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Sorry, But This Gross Fish-Worm Is Your Prehistoric Ancestor

Meet the 505-million-year-old Pikaia gracilens. Everything we know of this prehistoric “fish-like worm” is discerned from its fossils, but a close investigation reveals that these wiggly little guys might be your oldest ancestors. The first Pikaia fossils were discovered all the way back in 1911, but scientists almost immediately thought the beastie it was an…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Mar 5 '12

Ping Pong Playa: What if the Stereotype Chooses You?

It’s really easy to look at a movie like Ping Pong Playa and see a super-dumb comedy which leans on nothing but stereotypes about Asian people or ping pong players or white people (which constitute a very massive venn diagram). And yeah, maybe it’s not smart enough to enlighten you about racial identity. But the…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Mar 5 '12

Honeywell Had The World’s First Fembots in 1968

This 1968 promotional video for Honeywell’s electronics and computing equipment also includes a glimpse of the company’s work in obviously-faked-robotics. Miss Honeywell might be billed as the ‘world’s first robotic woman’, but even Vicki from Small Wonder was more convincing. She does seem to be winning over the Parisian engineers attending that expo, but then…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Mar 5 '12

Disney Brings 70 TV Episodes to YouTube

Disney and YouTube’s content deal is alive, which means that roughly 70 episodes from Disney Channel shows are now available for free viewing on YouTube. Fan favorites like Hannah Montana, That’s So Raven and the Suite Life of Zach and Cody are all available in 23-minute long bursts on Disney’s YouTube channel. And while YouTube’s…

Tech News Kif Leswing Mar 5 '12

Once Upon A Time is like a Velveeta enema

There’s a missing person in Storybrooke! And while the helpless victim presumably bleeds to death alone in the cold forest, the exiled fairytale people spend the rest of their time hatching full-grown men out of eggs. This show has officially splintered into two entirely different shows, in different genres: A wacky children’s series where women…

Television Meredith Woerner Mar 5 '12

Frames: An App to Help You Create Wonderful Timelapse Videos

There’s something moody and wonderful about timelapses we can’t get enough of. They’re simple, beautiful and transfixing. Now there’s an app that allows you to easily create both timelapses and stop-motion videos without the chore of stringing together images in iMovie. You pick the content, it deals with the rest. What does it do? Frames…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Mar 5 '12

Your Doctor’s Chicken Scratch Handwriting Could Kill You

Fifty families with unsuspecting kids in Chatham, New Jersey recently received a breast cancer drug from their local CVS instead of the fluoride pills they asked for. The kids took tamoxifen for months before anyone noticed. Outrageous, right? Actually, it’s all too common. Pharmacies across the country mix up names and prescriptions, or misread doctors…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Mar 5 '12

Picture of the Day: March 5, 2012

A SHADOW FALLS | Partial solar eclipse, as the Moon comes between the sun and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite, picture via NASA/Goddard. Read more here. Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog view. Or visit Observation Deck, our general discussion forum.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Mar 5 '12

Incredible 3-Year-Old Survives Eating 37 Rare-Earth Magnets

Payton Bushnell is the adorable three-year-old you see above. She’s also the incredibly fortunate young lady who swallowed an astonishing 37 (THUR-TEEE SEVV-UNNN) rare-earth magnets lived to blabber about it. Payton ate the balls—which came from a buckyball set—one by one, until they collected in her stomach and formed the necklace shape you see in…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Mar 5 '12

Reading Books on a Tablet Is Dumb

Convergence devices like tablets and smartphones are great because they eliminate the need for having a million different gadgets whose individual performance is only marginally better than the all-encompassing one. But there are some instances when dedicated devices make more sense. As the NY Times points out, reading books is one of those instances. Fear…

Books & Comics Adrian Covert Mar 5 '12

The Worst Science Fiction Novel of the 19th Century

A number of science fiction novels were published in the 19th century which hold up today and can genuinely be considered as good literature: Walter Besant’s The Inner House, Joseph Nicholson’s Thoth, and H.G. Wells’ Time Machine. But the good novels are far outnumbered by the bad ones. The borders and matter of the science…

Books & Comics Jess Nevins Mar 5 '12

Rumor: The iPad 3 Will Have Superfast LTE

iMore, citing the same source who was spot-on about a March 7th announcement date, says the iPad 3 is indeed going to pack LTE speed. Two more days. The same source that originally told iMore Apple would be holding their iPad 3 event on March 7 has now let us know that the announcement will…

Tech News Sam Biddle Mar 5 '12

The weather on Venus calls for massive mid-air explosions

Earth’s magnetic field shields us from most of the worst effects of the solar wind. But our bizarro twin Venus has no such field, meaning its atmosphere is the only defense against the solar wind. That’s where things get interesting. The Sun shoots off solar wind at about a million miles an hour, and it…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 5 '12

Violin Strings Made by Spiders Sound Smooth as Silk

The world’s best violins come with strings made from catgut—which isn’t typically from cats, but does definitely come from the inside of an animal. If you want a more vegetarian alternative, though, how about a set made from spider silk? In a world first, Japanese researcher Dr Shigeyoshi Osaki has used thousands of strands of…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Mar 5 '12

Hydra don’t need brains or even eyes to see

It’s hard to imagine an organism much simpler than the hydra. It doesn’t have brains, hearts, or eyes – it’s basically just tentacles with a mouth attached. And yet these simple creatures pull of biological feats no other animal can. Hydra are one of a few species – flatworms are another recently discussed example –…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 5 '12

Combine Your iPhone and iPad Like Voltron To Make This Ukelele Synth

In a breakthrough that is sure to send shockwaves through the tiny guitar industry, Amidio has created a ukelele iOS synth that can be played on the iPad and iPhone at the same time with a virtual fretboard and strings. The devices connect over Bluetooth and the developers have managed to reduce the lag between…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Mar 5 '12

Tubular Roll Clouds Look Like a Toppled Tornado

This photo of a rolling arcus cloud was taken on a ship off the coast of Brazil. While it looks menacing enough to fuel another 2012 end-of-the-world conspiracy, it’s also downright breathtaking. These types of clouds are often seen preceding thunderstorms, as the storm’s cold downdraft pushes low-hanging warm air in front of it upwards,…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Mar 5 '12

Is there unfinished green screen in the new Men In Black 3 trailer?

You’ve seen the brand new MIB3 trailer, featuring Josh Brolin’s spot-on Tommy Lee Jones impersonation — but did you catch the possible slip-up? We think we spied a left over greenscreen lurking inside this trailer. or is it an empty fish tank with green water? We’re not sure, so we’ll let you decide. Bad Ass…

Movies Meredith Woerner Mar 5 '12

Mass Effect 2 For PS3 & Xbox 360 Is Your Reaper-Slaying Deal of the Day

At midnight tonight, Mass Effect 3 will be out and the entirety of your social life is going to get sucked down a sinkhole for a week or seven. You should play the first two games in the series first, I guess, but I mean, you can get by without them. You want to know…

Tech News Gizmodo Deals Mar 5 '12

Facebook Messenger Brings Your News Feed and Chat to Your Windows Desktop

If you feel weirdly disconnected from your Facebook profile when you’re not logged in, try out the new Facebook Messenger application, which is available for Windows now. The new app follows the mobile Facebook Messenger applications released last summer, and a version for OS X is reportedly on the way as well. Facebook Messenger for…

Tech News Mario Aguilar Mar 5 '12

Sorry, But This Gross Fish-Worm Is Your Prehistoric Ancestor

Ping Pong Playa: What if the Stereotype Chooses You?

Honeywell Had The World’s First Fembots in 1968

Disney Brings 70 TV Episodes to YouTube

Once Upon A Time is like a Velveeta enema

Frames: An App to Help You Create Wonderful Timelapse Videos

Your Doctor’s Chicken Scratch Handwriting Could Kill You

Picture of the Day: March 5, 2012

Incredible 3-Year-Old Survives Eating 37 Rare-Earth Magnets

Reading Books on a Tablet Is Dumb

The Worst Science Fiction Novel of the 19th Century

Rumor: The iPad 3 Will Have Superfast LTE

The weather on Venus calls for massive mid-air explosions

Violin Strings Made by Spiders Sound Smooth as Silk

Hydra don’t need brains or even eyes to see

Combine Your iPhone and iPad Like Voltron To Make This Ukelele Synth

Tubular Roll Clouds Look Like a Toppled Tornado

Is there unfinished green screen in the new Men In Black 3 trailer?

Mass Effect 2 For PS3 & Xbox 360 Is Your Reaper-Slaying Deal of the Day

Facebook Messenger Brings Your News Feed and Chat to Your Windows Desktop

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