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New Screen Lets You Smell Items as They Appear

Japanese researchers have developed a “smelling screen,” an LCD display that emanates virtual odors from the exact spot where items are appearing. The technology could eventually be used in advertising and museum exhibits…. and be really annoying. The smelling screen, also known as anolfactory display system, was developed by Haruka Matsukura and his colleagues at…

First Image of a Brand New Starship in Star Trek Into Darkness

Matt Smith and David Tennant are photographed together at the readthrough for Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special. Find out what to expect in G.I. Joe 3! Primer’s Shane Carruth reveals the impressively practical special effects in his latest mindbending film. Robert Kirkman looks ahead to The Walking Dead’s next season. Plus new videos for Godzilla,…

This Short Film About Shoemaking Will Make You Want to Sport Better Footwear

The most recent in a series of short documentaries by filmmaker Dustin Cohen, The Shoemaker is a film about Frank Catalfumo: a 91-year-old shoemaker and repairer who’s lived in Brooklyn his entire life. Catalfumo opened his shoe shop upon return from World War II in 1945, and despite his age still works there five days…

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Has Been Rooted Before It’s Even Available

Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S 4 isn’t even on the shelves yet, but a team of dedicated tinkerers over at XDA Developers has already managed to root the thing. That means that those who can’t resist getting under the skin of their phones will be able to do so immediately with the new S 4.…

New York Sure Looks Beautiful From Space at Night

Sometimes, a new view of something you know well can make you stop and stare—like this beautiful image of New York at night, snapped by crew aboard the ISS. This picture was taken by one of NASA’s Expedition 35 crew members aboard the International Space Station on March 23, 2013. Just in case you’re confused,…

Hot on the heels of T-Mobile, AT&T has announced that it will be rolling out its own HD Voice service later this year.

A Hot Ball of Nickel Melting a Chocolate Bunny Transforms Itself into a Burning Ball of Chocolate

Unlike the slow simmer, bubble and pop of running through honey, the hot ball of nickel just bursts into flames when it touches a chocolate bunny. After burning a hole into the bunny (sorry Easter), the goopy chocolate transforms the hot nickel into a burning ball of chocolate. I never wanted to eat chocolate more…

All the Tools Used to Workout in Space

Chris Hadfield—CSA Astronaut, ISS Commander and the human explainer for all things space related—answers another question with his latest video: how do astronauts exercise with that zero gravity and all? Turns out, they do a lot of the same stuff we do: running on a treadmill, deadlifts, squats and more. Only their exercises require being…

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: 62814256

Whaddya mean you don’t swallow your own hair? The 19-year-old woman that inspired this twisted animation from David O’Reilly certainly did. Then again she also had a four-pound hairball surgically removed from her intestinal tract.

Last Night’s Game Of Thrones Premier Was the Hottest Torrent Ever

Game of Thrones season three premiered last night, and that’s kind of a big deal. If you’re a fan, you’ll need no convincing. But if you need proof of its potency, here you go: according to numbers collected by TorrentFreak, the Game of Thrones season three premier now holds the record for the biggest BitTorrent…

Well hello, beautiful space station

After you’ve spent time on a wild-type world, with all its accidents of climate and uncontrolled vulcanism, nothing looks sexier than an artificial space habitat. Check out those spires and curves! Now that’s a place where a human could get comfortable. This ultra-sultry space station was created by concept artist Dmitry Popov, who has done…

It’s Amazing That the Same View of the Same Ocean and the Same Sky Can Look So Completely Different

Here’s a wonderfully colorful photo project by photographer Robert Weingarten that shows how psychedelic our world can get. Weingarten took a photo at 6:30 in the morning of the same view of Santa Monica Bay from his home in Malibu for an entire year. Even with all that sameness, each photo captures something completely different…

Holy Crap, A Woman Almost Got Run Over By a Train Because She Was Trying to Pick Up Her Phone from the Tracks

Holy freaking smokes, almost getting hit by a train doesn’t get closer than this. A young woman in Sao Paulo, Brazil had apparently dropped her phone onto the metro tracks and foolishly jumped down to retrieve it. Couple of problems with this situation: she couldn’t get back on the platform, the train was coming into…

What Earth Looks Like from a 100 Million Miles Away

Though we’ve seen plenty of our beautiful blue marble from space before, here’s what Earth looks like from a hundred million miles away. That’s roughly the same distance from the Earth to the Sun. The image, which was captured by Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory B (STEREO-B), shows comet PanSTARRS and Earth last month. At this…

The io9 Calendar: Your Ultimate Guide to Everything Science Fiction and Fantasy in April!

There’s so much astonishing science fiction and fantasy coming your way this month, we can barely list it all. Including the new Evil Dead, Oblivion and tons of other movies. There are brand new books by Neil Gaiman, Paul Cornell, C.J. Cherryh and Robin Hobb. Plus Warehouse 13 and Defiance! Here’s your ultimate guide to…

The very best April Fools Jokes from 2013: The Mars Rover Goes Rogue!

It’s April Fools, the day where everyone tries to be funny — and some folks actually succeed. Thankfully we’ve rounded up the best of the internet’s jokes, so you don’t have to spend time sifting through all the lies and crazy. So, what did Think Geek come up with this year. And find out who…

How do we mourn the animals used in scientific research?

There is an incredible passage in Scarlett Thomas’ fantasy novel The End of Mr. Y, where our protagonist discovers she can go backward in time by traveling through the minds of lab mice. She jumps from present-day mice to their ancestors, moving from one caged creature to the next, absorbing all their fears, discomfort and…

Watch a RC Plane Crash Into a RC Helicopter and Get Completely Destroyed

If you want to skip the build up to the aerial crash, fast forward to about the 1:15 mark on the video to see an 80-inch RC plane with 50cc gas engine hit a RC helicopter and then immediately nosedive to its destruction. The plane clips one of its wings when it hits the chopper…

We’ll admit it: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters actually looks kind of cute

Even though the first Percy Jackson was both a bit muddled and leaned a little too hard on the silly, we liked the gags and the world-building. Plus it got points for turning Pierce Brosnan into a centaur that will forever haunt our dreams. And now, there’s a second Percy Jackson movie, and… it looks…

How do you make an Evil Dead movie after Cabin in the Woods?

In the new Evil Dead movie, five teenagers go to a cabin in the woods, and wind up raising something… sinister. Does that sound familiar? It’s basically the premise of Cabin in the Woods, the horror spoof that Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon put out last year. Was Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez nervous about…