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Watch how 3D printers 3D print 3D printer parts to make more 3D printers

Like how some animals can regenerate limbs or like how humans can, uh, make babies, 3D printers can 3D print the 3D printer parts necessary to make more 3D printers. Thankfully, they still require some living person to put these parts together because if they didn’t, they could just start eliminating us one by one…

What would it really be like to eat how our ancestors ate? If you’re envisioning hot loaves of bread, greens plucked from the ground, and chicken fresh from the yard, then Rachel Laudan’s piece on the history of fast food’s earliest precursors will expose you to a table much darker and more complicated than expected.

A Clever Lamp That Requires No Batteries, Outlets, or Sun

About a billion people live without electricity, and they often turn to kerosene lamps: ultra dangerous, carcinogen-spouting, open flames that could turn homes into tinderboxes. So a new Indiegogo campaign’s out to provide safe, reusable lights that need zero outside energy sources. It’s called GravityLight, and it’s kind of like those hand crank-powered camp lanterns…

Can A Cube-Like Shape Really Make A Better Tent?

Earlier this year we told you about a new generation of tents that are ditching the traditional domes and triangles for an all-new shape: cubes. And man, you guys found some flaws in that idea. Will the roof pool rain or the sides collapse in high wind? We took one backpacking in Yosemite to find…

We May Know Which Book Characters Are Joining Game Of Thrones Season Six

Could Wolverine really appear in Deadpool? Is River Song done for good on Doctor Who? Plus, get a look at new concept art for Cyclops and Jean Grey in X-Men Apocalypse, and meet a key Terminator Genisys character. And learn who may or may not return for American Horror Story: Hotel. Spoilers Now! Top image:…

This Chip Could Analyze Your Blood and Send the Data to Your Phone

This centimeter-long lump of silicon could soon be inserted under your skin to measure the chemical make-up of your blood—then send the results straight to your phone. The new device has been created by a team of researchers from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. As well as measuring the pH and temperature of…

Is Your Nervous System Being Hacked by Bacteria in Your Gut?

The vagus nerve brings information from all over the body to the brain – but is it being hacked by the bacteria in our gut? Some 80 per cent of the traffic along the vagus nerve is sensory information sent up to the brain by the body, and researchers are beginning to realise this has…

A Company Spent $97 Million to Make Its Headquarters a Star Trek Tribute

And, look, to be honest, we can’t blame them. If you had the money and the inclination, wouldn’t you do the same thing? Image via Youtube This building, with its distinctive saucer shape and oval nacelles, is the headquarters for Chinese game developer NetDragon Websoft. And yes, the shape is on purpose. NetDragon’s founder is…

Why You Crave Tomato Juice on an Airplane

I’m writing this seated on a plane heading to San Francisco. We’ve been in the air for under an hour, and the drink cart is just starting to make its way down the aisle. As the cart rolls nearer I’m forced to decide what drink I’ll be having. Since the cups are miniscule, and the…

The Furry PomPom Mirror Creates Furry Silhouettes

Artist Daniel Rozin has created this installation, a 48 x 48 x 18 inch board of white and black pom poms, set on hundreds of motors. A camera films visitors in front of the “mirror” and the programming of the motors translates that into a three-dimensional shadow made of fur. You can see the PomPom…

Herpes-Based Drug Shown to Successfully Treat Aggressive Skin Cancer

A new drug based on a genetically modified herpes virus has been used to successfully treat patients with aggressive cases of skin cancer—and it’s hoped it could be used to treat other forms of cancer, too. The new treatment uses a form of the herpes virus which is modified so that it doesn’t produce the…

U.S. Air Force Certifies SpaceX for Military Space Missions

The U.S. Air Force has announced that SpaceX is now certified to launch military and spy satellites. That means that the United Launch Alliance, a joint effort between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, no longer holds the monopoly on national security space missions. The news, announced late yesterday, comes after two long years of negotiations between…

Guess Who’s Chasing the Joker In New Suicide Squad Photos?

Suicide Squad is already filming in Toronto, and recently it seems like Harley Quinn and the Joker are going for a joyride. With a semi-surprising pursuer. Spoiler alert: if you don’t want to see anything from the filming of this chase, don’t click. Since they’re filming the chase scene outside, on real roads, where real…

Fox Is Taking Another Shot at a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie

Fox really wants to make Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen a franchise. They wanted to do it with the fairly disastrous 2003 movie. They wanted to try again with a TV show. And now they’re picking themselves up and trying again. Variety reports that John Davis (The Blacklist) will produce the…

This Outlet Extender Just Made Airport Lounges Slightly More Bearable

Airports around the world are slowly being upgraded to accommodate all the electronics we now travel with, but the process is slow. Finding an available outlet while waiting for a flight is often still a challenge, but with Bluelounge’s new Portiko in your carry-on, you’ll at least never end up sitting on the floor to…

What happens when you pour water on an oil fire in slow motion

Really bad things happen. Though everyone should know this, here’s a lovely slow motion video reminder on what happens when you pour water onto an oil fire in an attempt to put it out: the fire gets even crazier because the water vaporizes into steam which expands causing it to spit out the oil which…

Tanith Lee Was An Indispensible Fantasy Author

Tanith Lee, who died on Sunday, was one of the most prolific and influential authors of fantasy and horror. Everyone seems to know her for something different. Some people are obsessed with The Silver Metal Lover, while others devoured her fantasy series. And then there are the Blake’s 7 episodes. She left a huge bounty.…

The trailer for the Point Break remake is basically every GoPro video

You know all those GoPro videos you see on the Internet? You know the ones. Where crazy people skydive off planes and fly in wingsuits and snowboard and ride motorcycles and jump off cliffs and live Very Extreme Lives. All of that happens in the trailer for the remake of Point Break. Only they slapped…

These Art Books From Sweden’s Suburban Dystopia Deserve Your Support

Here at io9, we’re huge fans of Simon Stålenhag’s artwork, paintings from an alternate Sweden where familiar landscapes, fashions, and vehicles stand against ominous power plants, futuristic robots, and the occasional dinosaur. And there’s currently a crowdfunding campaign for two art books featuring Stålenhag’s paintings. Top image, “Missing person, Karasuendo,” is the cover image for…

On this day of mergers and acquisitions, the site Recode—which was started by ex-WSJ tech writers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher—is being bought by Vox Media, which publishes The Verge, Vox.com, Curbed, and various other sites. The New York Times has more details on the purchase. [TKTK]