Here’s one gadget I won’t be lining up for: a “Menstruation Machine” that allows men “to experience the painful bleeding of menstruation.” Well, wow. The device is the graduate project of Royal College of Art student Hiromi Ozaki. It’s pretty horrifying! Fitted with a blood dispensing mechanism and lower-abdomen-stimulating electrodes, the Menstruation Machine simulates the…

From time travel to alien invasion: Nacho Vigalondo dishes on “Extraterrestre”

Nacho Vigalondo took the genre world by storm a few years ago with Timecrimes. The unlikely time travel adventure marked Vigaondo as another bright voice in Spanish cinema. Now he’s back with a mysterious new SF flick about aliens. The director has been pretty tight lipped about his next project but late last week he…

Build a better quantum computer with diamond nanocrystals

One big problem holding up the development of quantum computing is building materials. But there might be a solution, and it awesomely involves nitrogen-infused diamond nanocrystals. Quantum computers theoretically work by using qubits (short for quantum bits), which can rely on quantum mechanical principles to hold multiple values simultaneously. This ability makes quantum computers unimaginably…

First U.S. trailer for the Let The Right One In remake is stylish, sledge-hammery

Let The Right One In was one of the great horror films of the past decade, and we’ve been nervous about a U.S. remake by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. This splashy first trailer doesn’t exactly ease our fears. Trailers are misleading, of course, and that’s part of the fun of them. But this just feels…

Flash fiction (1,000 words or less) by io9ers – every Thursday!

An army of mummies is coming to your town soon!

Some 45 mummies, from 15 museums in seven countries, are embarking on a three-year tour of the United States starting today. The Mummies of the World exhibit includes this family of elaborately dressed Hungarian mummies. More gruesome pics below. According to the California Science Center’s website: Mummies of the World, the largest traveling exhibition of…

The io9 guide to July science fiction awesomeness (updated)

What’s in store for scifi fans this July? The San Diego Comic Con, Predators and Inception at the theaters, new seasons of Eureka and Warehouse 13, and scads of conventions, new books, and author appearances! And here are the links to this month’s conventions: – Ai-Kon – Anime Expo – Anime Festival – Anime Iowa…

M. Night Shyamalan Finally Made A Comedy

You giggled at The Happening. You snorted at The Village. But now, for the first time ever, former indie auteur M. Night Shyamalan has set out to make a gonzo comedy on purpose, with The Last Airbender. Spoilers ahead! M. Night Shyamalan has always been fascinated by playing with genre conventions. His famed love of…

Modded scooter ready for Neo-Tokyo action

This used to be a Honda Fusion (AKA Helix in the US). Now it is the most awesome vehicle in the world because it looks like the bike from Akira. [via Modern Buddy forums]

Judd Apatow gets behind the Pee-Wee Herman movie

Universal wants to make two Pee-Wee Herman films, and Judd Apatow just decided to back one of them. Only one question remains, who will Seth Rogen play? Variety broke the news that Judd Apatow has decided to help develop one of the two Pee-Wee movies that Paul Reubens has written. Rumor has it, one of…

A star wrapped in the beautiful colors of the nebula that birthed it

The star R. Coronae Australis lies within one of the nearest star-forming regions of our galaxy. Surrounded by a blue nebula, it’s been described as a “cosmic watercolor.” We’ve got jaw-dropping pictures and video of this amazing stellar neighborhood inside. Located some 420 light-years away, R. Coronae Australis is part of a small constellation known…