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Author Mary Rickert Is Here To Talk To You About The Memory Garden!

In June, the io9 book club read Mary Rickert’s The Memory Garden. Today, from 12 – 1 P.M. Pacific Time, she will be here to answer your questions about The Memory Garden, writing about magic, and anything else! Start asking Rickert your questions in the comments section right now and she’ll answer as many as…

Swag, Vapes, and Econ: My Day at the North American Bitcoin Conference

Bitcoin may have emerged from a shadowy corner of the internet, but soon, it’ll have its own government affairs office in Washington. According to the crypto-currency’s biggest advocates, who assembled at the second North American Bitcoin Conference this weekend in Chicago, Bitcoin is all grown up. In reality, it’s entering adolescence—which is way more interesting.…

President Harry S. Truman’s middle name is just the letter S

When Harry Truman was born in 1884 his parents couldn’t decide on a middle name, so they simply went with the letter S. Their goal was to honor both Truman’s paternal grandfather (Shippe) and his maternal grandfather (Solomon). Frustratingly for Truman, it actually led to some confusion during his lifetime — including when he took…

It’s Time to Destroy Corporate Personhood

The United States is one of only a few countries in the world that recognizes corporations as persons. It’s a so-called “legal fiction” that’s meant to uphold the rights of groups and to smooth business processes. But it’s a dangerous concept that’s gone too far — and could endanger social freedoms in the future. Illustration…

The World Is Your Steam Room With a Material That Turns Sunshine Into Steam

Good news for vaporized water fans everywhere: MIT researchers have developed a disc-shaped material structure that generates steam using solar power. The structure is porous and sponge-like, and floats on water. It looks like the gross dish scrubber in the bottom of your sink, except instead of vaguely smelling like rotten asparagus, MIT’s steam-brewing material…

The Rock Has Pretty Much Admitted He’s Playing Shazam

In a recent interview with Total Film, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson confirms he’s playing a DC superhero that will be announced shortly — a character that “has the power of Superman.” Unless there’s some major disinformation going on here, it sounds like the Rock is almost certainly Shazam. In terms of DC heroes who are…

This All-In-One Printer Churns Out Completely Functional Circuit Boards

Prototyping a new device without a factory at your disposal is as time consuming as it is expensive. Unless the crowd-funded Squink printer manages to become a reality. It lets hobbyists and aspiring Wozniaks print their own functional circuit boards using conductive ink and glue, for almost immediate turnarounds when they make revisions to a…

Adventure Tested: Whistle, A Fitness Tracker For Your Dog

Whistle is a new, collar-mounted activity monitor for your dog, allowing you to track exercise, food, medication and other parameters whether you’re with them or even when you’re apart. https://gizmodo.com/wiley-meets-snow-1603385263 What’s It Supposed To Do? The Whistle device is a silver dollar-sized wafer of plastic and stainless steel equipped with a three-axis accelerometer, plus WiFi…

Geologists finally understand how sandstone arches get their shape. By studying cubes of sand, researchers showed that areas squeezed by vertical stress are strengthened and protected from erosion. This means that it’s gravity — and not erosion — that gives rise to elegant sandstone arches, pillars, and alcoves. Image: Doug Meek/Shutterstock.

New ‘Quantum Bounce’ Theory Explains How Black Holes Become White

Some cosmologists speculate that black holes end their lives by transforming into their exact opposite — so-called ‘white holes‘ that pour all the material they gobbled up back into space. A new theory based on quantum gravity could explain how this is possible. https://gizmodo.com/what-are-white-holes-5545135 Black holes form when a dying star collapses under its own…

Gum-Packing Coffee Cup Sleeves Prevent Burns and Bad Breath

If you think a fancy new lid is the only way you can upgrade a disposable coffee cup, you clearly haven’t seen what ad agency DDB came up with for a South African chain called the Seattle Coffee Co. For a limited time its paper sleeves that prevent burns (and lawsuits) were upgraded with a…

The Little-Known Story of El Niño And the Mutiny on the Bounty

The “Great El Niño” lasted from 1789 to 1793, profoundly impacting weather and causing massive droughts. A lesser-known consequence of this climatic event is that it saved the lives of Captain William Bligh and his crew when the mutineers on the HMS Bounty set them adrift in the South Pacific. El Niño is associated with…

Facebook Adds a Save Button Since There’s Too Much Crap on Your News Feed

Over the years, Facebook has slowly morphed from a voyeur’s wet dream into what is now essentially a popularity-based RSS feed. And since there’s only so many listicles one can read in a day, Facebook just added a “Save” feature that compiles all your readables for viewing at your leisure. Just click the little arrow…

12 Guardians Of the Galaxy Facts The Movie Won’t Tell You

Everybody’s super-excited about Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and justifiably so, but there’s one problem: if you’re only watching the film, you’re not getting the truth. The Guardians — the group and the members — have a far weirder history than the movie will acknowledge, and here’s the proof. 1) None of the Guardians in…

Here’s the First, Full-Length Trailer for the Alan Turing Biopic

Alan Turing, the venerated WWII Nazi Enigma cracker and creator of the modern AI standard (whether or not it actually works), is getting the biopic treatment. And today, we’re getting our first, full-length look at Benedict Cumberbatch as the father of computer science himself. And from what we can see so far, the movie seems…

Watch A Whole Episode Of Sailor Moon Re-Animated By More Than 250 Fans

Sailor Moon and her friends get a couple hundred makeovers thanks to the Moon Animate Make-Up! project, in which more than 250 animators pooled their talents to completely re-do the animation for Sailor Moon’s 38th episode. It’s sometimes pretty, sometimes silly, and often flat-out ridiculous. Seriously, great job to the organizers and all the animators.…

Benedict Cumberbatch Is Alan Turing In The First Imitation Game Trailer

Get a first look at Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, computer scientist, mathematician, father of artificial intelligence and the person who cracked the German Enigma code. The Imitation Game appears to focus on the latter of Turing’s accomplishments, which makes sense as solving the Germans’ “uncrackable” code helped the Allies defeat the Axis Powers. Turing’s…

How A Biochemical Invention Of The Mongols Gave Us Sour Cream

When you’re enjoying your burrito, you should briefly think of the biochemical ingenuity of the horse-riding culture that nearly overran Europe. The Mongols had to process their food in a special way, and they liked getting drunk — this led to a culinary treasure. The Mongols tended to eat what they brought with them, and…

How the United States can collapse and fall on a Black Friday

Our complex society is so fragile that a virus—spreading through cash and products sold during Black Friday—would bring it to its knees in a couple of days. That’s the premise of this impressive video by motion graphic designer Patrick Clair—the guy who created the awesome True Detective intro. The video was created as a teaser…

Anti-Missile Tech Is Being Used to Find Malaria Before it Strikes

As it stands now, there’s no truly effective method of protecting against malaria. Vaccines are notoriously difficult to make, and it’s almost impossible to detect the infection in its early stage—until now, that is. And it’s all thanks to highly advanced, tank-fighting military hardware. The bit of tech pulling double duty is called Focal Plane…