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Watch a 70-Foot Concrete Bridge Survive a Simulated 6.9 Earthquake

In a warehouse in Reno, scientists are putting the biggest seismic facility in the countrythrough its paces. The newly-expanded lab earthquake lab uses three 50-ton shake tables to simulate earthquakes—including the infamous 6.9 earthquake in Kobe, Japan. A team of schools, led by University of Nevada at Reno, recently recreated intense earthquakes to test a…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

This Is Why It’s So Impossible to Quit Comcast

If you’ve been anywhere even remotely near the internet over the past couple of days, you’re probably familiar with Ryan Block’s now-legendary attempt to quit Comcast. And while it’s hilarious and awful and mind-numbing all the same time, there’s far more to the story. It’s no secret that employees working in cable companies’ retention departments…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

Imaginary Covers For The Books About Harry Potter’s Middle Aged Life

Last week, J.K. Rowling gave us a glimpse at a 34-year-old Harry Potter, but revealed very little about his adult life. These book covers imagine Harry’s life at a slightly more advanced age—and it isn’t pretty. Leave it to the master cynics at Someecards to picture such a dreary future for our Mr. Potter. You…

io9 Lauren Davis

This Gorgeous Teapot Lets You Watch Your Tea Leaves Brew

Loose-leaf tea is a good investment, but not if you’re going to cram it into a ball and hope it gets fully immersed in hot water. Far better are teapots that let your tea roam free, allowing the leaves to be properly steeped and achieve their full flavor potential. This new teapot by Joey Roth…

Tech News Alissa Walker

If Fox Buys Warner Bros., Could Batman Team Up With The Movie X-Men?

The big news of the day is that Rupert Murdoch wants to buy Time Warner, which would mean way more consolidation in book publishing. And tons of layoffs in the media world. But also, I’ve been wondering all day… could we see Batman meet Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine? Top image: ex-m on Deviant Art. Intellectual property…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

The Fake Places Cartographers Used to Trap Copyright Thieves

People will go to some insane lengthsto hunt down the bandits of their precious brainchildren. And for good reason! Some cartographers, though, have figured out an easier way of doing things. By including fake river bends, shortcuts, and even entire streets, the mapmakers of the world can beat thieves at their own game. As Atlas…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

Here’s What Happens To Snakes In Microgravity

In honor of World Snake Day, which is today, here’s what happens when you put a bunch of snakes on a plane…for science. Most animals perceive the weightlessness of microgravity as if they were falling upside down. If you drop a cat from a great height, for example, it will roll over to attempt to…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

NASA Is Making Nukes More Expensive

When NASA terminated the space shuttle program, it also deprived solid fuel manufacturers of their main customer. The result is a massive spike in propellant prices, which is increasing the cost of the U.S.-UK Trident nuclear program. Both the space shuttle and the submarine-launched Trident rely on booster engines containing a powerful solid rocket fuel.…

io9 Mark Strauss

Google Wallet Can Now Store Gift Cards and Pester Your Friends for Money

Google Wallet’s latest update includes several new features, including a way to store gift cards and a way to easily harass your friends to pay you back. You can bug your friends (by sending what Google calls a “friendly nudge” but what most people will call a “UGH I KNOW”) to pay you back for…

Tech News Kate Knibbs

Could We Drink The Water On Mars?

It’s looking more and more likely that there is indeed flowing, liquid water somewhere on Mars or, at least, forming water. So, if we find it, could we (and should we) also drink it? Astrobiologist Nilton Renno, who was co-investigator for NASA’s 2007 Phoenix mission, joined us today to tell us about his latest project:…

io9 Ria Misra

Former Soviet Mines Are Like Artificially Constructed Pits Of Hell

No, these aren’t natural disasters, craters from a huge meteorite, or the burrows of some massive worm from space. These are mines, created by the Soviet Union to harness the awesome natural resources of Russia and Eastern Europe. But they look like a glimpse of Hell itself. We already showed you some wonderful old mines…

io9 Vincze Miklós

Mondo Reveals Batman: The Animated Series Album Covers!

Now this is a fun idea. Mondo is making Batman: The Animated Series 7-inch album covers for San Diego Comic-Con. They look so rad. Here’s a preview video along with the art and where to get them via Mondo: We are so excited to announce our Batman: The Animated Series 7-Inch records featuring five different…

Books & Comics Meredith Woerner

U.S. Remains Key Growth Market for Cigarettes, Despite Graphs Like This

A graph released earlier this yearby the Surgeon General reflects the dramatic and ongoing 50-year decline in American cigarette consumption. And yet, a chief executive for Imperial Tobacco group recently called the U.S. “a key growth market.” How is this possible? The Washington Post reports this morning that two of America’s largest tobacco companies are…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

DARPA’S Turning to Bezos and Branson For Help Building Its Spaceplanes

We’ve known about DARPA’s plan to build a reusable, unmanned space plane for quite some time, but the agency just announced the companies that will help. Unsurprisingly, two feature famous billionaires who love space. DARPA awarded contracts to Boeing, Masten Space Systems, and Northrop Grumman to lead the first phase of its Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1)…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes

Gene Yang Gives Comics’ First Asian American Superhero A Superb Origin

Superheroes may be the dominant subject for comics, but when Gene Luen Yang, creator of American Born Chinese, Boxers & Saints, and other remarkable comics, sets his writing talents to the genre, it becomes something fresh. In The Shadow Hero, Yang takes the first Asian American superhero in comics and writes him a rollicking origin…

io9 Lauren Davis

NFL Sunday Ticket Will Be Available Without Satellite Next Season (Updated)

Looks like DirecTV is poised to offer cord-cutters a big bucket of NFL, no satellite contract required: AppleInsider just found this unannounced promotional page promising all the out-of-market live games you can watch, every Sunday, starting at $200. Update: We reached out to DirecTV, and found out that this offer has been available for some…

Television Bob Sorokanich

I Was Hidden on This Guy’s Hard Drive for Over Six Years

Six years ago, photographer Joey L. was accidentally caught on film by a fellow snapper. Six years later, the pair discovered they’d been within meters—and caught each other on camera. Here, we republishJoey L.’s account of what happened. It’s been estimated that as many as 880 billion photos will be taken by the close of…

Tech News Joey L.

Go Check When Your Free Cloud Storage Deals Expire

1GB here, 50GB there—the bonus cloud storage space you can pick up by buying a Chromebook, connecting a Samsung tablet or subscribing to Office 365 can soon start to add up. The trouble is, many of these tempting deals are time-limited, which can leave you in quite a pickle when the expiration date passes. Typically,…

Gadgets David Nield

Someone tried to trademark the term “September 11, 2001” on 9/11

A businessman named Moti Shniberg actually tried to trademark the term “September 11, 2001.” And he wasted no time doing so — Shniberg filed his application on that very day, as the Twin Towers and Pentagon were still smoldering. Thankfully, the U.S. patent and trademark office rejected his application. From Bloomberg: Another effort was a…

Tech News Matt Novak

Stunning sci-fi concept sketches are actually 3D renders

I love the 3D concept art by Neil Maccormack because it doesn’t look like 3D at all. His renders—which he finishes in Photoshop—feel like acrylics painted with real brushes. His palette—which sometimes reminds me of Ralph McQuarrie’s—is crucial for the painterly feel of his creations. Neil Maccormack is a freelance 3d artist based in Geneva,…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

Watch a 70-Foot Concrete Bridge Survive a Simulated 6.9 Earthquake

This Is Why It’s So Impossible to Quit Comcast

Imaginary Covers For The Books About Harry Potter’s Middle Aged Life

This Gorgeous Teapot Lets You Watch Your Tea Leaves Brew

If Fox Buys Warner Bros., Could Batman Team Up With The Movie X-Men?

The Fake Places Cartographers Used to Trap Copyright Thieves

Here’s What Happens To Snakes In Microgravity

NASA Is Making Nukes More Expensive

Google Wallet Can Now Store Gift Cards and Pester Your Friends for Money

Could We Drink The Water On Mars?

Former Soviet Mines Are Like Artificially Constructed Pits Of Hell

Mondo Reveals Batman: The Animated Series Album Covers!

U.S. Remains Key Growth Market for Cigarettes, Despite Graphs Like This

DARPA’S Turning to Bezos and Branson For Help Building Its Spaceplanes

Gene Yang Gives Comics’ First Asian American Superhero A Superb Origin

NFL Sunday Ticket Will Be Available Without Satellite Next Season (Updated)

I Was Hidden on This Guy’s Hard Drive for Over Six Years

Go Check When Your Free Cloud Storage Deals Expire

Someone tried to trademark the term “September 11, 2001” on 9/11

Stunning sci-fi concept sketches are actually 3D renders

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