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Crowdfund A Robot Insurgency Film From The Writers Of Feast

The writers of Project Greenlight’s Feast have written a screenplay about a robot insurgency—and the team needs your help bringing the film to life. You can also help fund some wonderful comics, a Mouse Guard board game, and a documentary about working visual artists. Imperfect – Comic Book Series Ever wanted to be another person?…

Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out About Ebola Patients Coming to the U.S.

For months, the Ebola epidemic was a terrible problem isolated in Africa. Then news broke of two sick Americans being airlifted back for treatment, bringing Ebola to the U.S. for the first time ever. On purpose. Cue fear, cue outrage—all of it misplaced. It’s going to be fine. Of course, Ebola is very deadly if…

io9 Newsstand: Stories for the week of July 28 – August 1

The last of the July short stories put a nice pin in the month. A couple of long reads, a few recurring characters — and a dinosaur, just to spice things up. Monthly magazines will start putting out their new fiction this weekend as well. It’s a smorgasbord of prose! image credit: Wesley Allsbrook for…

What’s The Best (Or Worst) Voiceover Monologue At The Start Of A Movie?

Some movies just drop you in the deep end, and let you figure out what’s going on. And some movies talk you through it. Opening voiceovers are a major component of science fiction and fantasy movies (see 50 of them here) and they can be wonderful. Or just god-bananas-awful. But what are the best? And…

Google’s Photo Service Might Finally Escape Google+

After Google just announced that it would be dropping the Google+ requirement for business videoconferencing this week, the search giant is planning to set loose its (fantastic) photo service, according to Bloomberg. If/when it does, you’ll be able to take advantage of this pretty handy photo tool without any unwanted ties to Google+. Google+ Photos…

Since 1976, Ebola outbreaks have materialized in no fewer than 10 disparate regions of Central Africa. Is there any order to the virus’ pattern of emergence? According to science writer David Quammen, two prevailing schools of thought have arisen: The wave school and the particle school.

A Gesture-Controlled Headlamp Means No More Fumbling For Buttons

Headlamps aren’t just for overnight wilderness treks, a hands-free light source can be useful for everything from detailed hobby work to fixing a car. And Olight’s H15S is particularly useful for that last application, allowing you to activate its bright LED lamp with a simple wave gesture when your hands are covered in grease. An…

Tour The Dark Side Of L.A. With Sandman Slim Author Richard Kadrey

Few fantasy series have as strong a sense of place as Richard Kadrey’s L.A.-set Sandman Slim books. And here’s your exclusive first look at a video where Kadrey takes you to the real-life locations where his books take place, filmed by Brady Hall. Plus read a chapter of the next Sandman Slim Book, The Getaway…

Who Invented Tequila?

Although tequila dates back only a few hundred years, people have long used the heart of the agave plant to make delicious, alcoholic beverages. Maguey (Agave) Cultivated from at least as early as 200 A.D. by the Zapotecs of the Oaxaca Valley of southern Mexico, the maguey has been essential to life for well over…

Change Your Hair Color By Etching Nano-Patterns Into Each Strand

In a weirdly serious bit of hair research, engineers have figured out how to change hair color without an ounce of hair dye. The only catch? You need a focused ion beam. Color is in the eye of the beholder after all. When microscope spirals and hyperbola are etched into strands of hair with a…

These Librarian Reviews Of Children’s Books Are Awesome

Amid the many hidden treasures in the New York Public Library is a huge collection of hand-typed reviews of children’s books. Librarians wrote the reviews to assess the quality of the book collection—and, since they were exclusively for internal use, their opinions were brutally candid. As Jenni Avins at Quartz reports, one of the staffers…

This Baby Armadillo Is Improbably Adorable

Armadillos: They can give you leprosy, but they can also MELT YOUR HEART. This particular armadillo is still just a baby, and goes by “Rollie,” after what looks to be his favorite playtime activity. Rollie is currently housed at the NEW Zoo and Adventure Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where this footage was captured. And…

This alien world is not a frame from Guardians of the Galaxy

This isn’t a Cassini photo of a Saturn moon against an asteroids field or a frame from Guardians of the Galaxy. This beautiful alien landscape is right here on Earth, a microscopic world hidden inside a gemstone, photographed by Danny J. Sanchez. He told me about the process behind his work here. I’m definitely a…

This Home’s Bedrooms Have Wheels So You Can Roll Them Outside

We’ve seen doors that spin on their hinges and whole facades that rotate towards the sun, but there are mechanically simpler ways to approach transforming architecture. Take this home in Brittany, which features small bedrooms on wheels that can be rolled around (or outside of) the house. The home was designed by Thomas Durand of…

The Biggest Mistakes People Make When They Start A Webcomic

Want to start your very first webcomic? Great! But before you get in too deep, make sure that you avoid some of the most common mistakes that established folks in the field of webcomics see time and again. Top image by the incredibly talented Evan Dahm, creator of the webcomics Rice Boy, Order of Tales,…

Zeus Thunder Vape Pen: E-Cig and Vaping in One Pocketable Package

Cramming what little pocket space you’ve got in those skinny jeans you kids are wearing with multiple vapes for multiple materials is tacky. Instead, combine all your vaping needs into a single, multi-material device like the Zeus Arsenal Thunder. What Is It? It’s a dual-function portable vaporization pen that handles both concentrates and e-liquids with…

Watching This Machine Fabricate Tiny Screws Makes Me Nervous

Those itty bitty screws that hold together your watch (or possibly your smartwatch) are infinitely frustrating to grasp, position, and attach to said watch. Now imagine the precision required to make one of those screws. Seeing the process captured gives me anxiety. What if they drop it??? All of this happens inside a machine called…

Watch Us Team Up With Batman To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

The Walking Dead Escape event returned to San Diego Comic-Con for the third year in a row, with another exhilarating (and exhausting) course at Petco Park. And it really felt like surviving an actual zombie apocalypse, only with Batman at your side. Watch our video of the event, and see for yourself! In the Walking…

Coffee Table Ping-Pong Is More Entertaining Than a Stack Of Magazines

Who says coffee tables can only serve as magazine storage, beverage holders, or less than comfortable footrests? Huzi Design’s Ping-Pong coffee table proves they can also be a great way to entertain guests without resorting to breaking out your Catan board. Made to order from red oak plywood, the $500 table features a chalkboard surface…

Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker Review: Let the Internet Help with Dinner

It’s Friday night. You’re out on the town when suddenly the realization hits: you totally forgot to turn off the crock-pot before you left for the evening. Now, instead of coming home to a delicious beef brisket dinner, you’re going to come home to inedible charred mass. But with Crock-pot’s new smart cooker, you can…