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Author Ian Tregillis Is Here To Talk To You About The Mechanical

In May, the io9 book club read The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis. Today, from 12:30 – 1:30 pm (Pacific time), he’ll be here to answer your questions about mixing technology and magic in fiction, alternate histories, and anything else you want to know. Start asking your questions in the comments section right now and he’ll…

io9 Ria Misra May 15 '15

Learning From Australia’s Drought Lessons to Avoid a Mad Max Future

The drought is no longer a California problem. The Colorado River, which supplies water to one-eighth of the country’s population, is reporting record low water levels due to overallocation. The US needs a little perspective when it comes to how bad this is going to get. Luckily we have one: Australia. Over the past 20…

Tech News Alissa Walker May 15 '15

Did You Know You Can Subtract Large Numbers By Adding Them?

The MinutePhysics series has always been a goldmine of interesting facts and science explainers. But prepare to have your mind blown wide open this time as Henry Reich shows you an alternate way to manually subtract large numbers—by doing addition instead. It seems a little complicated at first, but that’s because most of us were…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski May 15 '15

A New Book Looks At the Packaging Design of the Original Star Wars Toys

George Lucas isn’t rich beyond a Hutt’s dreams because he was a great director or writer. His vast fortune is a result of his shrewd decision to hold onto the merchandising rights to his space opera many years ago. A new book called A New Proof takes a look at what was involved in bringing…

Books & Comics Andrew Liszewski May 15 '15

The First Building That Can Heal Its Own Cracks With Biological Cement

Three years ago, we learned that a Dutch team had developed a biological concrete that could repair its own cracks. They said it might be two or three years before it found its way into the larger world—and now, we’re getting a look at its real-world applications. The concrete is a collaboration between two scientists…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan May 15 '15

Video: The powerful final scenes of 33 different movies

Spoiler alert, I guess? Lorenzo Antico made this montage of the dramatic final scenes of 33 different movies. You should recognize a lot of them, as his selection seems to veer toward recent films like Birdman and Her, along with classics like Rocky and others. I almost feel like I watched the entire movie when…

Sploid Casey Chan May 15 '15

Check Out Jesse And Arseface In The First Preacher TV Series Photo

The first-ever look at Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s TV adaptation of Garth Ennis’ Preacher comic comes courtesy of this set photo! It’s not official, really, but it does show 1) Arseface’s modern band posters, so we’re clearly set in present-day and 2) Dominic Cooper’s Jesse Custer hair, which is something to behold. Admittedly, Arseface’s…

Television Rob Bricken May 15 '15

This Rural County Is Getting Rich Manufacturing Drones for the Military

Los Angeles is ground zero for movies, San Francisco for tech. And it looks like Klickitat County, Washington is the country’s hub for unmanned aerial vehicles. According to Quartz, median income in the outdoorsy pear-growing county rose 23% between 2010 and 2013, thanks to the drone industry. Only five other counties saw faster growth, all…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin May 15 '15

Mad Max: Fury Road Is An Astonishing Work Of Art

You don’t realize just how crappy most action movies are, until you see something like Mad Max: Fury Road — a movie in which there are no “action scenes” because the action pretty much never stops. And the film’s constant sense of violent motion is in the service of incredible imagery and transcendant moments. No…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders May 15 '15

These Virtual Reality Experiences Make You Feel Like a Superhero

It’s Action Hero Week, which means we’re exploring how technology could give you superpowers. You know: exoskeletons, biohacking, cool stuff like that. Here’s a simpler idea: just strap on a virtual reality headset and feel like a hero without all the blood and sweat! Assuming you have access to a VR headset, that is. Most…

Tech News Sean Hollister May 15 '15

Feast Your Eyes on This Old-School Weather Model

Weather forecasting has come a long way, as the video below of a midcentury climate model illustrates. And if you’re into vintage computer graphics, it provides some pretty nice eye candy too. The footage, recently published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, shows the first global general circulation model constructed by physicist Chuck Leith on…

Tech News Attila Nagy May 15 '15

Real Yelp Reviews About Terrible Food… And Such Small Portions

There’s an old joke, made famous in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, about customers complaining at a restaurant. One woman says that the food is terrible. The other replies, I know, and such small portions! It probably won’t surprise you to learn that this joke is often played out in earnest in Yelp reviews. In 1977…

Tech News Matt Novak May 15 '15

What Was In This Mysterious “Cure” For Alcoholism?

The most famous medical man dedicated to treating alcoholism was Leslie Keeley, who operated the Keeley Institute and sold Keeley’s Gold Cure. When patients got the facility they were given a nice room, encouragement, and four shots of “gold bichloride” a day. There’s no such thing as gold bichloride. It’s natural that the rest of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 15 '15

12 delicious and absolutely gorgeous ways to cook an egg

Add an egg to anything and your life instantly gets better. You can eat it on its own after its cooked however which way, you can add it to pasta to make a carbonara, you could make dessert with it and heck, even make drinks with it. It’s the perfect food. Here are 12 things…

Sploid Casey Chan May 15 '15

Three Handy Uses for Chrome Beyond Web Browsing

You probably think of Chrome as a web browser—and so you should—but it has a few more tricks up its sleeve than you might have realized. Here are three of our favorite alternative uses for the software, which to a large extent work the same in Mozilla Firefox too. 1. Play music and video Chrome…

Gadgets David Nield May 15 '15

This GIF Party Is Here To Dance

Don’t just hang out there on the sidelines, because the GIF Party is waiting on you. You know what to do: Put your interpretive GIFs, digital mingling, and life updates into the comments, because the party starts now!

io9 Ria Misra May 15 '15

Cat Eyes and Other Radical Ideas to Re-Engineer Humans for the Future

If we don’t do something about climate change, humanity is screwed. But do what? Carbon emissions keep creeping up, geoengineering is potentially dangerous, and we continue to stew in endless political debates. One bioethicist has a radical idea: Re-engineer humans for a better planet. A few years ago, NYU bioethicist and philosopher Matthew Liao co-authored…

Climate Change Sarah Zhang May 15 '15

Deceptive Photo Makes This Eel Look Taller Than A Double Decker Bus

Fishermen working off the coast of Plymouth in Britain snagged a 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) conger eel by mistake after it got tangled in their nets. Weighing in at just over 133 pounds (59 kg), it’s a near-record catch — but this clever optical illusion makes it look much longer than it really is. As reported…

io9 George Dvorsky May 15 '15

A Snowmobile That Works On Water Looks Way More Fun Than a Jet Ski

As the weather warms up it’s finally time to pack away those winter clothes and start figuring out how you’ll maximize the hot summer months. Any activity involving a lake is obviously a good choice, but before you spend thousands on a Jet Ski, you might want to wait until these engineering students perfect their…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski May 15 '15

DC Heroes Mixed With Thomas The Tank Engine Is A Most Delightful Horror

DC’s cadre of heroes and villains have been mashed up with a lot of things over the years. But transforming them into the wide-eyed, slightly creepy locomotives of Thomas the Tank Engine makes for a toy that is equal parts laden with animated nostalgia and sheer, nightmarish terror. Mattel’s latest exclusive merchandise for San Diego…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook May 15 '15

Author Ian Tregillis Is Here To Talk To You About The Mechanical

Learning From Australia’s Drought Lessons to Avoid a Mad Max Future

Did You Know You Can Subtract Large Numbers By Adding Them?

A New Book Looks At the Packaging Design of the Original Star Wars Toys

The First Building That Can Heal Its Own Cracks With Biological Cement

Video: The powerful final scenes of 33 different movies

Check Out Jesse And Arseface In The First Preacher TV Series Photo

This Rural County Is Getting Rich Manufacturing Drones for the Military

Mad Max: Fury Road Is An Astonishing Work Of Art

These Virtual Reality Experiences Make You Feel Like a Superhero

Feast Your Eyes on This Old-School Weather Model

Real Yelp Reviews About Terrible Food… And Such Small Portions

What Was In This Mysterious “Cure” For Alcoholism?

12 delicious and absolutely gorgeous ways to cook an egg

Three Handy Uses for Chrome Beyond Web Browsing

This GIF Party Is Here To Dance

Cat Eyes and Other Radical Ideas to Re-Engineer Humans for the Future

Deceptive Photo Makes This Eel Look Taller Than A Double Decker Bus

A Snowmobile That Works On Water Looks Way More Fun Than a Jet Ski

DC Heroes Mixed With Thomas The Tank Engine Is A Most Delightful Horror

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