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How Many Different Smells Can The Human Nose Actually Detect?

Last year, a paper published inScience made waves with the stunning claim that the human nose can detect a whopping one trillion different odors. But if you feel like your nose can’t detect a trillion smells, you may be on to something. It’s possible that none of us can. As a Caltech researcher pointed out…

Tech News Maddie Stone

io9 Book Club Is In Session: Let’s Talk About Ken Liu’s Grace Of Kings!

Welcome to the monthly meeting of the io9 Book Club. This month, we’ve read The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu. Jump into comments to get started talking about it! What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book we’ve all read together, and then we have…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Elektra is Officially Coming to Daredevil Season 2!

Netflix’s sophomore season of Daredevil is going to see Matt Murdock rubbing shoulders with more than a few comic book characters: We knew The Punisher was on his way but Marvel have now announced that Hand Assassin Elektra is coming to Hell’s Kitchen! Elodie Yung (who you can see seemingly gearing up for the role…

io9 James Whitbrook

Denver’s Energy Use Is Surging, and It’s Because of Weed

The bud may be green, but growing it really isn’t: Weed growers in Denver are straining the city’s electrical grid. Denver is experiencing spiking electricity consumption, with nearly half of that growth coming from its burgeoning pot industry, as the Denver Post reports: Citywide electricity use has been rising at the rate of 1.2 percent…

Tech News Kate Knibbs

A Collection of Curious Six Word Science Fiction Stories For You To Read

A Mars rover that’s not quite as alone as it thought, a jarred brain with a very bodied complaint, a robot with an authority problem, and an unsettlingly quick sloth are just some of the curious specimens that await you in these stories. You responded to this call for six word science fiction stories with…

io9 Ria Misra

Abandoned Golf Courses Are Being Transformed into Solar Farms

Golf is a dying sport, and country club memberships are seen as an elitist relicof the past. But cultural changes are only one reason golf courses are falling out of favor: The chemical-laden, water-guzzling greens are especially irresponsible for areas hit by drought. Here’s an idea from Japan for those sunny green fairways: Use them…

Tech News Alissa Walker

Quails Can Make Themselves Poisonous

Quail is a common game bird. People eat it all the time. And sometimes when they eat it, their muscles disintegrate and their kidneys give out. Learn how these birds periodically turn themselves poisonous. The common quail lives all over Europe. Every year it migrates down to northern Africa. That’s an impressive feat, and a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

First Look At Geniuses, From The Co-Creator Of Avatar The Last Airbender

Michael DiMartino is best known for co-creating the hit show Avatar: The Last Airbender, but now he’s branching out into prose fiction. His new series Geniuses starts in fall 2016 with a book called The Creature and the Creator, but we’ve got an exclusive first glimpse for you right now. Here’s the official description of…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Check Out This Crazy Escape From New York Comic-Con Exclusive Poster

What you see above is just one of the many, many exclusive posters the fine folks at Mondo will have on sale at San Diego Comic-Con. This is the variant edition of Escape From New York by artist Ken Taylor, revealed exclusively here on io9. The poster is a 36 x 24 inch screenprint in…

Movies Germain Lussier

This Exclusive Dominion Clip Has The Best Vehicular Angel-cide EVER

Seriously, lots of shows feature angels nowadays, including pretty much an “angel of the week” on Supernatural. But this clip from Thursday night’s season premiere of Dominion not only has some great (*@&)(*&-ed by an angel action, it also has the best car-related angel-slaughter we’ve seen in ages. In this clip from Thursday night’s Dominion…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

Hero Man Flies Balloon Chair Through the Sky

In what police aren’t describing (but I definitely am) as a “Classic Up situation,” 26-year-old Daniel Boria tethered 110 giant balloons to his lawn chair until he flew away. Despite turning life into thrilling art, Boria was arrested for his troubles. The entrepreneurial Canadian man flew over Calgary in a bold attempt to publicize his…

Tech News Kate Knibbs

The Green Lanterns Team Up With Captain Kirk in This Week’s Comics

The worlds of DC and Star Trek combine this week, but it’s not all that’s going on in the latest new comics. Marvel goes to the Wild West in a new batch of Secret Wars miniseries, DC takes on Max himself in another Mad Max tie-in, Boy scouts take on the apocalypse, Time cops solve…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook

University of Toronto Defends Class That Taught Anti-Vaccine Propaganda

Are you a student looking for a great health studies course? I’d suggest steering clear of the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus. The school has recently become the laughingstock of the scientific community for a course that includes materials on the dangers of vaccines. Jenny McCarthy would be so proud. The health course was taught…

Tech News Matt Novak

Tinder Wants You to Think You’ll Boink a Celebrity

At last, no more roaming the streets of your town hoping Cupid’s arrow will guide you to that dreamy B-movie star or hot relative of the mayor. Because thanks to Tinder’s new Verified Profiles, those local celebrities on Tinder will now be verified—which, in theory, means your dream of dating them could come true! The…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin

Watch this mad man use a swing set to jump and fly over an entire house

My goal in life as a child on a swing set was to swing so high that I would rotate a full 360 degrees (or at least reach the highest height possible before chickening out). I think everyone had that same goal. Everyone except Damien Walters. His is to get on a swing and fling…

Sploid Casey Chan

Meanwhile in the Future: Extreme Body Modification

We all want to be our best selves. But what if you could add almost anything to your body and mind? A camera here, an exoskeleton there. This is the world that some biohackers imagine—one in which humans can extend their abilities beyond the limits biology has set for us. But what does that world…

Tech News Rose Eveleth

LIGHTSPEED Presents: “Crazy Rhythm” by Carrie Vaughn

io9 is proud to present fiction from LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE. Once a month, we’ll be featuring a story from LIGHTSPEED’s current issue. This month’s selection is taken from LIGHTSPEED’s July 2015 issue. The story is “Crazy Rhythm” by Carrie Vaughn. You can read the story below or you can listen to the podcast narrated by Gabrielle…

io9 Lightspeed

19 Dazzling Photos of Fireworks

Your 3-day weekend is over. BUT! The explosions. Those live on. Winner: 15th Floor I live on the 15th floor of an apartment building, and I am lucky that the fireworks are set off in the field across the street! I am able to set my camera on a tripod while in my own home.…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Han Solo Star Wars Anthology Film Coming From Lego Movie Directors

The official Star Wars website has just confirmed that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors of The Lego Movie, will direct a Han Solo-centric Star Wars Anthology movie slated for release on May 25, 2018. The film “focuses on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan…

Movies Germain Lussier

The Dramatic Architecture of Opera Houses That Only the Singers See

Designed to make audiences gasp even before the performance begins, opera houses are perhaps the most architecturally opulent spaces on Earth. A new book by photographer David Leventi attempts to document the grand interiors where civilization’s most celebrated musical acts come to life. Over eight years Leventi visited 40 opera houses in 19 countries, from…

Tech News Alissa Walker

How Many Different Smells Can The Human Nose Actually Detect?

io9 Book Club Is In Session: Let’s Talk About Ken Liu’s Grace Of Kings!

Elektra is Officially Coming to Daredevil Season 2!

Denver’s Energy Use Is Surging, and It’s Because of Weed

A Collection of Curious Six Word Science Fiction Stories For You To Read

Abandoned Golf Courses Are Being Transformed into Solar Farms

Quails Can Make Themselves Poisonous

First Look At Geniuses, From The Co-Creator Of Avatar The Last Airbender

Check Out This Crazy Escape From New York Comic-Con Exclusive Poster

This Exclusive Dominion Clip Has The Best Vehicular Angel-cide EVER

Hero Man Flies Balloon Chair Through the Sky

The Green Lanterns Team Up With Captain Kirk in This Week’s Comics

University of Toronto Defends Class That Taught Anti-Vaccine Propaganda

Tinder Wants You to Think You’ll Boink a Celebrity

Watch this mad man use a swing set to jump and fly over an entire house

Meanwhile in the Future: Extreme Body Modification

LIGHTSPEED Presents: “Crazy Rhythm” by Carrie Vaughn

19 Dazzling Photos of Fireworks

Han Solo Star Wars Anthology Film Coming From Lego Movie Directors

The Dramatic Architecture of Opera Houses That Only the Singers See

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