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The Best Operations Security Propaganda Posters From World War II

“Loose tweets destroy fleets.” That’s the slogan of the United States Air Force’s latest operations security (OPSEC) campaign, and if the phrase sounds familiar, don’t be surprised. We collected 50 propaganda posters from World War II that show an age when keeping military secrets was a matter of life or death. In the 1940s, operations…

How To Survive A Mass Shooting

As a kid, fire drills taught you fire safety. And you haven’t been killed by a fire. Your parents trained similarly for nuclear war. With 248 mass shootings in US in the 238 days of 2015, it’s time we began treating those the same way. This is how. That statistic is drawn from ShootingTracker.com, a…

Alienware’s Small Gaming Desktop Is Getting a Big Boost

Alienware generally makes giant honking gaming computers. There are two exceptions: The tiny Alpha, and the console-sized X51 desktop. And today, the X51 is getting some pretty huge additions—including custom liquid cooling, PCIe solid state storage, and external graphics. In other words: If you’re looking for all the power and upgradability of a full gaming…

This Urban Fantasy Story Will Make You Realize Just How Creepy Psychic Gifts Can Be

The Apex Book of World SF 4, available now as an ebook for just $4.49, contains 28 stories from all over the world. We’re proud to feature one of them, “The Good Matter” by Swedish author Nene Ormes, as an exclusive excerpt here at io9. Learn just how twisted someone with a psychic ability can…

Who causes more destruction in superhero movies, heroes or villains?

Lost in all those superhero comic book flicks that hijack too many screens in movie theaters is how in preventing a villain from let’s say, world destruction or universe domination, the superhero becomes responsible for a lot of damage to a city. Like seriously, cities get messed up. Imagine being a citizen of a world…

The FDA Is Cracking Down on American Spirit and So-Called “Natural” Cigarettes

If you’re a smoker looking for a “healthier” cigarette you may have turned to American Spirits in recent years. They’re marketed as “natural” and “additive-free,” leading many people to believe that they’re less harmful. This, of course, is bullshit. And now the FDA wants to finally crack down on them. For the first time ever,…

Neil deGrasse Tyson Describes NASA’s Mission in Latest Peek at The Martian

We’ve gotten a few looks at Ares 3, the mission at the heart of the upcoming film The Martian, and this one comes courtesy of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Coming to us from the year 2035, Tyson explains the challenges that the crew of the Martian mission will face. It’s fun to see an actual…

Watch Gas-Guzzling Androids Battle in a Mad Max-Style Dystopian Future

The music video for The Chemical Brothers’ “Sometimes I Feel So Deserted” takes us to a literal desert, one that looks straight out of an Australian post-apolyptic movie. And when a woman finds herself on the run from some rather nefarious figures, it quickly becomes clear that it’s not just the cars that run on…

Ray Bradbury’s FBI File Shows That He Was a Threat To Our Emotional Security

Ray Bradbury’s FBI file is not newly uncovered—it first appeared online in 2012 at Muckrock—but it’s been making the rounds this week. And as Slate’s Future Tense points out, it seems particularly timely given all of the debates over politics in science fiction. The FBI actually investigated Bradbury twice, with more than a decade between…

Self-Repairing Material Could Prevent Spaceship Catastrophes

Orbiting the Earth is a bit like living in a minefield, with millions of tiny flecks of space junk whizzing about at thousands of miles per hour. If a rice-sized pellet whacked into the International Space Station, it could pack the punch of a hand grenade, causing precious oxygen to seep into space. So materials…

What is Earth’s Average Temperature?

Earth is the only planet in our Solar System where life is known to exist. Note the use of the word “known,” which indicates that our knowledge of the Solar System is still in its infancy, and the search for life continues. However, from all observable indications, Earth is the only place in our Solar…

Beautiful Pieces of the 1893 World’s Fair Discovered In Storage In Chicago

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was the prototypical World’s Fair. It brought together wonders of engineering, the latest technologies and consumer products, and music and art from far-off lands. Sadly, almost all of its buildings are no more—but in Chicago, three lovely fragments of one have resurfaced. Discovered in a storage facility operated by the…

The Weirdest Crime in History: “Looking Good While Poor”

Sumptuary laws are the quaint old laws which made it illegal for peasants to look, eat, or travel in more style than the upper classes. They make for very interesting reading. They’d probably be even more interesting if they were introduced today. A History of Forbidden Indulgence Sumptuary laws are fun because they tell you…

Instagram Isn’t Only Square Photos Anymore

Starting today, Instagrammers no longer have to crop their latte art shots to the app’s creatively restricting square aspect ratio. Now users can choose one of two additional layouts—portrait and landscape—to add horizontal or vertical real estate to their images. Finally! This is the latest in a series of big changes for the app that…

This Cover Art Game Invites You To Literally Judge a Book By Its Cover

We’ve all heard the idiom, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” But a new site called PlayJudgey.com encourages users to do just that—and its creators, Nate Gagnon and Dean Casalena, seem to have a moral of their own in mind: buy more books. The site displays a book cover, which you then rate on…

The iPhone 6s’ Biggest Upgrade Is All About That Camera

The iPhone 6s seems to be a boring upgrade as far as aesthetics go. Surprise! It’s going to look almost identical to the year-old iPhones already out there. But as we approach ever closer to that September 9 Apple event, more leaks are fleshing out what exactly the 6s is going to deliver on the…

Look Who’s Wielding Luke’s Lightsaber in this Brand-New Force Awakens Footage

Is that a lightsaber in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? The Star Wars Instagram has just posted a brand new clip from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it features a geek-melting shot of Finn (John Boyega) lighting up a blue lightsaber. That’s not any blue lightsaber though. That looks…

You’ll be able to watch Apple’s September 9th event on a Windows 10 PC. Traditionally, Apple has limited the livestream to its own Safari browser on iOS and OS X operating systems—barring workarounds—but this time you can officially watch it in the new Microsoft Edge browser.

Here’s the Trailer for the Remastered Iron Giant For You to Cry At

No, I’m not crying. You’re crying. Brad Bird’s amazing 1999 film has been remastered for a Blu-Ray release this fall. But before that, it’s going back into the theaters on September 30 and October 4. So if you’ve only caught it on small screens, this is your chance to catch Vin Diesel’s greatest ever performance…

Leaked Photos Show the New Moto 360 May Come In Two Sizes, Like the Apple Watch

The first smartwatch to get us excited about Android Wear last year, the Moto 360, is due for a new version. In new leaked images of the supposed update, we’re getting a look at what appears to be two different versions of the smartwatch. People are colloquially calling the rumored watches the Moto 360 Large…