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Artist turns a classic space opera cover into a beautiful scale model

Talk about a labor of love. Sculptor Grant Louden took Colin Hay’s beautiful illustration (left), which appeared on the cover of a reprint of James Blish’s The Star Dwellers, and recreated it in a beautifully detailed sculpture (right). Over at Louden’s website, he gives a detailed account of his 3-D reconstruction of the cover —…

Hike 2600 miles through the United States in six minutes

From Mexico and all the way up to Canada with something called the United States of America in between. One man, Tyler Fox, decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail and make his way completely through the US. That would be a 2,600 mile hike through California, Oregon and Washington. Here’s what he saw. It…

Real life returning batarang boomerang would make Batman jealous

It’s pretty hard to make Batman jealous. The dude has enough money for an entire world, gadgets to play with everyday, a secret cave to hang out in, dashing good looks and beautiful companions to take out to dinner. But here’s one thing you can have that’s better than Batman’s: a fully returning Batarang in…

The robotic future won’t look anything like what you imagine

In late autumn, I walked through drifts of crunchy leaves in Berkeley’s warehouse district to find a strange lab on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Inside, on a work bench surrounded by tidy coils of wire and electrical tape, two geeks were building the next robot revolution. But there were no Google-esque dog armies…

Insects as Role Models

Insectoid activity is a common source of raw material and inspiration for electronic music, notably in the form of cicada whirring. For Dave Keifer, who goes by Cagey House, it’s a particularly feral, anxious kind of pest motion that provides a role model. His “January Insects” sounds like a nature film in time-lapse, fast-forward mode,…

Every place I love in San Francisco in one gorgeous timelapse

San Francisco is fantastic. I’m admittedly biased because I live here, but behind all the headlines of late—skyrocketing housing prices, burgeoning class war, tech bubble 2.0—it’s still chock full of weird, wonderful, and just plain beautiful stuff. Marc Donahue from PermaGrin Films turned his sights on the city for “I Left My Heart,” an impressive…

Vin Diesel announces a fourth Riddick movie is coming

The third installment of the Riddick franchise may have turned our favorite antihero into a peeping tom, but that didn’t stop it from being a huge hit on DVD. And because of that, Riddick is getting another movie! The LA Times is reporting that Riddick was the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray title during its first…

Why campiness succeeds — and why it fails — in Batman

What have we here? Oh, just ’60s-era Batman going surfing with the Joker, and making use of some spray-on shark repellent, like one does. But what makes this campy adaptation of Batman work, while Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin didn’t? After taking a look at some of the forgotten plot holes and oddities of the…

It’s been a long day, so here’s a cute baby otter to heal your ailments

This ridiculously cute little thing was spotted near the Monterey Bay Aquarium last week, just hanging out on its mama’s belly, holding hands, swimming around, snoozing, lovin’ life. We should all be so lucky. Incredibly, these pics are not the most adorable thing I’ve seen this week; that honor goes to the baby wombat and…

In sum, the ceiling seems limitless when it comes to oils potentialities. The industry has been spending some $300 million a year on research, and this is due for an increase. The result: More discoveries, more miracles. — February 15, 1960 The Republican Courier in Ohio

The scary plastic surgery transformation of a beautiful Korean reporter

Except in extreme cases, I don’t think plastic surgery is a good idea for any human being. But when someone is attractive to begin with—like this South Korean reporter—I just can’t comprehend the reasons. Look at the before and after shots. Before After She’s not an isolated case. There are more examples of this kind…

Two ways to look at the Jukes, America’s most “degenerate” family

The Jukes are not a real family. Juke is a made-up surname, assigned to a sprawling, impoverished family by a Victorian scientist. That scientist wanted the family to get a hand up. The next scientist to study the Jukes wanted them eliminated entirely. Max Juke was born in the first half of the 18th century.…

To Make Glass Stronger, Etch It With Microscopic Cracks

To anyone who has ever dropped a wine glass or broken a window, you might have a thing or two to learn from mollusks. A new technique inspired by natural materials such as mollusk shells or tooth enamel can make glass 200 times stronger. Weirdly enough, it works by weakening the glass with microscopic cracks.…

This Amazing Krang Belt Buckle Is For Serious TMNT Cosplayers Only

An oversized belt buckle seems like an obnoxious accessory, even if you raise cattle for a living. But when that belt buckle is custom sculpted to look exactly like Krang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, suddenly dropping $190 for a functional fashion accessory seems like a steal. https://gizmodo.com/krang-apron-perfect-for-ninja-turtle-soup-prep-5994891 Hand sculpted and painted by Etsy…

North America’s Arctic Blanket compared to the rest of the continent

“Arctic air has surged into the U.S. pushing into the Southeastern states and dropping high temperatures there into the 20s with colder wind chills,” says NASA. This NOAA GOES-East satellite image shows what was happening this morning at 9:45. It’s an Arctic Blanket, says NASA: This NOAA GOES-East satellite image was captured at 1445 UTC/9:45…

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 2/11 to Discuss The N-Body Problem

This month, we’re reading Tony Burgess’ disturbing (and funny) post-zombie novel The N-Body Problem. We’ll meet on Feb. 11 to discuss it! We’re hoping Burgess will join us later that week to talk about the book. What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month to discuss a book we’ve all…

This Wacky Telescope Lets You Listen To What You’re Looking At

Unless you’re a synesthete, the five senses are pretty straightforward—but designers keep on coming up with cool ways to mix-up the experience for those of us who don’t have the natural ability. Which is what makes the Wassiliscope so neat: This thing transforms color frequencies into corresponding sound frequencies, allowing the user to hear what…

Great news, everyone! It’s so cold in Wisconsin right now that large portions of Lake Superior have completely iced over. This means that visitors to the National Lakeshore can walk right out and explore the otherwise inaccessible Mainland Sea Caves at Apostle Island. Image: Mary Dougherty–Nikon D700–The Cookery Maven

Humans have been controlling fire for at least 300,000 years

Archaeologists working at Qusem Cave in Israel have uncovered a 300,000 year-old hearth. It’s the earliest evidence of repeated fire building over a continuous period by humans. Anthropologists estimate that humans first discovered fire about a million years ago. What we don’t know, however, is when our ancestors first starting using it on a regular…

All hail the mutant lavender crab!

A Japanese seafood wholesaler found this lavender king crab in a shipment of regular king crabs. According to the company’s president Kenetsu Mikami, this is the first time he has seen a crab of this color in 25 years. “It could be a good omen,” he says. True. Or it can be a sign that…