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Ian McKellen Got the X-Gene He Deserves

Sure, it’s not magnetism. But it’ll help one of the most beloved actors around avoid catching an illness that has claimed the lives of over a million people this year. The first approved vaccines against covid-19 are now being administered in countries around the world, and priorities to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers and civilians most…

io9 James Whitbrook

The Pop Culture Highlights and Lowlights of 2020

In a year full of all kinds of bad real-world news, pop culture still managed to poke its head up periodically to remind us that not everything sucks. Of course, this being 2020, that same realm also managed to leave a few steaming piles for us to step in, too. Here are our picks for…

io9 io9 Staff

Lunar Samples Land on Earth, Completing China’s Most Challenging ‘Space Adventure’

For the first time in 44 years, a spacecraft has brought lunar samples to Earth. With the Chang’e 5 mission complete, China now joins a very exclusive club, reinforcing the country’s role as a major player in space exploration. China is now only the third country to collect samples from the Moon and bring them…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The Federal Government Spends More on Fire Prevention in Rich, White Neighborhoods

This year, California’s record-breaking fires caused untold suffering and destruction, and future wildfire seasons are expected to be even worse. New findings show that poorer communities of color aren’t receiving as much funding to prepare for future fires as their wealthier, white counterparts. The new research, published by environmental research group Resources for the Future…

Earther Dharna Noor

GoPro’s Redesigned Remote Lets You Control Your Action Cams from Afar

Just in time for the winter sports season, GoPro just released an updated remote designed to help you control the company’s action cams even if they are far away or mounted somewhere hard to reach. Starting at $80, the new Remote costs the same as its predecessor, the Smart Remote, while offering an updated design…

Tech News Sam Rutherford

Image: ABC / Image: Disney / Image: HBO / Image: PBS

Giancarlo Esposito’s 10 Best Genre Roles (So Far)

Giancarlo Esposito is having a moment. The acclaimed television and film actor has recently starred in some of the biggest franchises around, including The Mandalorian, The Boys, and Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. But with almost 200 acting credits to his name, there’s so much more to love. Here’s our list of some of…

Television Beth Elderkin

Robinhood Will Pay $65 Million to Settle SEC Claim That It Duped Investors

The bloom is off the rose for Robinhood’s self-styled image as a champion of the little guy. The stock brokerage has agreed to pay a $65 million penalty to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it misled customers with its claims of being a commission-free method of trading stocks. The state of Massachusetts has…

Tech News Rhett Jones

Google-Fitbit Merger Wins EU Approval, With a Few Conditions

Last year, Google announced it was going to acquire Fitbit for a whopping $2.1 billion. Immediately, the news raised privacy concerns as Google is a tech giant with a lot of ad data on the cusp of absorbing another company with a hoard of health data. The deal itself has been under some intense scrutiny from…

Tech News Victoria Song

Wow, Snow

Like most New Yorkers, I woke up this morning to lift my blind and see if the snow forecast had busted or not. Unlike in recent years, the reveal did not disappoint. Outside my window, snow was piled on the scaffolding that workers put up to do facade work. The piles of black garbage bags…

Earther Brian Kahn

The World’s First Death Attributed to Air Pollution Could Spark the Change We Need

In a groundbreaking decision on Wednesday, a UK court ruled that polluted air was a contributing factor to the 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah’s untimely, tragic passing in 2013. She is the first person in the world to have a death certificate that lists air pollution as a cause of death. The declaration could reverberate around the…

Earther Dharna Noor

Image: Bruno Redondo and Adriano Lucas/DC Comics

Nightwing’s New Start is Back in Blüdhaven (And With Batgirl)

Dick and Babs are teaming up, as Nightwing and the Batgirl are heading back to Blüdhaven to…well, fight crime and uncover traumatic, shocking familial revelations. What else did you expect? This morning DC announced the latest creative reshuffling on its mainline comics with a new team for Nightwing: writer Tom Taylor, artist Bruno Redondo, and…

Books & Comics James Whitbrook

Shipwreck Filled With Treasure and Elephant Tusks Sheds Light on 16th-Century Ivory Trade

A trove of elephant tusks found in the cargo hold of an old Portuguese shipwreck is yielding new insights into the 16th-century ivory trade and lost African elephants. In 2008, workers with a diamond mining company, while bulldozing a beach in Namibia, accidentally discovered the Bom Jesus, a Portuguese merchant vessel that disappeared in 1533.…

Human History George Dvorsky

Netflix’s Shadow and Bone Adaptation Gets a Chilly Teaser

“You and I are going to change the world.” Author Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy saga has come to life in the first look at Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, about a young woman with the power to fight the (literal) darkness. Netflix revealed in a press release that Shadow and Bone, helmed by showrunner Eric Heisserer (Bird…

Trailers Beth Elderkin

You Can Put Apple’s AirPods Max Into Low Power Mode Using a Pair of Fridge Magnets

When a company announces a new product it can often take a while before all of its features are revealed. Now that Apple’s new AirPods Max are finally available, users are uncovering its deepest secrets, including a nifty feature where you can manually put a $550 pair of wireless headphones into a low power mode…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

More WandaVision Footage Teases Scarlet Witch’s Most Traumatic Comic Storyline

The Borderlands movie finds another member of its party. James Cameron shares more snaps from the last bit of Avatar filming in 2020. Matthew Rhys is set to star in the adaptation of Dark Horse Comics’ Wyrd. Plus, new looks at The Stand and teaser pics from The Witcher season 2. Spoilers, away! Borderlands According…

Television James Whitbrook & Gordon Jackson

The Physics of Tenet Is Shaky, but It Still Kicks Ass

“Don’t try to understand it,” a scientist tells the protagonist of Tenet, as she briefly explains the physics of Christopher Nolan’s $205-million, time-traveling spy thriller. Sure, the physics is often unrealistic and confusing, but it’s fascinating. And with its many Easter eggs, Tenet sets up some nice jumping-off points for Wikipedia rabbit holes. (Sator square?…

Reviews Ryan F. Mandelbaum

I Love This Bike So Much

Peloton is a cult. I say that lovingly and without judgment, because I am now part of it, and if you buy one, you will almost certainly become part of it, too. I didn’t realize how much I loved it until I recently found myself on Peloton Reddit trying to figure out the best combination…

Other Gadgets Caitlin McGarry

Michelle Yeoh Delivers Star Trek: Discovery a High It Didn’t Quite Earn

Last week’s Star Trek: Discovery laid the groundwork to a question that has lingered in the background since the climax of its first season. This week, it answers: albeit with a response that puts one hell of an onus on Michelle Yeoh more than it does with what Discovery has ever done with her character,…

io9 James Whitbrook

3,400 Dead

The U.S. reported precisely 3,400 deaths from covid-19 on Wednesday, a new record in a long list of new records this month. And there’s not much more to say that hasn’t already been said about this avoidable tragedy—the greatest failure of American political institutions to protect human life in recent U.S. history. Every death from…

Health Matt Novak

A New Fitness Tracker Sensor Can Learn and Recognize Almost Any Activity

Depending on the sport, different athletes rely on different exercises during their fitness routines and while fitness trackers have gotten smarter, they can generally only recognize a handful of motions like swimming, riding a bike, or running. Bosch has developed a new self-contained chip that can be taught to recognize any activity using AI, so…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

Ian McKellen Got the X-Gene He Deserves

The Pop Culture Highlights and Lowlights of 2020

Lunar Samples Land on Earth, Completing China’s Most Challenging ‘Space Adventure’

The Federal Government Spends More on Fire Prevention in Rich, White Neighborhoods

GoPro’s Redesigned Remote Lets You Control Your Action Cams from Afar

Giancarlo Esposito’s 10 Best Genre Roles (So Far)

Robinhood Will Pay $65 Million to Settle SEC Claim That It Duped Investors

Google-Fitbit Merger Wins EU Approval, With a Few Conditions

Wow, Snow

The World’s First Death Attributed to Air Pollution Could Spark the Change We Need

Nightwing’s New Start is Back in Blüdhaven (And With Batgirl)

Shipwreck Filled With Treasure and Elephant Tusks Sheds Light on 16th-Century Ivory Trade

Netflix’s Shadow and Bone Adaptation Gets a Chilly Teaser

You Can Put Apple’s AirPods Max Into Low Power Mode Using a Pair of Fridge Magnets

More WandaVision Footage Teases Scarlet Witch’s Most Traumatic Comic Storyline

The Physics of Tenet Is Shaky, but It Still Kicks Ass

I Love This Bike So Much

Michelle Yeoh Delivers Star Trek: Discovery a High It Didn’t Quite Earn

3,400 Dead

A New Fitness Tracker Sensor Can Learn and Recognize Almost Any Activity

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