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How Kodak Survives Now That Film Is Dead

The decline of Kodak as a powerhouse of photography is a story oft told. But what does it actually look like in the facilities that once churned out endless rolls of film for the masses? This New York Times video shows what has become of Eastman Kodak’s business, and it might be a bit of…

An Amazing View of ISS Crossing the Sun During an Eclipse 

Photographer Thierry Legault shot what may be the coolest view yet of the today’s solar eclipse: the International Space Station’s weird little silhouette flying across a thin sliver of visible sun. The entire transit lasted just 0.6 seconds, so it was literally blink-and-you-would-have-missed-it. Luckily, Legault traveled to Spain, where he captured the view for posterity.…

We Know Which Marvel Superhero Morena Baccarin Is Playing In Deadpool

Copycat isn’t one of Marvel’s more well-known heroines, but that may change when Morena Baccarin plays the mutant shapeshifter Vanessa Carlyse, starring in the upcoming Deadpool movie alongside Ryan Reynolds. Sure, she’s another beautiful, blue-skinned woman who can transform herself into different people — hardly a first for the X-Men universe — but Copycat’s shape-shifting…

Americans — Why Is Your Insulin So Expensive?

Insulin has saved countless lives since its discovery in 1921. But nearly a century later, there is somehow still no cheap, generic version of insulin available in the U.S—making the “wonder drug” too expensive for many patients. Why? In the New England Journal of Medicine, Jerome Greene and Kevin Riggs call it the “paradox of…

New Board Game Pits Tesla Against Edison, History’s Greatest Underdog

Everybody knows that Nikola Tesla was a genius. But with all the attention being paid to Tesla here in the 21st century, many kids today must wonder what happened to his rival, Thomas Edison. Well, soon everybody will have a chance to tinker with technology history by putting their (fake) money behind inventors like Tesla…

The No-Stilettos Rule: My Approach As A Woman Creating Scifi Book Covers

How do you create a book cover that really sells the story to its audience? How do you package a book with a badass woman protagonist without relying on bare midriffs and spiky heels? Muddy Colors columnist Lauren Panepinto explains how she approaches cover art in her role as Orbit Books’ Creative Director. A few…

Interstellar‘s Original Ending Actually Made Sense—And It Wasn’t Happy

The final act of Interstellar was a bit of mess, packed with feel-good mystical pseudoscience that was out of place in a sometimes glorious space opera. It turns out that ending was all director Christopher Nolan’s idea and that Jonathan Nolan’s original script called for a more straightforward—and darker—ending. https://gizmodo.com/interstellar-is-the-best-and-worst-space-opera-youll-ev-1654807305 Spoilers ahead. The Nerdist reported…

Mark Millar’s Time-Traveling Bromance Comic Chrononauts Will Be A Movie

The Chrononauts comic by Mark Millar was only just released, but it’s already been fast-tracked by Universal for a feature film. So get ready for a movie about two sexy geniuses who show the world their time-traveling adventures, live on TV. Deadline is reporting that Millar and Chrononauts illustrator Sean Gordon Murphy will executive produce…

Why Do Some Mushrooms Glow In The Dark?

Bioluminescence is not just a weirdly beautiful quality of some mushrooms. It’s also a useful way to figure out, for instance, whether you’ve found a patch of delicious chanterelles or their look-alike Jack-o-lantern mushrooms, which are poisonous. But why does it happen? A new study published in Current Biology by researchers from Darthmouth’s Geisel School…

Top 10 Greatest Giant Robots Of All Time

Ah, Giant Robots. Who doesn’t love giant mechanical creations stomping around and kicking butt? Over the years there have been many badass robots and mechs that have wormed their way into our hearts, but some are just especially great. So here are our picks for the 10 greatest giant robots, ranked. A note going in:…

Crowdfund Gorgeous Fantasy Comics, Geeky Book Drives And More!

Crowdfund this is back with another look at our favourite crowd-funding projects! Songgu Kwon’s hilarious fantasy webcomic and a drive to support book reading among kids may lead the charge this week, but that’s not all: there’s card games, a Firefly reunion, and Gale Anne Hurd’s next project too! Header Image Credit: Elf. Con Man…

Olympus E-M5 Mark II Review: The Original Retro Camera, Refined to a Tee

Beautiful retro design. Pro-level controls. So small. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 was the mirrorless camera for discerning photographers. Three years later, it’s finally getting a update in the form of the new E-M5 Mark II. It provides some welcome improvements in feel and operation, plus a flashy trick or two. Is that enough? Depends on…

io9 Newsstand: The Best Stories from the Week of March 15 – 21

This week’s stories are all adaptations and retellings of one kind or another. They all prove that knowing the story doesn’t mean you know the story. Andromache and the Dragon by Brittany Pladek | Ideomancer The dragon stood on the shore. “For every day, I will consume one of your desires,” she told them. “You…

Using Origami to Make a Shape with No Volume and Infinite Surface Area

It should surprise no one that MIT has an origami team whose goal is to create a third level version of a 3-D fractal known as a Menger Sponge, whose ultimate incarnation is a shape with zero volume and infinite surface area. Here’s how they do it. Working with business cards and some kids, the…

This Viral Photo Of Yesterday’s Eclipse From Space Is Fake. Duh.

Thousands of people were duped into thinking this image — supposedly taken from the International Space Station — was real.

The Crazy, Broken Food Superhighway That Supplies America’s Produce

You might know that a lot of produce moves from Mexico to the U.S. But the infrastructure and economics of that system are incredibly screwed up—like throwing tons of ripe tomatoes into a landfill screwed up. The winner of the Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge this year is a film called Man in the Maze,…

Insurgent Is Like Two Hours Of Someone Else’s Terrible Therapy Session

There was always something ugly at the heart of the wish-fulfillment in the Divergent series — everybody except me is one dimensional, because I’m special! But where the first movie managed to turn this into a weirdly sweet adventure about trying fit in, the sequel just goes full-on narcissistic. And dreary. Spoilers ahead… Divergent and…

Reminder! We’re holding our first ever Video Remix Contest! Make your own mash-up, remix, spoof or Sweded version of the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, and post it here. We’ll post the best ones on Monday.

Preacher’s Arseface Has Been Cast

While we’re still waiting for AMC to announce who will play title character Jesse Custer for their TV adaptation of the comic Preacher (along with his vampire pal Cassidy) a very strange side character with an extremely messed-up backstory has been revealed. Behold, Arseface. AMC has announced that fresh-faced newcomer Ian Colletti will play Eugene…

Sony To Make 300-Style Romeo & Juliet Movie Because Life Is Still Pain

When you think of the greatest romance stories of all time, there are only two that are incontestably at the top: William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and, of course, Frank Miller’s historical war fantasy 300. Which is no doubt why Sony plans to combine the two love epics in a single movie. Via The Hollywood…