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Where do space whales come from?

It’s the perfect painting to find at a garage sale: the 1970s-style space whale, floating through a psychedelic wonderland of nebulae and hippie hopes for world peace. But where did this iconic image come from? Over at Lapham’s Quarterly, Rebecca Onion has a great essay where she explores the strange history of the space whale.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 18 '13

Can You Guess Which Movies These Facial Mashups Belong To?

Every director has his or her own distinct visual mood, but does that mood extend to what types of faces they cast? Based on data pushed through a facial recognition algorithm, these images shows us the aggregate of every face shown in a handful of blockbusters from the past few years. As you might guess,…

Movies Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jul 18 '13

Newly discovered “Pandoravirus” could redefine life as we know it

Scientists have discovered a pair of viruses that defy classification. Bigger and more genetically complex than any viral genus known to science, these so-called “pandoraviruses” could reignite a longstanding debate over the classification of life itself. The Largest Virus Ever There was a time when scientists regarded viruses as small and simple. Then along came…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jul 18 '13

Parkour goat is tired of your bullsh*t fence

Five-foot fence? Please. Parkour goat’s got this. Goats were basically born to do this kind of thing. They scale near-vertical faces on the daily. [Spotted on Laughing Squid]

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jul 18 '13

The very best finds on the floor at Comic-Con 2013

Navigating the sweaty masses on the Comic-Con floor can be soul-crippling. So we did it for you! Here’s our list of the best booths, sites, toys, action figures, and goodies you should be gobbling up (with location numbers) on the floor of San Diego Comic-Con. That’s not just He-Man, it’s King He-Man at the Mattel…

io9 Meredith Woerner Jul 18 '13

Shooting Challenge: Insects And Other Creepy Crawlies

This is it. My favorite annual Shooting Challenge of the year. You go out into the grass and muck and photograph bugs. The Challenge Photograph an insect, bug, arachnid, whatever! The Method Many of you will dust off the old macro lens this week, which is fantastic. Others might repurpose a telephoto lens for ground-level…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jul 18 '13

Anonymous Says They Leaked 2,000 Congressional Email Passwords

The rascals over at Anonymous are still pretty upset over the recent revelations about the NSA spying on seemingly everyone so they’re acting out in the only way they know how: hacking. Specifically, releasing the supposed email accounts—and passwords—of seemingly everybody on Capitol Hill. On Monday night, the affiliate account @AnonLastResort tweeted a link to…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes Jul 18 '13

A 69-Year-Old Experiment Finally Worked For the First Time

One of the longest standing experiments has finally yielded a result. Started in 1944, it only took 69 years but the tar-like pitch at Trinity College Dublin has finally dropped. Pitch, for the uninitiated, is a highly viscous material that looks solid but is actually just a slow moving liquid. The point of the experiment…

Tech News Peter ha Jul 18 '13

Heal your Game of Thrones anguish with these plush Direwolf puppies

It’s no secret that this past season of Game of Thrones has been rather… rough. But what better way to get over your agony than by snuggling your very own plush Direwolf puppy? These three Stark pets are the pinnacle of Factory Entertainment’s brand-new, shockingly adorable Game of Thrones plush line. The Direwolf puppies stand…

io9 Rob Bricken Jul 18 '13

Here’s the New Lego Back to the Future Set

This is the back of the box of the Lego Back to the Future set, which I got last week. While I’m still disappointed with how they made the hood, it’s still a nice set. That car’s front is easily fixable if you get some extra pieces—and the third movie’s car actually looks nice. Masashi…

Movies Jesus Diaz Jul 18 '13

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 7/30 to discuss Odds Against Tomorrow

In July, we’re reading Nathaniel Rich’s near-future novel of climate disaster and corporate insanity, Odds Against Tomorrow. We’ll meet July 30 to discuss it, and we hope Rich will join us later that week for a discussion! What is this io9 Book Club all about? We meet once a month and discuss a book we’re…

Books & Comics Annalee Newitz Jul 18 '13

Who Needs a Breathalyzer When a Urinal Can Tell How Drunk You Are?

Here’s a brilliant idea that could prevent countless drunk driving-related deaths from occurring. Working with a marketing agency called DDB, Zouk, a popular nightclub in Singapore, installed a series of urinals that are able to monitor a patron’s blood alcohol level and warn them if they’re too drunk to drive. It starts when a club…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jul 18 '13

Like humans, chimps and orangutans remember their past

Sometimes a particular smell, flavor or other sensory cue can trigger a flood of distant memories. New research shows chimpanzees and orangutans have similar capacities for this kind of episodic memory — they’re able to accurately recall an event that happened three years prior. The results suggest, once again, that we’re just not as unique…

io9 Joseph Bennington-Castro Jul 18 '13

What Comes After Click: A Crash Course in Tangible User Interfaces

For three decades, most of us have interacted with computers in exactly the same way: We point with a mouse (or a finger!), click, and watch the screen. In one way, it’s the most outdated element of human computer interaction around. But in another, it’s the thing that’s shaped every operating system and device designed…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jul 18 '13

Which New Show Will Rock Your TV Set? First Impressions on 5 Pilots!

Soon, a dozen new TV shows will court your eyeballs. They’ll present their fancy concepts, like “What if the whole population of the world was 100 horny teenagers?” And they’ll trot out their beautiful, talented stars. But which show deserves your love? We watched five brand new pilots, and here are our impressions. Top image:…

Television Io9 staff Jul 18 '13

Joe Rogan tells io9 why you should question the !@#$ out of everything

Though he’s primarily known as a UFC commentator and comedian, Joe Rogan is also an outspoken advocate of science. In his new show, which is set to premiere on Syfy later this month, he critically investigates a series of strange and unexplained phenomenon. We recently caught up with him to learn more. If you follow…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 18 '13

108 Years of Legendary Herman Miller Design in 108 Seconds

How did iconic furniture like the Eames side chair become iconic? What about the Noguchi table, or countless other classic pieces of the modern era? The answer is through the legendary design firm Herman Miller, whose history you can see illustrated in 108 seconds in this short video. These classic designs would have never come…

Tech News Leslie Horn Jul 18 '13

Watch the Crazy Aftermath of a Drone Crashing Next to a Florida Highway

So remember how traffic was pretty bad in Florida yesterday? You know, because of an unmanned drone unexpectedly spiraling down from the heavens and blowing up next to US 98 Highway by Tyndall Air Base? Well, there’s video now—or at least of the aftermath. And they were not kidding about that smoke cloud. A QF-4…

Tech News Ashley Feinberg Jul 18 '13

Astronomers watch as a gas cloud gets torn to shreds by a black hole

Two years ago, astronomers realized that a gas cloud was on a collision course with the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The encounter has since taken place — and it was all recorded in real time. Here’s how it all went down — and a stunning simulation to go along with…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 18 '13

Infographic shows that the world likes the US slightly more than China

The Pew Research group recently conducted a massive, global poll to figure out who has “favorable” views of the U.S. and China. They put together a great visualization to show how many people in each region look favorably on the two superpowers. The U.S. is liked slightly more, except in the Middle East. Below, you…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jul 18 '13

Where do space whales come from?

Can You Guess Which Movies These Facial Mashups Belong To?

Newly discovered “Pandoravirus” could redefine life as we know it

Parkour goat is tired of your bullsh*t fence

The very best finds on the floor at Comic-Con 2013

Shooting Challenge: Insects And Other Creepy Crawlies

Anonymous Says They Leaked 2,000 Congressional Email Passwords

A 69-Year-Old Experiment Finally Worked For the First Time

Heal your Game of Thrones anguish with these plush Direwolf puppies

Here’s the New Lego Back to the Future Set

io9 Book Club reminder: Meeting 7/30 to discuss Odds Against Tomorrow

Who Needs a Breathalyzer When a Urinal Can Tell How Drunk You Are?

Like humans, chimps and orangutans remember their past

What Comes After Click: A Crash Course in Tangible User Interfaces

Which New Show Will Rock Your TV Set? First Impressions on 5 Pilots!

Joe Rogan tells io9 why you should question the !@#$ out of everything

108 Years of Legendary Herman Miller Design in 108 Seconds

Watch the Crazy Aftermath of a Drone Crashing Next to a Florida Highway

Astronomers watch as a gas cloud gets torn to shreds by a black hole

Infographic shows that the world likes the US slightly more than China

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