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Last train to Tractus Fossae is leaving in 23 standard minutes

Just call it the dust train, the way the rest of us do. It slices through some of the worst storms in the Tharsis quadrangle. But it’ll take you to the greatest city on Mars. Bradbury lies tucked into a fold of the planet’s highest plateau, surrounded by old lava tubes that go so deep…

Hidden Spotify Features Show Music Discovery Could Get So Much Better

It looks like Spotify is about to launch an entirely new way for you to browse its catalog with more sophisticated playlists. While the subscription music service hasn’t officially launched the features, they’re live on Spotify’s web player. If like a lot of people you get lost in Spotify’s catalog, you’re going to love what…

What are these ridiculous creatures roaming around Japan?

Tokyo’s hot and humid summers are all the encouragement people need to go around in bikinis and … monster masks. What are these scary monsters? These three were just a few photographed in bizarre costumes at a Tokyo festival—the more horrifying of the creatures seem to be living cartoons. https://kotaku.com/mid-summer-cosplay-was-wonderful-this-weekend-in-japan-948488295

Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson: It’s the “End of an Era” at Syfy

Not too long ago, Eureka and Warehouse 13 were Syfy’s flagship shows: light, family-friendly action comedies about smart, nice people who worked together to solve problems. Now Eureka is gone and Warehouse 13 is ending soon. We talked to Eureka’s Colin Ferguson about the “end of an era.” “Talk about a rebranding,” Ferguson says about…

Meet the new generation of pirates, or “maritime non-state actors”

In today’s political environment of state instability and terrorism, sea piracy is making a comeback. And some of these pirate groups actually have fleets that rival national navies. Here’s how the new generation of pirates has become the terror of the seas. Arrrrgh! Photo via Reuters Over at gCaptain, there’s a really interesting article by…

New Blood Test Could Definitively Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease

We’re all painfully aware that there isn’t a cure for Alzheimer’s. There isn’t even a reliable way to diagnose it. But a new blood test, the first of its kind, indicates that we can hold out hope for a surefire diagnosis, one that might catch the disease earlier than the current battery of brain scans…

Disney wants to turn Artemis Fowl into the new Harry Potter

For years, people have been saying Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books would make a great movie — and now it’s happening, and some heavy hitters are involved. Harvey Weinstein and Robert DeNiro are producing the Artemis Fowl movie at Disney, with a Harry Potter scriptwriter on board. Here are all the details, via the press…

Kim Jong-un Confirms Design For a $200 Million International Airport

First Instagram, now this: An architecture and planning firm in Hong Kong has reportedly been chosen to turn a military airstrip in North Korea into an international airport. The plans show two donut-shaped terminals that could contribute to what some are describing as a tiny-but-not-imperceptible North Korean economic boom. The plans show the transformation of…

Throng of Theremin Players Performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Here now are 167 musicians playing the absolute hell out of 167 matryomins, to the tune of a boogie-tastic Beethoven’s 9th. Be apprised: “matryomin” is a portmanteau of matryoshka (as in nested matryoshka doll) and theremin. It’s… basically exactly what it sounds like. The theremin, of course, is the hallowed noise-maker of every science fiction…

This One-Handed Bottle Opener Sure Is Handy

Do you ever get frustrated when trying to open a beer bottle? You can do it on the side of a table, but that typically hurts your hand (a lot). You can open it with a lighter, but that’s so college. You could use a regular bottle opener, but that’s so boring. Here’s the other…

NASA Didn’t Even Come Close to Creating a Secure Cloud Network

Like a lot of organizations, NASA’s doing its best to keep up with the times and move its computer systems onto the cloud. Like only a government agency can do, it’s failing fantastically at doing so securely. A review released on Monday by NASA’s inspector general had nothing good to say about the space agency’s…

See the hard science fiction movie Europa Report on the big screen

We’ve been talking about Europa Report for ages, and it’s been available online — but this weekend, it’s actually coming to theaters! And we’re giving you a chance to see it on the big screen for free on Thursday night. Just click here and use “io9” as a promotional code, then register for either one…

How neuroscience helped to rescue Romanian orphans

Over at Aeon magazine, journalist Virginia Hughes has a gripping story about how a small group of neuroscientists created a government program to place Romanian orphans in foster care — and did some terrific scientific work in the process. Yes, science can improve lives. Photo in a Romanian orphanage by Thomas Coex/Getty Images You may…

Zagat for Android and iOS: All the Zagat Reviews (Finally) for Free

The Google+ Local iPhone app mysteriously disappeared from the App Store this past Friday—and now we know why. The Google-owned Zagat has just released a new app for both iPhone and Android today, all coming in Google’s new card-based UI. What does it do? With the disappearance of the Google+ Local iPhone app, Zagat’s new…

Must Read: Arthur C. Clarke puts the smackdown on A.I. skeptics

Tod Mesirow traveled to Sri Lanka and interviewed Rendezvous with Rama author Arthur C. Clarke in 1995, and the full transcript was recently published in the L.A. Review of Books. Including Clarke’s awesome rejoinder to people who don’t think artificial intelligence is coming. Asked whether we’ll have computers that can think for themselves, like HAL…

This surrealist film treats urban landscapes like a Rubik’s Cube

Prepare to visit a strange new world in which cityscapes can be spun around like the layers of a Rubik’s cube — and where the laws of physics no longer apply. This video, called Rubix, was produced by filmmaker Chris Kelly as part of his graduation project at the University of Greenwich. He writes: Our…

Holy Crap Look How Fast This Nikon Pro Can Teardown a $6000 D4

Well just call this guy Mr. Magic Hands because he makes dissembling and repairing one of the best cameras in the world look so easy that it must be sleight of hand. I know this is real, but I still can’t believe it. In just over 20 minutes, the Nikon Professional Services tech disassembles Nikon’s…

Is Muslim voodoo keeping Anthony Weiner’s wife from leaving?

How does a dirty creep like Anthony Weiner stay married to such a lovely and intelligent woman like Huma Abedin? Right-wing commentators have figure it out: Huma grew up in Saudi Arabia, where sinister Islamic magic is used to make women stand by their men. Magic! https://jezebel.com/new-dumb-theory-huma-abedin-stays-with-anthony-weiner-950526747

Should You Friend Someone on Facebook Before Your First Date? No.

Air Travel Today is a Damn Bargain

It might not feel like it, but air travel’s a steal compared to what it was a half century ago. Since the American airline industry was deregulated in 1978, ticket prices have fallen by about 40%. Of course, air travel isn’t quite as luxurious as some postwar dreamers imagined, but you can’t beat that price.…