Latest

Why locust swarms seem to hit those who are already suffering the most

With a swarming locust consuming its own bodyweight in food every day, the many-tonne swarms can utterly destroy a farmer’s livelihood. But why is it that they seem to target farms that already aren’t doing well? According to new research, it all comes down to nitrogen. The Oedaleus asiaticus in Northern Asia strongly prefers foods…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jan 27 '12

The Seven Best Auroras From the Biggest Solar Storm In Seven Years

On January 22, an M8.7 class flare helped cause the biggest solar storm since 2005. Airplanes had to change routes, and the power grid and satellites were affected. It also caused some of the best auroras ever seen. https://gizmodo.com/a-raging-solar-storm-is-hitting-the-earth-right-now-5878656 This spectacular coronal aurora was captured over Fairbanks, Alaska, recorded from 1:44 to 2:11am local time…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jan 27 '12

Breakthrough treatment could fight both leukemia and breast cancer

A new avenue of treatment could fight two of the most prominent cancers — effectively hitting both leukemia and breast cancer. We could soon be inhibiting tumor growth by targeting a single protein, and this could revolutionize treatments of both diseases. Two papers published this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine examine the protein…

io9 Tim Barribeau Jan 27 '12

The Supreme Court Pulled a Miracle for Your Privacy

The highest court of the land scored a victory for your privacy versus the cops this week, but the worst threats of digital surveillance remain standing. The good news? These justices aren’t backing down anytime soon. The court ruled Monday in US v Jones that cops who’d placed a GPS tracking device on a suspected…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle Jan 27 '12

An Even Weirder Film from the Maker of that Psychic Killer Tire Movie

Quentin Dupieux’s cult hit Rubber had the good manners to open with a direct pronouncement of its philosophy: “No reason,” Stephen Spinella’s layers-deep meta impresario (Officer Chad) repeated again and again. But with Dupieux’s second film, we have to do the work ourselves. Over a crack in some asphalt, to spacey sounds on the soundtrack,…

io9 Jordan Hoffman Jan 27 '12

Today’s e-Book Deal of the Day: Sandman Slim for 99 Cents

Haven’t checked out Richard Kadrey’s ridiculously fun noir urban fantasy Sandman Slim yet? Now’s your chance. It’s available for 99 cents on both the Kindle and the Nook.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 27 '12

Scratching Your Ankle Is the Most Pleasurable Itch-Scratching Relief of All

Scientists have made the shocking discovery that it’s your ankle, not your back, that feels the most awesome to scratch when you are itchy. I assumed this might have something to do with the ability to reach the itchy body part. Like your back is hard to reach so it would feel the most wonderful…

Tech News Kristen Philipkoski Jan 27 '12

10 Real-Life Lost Voyages That Would Make Amazing Science Fiction Novels

Many an expedition has gone out into the Great Unknown seeking Adventure. And who knows? They may even have found it. Many expeditions are lost entirely, or all of their members died. And since nobody came back, there’s no telling how their adventure turned out, or what they found. So these real-life stories are crying…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jan 27 '12

Watch one woman’s quest to build her own TARDIS

German teacher and YouTuber Sillysparrowness had a simple goal — to build a transportable TARDIS for daily usage. She succeeded in building a full-scale police box that can be assembled in under 10 minutes. More than enough time for an alacritous getaway! You can watch her procedure above or check out her progress on TARDIS…

Television Cyriaque Lamar Jan 27 '12

Shake Your Head Optical Illusion Will Require Aspirin Afterwards

If you look intensely at these black bars, you will just see black bars. But if you shake your head, you will see an image. See? No. Shake it again. Yes? OK. Have fun until you get a headache. Now I can recommend you shake the window instead. Same effect. Also, if you relax your…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Jan 27 '12

Why are women more likely to use public transportation than men?

Stanford has a fascinating new study of gender disparities in public transportation use. In a nutshell, women are way likelier than men to use public transportation — and this disparity is greater among Asians and African Americans than other groups. What’s going on here? There seem to be a few things — including the fact…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 27 '12

The time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed worked better as an internet meme

During Hollywood’s golden era, it was common for a picture (they called ’em pictures back then) to be based on a popular stage play. It still happens, but rarely. The biggest and most visible movies are based on comic books these days (they called ’em graphic novels back then, they’ll say of us) but maybe…

io9 Jordan Hoffman Jan 27 '12

The Ultimate Urban Winter Jacket

Usually, when winter is not being a cowardly little bitch, you need a warm jacket to keep from freezing to death. But if you live in a city, like more than half the world’s population, you need something something more versatile—and stylish—than just a sealskin or a pillow with sleeves. https://gizmodo.com/why-is-this-winter-so-weirdly-warm-and-dry-5875592 No, a solid winter…

Tech News Brent Rose Jan 27 '12

Spartacus: Vengeance Creator Steven S. DeKnight Talks About His Foiled Attempt to Kill Lucretia

On Wednesday, over on our sister (brother?) site, Deadspin, Steven S. DeKnight, the Executive Producer, Writer and Creator of Spartacus: Vengeance, the gloriously gory and steamy Starz series about gladiators, slave rebellions, and bored Roman widows, chatted live with readers. Why? It’s all to honor the premiere of the sequel series to Spartacus: Blood and…

io9 Sponsored post Jan 27 '12

The Father of webOS Jon Rubinstein Is Leaving HP

Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple exec, godfather of webOS and ex-CEO of Palm, has left HP, reports AllThingsD. The move isn’t too surprising as the writing has been on the wall since he left HP’s Palm unit last summer to move to a lesser role at HP’s Personal Systems Group. https://gizmodo.com/is-webos-hosed-5820180 According to AllThingsD, Rubinstein…

Tech News Casey Chan Jan 27 '12

The First Super Wi-Fi Network Is ALIVE

Remember Super Wi-Fi? The wonderful, wonderful technology that beams internet though the white spaces between TV network transmissions? Well the first real, public network is now active…in Wilmington, North Carolina. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-super-wi-fi-5646259 Now I’m sure Wilmington is a fine, fine place, but my jealousy is getting the better of me here. What I wouldn’t give to…

Tech News Adrian Covert Jan 27 '12

Newt Gingrich’s Fantasy Moon Base Is Illegal

Not only is Newt’s plan for lunar statehood completely insane—it’s also against the law! Not just any law, but space law, the most powerful of all laws, because it comes from the sky. Sorry, Newt. https://jezebel.com/newt-gingrich-wants-to-build-a-second-america-on-the-mo-5879444 BuzzFeed points out that Gingrich’s plan for an emphatically American moon colony and resultant 51st Moon State violates the…

Tech News Sam Biddle Jan 27 '12

A breathtaking aurora from Earth’s largest geomagnetic storm in almost 10 years

Late last Sunday, the Sun unleashed an M9-class solar flare, showering Earth with subatomic particles that gave rise to one of the biggest geomagnetic storms in recent history. The resulting aurorae, which were even brighter than usual in the planet’s northernmost latitudes, were an absolute marvel to behold. https://gizmodo.com/a-massive-solar-eruption-may-lead-to-the-strongest-radi-5878525 Shown here is a video shot…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jan 27 '12

What weapons could be used in a real-life space war?

Space, the final frontier…of warfare? Science fiction tales often center around the militarization of space, with lasers and torpedoes made of light racing past (and through) battleships and star destroyers. But what about reality? Soviet and U.S. governments worked on a variety of space warfare projects during the Cold War, but were any of them…

io9 Keith Veronese Jan 27 '12

Kinect-Powered Windows 8 Laptops Are Definitely in the Works

We’ve known that Kinect for Windows is coming for a while now, but The Daily got its hands on the first computers that have the technology built directly into them: The devices, which at first glance appear to be Asus netbooks running Windows 8, feature an array of small sensors stretching over the top of…

Tech News Kyle Wagner Jan 27 '12

Why locust swarms seem to hit those who are already suffering the most

The Seven Best Auroras From the Biggest Solar Storm In Seven Years

Breakthrough treatment could fight both leukemia and breast cancer

The Supreme Court Pulled a Miracle for Your Privacy

An Even Weirder Film from the Maker of that Psychic Killer Tire Movie

Today’s e-Book Deal of the Day: Sandman Slim for 99 Cents

Scratching Your Ankle Is the Most Pleasurable Itch-Scratching Relief of All

10 Real-Life Lost Voyages That Would Make Amazing Science Fiction Novels

Watch one woman’s quest to build her own TARDIS

Shake Your Head Optical Illusion Will Require Aspirin Afterwards

Why are women more likely to use public transportation than men?

The time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed worked better as an internet meme

The Ultimate Urban Winter Jacket

Spartacus: Vengeance Creator Steven S. DeKnight Talks About His Foiled Attempt to Kill Lucretia

The Father of webOS Jon Rubinstein Is Leaving HP

The First Super Wi-Fi Network Is ALIVE

Newt Gingrich’s Fantasy Moon Base Is Illegal

A breathtaking aurora from Earth’s largest geomagnetic storm in almost 10 years

What weapons could be used in a real-life space war?

Kinect-Powered Windows 8 Laptops Are Definitely in the Works

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