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Get a little peek at Hayao Miyazaki’s next movie, The Borrowers Arrietty

Check out the latest trailer for the Miyazaki-produced and written film — The Borrowers Arrietty — which was inspired by Mary Norton’s fantasy book filled with tiny people. The Borrower Arrietty Mary Norton’s fantasy novel has inspired Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli to bring the little world of The Borrowers to life. Although Miyazaki isn’t directing,…

The Worst Fireworks Safety Advice You’ll Ever Get

Happy Independence Day! Before doing your constitutionally mandated duty of blowing things up—or watching things get blown up by professionals, if you live in a boring state—make sure you’re caught up on these finer points of fireworks safety. https://jalopnik.com/the-fireworks-laws-of-every-state-5578637 Thank you Back of the Class! You have reaffirmed my love of America and mayhem. [YouTube…

Indiana Jones’ Disneyland ride becomes a digital diorama using Left 4 Dead

A modder has painstakingly recreated Disneyland’s Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride using Valve’s undead shooter videogame Left 4 Dead. It’s extremely cool, but sadly there are no zombies to be bullwhipped. And here’s the real thing for comparison. It’s footage of a shaky amusement park ride, so the quality goes in and…

Could extraterrestrial life be hiding out on red dwarf planets?

In the next two or three years, advances in NASA’s Kepler telescope will allow astronomers to determine which planets outside our solar system could potentially sustain life. Exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars are likely candidates for having Earth-like environments. Over at Discovery, Ray Villard notes both A.) the optimal environmental conditions that red dwarf exoplanets…

Sorry, Comic Con memberships no longer available. Drat!

Comic Con 2010 sold out months ago. But if you missed out, it’s not too late. The Con is selling some “returned” memberships at regular price, for a short time only. Update: We were too late in posting this. They’re already gone.

Why did Comedy Central try to remove an Apple “EyePhone” joke from Futurama clips?

Just how much did Comedy Central fear the wrath of MomSteve Jobs? First they posted a clip from Tuesday’s Futurama, with an “EyePhone” joke conspicuously removed. And after Maclife blew the whistle, they took the clip down altogether. [Thanks John!]

Great moments in alternate history: World War II

It’s finally here — the biggest alternate timeline of all alternate timelines, the alternate history trope to top all alternate history tropes. Today we look at some alternate histories of the Second World War. Let’s start with one of the most respected works in science fiction, Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning The Man in the…

The greatest moment in the history of human oratory

Remember the time Roland Emmerich saved the planet using an old-timey Macintosh computer virus and a drunk Randy Quaid? In honor of that monumental day, here’s a word from President Pullman. Also, this:

Starfish Hitler may take our sanity, but he’ll never take our freedom

In this documentary footage, insectoid gymnast par excellence Kamen Rider totally disassembles a Nazi Asteroidea. Stick around for the ending as it makes no sense whatsoever. Who needs fireworks when this clip will make your brain explode? Thanks for the tip, WatchingPreacher!

How do scientists use light to move matter?

Scientists can now use optical tweezers, optical traps, and optical levitation to conduct delicate experiments. Optical. The problem with modern biological science is that it deals with things that are unreasonably small. Gone are the days when being a biologist meant having a brush to cross-pollinate peas with, or a sketchbook to doodle pictures of…

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We love you, but not in that way. So go find real love (or lust, or omox) with one of your fellow io9ers, just by visiting io9’s dating service. Post a personal ad, or send a direct message to somebody else who posted one! Yes, it’s just that simple. io9’s dating service – it’s even…

When science narratives go bad

In the following essay, Jennifer Ouellette explores what happens when otherwise normal science documentaries attempt to give their topics dramatic flourish…and fail hard. So, the Spousal Unit and I clicked on the Science Channel last week for a bit of Monday evening viewing to unwind after a long day’s work. Being of a macabre bent,…

The first novel of Riverworld covers deep waters, but it’s a rough ride

There’s a lot going on in 1972’s Hugo-winning novel, Philip José Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go. But in this introduction to his legendary Riverworld, the waters can get a bit choppy and muddy. Scattered Bodies’ story in a nutshell is that every single person who’s ever lived on Earth, from prehistoric times up through…

Lance Armstrong’s $15,000 Bike Helmet

First, Giro Helmets spent $15,000 to build a lifelike replica of Lance Armstrong. Only then did they start to develop his helmet. Hundreds of prototypes and wind tunnel tests later, they ended up with the most aerodynamic helmet ever. As tough as real Lance Armstrong is, testing out helmets in wind tunnels can’t be any…

Scenes from a drowned London, 2030 A.D.

These illustrations by Anthony Lau depict a floating London made of refurbished oil rigs and recycled ship hulls. Lau designed this maritime city at London’s Bartlett School of Architecture as a potential solution to rising sea levels. Lau had this to say about his Thames floodplain city: “[The] Thames Estuary Aquatic Urbanism […] gives new…

Listen to the ambient music of planetary orbits in our solar system

If you need to remember your tiny place in the space-time continuum, it’s time to listen to SolarBeat, a flash animation that converts the orbital frequencies of our solar system into notes. Artist Luke Twyman calls his creation a “simple ambient musicbox,” but it’s much more that that. It gives voice to the shape of…

Which Social Network Goes With Your Kind of Crazy?

A Venn diagram that maps social networks against various behavioral disorders? Yes, please. Although surely anyone still using MySpace has troubles running much deeper than what’s listed here. [Despair via TNW]

Predators director Nimród Antal talks crab-faced sequel and his upcoming dystopian flick

When asked if a sequel to Predators is in the works, director Nimród Antal mentioned that he and producer Robert Rodriguez have been discussing one, but that his next project will be his own dystopian film, Paraffin. Playlist recently asked Antal about the future of the Predator franchise. The director said that he and Rodriguez…

BGR Says Last Week’s Steve Jobs Emails Are Real

Last week, BGR posted a Steve Jobs email exchange in which the CEO told an irate iPhone user to “calm down.” Apple said the messages were fake, but BGR is standing by his story, offering the email headers as proof. https://gizmodo.com/steve-jobs-to-angry-iphone-4-user-calm-down-relax-5577316 The exchange was an unusual one to begin with—Jobs has been brief in the…