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How do you train a boxing robot? Very carefully.

This short-short film is a neat piece of eye candy that integrates its well-worn computer-generated boxing robot into a live action world. It’s also a handy lesson on the hazards of training robot boxers. The team behind How to Train Your Robot also posted a making-of video, showing the path from storyboards to post-production: [via…

io9 Lauren Davis

First Erotic Virtual Reality Game Will Get You Laid Almost for Real

Game company Wicked Paradise claims that their incoming erotic game will be so realistic and immersive that it will be the closest thing to an actual sex experience. Their game uses the Oculus Rift, a high definition VR headset that is capable of fooling the brain into thinking you’re in an alternative world.

Sploid Jesus Diaz

Crowdfund cyborg cockroaches and horror comics for sleepless nights

If you love great comics, there are tons of spectacular comics crowdfunding campaigns running now, including an anthology of horror comics and the omnibus edition of one of our favorite webcomic epics. Or you can play mad scientist with a cyborg cockroach that you can control from your phone. The RoboRoach: Control a living insect…

io9 Lauren Davis

These Beautiful Iridescent Clouds Are Actually Foreboding

It used to be that you could only see these shimmering cloud formations, called noctilucent clouds, if you were in the North or South Pole. But lately they’ve been on the move, and though they’re pretty to look at, their presence away from the Poles may be sign of climate change. The clouds are appearing…

Climate Change Lily Hay Newman

Gaze upon all of Mercury for the first time ever

The existence of our solar system’s innermost planet has been common knowledge since ancient times, but that doesn’t actually mean we’ve always know much about it. Mercury’s proximity to the Sun has allowed it to jealously guard its secrets, and so this NASA video offers an unprecedentedly detailed view of the planet’s surface. This video…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Which Of Your Gadgets Has The Most Impressive Battery Life?

For 4.5 years I used a 15″ macbook pro from mid-2008. It had changeable batteries so twice I went to Apple and convinced them to give me a new one for free. The three batteries I used in that machine were very different. The first one was a champ. It would last for six hours…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

Why Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy nomination

We can now add “award-winning” to Tatiana Maslany’s name. This week, the Orphan Black star won a Critics’ Choice TV Award, generating buzz that she could receive an Emmy nod, which, if there is any justice in the entertainment world, she will. Very mild spoilers for Orphan Black ahead. The Critics’ Choice isn’t actually Maslany’s…

Television Lauren Davis

Crocheted Plants vs. Zombies dolls are ready to battle over your lawn

If you want to act out the ages old battle of violent plants and cartoon zombies in your own yard, Komang Darmiani is here to help. Darmiani crochets dolls of Plants vs. Zombies’ goofy game creatures. Darmiani sells individual characters as well as sets, and perfectly captures the silliness of those zombie attackers. I imagine…

io9 Lauren Davis

Do you have a favorite scifi memory of your dad?

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures in the galaxy! Is your dad a science fiction fan? Did he take you to your first science fiction movie? Do you argue over the greatest franchise? Have you ever undertaken a geeky project together? Share your favorite scifi father memories. We heard tons of…

io9 Lauren Davis

A GIF Is Being Transmitted Into Space For The First Time

Humans haven’t even been off-planet for a century and we’re already leaving trash everywhere. The moon. Mars. Our atmosphere. It’s gross. And honestly it was only a matter of time before a similar digital barrage began. Lone Signal is a project that will allow people to transmit any message they want into space. METI (Messaging…

Space & Spaceflight Lily Hay Newman

Winter Soldier set photos show off Captain America’s new costume

Earlier this week, we got a glimpse of Captain America’s new duds for The Winter Soldier, and now Cleveland’s Plain Dealer has snagged photos of Cap’s new suit in action. Looking good, sir. https://gizmodo.com/check-out-captain-americas-new-uniform-from-em-the-wi-512620404 The Plain Dealer has launched a full series of liveblog posts from the set of The Winter Soldier in Cleveland, complete…

Movies Lauren Davis

This is a real photo of a fake sunrise

Here’s a reason to turn around when looking at the sunrise or sunset. At the far side of the sky might be another fake sunrise (or sunset), made from anticrepuscular rays. Ever stood on a long, straight stretch of highway? Turn one way, and the sides of the road seem to flare out from a…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Watch the world’s longest domino chain made of books

To kick off its 2013 Summer Reading Program, the Seattle Public Library set a world record with a library-appropriate domino chain. Twenty-seven volunteers lined up 2,131 books and knocked them all down. It took the volunteers seven hours and five failed attempts to create this record-setting chain. The books aren’t part of the library’s current…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

Mozilla Wants Scientists To Be More Open

When researchers needed an easier way to share data and resources, and generally collaborate they invented the internet. And then they all went home and let the memes and brunch photos take over. Which is weird. Sure, initiatives like CERN are able to coordinate thousands of scientists toward common goals as a result of the…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman

How science fiction helped me through my grief

During the second to last episode of Battlestar Galactica, we learned that, before the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Laura Roslin lost her father and her sisters in a car accident. How horrible, I remember thinking. This explains so much about her emotional armor, how slow she is to grow close to anyone. It also…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis

By The Way, The NSA Doesn’t Need A Warrant To Listen To Your Calls (Updated)

Update: CNET has since updated its story to reflect that the government does, in fact, need a warrant to listen to your phone calls. In a “secret briefing” to Congress the NSA confirmed that their analysts can listen to phone calls without a warrant and totally at their individual discretion. So . . . not…

Privacy & Security Lily Hay Newman

Researcher Says Lego Figurines Aren’t as Happy Now as 25 Years Ago

University of Canterbury’s researcher Christopher Bartneck has discovered that Lego’s iconic figurines are not as happy now as they were 25 years ago, when all their cleanly designed faces were happy. Now there are plenty of angry, doubtful and fearful faces. A sign of the times, no doubt. https://gizmodo.com/this-secret-underground-facility-guards-all-lego-sets-e-5018990

Sploid Jesus Diaz

Researcher Says Lego Minifigs Aren’t as Happy as 25 Years Ago

University of Canterbury’s researcher Christopher Bartneck has made an obvious discovery: Lego Minifigs are not as happy today as they were 25 years ago, when all their iconic, cleanly designed faces were happy. Now they are mostly a mess—including facial expressions of anger, doubt, sadness or fear. https://gizmodo.com/this-secret-underground-facility-guards-all-lego-sets-e-5018990 I hate the minifigs with different expressions.…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

Lego Will Make a Mars Curiosity Rover Set

Rejoice fellow space and brick nutters, because Lego is going to release an official Mars Curiosity set! The original model was designed by Stephen Pakbaz, an actual NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s mechanical engineer who worked in the mission. Pakbaz entered his creation in Lego Cuusoo, a web site that allows fans to submit models that…

Space & Spaceflight Jesus Diaz

The Old-School Tech from the NSA’s Past

The NSA’s high-tech, new school surveillance system has been getting a whole lot of attention lately, but their old-school digs are worth a look as well. The agency has been around since the 1950s, originally tasked with cracking wartime codes, the NSA’s gear has always been cutting edge, and the old stuff is amazing and…

Tech News Eric Limer

How do you train a boxing robot? Very carefully.

First Erotic Virtual Reality Game Will Get You Laid Almost for Real

Crowdfund cyborg cockroaches and horror comics for sleepless nights

These Beautiful Iridescent Clouds Are Actually Foreboding

Gaze upon all of Mercury for the first time ever

Which Of Your Gadgets Has The Most Impressive Battery Life?

Why Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy nomination

Crocheted Plants vs. Zombies dolls are ready to battle over your lawn

Do you have a favorite scifi memory of your dad?

A GIF Is Being Transmitted Into Space For The First Time

Winter Soldier set photos show off Captain America’s new costume

This is a real photo of a fake sunrise

Watch the world’s longest domino chain made of books

Mozilla Wants Scientists To Be More Open

How science fiction helped me through my grief

By The Way, The NSA Doesn’t Need A Warrant To Listen To Your Calls (Updated)

Researcher Says Lego Figurines Aren’t as Happy Now as 25 Years Ago

Researcher Says Lego Minifigs Aren’t as Happy as 25 Years Ago

Lego Will Make a Mars Curiosity Rover Set

The Old-School Tech from the NSA’s Past

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