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A Flock of Hawaiian Shirts Invaded the Space Station

April 26, 2001: It’s casual Friday on the International Space Station, and none of us are invited. It’s a bit unnerving that the entire crew of both Expedition Two and STS-100 managed to pack a Hawaiian shirt into orbit, but it makes for a surreally awesome photo in the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. Starting at…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Nov 14 '15

Start Your Weekend Right By Checking Out This Tiny Book of Awesome

Sometimes, the smallest things can brighten up a miserable day. No, I mean literally. One glance at this teensy, tiny, hand-illustrated book was a poignant reminder that everything in the Universe is not actually terrible. You know what’s not terrible? Sleeping in. Bubbles! Perfectly separating an Oreo (and then ditching the pointless creamless half). And…

Tech News Maddie Stone Nov 14 '15

No Mystery is More Intriguing than Morland Holmes on Elementary

In this week’s Elementary, Joan is the protective big sister Sherlock never had, the FBI are disruptively controlling, and the looming presence of Sherlock’s father Morland Holmes dominates everything. Bail out now before the spoilers take control! Need to catch up first? Here’s our recap of last week’s season premiere. Surely this time they’ll convince…

io9 Mika McKinnon Nov 13 '15

There’s a Hidden Connection Between Pi and Quantum Mechanics

Physicists have uncovered a hidden connection between a famous 350-year-old mathematical formula for pi, everyone’s favorite irrational number, and quantum mechanics. At least one mathematician has pronounced the discovery “a cunning piece of magic.” The English mathematician John Wallis published his formula for calculating pi as the product of an infinite series of ratios in…

Physics & Chemistry Jennifer Ouellette Nov 13 '15

Reports of Robots Stealing 50% of Jobs in the US and UK Are Totally Alarmist

It’s being reported that a Bank of England official forecasts that in the next 10 to 20 years, smart robots will steal 80 million jobs from Americans and 15 million jobs from Britons—over half the workforce of each nation. I smell BS. In a speech delivered yesterday by Bank economist Andy Haldane at the Trades…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin Nov 13 '15

In an Upside Down City, Bat-Winged Ships Fly

It’s a world folded in on itself, where skyscrapers climb likes stalagmites and dangle like stalactites. This is “Reverse II” by Jean-François Liesenborghs. See more at deviantArt. Contact the author at [email protected].

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Nov 13 '15

Facebook’s “Safety Check” Lets You Locate Loved Ones in Paris

A Facebook feature implemented to help track people after natural disasters has been launched tonight to help people connect with their friends and family after the Paris attacks. If you’re looking for the status of friends who might be in Paris, head to the Safety Check page on your Facebook account. The page will list…

Social Media Alissa Walker Nov 13 '15

Peace Never Hides for Long

In this gorgeous concept art, Karl Ellis gives us a peek at a world that is almost like Earth, but not quite. At the base of that gravity-defying rock column, you can see the glowing cave mouths where someone is settling in for a peaceful evening. Ellis is a freelance concept artist in the UK.…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Nov 13 '15

The Uncomfortable Story of How a Tweet About Lipstick Became a Media Freakout

Parker Molloy likes to take pictures of weird things in her off-hours. Sometimes she posts them on Twitter with short quips. And then one day, one of her least popular tweets turned into a shitstorm. As Molloy explains in a hilarious and depressing article today on Medium, her tale is a perfect example of how…

Tech News Annalee Newitz Nov 13 '15

This New Space Colonization Novel Will Mess With Your Head In The Best Possible Way

Planetfall by Emma Newman isn’t what you’re expecting from a book about humans colonizing another planet. It’s much weirder, and in the end, a fair bit darker. This is a story about human failings—and the fact that we expect to understand alien beings, when we can’t even understand each other. Some spoilers ahead… In Planetfall,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Nov 13 '15

Star Wars Ice Sculptures Include Han Solo Frozen in Just Plain Water

You knew Darth Vader could be cold, but have you seen him like this? The Sith Lord popsicle is one of dozens of Star Wars characters featured at the annual ice sculpture festival in Liege, Belgium. The festival’s theme this year is Ice Star Wars—not Star Wars on Ice, but I wouldn’t put it past…

io9 Alissa Walker Nov 13 '15

In These Photographs, New York City Is Drowning

Photographer Zev Schmitz took a deep breath and created an incredible architecture photoseries of New York City. Every photo was taken from the waters that surround Manhattan. It’s a bit like seeing the near-death experience of a drowning person. But it also feels like you’re seeing a majestic new world emerging. The fast-moving cold current…

Tech News Attila Nagy Nov 13 '15

This Little Bot Walks on Water and Runs on Bacteria

Here’s a way to make environmental cleanup more fun: Next time you’ve got a polluted waterway, just unleash a swarm of tiny, bacteria-nomming robots on it. In a few years, that crazy idea might just be possible. Researchers at the University of Bristol recently unveiled Row-Bot, an autonomous robot that paddles across dirty waterways slurping…

Tech News Maddie Stone Nov 13 '15

In Moonwalkers, The Government Hires Kubrick To Fake The Moon Landings. Then Shit Gets CRAZY.

You might think a movie about faking the Moon landings would be mad enough—and especially once you throw in the idea of hiring Stanley Kubrick, director of 2001, to spearhead the project. But Moonwalkers looks much weirder than that. Judging from the brand new trailer above, Moonwalkers is just some next-level crazy. Ron Perlman gets…

Trailers Charlie Jane Anders Nov 13 '15

If This Product is Real, We’ve Passed Peak Vibrator

Someone please tell me this is a hoax. Announced yesterday with a tweet, the IziVibe claims to be a vibrating dildo you attach to your phone. But it makes no sense– a phone’s motor can’t possibly be powerful enough to wiggle that big hunk of silicone in any significant, pleasure-inducing way. And it’s run off…

Tech News Diane Kelly Nov 13 '15

An Extinct Giant Gecko Was Found Stuffed in a Museum Basement

Kawekaweau was a giant forest gecko in New Zealand. Only one person had seen a living specimen—and he’d killed it. Then a stuffed gecko turned up in a museum, in France. No one knows where it came from. Scientists only know about kawekaweau, a large brown gecko that lived in the forests of New Zealand,…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Nov 13 '15

Midnight Special Could Be the Steven Spielberg-Influenced Sci-Fi Film We’ve Been Waiting For

Starman, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind. They’re all films that director Jeff Nichols cites as influences for his upcoming sci-fi film Midnight Special. And you can see that Eighties/Steven Spielberg influence both in the first image and poster released from the film. Midnight Special stars Michael Shannon and Kirsten Dunst as the parents…

Movies Germain Lussier Nov 13 '15

A Blow-by-Blow Analysis of Donald Trump and Ben Carson’s Knife Fight

Donald Trump is accusing Ben Carson of lying in his story of attempting to stab a friend as a teenager. “How stupid do people have to be to believe that?” Asks Trump, challenging the assertion that a belt buckle could turn a knife blade. Let’s armchair quarterback this. Here’s the video clip from last night’s…

Tech News Wes Siler Nov 13 '15

A City In Taiwan Is Demolishing an Old Mall and Turning Its Parking Lot Into a Lagoon

We’ve seen plenty of dead malls reborn as unusual things, from high schools to greenhouses. The Taiwanese city of Tainan is one-upping them all by tearing down an aging mall to create a network of sandy, shady lagoons. The city recently announced the winning design for a new public plaza on the site of a…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Nov 13 '15

This New Gundam Anime Series Is Basically Cowboy Bebop

The first footage for the newest Gundam series Thunderbolt has arrived, and it’s exciting for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s based on a hit manga that takes place during the events of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam anime series, and 2) it looks and sounds just like a Cowboy Bebop sequel. Um, a…

Anime Rob Bricken Nov 13 '15

A Flock of Hawaiian Shirts Invaded the Space Station

Start Your Weekend Right By Checking Out This Tiny Book of Awesome

No Mystery is More Intriguing than Morland Holmes on Elementary

There’s a Hidden Connection Between Pi and Quantum Mechanics

Reports of Robots Stealing 50% of Jobs in the US and UK Are Totally Alarmist

In an Upside Down City, Bat-Winged Ships Fly

Facebook’s “Safety Check” Lets You Locate Loved Ones in Paris

Peace Never Hides for Long

The Uncomfortable Story of How a Tweet About Lipstick Became a Media Freakout

This New Space Colonization Novel Will Mess With Your Head In The Best Possible Way

Star Wars Ice Sculptures Include Han Solo Frozen in Just Plain Water

In These Photographs, New York City Is Drowning

This Little Bot Walks on Water and Runs on Bacteria

In Moonwalkers, The Government Hires Kubrick To Fake The Moon Landings. Then Shit Gets CRAZY.

If This Product is Real, We’ve Passed Peak Vibrator

An Extinct Giant Gecko Was Found Stuffed in a Museum Basement

Midnight Special Could Be the Steven Spielberg-Influenced Sci-Fi Film We’ve Been Waiting For

A Blow-by-Blow Analysis of Donald Trump and Ben Carson’s Knife Fight

A City In Taiwan Is Demolishing an Old Mall and Turning Its Parking Lot Into a Lagoon

This New Gundam Anime Series Is Basically Cowboy Bebop

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