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Photoshop Contest: What Else Is Hiding in This Cryptic Lincoln Pic?

As you may or may not have heard, a University of North Carolina professor claims to have found a major mistake in Lincoln history. Some blurry, sepia-skinned dude in the photo who we’d believed was Lincoln was actually not! As thisSmithsonian Magazinearticle details, it’s more likely that Lincoln is this other blurry, sepia-skinned due. The…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Oct 3 '13

Comment of the Day: The Worf Effect Edition

In today’s comments, we contemplated the migration of the butterfly, explored some unfortunate options in Halloween costumes, and learned just why the Klingons are the most easily-toppled warrior empire in the Trek-verse. From this post on sci-fi warrior empires who have proven surprisingly conquerable, commenter dlthurston shares this tidbit: Remember, the entire Klingon race evolved…

io9 Ria Misra Oct 3 '13

This Browser Extension Uses Color to Make You a Lightning Fast Reader

Those looking to read faster will find an endless supply of tips and methods around the web. Beeline Reader is a service taking a unique approach—using color to guide your eye. The way Beeline promises to speed you through a long piece of text is by altering the color of each bit of text you…

Tech News Michael Hession Oct 3 '13

Guillermo del Toro’s Simpsons couch gag is the best thing ever

Can you name all the classic horror movies in this amazing title sequence that Guillermo del Toro directed for this Sunday’s Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode? There is just so much greatness in this three-minute clip. Can’t stop watching.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 3 '13

You Can Get a Poop Transplant in a Pill Now

Exciting news is afoot in the world of medical poop. Researchers have developed a new treatment for those suffering from Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, that puts gut-saving bacteria in a pill, doing away with the need for a traditional fecal transplant. In other words, you don’t have to eat poop. This new treatment stands…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Oct 3 '13

Jumping bananas! The new Middleman graphic novel will rock your world

The Middleman only aired for one season, back in 2008, but it remains one of our most beloved pieces of pop culture. And now, at last the Middleman and Wendy Watson are back in action. Both pairs of them. Creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach has come up with a brand new graphic novel, and here’s our spoiler-free…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 3 '13

How Tom Clancy’s Techno-Thrillers Helped Us Understand Modern Warfare

In the days after 9/11, as the media tried to assume some kind of normalcy, I remember watching talk shows attempt to dissect the week’s unbelievable events. And I remember one guest who kept popping up night after night: Novelist Tom Clancy, who died Tuesday at 66. Clancy was a darling of CNN and Charlie…

Movies Alissa Walker Oct 3 '13

Margaret Atwood’s apocalypse trilogy dares to imagine GMO Utopia

We’ve had time to digest the final book in Margaret Atwood’s end-of-the-world trilogy, MaddAddam. Now it’s time to look at all three novels, starting with Oryx and Crake, and consider what Atwood is trying to do with this techno-magic realist tale of humanity’s destruction and redemption through synthetic biology. Warning: This is an essay analyzing…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 3 '13

Apple Just Bought (Another) Personal Assistant Maker

Looks like Siri might be getting an upgrade after Apple bought Cue, an app that makes personalized agendas based on scanning emails. TechCrunch’s sources say that the purchase price was somewhere between $40 and $60 million, and that Apple plans to keep the company running. In other words, watch out Google Now. [TechCrunch] Photo by…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Oct 3 '13

The Oldest Alcoholic Drinks on Earth

A long-preserved historical artifact always carries an air of heady mystery with it. You’re touching something that people touched hundreds of years ago. But when it’s an alcoholic beverage, preserved for centuries, that head-spinning feeling has the potential to become real. Here are the oldest drinks still in existence. Top image: 7,000-year-old organic residue of…

io9 Vincze Miklós Oct 3 '13

The World’s Biggest Dump Truck Can Haul a Staggering 500 Tons

What looks like a small apartment complex is actually the biggest vehicle man has ever dared to put on eight wheels. Designed and built by a Belarusian company called BelAZ, the 75710 (come on, you couldn’t have thrown the word mega in there?) itself weighs almost 900 tons, and can haul close to 500 tons…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Oct 3 '13

Bees Can’t Find Flowers Thanks to Diesel Exhaust

Diesel exhaust is pretty nasty stuff. Pass an overloaded 18-wheeler clouding up the highway, and that acrid plume of hydrocarbons will overpower even your best little tree air freshener. As new research lays out, that exhaust doesn’t just smell bad, it messes with the scent of flowers. And that’s big trouble for our already struggling…

Tech News Bob Sorokanich Oct 3 '13

Your Instagram Feed Is About to Get Ads

Instagram’s been planning this for a while, but now your Insta-feed is officially no longer just yours. Over the next few months, you’ll start seeing photos and videos from #bold #brands all up in your stream of sepia-toned pics. In its announcement, Instagram claims to want to make the ads “feel as natural to Instagram…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Oct 3 '13

What would happen if you stood in the way of the LHC’s proton beams?

Goddamn awfulness, that’s what. Above: Anatoli Bugorski, Russian scientist and victim of a particle accelerator accident Oh you want specifics? Alright, so technically nobody has ever been so unlucky as to find themselves in the path of either of the Large Hadron Collider’s proton beams while they were actually turned on, so the real answer…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 3 '13

Is David Fincher’s Black Hole movie back on?

With the financial success of World War Z and 12 Years a Slave getting all the critical buzz, Brad Pitt’s studio Plan B now has oodles of cash and a lot of leg room to get the rest of their slate done. And gloryosky, that could mean the return of David Fincher’s adaptation of the…

io9 Meredith Woerner Oct 3 '13

Report: Amazon Is Cooking Up a Set-Top Box For the Holidays

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is working on a set-top box that will be ready in time for the holidays. And surprise, surprise, the lynchpin of this rumor is that Amazon has some major content deals in the works. The WSJ says Amazon supposedly has hot deals in the works from cable providers…

Commerce Leslie Horn Oct 3 '13

Which hero did you want to be when you grew up?

Most of us grew up mainlining heroic stories of brave exploits and fantastical sacrifice. And we dreamed of becoming a version of our most beloved heroes. But which epic hero or champion did you dream that you could grow up to be, when you were a little kid? Please include a picture or clip of…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 3 '13

Why Is China Testing Satellite-Hijacking Space Weapons?

Last week, China tested out a satellite that’s capable of grabbing and capturing other satellites as they orbit the Earth. This normally wouldn’t be such a big deal, except that it amounts to China conducting a weapons test in space. And that’s worrisome—especially to the Pentagon. So what’s up with this space weapons test? First…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes Oct 3 '13

Facebook Home Plays Nice With Every Social Network That Isn’t Twitter

Hey, so remember Facebook Home? Yeah, probably not. Which isn’t surprising considering it wasn’t much more than Zuck’s half-baked attempt at getting his eager fingers into the phone market. But now, Home wants to be relevant once again for the first time by bringing in all your other favorite social media accounts—you know, everything that’s…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Oct 3 '13

Scientists find radioactive fracking waste in Pennsylvanian stream

A group of Duke University scientists have found concentrations of radium, a highly radioactive substance, in a stream near a facility that treats wastewater left over from hydraulic fracturing. The concentrations are 200 times higher than background levels — and they’re in the water supply. Fracking is the practice of pumping chemical-laced liquids underground at…

io9 George Dvorsky Oct 3 '13

Photoshop Contest: What Else Is Hiding in This Cryptic Lincoln Pic?

Comment of the Day: The Worf Effect Edition

This Browser Extension Uses Color to Make You a Lightning Fast Reader

Guillermo del Toro’s Simpsons couch gag is the best thing ever

You Can Get a Poop Transplant in a Pill Now

Jumping bananas! The new Middleman graphic novel will rock your world

How Tom Clancy’s Techno-Thrillers Helped Us Understand Modern Warfare

Margaret Atwood’s apocalypse trilogy dares to imagine GMO Utopia

Apple Just Bought (Another) Personal Assistant Maker

The Oldest Alcoholic Drinks on Earth

The World’s Biggest Dump Truck Can Haul a Staggering 500 Tons

Bees Can’t Find Flowers Thanks to Diesel Exhaust

Your Instagram Feed Is About to Get Ads

What would happen if you stood in the way of the LHC’s proton beams?

Is David Fincher’s Black Hole movie back on?

Report: Amazon Is Cooking Up a Set-Top Box For the Holidays

Which hero did you want to be when you grew up?

Why Is China Testing Satellite-Hijacking Space Weapons?

Facebook Home Plays Nice With Every Social Network That Isn’t Twitter

Scientists find radioactive fracking waste in Pennsylvanian stream

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