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You Can Use Google Maps to Find Faces Hidden in the Earth

It’s nearly impossible to gaze up during the day without spotting sort of cloudy, billowing face staring back at us. But rarely do we get the opportunity to see the faces we so casually trample right beneath our feet. Now, a new program by Onformative is giving us a bird’s eye’s view of every facial…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

So this DVD looks and smells like pizza when it’s finished playing

It’s been been covered with a heat-activated label that changes from black to a picture of a pizza once it’s done a few thousand revolutions inside your DVD player. At which point it also smells like pizza. Utterly dumb, or totally brilliant? We report – YOU DECIDE. Via Dvice: In partnership with 10 local video…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Iain M. Banks explains he wasn’t writing science fiction for the money

Iain M. Banks has had two astoundingly great careers — with the middle initial, he’s one of the most influential and brilliant science fiction authors of the past 25 years. Without it, he’s a great literary author. And some people believe he did the science fiction to subsidize his literary work. If anything, it’s the…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Geoff Johns says goodbye to Green Lantern in This Week’s Comics

Yes, after being in charge of Green Lantern for nearly a decade, revitalizing the title, and adding more to the DC universe mythos than anybody besides Jack Kirby, Geoff Johns has penned his final issue. Plus Godzilla, sex, a sword-wielding Little Red Riding Hood and more, all in this week’s comics! New Issues Dark Horse:…

Books & Comics Rob Bricken

This Radio-Book Was The Future of Education

New technologies often go through a honeymoon phase where educators hold them up as the futuristic savior of learning. Today teachers can’t get enough of those Kindles, iPads and MOOCs which promise to radically change education for generations to come. But this line of thinking has a long history. In the 1930s some people predicted…

Tech News Matt Novak

How Sunscreen Works (And Why You’re Wrong About It)

Your skin shouldn’t look like a package of pork cracklins after spending the day outdoors; that’s why we invented sunscreen. However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to slather on your protection—screw it up and you could get burned. It’s not the visible light from the sun that causes your skin to crisp,…

Health Andrew Tarantola

Annalee Newitz reading tonight in Phoenix, tomorrow in Seattle

In my continuing quest to meet people who read books, I am leaving my warm home on the internet and venturing into the real world. Hopefully you will be there too! I’ll be reading and discussing my new book tonight at Changing Hands bookstore in Phoenix, and tomorrow in Seattle at the Town Hall, partnered…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz

Sweat-Draining Fabric Will Banish Armpit Stains for Good

Fabrics geared towards athletes are designed to wick sweat away from the body so they don’t feel drenched. But the fabric is still wet and weighed down with perspiration. To really feel dry, researchers at UC Davis have developed a fabric with channels that literally drain sweat away. Gross and awesome. The fabric, made from…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Allosaurus Ate Like a Terrifying Two-Ton Falcon

Tyrannosaurus rex was a thrasher, prone to vigorously shaking its powerful, prey-packed jaws from side-to-side like a crocodile. But new simulations reveal Allosaurus was equipped to dismember its prey with a little more decorum, stripping flesh from bone not with the head-swinging motion of a croc, but the meticulous tug-tug-tug of a falcon. Top image…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

24 minutes of Star Wars heroes and villains dancing their Hutts off

The dance shows at Disney’s Star Wars Weekends have always been an entertaining mix of embarrassment, fun and insanity, but they’ve clearly topped themselves in this complete run of “Dancing with the Star Wars Stars.” I don’t want to spoil it all for you, but some of the more inspired highlights: • Emperor Palpatine dancing…

io9 Rob Bricken

A Great Pair of Wireless Desktop Speakers Is Your Deal of the Day

Just because a pair of speakers uses Bluetooth doesn’t mean they’re going to sound like crap. Audyssey’s Wireless Bluetooth Speakers received several surprising rave reviews when they came out because they sound great and look handsome, too. But they were pricey. https://gizmodo.com/audyssey-wireless-speakers-yes-bluetooth-can-sound-re-5936848 Right now Woot’s tech deal is a pair of Audyssey Wireless Bluetooth Speakers,…

Tech News Kif Leswing

Gamers are more hostile towards opponents that seem human

A recent study has shown that gamers who wage battle against human-looking characters are more likely to experience aggressive thoughts and words than those facing monstrous nonhuman targets. For the study, a University of Connecticut research team led by Rory McGloin had 148 participants play the first-person shooter, Quake 3 Revolution, before administering tests to…

io9 George Dvorsky

Good News! Xbox One (Kind of) Doesn’t Require Internet Connection (Maybe)

Much to the dismay of practically everyone, rumors that the Xbox One would require a constant internet connection—and a good one, at that—had been running rampant. You can officially put those fears to rest, for the most part. Even though there was no official statement today, by all accounts, the Xbox One has the potential…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

The Artificial Insect Eye That Will Give Sight To Tiny Drones

Humans see the world through a pair of high resolution, single lens eyes that allow us to adjust focus and pinpoint fine details. But simpler creatures, like insects, instead rely on compound eyes that have lower resolution but offer a much wider distortion-free field-of-view that’s actually better suited for lightning fast motion perception. And as…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Byzantium trailer channels that old Interview with A Vampire feeling

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a vampire movie with complicated monster hierarchies, gorgeous period-piece costumes and bittersweet relationships. But Neil Jordan (writer of High Spirits and director of The Crying Game) is channeling that old Anne Rice feeling. Let’s hope it works. This movie stars the gorgeous Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton…

Trailers Meredith Woerner

The Industrial Design Behind Xbox One’s “Invisible” System

When Microsoft introduced Kinect three years ago, it brought pervasive computing into many homes for the very first time. Today, with the announcement of Xbox One, it’s poised to pull millions of Americans into the era of the truly connected home. And we’re all going to look damn good getting there. Xbox One is less…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

Was Michael Crichton right about a link between epilepsy and violence?

The Terminal Man, a book published by Michael Crichton in the 1972, links explosive violence with epilepsy. This isn’t the first book to put the two together — the idea that epileptic seizures could cause violence goes back into antiquity. But is there any truth to this notion? Michael Crichton is best known for coming…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Dragonfly Wings Are Amazing In Slow Motion

Destin, our friend over at Smarter Every Day, has expanded our brains once again. Did you know that dragonfly wings work differently than nearly every other insect, utilizing a direct flight mechanism? Did you know that they can operate each wing independently, enabling them to glide like a bird? Even if you did know all…

Tech News Brent Rose

WHAT? Steven Spielberg Is Making a Live-Action Halo Series

We thought we knew a lot about what was coming at today’s Xbox One announcement (and we did!). But there’s at least one phenomenal surprise that the internet was able to keep it’s mouth shut about: a new installment of the Halo franchise is making its way to a living room near you—in the form…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg

Xbox One Could the Best Friend Your TV Ever Had

Xbox One is making TV watching awesome. It’s an incredible multitasker that can do the things your regular old remote does better, along with voice and gesture controls. But that’s just the beginning. https://gizmodo.com/the-new-xbox-everything-you-need-to-know-about-microso-509033619 Watching TV To turn the console on, all you have to say is “Xbox, on.” It never gets harder than that.…

Tech News Leslie Horn

You Can Use Google Maps to Find Faces Hidden in the Earth

So this DVD looks and smells like pizza when it’s finished playing

Iain M. Banks explains he wasn’t writing science fiction for the money

Geoff Johns says goodbye to Green Lantern in This Week’s Comics

This Radio-Book Was The Future of Education

How Sunscreen Works (And Why You’re Wrong About It)

Annalee Newitz reading tonight in Phoenix, tomorrow in Seattle

Sweat-Draining Fabric Will Banish Armpit Stains for Good

Allosaurus Ate Like a Terrifying Two-Ton Falcon

24 minutes of Star Wars heroes and villains dancing their Hutts off

A Great Pair of Wireless Desktop Speakers Is Your Deal of the Day

Gamers are more hostile towards opponents that seem human

Good News! Xbox One (Kind of) Doesn’t Require Internet Connection (Maybe)

The Artificial Insect Eye That Will Give Sight To Tiny Drones

Byzantium trailer channels that old Interview with A Vampire feeling

The Industrial Design Behind Xbox One’s “Invisible” System

Was Michael Crichton right about a link between epilepsy and violence?

Dragonfly Wings Are Amazing In Slow Motion

WHAT? Steven Spielberg Is Making a Live-Action Halo Series

Xbox One Could the Best Friend Your TV Ever Had

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