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Black Carbon Pollution Has Been Found Inside Women’s Placentas

Scientists have found evidence that fetuses may be exposed to black carbon, the tiny toxic particulate matter that results from burning fossil fuels and wildfires. The study, published in Nature Communications Tuesday, found that black carbon particles actually reach the placenta. Scientists had suspected as much, based on research done on pregnant rabbits and cell…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes

With Senate Inquiry Looming, Facebook Scrambles to Look Busy

“There’s been a general feeling from the platform companies of kind of playing rope-a-dope with the Congress,” Senator Ed Markey told a small audience gathered in the Federal Election Commission’s headquarters around 9am this morning. Four hours later, Markey’s well-informed inference was proven true yet again when Facebook trotted out a new blog post titled…

Social Media Avery Ellis

Yet Another Person Has Died From Mystery Vaping Illness, Bringing Reported Death Toll to 7

As people continue to debate the causes of an acute lung illness linked to vaping—and the actions needed to stop it—victims are still dying. On Monday, health officials in Tulare County, California reported that a resident died after developing lung injuries linked to vaping. The death marks the seventh similar fatality reported as of now,…

Health Ed Cara

How the Pop Culture Event MondoCon Has Changed, and So Have I

When MondoCon 5 unofficially began at midnight this past Saturday morning, I thought I knew what to expect. When it ended Sunday evening though, it felt like I’d experienced not just two days of geeking out over posters and art, but a coming-out party for a new generation of poster collectors. MondoCon is a two-day…

Toys & Collectibles Germain Lussier

DOJ Sues for All of Edward Snowden’s Book Profits

Just when he thinks he’s out, they pull him back in. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced new legal action against exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The DOJ hopes to recover any profits he makes from the sale of his new book. Ever since Snowden left his job as a contractor for the…

Privacy & Security Rhett Jones

Is Tinder About to Become the Horniest Streaming Service?

Tinder is reportedly getting into the streaming game with its sights on helping pair you up with prospective dates. Citing sources familiar with the company’s plans, Reuters first reported Monday that Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, in August finished filming a multi-episode television series with an “apocalyptic” setting, though details about the mystery series are…

Tech News Catie Keck

I Have No Idea What’s Going On in Lego’s Bonkers New Ad, But I Kinda Love It

I’m not sure Lego fully intended that its new advertising campaign elicit a reaction that is pretty much just “uh, what?” but if it was? Mission accomplished. Today Lego announced “Rebuild the World,” a new marketing initiative that is, well, actually intentionally vague and esoteric. According to press material from the company, the nebulous idea…

Toys & Collectibles James Whitbrook

These Incredible Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Jaws Posters Are Available Right Now

It’s rare that you can buy not one, not two, but three absolutely incredible, limited edition posters at the same time—but today is one of those days. From now until Wednesday, you can buy a Star Wars: The Last Jedi poster by Rory Kurtz, a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse poster by Martin Ansin, and a…

Toys & Collectibles Germain Lussier

Navy Says Yes, Those ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ Videos Are Real

Over a year after videos were released showing the public what appeared to be footage of UFOs captured by Navy pilots who exchanged astonished commentary, a Navy official has reportedly released a statement confirming that the videos do in fact depict “unexplained aerial phenomena.” In December 2017 and March 2018, the New York Times published…

Tech News Jennings Brown

Netflix’s Big Mouth Continues to Be Aggressively Horny in First NSFW Season 3 Trailer

They’ve all gone off the deep end in the first trailer for Big Mouth’s upcoming third season.

Trailers Charles Pulliam-Moore

An Indigenous Group Famous for Its Heart Health Started Using Cooking Oil—and Began Gaining Weight

A group of indigenous people in Bolivia are famous for their healthy hearts, but a new study shows that they are experiencing higher rates of obesity after the introduction of processed cooking oils to their diet. The Tsimané are an indigenous group based in the South American country of Bolivia. Like several other communities in…

Health Ed Cara

8 Cool Details About Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance From Its Incredible Documentary

A wonderful thing happens when you roll the credits on the final episode of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: you’ve finished watching one of the best TV shows of the year. But then another wonderful thing happens: The Crystal Calls, an almost hour-and-a-half long making-of documentary, immediately queues up. If you’re anything like me,…

io9 James Whitbrook

Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt (IPAC)

Wild New Theory Blames a Disintegrating Moon for Star’s Mysterious Dimming

Of the nearly 1 million stars chronicled by the Kepler telescope, few have captured as much attention as KIC 8462852, otherwise known as Boyajian’s Star. New research suggests its sporadic dimming is not caused by swarms of comets or an alien megastructure, but rather an abandoned exomoon caught in the throes of annihilation. Boyajian’s Star,…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Image: Tasty Minstrel Games / Image: Cave of Monsters Games / Image: Hasbro Games / Image: Brian Sowers / Image: Renegade Game Studios

Romance Cute Monsters, Become a Super Sentai, and More in Tabletop News

Welcome back to Gaming Shelf, io9’s regular column about board games and tabletop roleplaying games. The holidays are slowly creeping up on us, which means game companies are starting to tease out some pretty exciting stuff. And then, of course, you have that whole… Monopoly thing. News and Releases Ms. Monopoly By now, I’m sure…

Games Beth Elderkin

Criminal Gangs Are Behind the Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon

Criminals, violence, and illegal activity drive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, according to a new report. This is a brutal reminder that the people setting the Amazon rainforest on fire will do so at any cost—even human life. Human Rights Watch on Tuesday published the 165-page report “Rainforest Mafias: How Violence and Impunity Fuel Deforestation…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes

The New Birds of Prey Poster Is a Dizzying Display of How Harley Quinn Sees the World

One of the the major reasons why it’s so easy to get excited about Warner Bros.’ upcoming Birds of Prey, even though there’s been little word on what the movie’s actually about, is that somehow, against all odds, the studio seems to have finally grasped that the public is more than ready for a different…

Movies Charles Pulliam-Moore

Image: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA, the William Herschel Telescope

How Does the New Interstellar Object Differ From ‘Oumuamua?

The second interstellar object on record has visited our solar system, according to astronomical observations made in recent week. But how does this new visitor differ from ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object? Scientists have been eager to learn more about Comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) since amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov first spotted it on August 30.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Why

Forget The Office, Friends, or even goddamn Seinfeld. Apparently, the highest-valued television show in the history of the world is a humorless screed about a bunch of neeeeeeeeeeerds. CBS’ The Big Bang Theory is back with what might be the most-expensive streaming deal of all time. Just when I thought I was free. According to…

Television Beth Elderkin

Anyone Can Look at Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data, Report Finds

It turns out that anyone with basic computing skills and an internet connection can access millions of private medical images and data—such as MRIs, X-rays, and CT scans—as well as a buffet of valuable private info, according to a disturbing report from ProPublica. The gist is that as the medical community moved from analog to…

Privacy & Security Victoria Song

The First Trailer for Netflix’s In the Tall Grass Makes Even Grass Itself Petrifying

This is worse than peak hay fever season. Well, actually, if you suffer from hay fever, this trailer is probably just gonna make your chest tight in sympathy. Netflix just dropped the first trailer for In the Tall Grass, based on the novella by Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill—just one of the seemingly…

Trailers James Whitbrook

Black Carbon Pollution Has Been Found Inside Women’s Placentas

With Senate Inquiry Looming, Facebook Scrambles to Look Busy

Yet Another Person Has Died From Mystery Vaping Illness, Bringing Reported Death Toll to 7

How the Pop Culture Event MondoCon Has Changed, and So Have I

DOJ Sues for All of Edward Snowden’s Book Profits

Is Tinder About to Become the Horniest Streaming Service?

I Have No Idea What’s Going On in Lego’s Bonkers New Ad, But I Kinda Love It

These Incredible Star Wars, Spider-Man, and Jaws Posters Are Available Right Now

Navy Says Yes, Those ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ Videos Are Real

Netflix’s Big Mouth Continues to Be Aggressively Horny in First NSFW Season 3 Trailer

An Indigenous Group Famous for Its Heart Health Started Using Cooking Oil—and Began Gaining Weight

8 Cool Details About Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance From Its Incredible Documentary

Wild New Theory Blames a Disintegrating Moon for Star’s Mysterious Dimming

Romance Cute Monsters, Become a Super Sentai, and More in Tabletop News

Criminal Gangs Are Behind the Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon

The New Birds of Prey Poster Is a Dizzying Display of How Harley Quinn Sees the World

How Does the New Interstellar Object Differ From ‘Oumuamua?

Why

Anyone Can Look at Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data, Report Finds

The First Trailer for Netflix’s In the Tall Grass Makes Even Grass Itself Petrifying

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