Latest

Twitter Rolls Out Feature to Report Bots, Also Anyone You Think Is a Bot

Twitter has rolled out another feature intended to cut down on spam and misinformation efforts—adding suspected bots, malicious links, and spammy hashtags to the “suspicious or spam” category users can choose when reporting violations of its terms of service. Twitter’s official Safety account posted news of the feature early on Wednesday afternoon: “The new reporting…

Tech News Tom McKay

Read It Should Have Been You, a Short Story on the Future of Death

[Beginning Log File 0289] Fuck you. No, seriously, fuck you. My collection site hurts particularly bad today and I’m cranky, but I need to focus on you. You, the one with the permanent bag under your left eye after you let your dumbass cousin hack your car and turn the ADT off. Your face slammed…

io9 Sydnee Thompson

The io9 Halloween Costume Show Gallery Is Here!

Happy Halloween, everybody! For the last month we’ve been asking you to share with us your devilishly delightful plans for costumed creeps this All Hallow’s Eve, and you’ve been spooking up a treat. Here’s just a few of our favorites from your wonderful entries. We’ve had some lovely entries in this year’s Costume Show so…

io9 James Whitbrook

New Group Seeks to Shame Media Into Talking About Climate Change

There has never been a better time to talk about climate change. The impacts and stakes have never been clearer. The political gap about how to deal with it has never been wider. We’re at a crossroads in human existence. And yet more than three-quarters of Americans report they don’t hear about climate change on…

Climate Change Brian Kahn

Meet the ‘Halloween Genes’: Spook, Shadow, and Shade

Scientists who study Drosophila, the humble fruit fly, like to have some fun when naming newly identified genes and proteins. There’s the Sonic Hedgehog protein (which looks spiky under a microscope), the Ken and Barbie genes (when they’re mutated, fruit flies don’t develop external genitalia), and the hangover gene (which is key for alcohol tolerance). Nobel…

Biology Nicole Wetsman

The Joker Looks Sicker Than Ever, Thanks to a Hollywood Legend

The Joker has gone through dozens of different looks over the last 70-odd years, with artists making him more horrific or cartoony as they re-imagine him. With a new bust depicting the Clown Prince of Crime, special effects make-up master Rick Baker joins the roster of creators who’ve tackled the DC Comics villain. Of course,…

Books & Comics Evan Narcisse

Why Do Birds Have Colorful Eggs? Because They’re Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs laid colorful eggs. Birds lay colorful eggs. You do the math. But really though: A study from last year found that oviraptors, a dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, laid blue-green eggs, containing the same pigments as modern bird eggs. This made scientists wonder whether birds evolved colored eggs on their own, or whether…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Dozens of Jeff Bezoses Protest Amazon’s Continued Relationship With ICE

Outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters today, protesters arrived wearing quite possibly the most terrifying Halloween costume imaginable: Jeff Bezos’s face. The protesters are primarily affiliated with Latinx rights groups Mijente and NWDC Resistance—and the masks, while appropriate for the festivities, are meant as a direct “fuck you” to Amazon’s ongoing (and often successful) attempts to sell…

Commerce Avery Ellis

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld City Watch Is Coming to BBC America

Earlier this year, we learned that BBC Studios was planning to bring a slice of Terry Pratchett’s wonderful Discworld novels to TV in the form of a series based around the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork. Now, we know a little more—and that its plans have been expanded ever so slightly. BBC America has now officially…

io9 James Whitbrook

The Price of Cable Has Gone Up 50 Percent Since 2010

As cable TV slowly slouches toward the grave, providers are wringing every last dime they can from Americans. New market research shows that the cost of paying for TV has risen by 50 percent since 2010. Leichtman Research Group published a new report on Wednesday based on a survey of 1,152 households around the United…

Tech News Rhett Jones

Why This Adorable, Bug-Eyed Marsupial Is in Big Trouble

Mountain pygmy-possums—big-eyed, stupefyingly cute hamster-sized marsupials—aren’t doing so hot. Critically-endangered, the nocturnal fuzzballs found only in boulder-strewn pockets of the high Australian Alps have suffered in the face of habitat loss and introduced predators. Now, new research suggests that climate change may hit the possums right in the gut, restricting access to their favorite, most…

Conservation Jake Buehler

Why a Mission to a Visiting Interstellar Object Could Be Our Best Bet for Finding Aliens

Life may exist elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, though try as they might, scientists have yet to detect any sign of it. Part of the problem has to do with the size of space; finding traces of organic substances or the waste signatures of alien megastructures isn’t easy at such cosmic distances. Fortunately, there’s…

Science George Dvorsky

Analysis of Neanderthal Teeth Reveals Unexpected Exposure to Lead

Around 250,000 years ago, two Neanderthal children were exposed to excessive levels of lead in what is now France, according to new research. It’s the oldest known case of lead exposure in hominin remains—a discovery that’s presenting an obvious question: How could this have possibly happened so long ago? A new paper published today in…

Human History George Dvorsky

We Spread the Gospel of Disney Channel’s Halloweentown to a First-Time Viewer

Whenever people are asked about the greatest Disney Halloween movie, the answer is usually Hocus Pocus. However…there is another. That’s right, the beloved Disney Channel original movie Halloweentown. Won’t you join us? In a special Halloween episode of UnScene, I introduce senior video producer Danielle Steinberg to Halloweentown, a family-friendly flick about a young woman…

Movies Beth Elderkin

Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson’s Disease and the Appendix

Scientists have found further evidence that the gut, or more specifically the appendix, might play a role in the development of Parkinson’s disease. The international team of scientists reviewed two datasets, including a large registry from Sweden, and found that removal of the appendix was associated with a decreased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. They…

Health Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Oh Hell Yeah

Have you heard the good news? The flying car is almost here! At least that’s what so many news sites have been telling me this month. Take, for instance, this recent article from Auto Week about Terrafugia—a company that’s been promising to deliver a flying car for over a decade now—headlined, “Your Flying Car Is…

Tech News Matt Novak

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s Characters of Color Deserve Better

Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a show that wants you to know exactly how progressive and feminist it is. But the show’s messages about female empowerment are severely undercut by the way it mishandles one of its most prominent characters of color. Tati Gabrielle’s Prudence Night is introduced as one of the first…

Books & Comics Charles Pulliam-Moore

Bison Are Helping Rewild the Last of the Midwest’s Prairies

When white settlers first arrived, a large swath of the U.S. was blanketed in tallgrass prairie. But turmoil came to the landscape shortly thereafter, as those settlers mowed down the bountiful biodiversity to get at the fertile soil beneath. Of the 170 million acres of tallgrass prairie that existed, only four percent of it remains…

Conservation Brian Kahn

Apple Just Can’t Stop Throttling iPhones

You can now download and install iOS 12.1. That means you’ll finally be able to use Group FaceTime (LOL), access over 70 new emoji, and get rid of the annoying image blur that caused “Beautygate.” If you own an iPhone 8 or iPhone X, it also means that your processor will get throttled as the…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

An AI Lie Detector Is Going to Start Questioning Travelers in the EU

A number of border control checkpoints in the European Union are about to get increasingly—and unsettlingly—futuristic. In Hungary, Latvia, and Greece, travelers will be given an automated lie-detection test—by an animated AI border agent. The system, called iBorderCtrl, is part of a six-month pilot led by the Hungarian National Police at four different border crossing…

Tech News Melanie Ehrenkranz

Twitter Rolls Out Feature to Report Bots, Also Anyone You Think Is a Bot

Read It Should Have Been You, a Short Story on the Future of Death

The io9 Halloween Costume Show Gallery Is Here!

New Group Seeks to Shame Media Into Talking About Climate Change

Meet the ‘Halloween Genes’: Spook, Shadow, and Shade

The Joker Looks Sicker Than Ever, Thanks to a Hollywood Legend

Why Do Birds Have Colorful Eggs? Because They’re Dinosaurs

Dozens of Jeff Bezoses Protest Amazon’s Continued Relationship With ICE

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld City Watch Is Coming to BBC America

The Price of Cable Has Gone Up 50 Percent Since 2010

Why This Adorable, Bug-Eyed Marsupial Is in Big Trouble

Why a Mission to a Visiting Interstellar Object Could Be Our Best Bet for Finding Aliens

Analysis of Neanderthal Teeth Reveals Unexpected Exposure to Lead

We Spread the Gospel of Disney Channel’s Halloweentown to a First-Time Viewer

Scientists Find Link Between Parkinson’s Disease and the Appendix

Oh Hell Yeah

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s Characters of Color Deserve Better

Bison Are Helping Rewild the Last of the Midwest’s Prairies

Apple Just Can’t Stop Throttling iPhones

An AI Lie Detector Is Going to Start Questioning Travelers in the EU

Latest news

Roku’s 2025 Streaming Stick HD Is 40% Off to Compete With Amazon Fire TV Stick During Spring Sale

Epstein Victims Sue Google, Claim AI Mode Exposed Personal Information

‘Wicked Spot’ Is a Fun, Sapphic Rom-Com That Yeets a Witch Into the Magical World of Influencer Culture

Anthropic and OpenAI Just Gave Us a Glimpse Into the Future of Model Pricing

Amazon Slashes 63% Off Acer Aspire Desktop for a Limited-Time Spring Sale, With Keyboard and Mouse Included

Smart Glasses Now Have One of the Vision Pro’s Best Features

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

Latest Reviews

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Let us help find what you are looking for...