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Explore 130 Years of National Geographic Covers in Just Two Minutes

One of the last magazines that’s still worth reading in print form, National Geographic has featured some fascinating stories over the years, but most of us likely pour through each issue to marvel at the photography. First published way back in 1888, the magazine celebrates its 130th birthday in 2018 and is kicking off the…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski

YouTube Unveils New Monetization Rules Killing Ad Revenue for Small Creators

Amid seemingly endless controversies about content on YouTube (including, most recently, a Logan Paul video shot in Japan’s “suicide forest”), Google announced major changes last night to how videos would be monetized on the site. Going forward, the company says big channels included in its coveted Google Preferred program will be manually vetted for ad…

Tech News Melanie Ehrenkranz

New Research Could Help Bring Secure Quantum Communication to Everyone

In September, the Chinese Academy of Sciences president Chunli Bai, and President Anton Zeilinger of the Austria Academy of Sciences in Vienna, made the first quantum-secured video call. But when will you get to take part in this? Will there ever be a secure quantum Slack at your workplace? A team of researchers in the…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The Very Good Reason Why You Can’t Get That Google Art-Selfie Feature in Illinois or Texas

Some residents of Illinois and Texas are angry that they can’t easily determine which work of art looks 42 percent like them while allowing Google to capture their biometric souls. The Google Art & Culture app has been out for about a year and a half, but it recently hit the top of the Android…

Tech News Jennings Brown

Ever Wondered What an io9 Is? Here’s Your Answer

At some point over the last 10 years, have you ever stopped and wondered: What is an io9? Well, wonder no more. This animated video, voiced by co-founders Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, reveals the secrets of the io9 device, which were thought lost in the midst of time. Check it out below. (Oh,…

io9 Beth Elderkin

People Are Realizing That Straws Suck [Updated]

Straws are becoming controversial. Long overlooked as a waste source, perhaps because of the way they defy categorization, single-use straws are now drawing the ire of the environmental community, and policymakers are starting to take note. As the Los Angeles Times reports, California Assemblyman Ian Calderon, a Democrat, “said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation…

Conservation Ari Phillips

Here’s Why Most Animals Don’t Use Their Tails as Weapons

Humans tend to rely on crafted tools in order to harm one another, but most other species have evolved weapons right on their bodies. Normally, these bashers, spikes, and other instruments of attack appear on heads or limbs. But only rarely do they end up on tails—and scientists want to know why The tail might…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

RoboCop Enters a Future of Crowdsourced Justice for New Comic Series Citizens Arrest

After a few years away, Boom Studios is bringing the world’s most beloved cyborg cop back into action with a brand new miniseries. But this time, RoboCop finds himself in a weird dystopian future: one where law enforcement isn’t performed by cops, Robo or otherwise, but private citizens. Written by Brigg’s Land’s Brian Wood, and…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook

Altered Carbon‘s Showrunner on the Only Book Scene She Insisted Be Changed

Netflix’s cyberpunk series Altered Carbon is staying relatively faithful to Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 novel—with a few exceptions, like changing the Jimi Hendrix Hotel to one featuring Edgar Allen Poe. However, there is one controversial moment from the book that showrunner Laeta Kalogridis refused to keep. Altered Carbon is about a man named Takeshi Kovacs…

Television Beth Elderkin

I’m Completely Mesmerized By This Machine Whose Only Function Is Making Tiny Hedge Spheres

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And where there’s a repetitive job no human wants to do, there’s also a machine we’ve invented to do the work for us. Like the hyper-specific RAP 10 trimmer from Orlandi, the sole function of which is to trim tiny shrubs into perfect, aesthetically-pleasing spheres. Why can’t I…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski

New Trailer for Britannia Asks ‘What if Game of Thrones Had Druid Raves?’

The Romans have invaded Westeros. A new trailer is up for Sky Atlantic’s historical fantasy Britannia. Set during the Roman invasion of Celtic Britain, the show focuses on a Roman general named Aulus Plautius (played by The Walking Dead’s Governor, David Morrissey) who is attempting to conquer the Celtic heart of Britannia, which the series…

Trailers Beth Elderkin

The Coolest Stuff We Saw at CES 2018

The world’s biggest whirlwind of tech, startups, and wild fever dreams is finally over, at least for this year. But before we close the book on CES 2018, we wanted to call attention to some of the coolest, most exciting things we saw at the show. That’s because even in a down year that saw…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford

The Fascinating History of 10 Extra Letters the English Alphabet Used to Have

At 26 letters long, the English alphabet isn’t the most complicated string of symbols and characters to master, even for a five-year-old. But that’s because it has been put on a strict diet over the years that helped it slim down and shed 10 additional letters that were either deemed superfluous, redundant, or just downright…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski

With Black Lightning, the CW’s Universe of Superheroes Is Growing Up and Getting Real

Billie Holiday’s rendition of “Strange Fruit” and the sounds of lightning and thunder are the very first things you hear as Black Lightning’s pilot episode opens. The haunting cacophony is an ominous warning about the storm coming Jefferson Pierce’s way, but it’s also a promise of what Black Lightning has in store this season. Though…

Television Charles Pulliam-Moore

28 Secret Mouse and Trackpad Shortcuts You Probably Didn’t Know About

Operating a mouse or trackpad is super easy, but behind their simple exteriors these intuitive input devices hide a whole host of shortcuts and extra features that aren’t immediately obvious—and if you don’t already know about them, you’re missing out. Here are our favorites. Universal shortcuts 1) Go forwards and backwards: When browsing the web…

Gadgets David Nield

Even More Rumors About the Comic Book Heroes and Villains Coming to the Venom Movie

Disney unleashes a bevy of sneak peeks at Ant-Man and The Wasp, Mary Poppins, and more. Supergirl could recruit another familiar Superman supporting character. A new rumor suggests Marvel is wiping its slate of animated series clean. Plus, an update on the Y: The Last Man TV show. Behold, Spoilers! Venom Symbiote-salt-shakers at the ready!…

Television James Whitbrook

BP’s Massive Oil Spill Bill Reveals the True Cost of Offshore Drilling

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill shook the Gulf Coast of Mexico in 2010, but the reverberations are still being felt nearly a decade later. BP, the company responsible for the whole mess, is still paying out an ever-growing mountain of settlements to individuals and businesses that suffered economic losses from the disaster. In 2018, the…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes

Future Heat Waves May Be Bad News For Sperm (Bird Sperm)

When it comes to extreme heat, zebra finches should theoretically have it handled. The birds are native to Australia’s hot, arid interior, which experiences intense summer temperatures. But new research suggests heat waves take a toll on the birds’ reproductive health, misshaping male finches’ sperm and rendering them unviable. It’s a discovery that has worrying…

Climate Change Jake Buehler

BitConnect, Anonymously-Run Crypto Exchange, Crashes After States Issue Cease and Desists

BitConnect, an anonymously-run cryptocurrency lending and exchange platform long suspected of being a well-marketed Ponzi scheme, abruptly ceased operations on Tuesday after receiving cease-and-desist orders from authorities in Texas and North Carolina. Per Bloomberg, the Texas State Securities Board and North Carolina Secretary of State Securities Division told BitConnect it “isn’t registered to sell securities…

Tech News Tom McKay

This Giant Fireball Over Michigan Was Visible From Six States and Canada

The National Weather Service says that the most likely explanation for an object which sent out illumination and a sonic boom throughout southwest Michigan, five other states, and Canada on Tuesday night was the breakup of a meteor, WXYZ reported. The American Meteor Society collected at least 200 reports of the incident, which for around…

Sploid Tom McKay

Explore 130 Years of National Geographic Covers in Just Two Minutes

YouTube Unveils New Monetization Rules Killing Ad Revenue for Small Creators

New Research Could Help Bring Secure Quantum Communication to Everyone

The Very Good Reason Why You Can’t Get That Google Art-Selfie Feature in Illinois or Texas

Ever Wondered What an io9 Is? Here’s Your Answer

People Are Realizing That Straws Suck [Updated]

Here’s Why Most Animals Don’t Use Their Tails as Weapons

RoboCop Enters a Future of Crowdsourced Justice for New Comic Series Citizens Arrest

Altered Carbon‘s Showrunner on the Only Book Scene She Insisted Be Changed

I’m Completely Mesmerized By This Machine Whose Only Function Is Making Tiny Hedge Spheres

New Trailer for Britannia Asks ‘What if Game of Thrones Had Druid Raves?’

The Coolest Stuff We Saw at CES 2018

The Fascinating History of 10 Extra Letters the English Alphabet Used to Have

With Black Lightning, the CW’s Universe of Superheroes Is Growing Up and Getting Real

28 Secret Mouse and Trackpad Shortcuts You Probably Didn’t Know About

Even More Rumors About the Comic Book Heroes and Villains Coming to the Venom Movie

BP’s Massive Oil Spill Bill Reveals the True Cost of Offshore Drilling

Future Heat Waves May Be Bad News For Sperm (Bird Sperm)

BitConnect, Anonymously-Run Crypto Exchange, Crashes After States Issue Cease and Desists

This Giant Fireball Over Michigan Was Visible From Six States and Canada

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