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Wait, You Mean There Are Other Ways to Watch TV Shows Besides Downloading Torrents?

With Hulu and iTunes and torrents, it’s easy to forget that your home probably already has a dedicated television-watching device! That’s why this rings so true, except for the bit about Cops, which should be Man vs. Food instead. [PennyArcade]

Television Kyle VanHemert Oct 8 '10

The science of autumnal beauty

This gorgeous photograph of a tree-lined avenue in Nottinghamshire, England, demonstrates a basic principle of chemistry. Photo by Carl Mick. Leaf cells contain a combination of chemicals which produce different colors: Chlorophyll, which creates the familiar green in leaves; carotenoids, which create yellow, orange and brown (you see them a lot in corn and carrots);…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 8 '10

F-Stop Watch Measures the Minutes In Aperture Numbers

Time marches on regardless of how you track it; might as well ditch the ol’ 1-12 routine in favor of something a little more more fun. Like, say, a watch that ticks off apertures instead of hours. The F-Stop watch may not be practical between eight and eleven, but for the right photographile? More than…

Tech News Brian Barrett Oct 8 '10

With “Behemoth,” the Leviathan saga becomes the perfect hit of escapism

Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan saga has many elements dear to our hearts, including alternate-history, plucky heroes of both genders, and strange inventions. But after reading the second book, Behemoth, we realized we really love these books for the pure escapist rush. Minor spoilers ahead… For those who missed the first book, the Leviathan trilogy is set…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 8 '10

The Prize Portraits From Our Facebook Illustration Contest

Once we picked winners for our Facebook contest, we locked artist Sam Spratt in a room with reference photos, digital painting gear, and snacks. We refused to let him leave until he finished the prize portraits. Here are the results: Amazing, no? This is what Spratt had to say about the images: The one of…

Social Media Rosa Golijan Oct 8 '10

Pyr Books to bring Ken MacLeod’s “The Restoration Game” to the US

Great news for stateside fans of Ken MacLeod. His latest novel, The Restoration Game (Orbit UK), will be available from smartypants publisher Pyr Books in the United States in fall 2011 – and Pyr publisher Lou Anders says the cover will be designed by award-winner Stephen Martinere. The Restoration Game is a videogame espionage novel…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Oct 8 '10

China Blocks Web Searches for Nobel Winner

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize this morning, and China’s censorship machine is already cracking down: Search results for “Nobel Peace Prize” or “Liu Xiaobo” have been banned for those within the Great Firewall of China.

Tech News Maureen O'Connor Oct 8 '10

Gazing Down at the World

For the last five years, photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has been circling the globe by airplane, photographing everything beneath him. Here are some incredible views of countries all over the world from his collection “Earth From Above.” [BF] Music: “At Rest” by Kevin MacLeod

Tech News Kyle VanHemert Oct 8 '10

Animals can have spiritual experiences just like humans

From a neurological perspective, spiritual sensations like out-of-body experiences are fairly easy to understand. They’re the result of changes in the brain’s arousal system. But animals have the same system as humans…meaning animals could have a spirituality all their own. This new theory is put forward by University of Kentucky neuroscientist Kevin Nelson. He freely…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 8 '10

A computer learns the hard way: By reading the Internet

At Carnegie-Mellon university, a massive computer system called NELL (Never Ending Language Learner) is systematically reading the internet and analyzing sentences for semantic categories and facts, teaching itself English and educating itself in human affairs. We spoke to NELL’s creators. NELL reads the Web 24 hours a day, seven days a week, learning language like…

io9 Claire Evans - Universe Oct 8 '10

This Is What Will Happen If Prop 19 Passes: Bears With Bongs

I was fairly certain I was in favor of California’s Prop 19—A.K.A. “Legalizing It”—but this informative vision of a post-19 California full of stoners taking over the local Denny’s and couch-bound bears seals the deal.

Tech News Joel Johnson Oct 8 '10

Extreme black holes billions of years ago overheated the universe

Global warming really isn’t just a local problem…universal warming ran through the universe 11 billion years ago, doubling the temperature of intergalactic helium. The cosmic temperature spike was so bad, it stopped galaxies from developing for 500 million years. Between about 11.7 and 11.3 billion years ago, the universe underwent a massive ionization process, as…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 8 '10

The Original Back to the Future II Nike Air Mags Are Going Up For Auction

Sure, you could wait for Nike to get moving on those self-lacing sneaker patents. But wouldn’t you rather own the Nike Air Mags worn by Marty McFly himself? Pretty soon you’ll have your chance. The kicks are being included in this Hollywood memorabilia auction on November 6, along with the Sports Almanac stolen by Biff,…

Tech News Brian Barrett Oct 8 '10

Hipstamaddicts and Fauxlaroids

I appreciate Eric’s sentiment—echoed by Choire—but have come to disagree. All art is artifice; all feelings are legitimate; faux or no, if it provokes it’s fair. Sometimes you must linger a while before setting off again. [Photo: Nikola]

Tech News Joel Johnson Oct 8 '10

First frictionless superfluid molecules created

Chill them enough and some atoms creep up walls or stay still while the bowl they sit in rotates, thanks to a quantum effect called superfluidity. Now molecules have got in on the act. Superfluidity is a bizarre consequence of quantum mechanics. Cool helium atoms close to absolute zero and they start behaving as a…

io9 Kate McAlpine - New Scientist Oct 8 '10

An Energy Monitoring Brain Makes This Building the World’s First Zero Carbon Convention Center

It’s not often (ever?) that a convention center is anything worth being excited about, but Ireland’s new Convention Centre Dublin uses ingenius engineering and an omniscient mother brain to monitor and adjust itself. The result? Zero carbon footprint. Every aspect of the CCD’s design has been finely tuned to prevent waste—despite possessing enough space for…

Tech News Sam Biddle Oct 8 '10

5 situations where it’s better to tell than show in your fiction

One piece of writing advice gets held up as more sacred than any other: Show, don’t tell. But this maxim can ruin your story-telling, if you treat it like a law. Here are five situations where telling is actually better. Like most rules of thumb, “Show don’t tell” is excellent advice most of the time…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 8 '10

Zebrafish show that when we sleep, we lose synapses

Researchers have peered into the brains of the baby zebrafish — through their transparent skin — and found that their brains have fewer synapses when they sleep. This probably holds true for humans too. Synapses are the neuron-to-neuron connections inside the brain, and while we rest, the number of connections drop, which is thought to…

io9 Tim Barribeau Oct 8 '10

Gadget Deals of the Day

A penny saved is a penny earned. So why not save more than a few with a round of deals on a 14″ Lenovo G460, a SanDisk microSDHC Card, or a free issue of The Economist’s Intelligent Life Quarterly for your iPad? Top Deals: • 14″ Lenovo G460 Core i3 Laptop for $599 with free…

Tech News Adam Harris Oct 8 '10

Wasting Precious Time Watching Movies?

It’s time to multi-task! Take this short survey, email the last question to [email protected], and you’ll be entered to win a Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-ray disc player. This nifty lil’ guy makes your tube internet accessible, so you can watch Karate Kid and email that important memo—gasp—at the same time! [Rules]

Tech News Gawkercreative Oct 8 '10

Wait, You Mean There Are Other Ways to Watch TV Shows Besides Downloading Torrents?

The science of autumnal beauty

F-Stop Watch Measures the Minutes In Aperture Numbers

With “Behemoth,” the Leviathan saga becomes the perfect hit of escapism

The Prize Portraits From Our Facebook Illustration Contest

Pyr Books to bring Ken MacLeod’s “The Restoration Game” to the US

China Blocks Web Searches for Nobel Winner

Gazing Down at the World

Animals can have spiritual experiences just like humans

A computer learns the hard way: By reading the Internet

This Is What Will Happen If Prop 19 Passes: Bears With Bongs

Extreme black holes billions of years ago overheated the universe

The Original Back to the Future II Nike Air Mags Are Going Up For Auction

Hipstamaddicts and Fauxlaroids

First frictionless superfluid molecules created

An Energy Monitoring Brain Makes This Building the World’s First Zero Carbon Convention Center

5 situations where it’s better to tell than show in your fiction

Zebrafish show that when we sleep, we lose synapses

Gadget Deals of the Day

Wasting Precious Time Watching Movies?

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