Latest

Please Enjoy These Non-Groundhog Rodents

As you’ve probably heard, it’s Groundhog Day, the one day a year where it’s fine for everyone in the country to obsess over a big ol’ rodent. It’s become a running joke here at Earther that I’m a bit rodent-obsessed. In my (totally correct) opinion, there’s nothing cooler than an urban animal, which means rats…

Conservation Emily Lipstein Feb 2 '18

That Boring FBI Surveillance Memo Doesn’t Say What House Republican Thinks It Does

Who do we call to get the last week of our lives back? Rep. Devin Nunes, the godfather of disappointment, released his memo on Friday, capping off another chapter in the life of the California congressman and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who exists solely to ingratiate himself to President Trump. The memo is…

Tech News Dell Cameron Feb 2 '18

Open Channel: Which Fictional Character Did You First Relate to?

Fictional characters mean a lot to us—otherwise, we probably wouldn’t all be on this website right now. Personally, I’d be probably working at a cat cafe, but that’s beside the point. We grew up reading, watching, and listening to amazing pieces of media that helped shape our worldview in some way. io9 wants to know:…

io9 Jill Pantozzi Feb 2 '18

Put Down the Cape Comics and Read These Stories About Elderly Bounty Hunters and Hungry Ghosts

It’s been yet another great week for comics about superheroes coming back from the dead and averting the apocalypse, but in the off-chance that you’ve been in a mood for some new series that are a little less “KRAK! POW!” and more “What’s really important in life?” then these are the new books you should…

Books & Comics Charles Pulliam-Moore Feb 2 '18

Scientists Shocked—Shocked!—to Learn Anti-Vaxxers Tend to Believe Other Conspiracies, Too

Spend time talking to someone who considers themselves an anti-vaxxer—or more generously, a vaccine skeptic—and something becomes apparent pretty soon: The conspiracy well usually runs deep. There’s no shortage of anti-vaxxers who also believe in other iffy things, like “natural” cancer treatments and a government-ordered 9/11. A new study, published Thursday in Health Psychology, reaffirms…

Health Ed Cara Feb 2 '18

Winchester Is Full of Ghosts, But It Won’t Haunt You

Many scary movies claim to be inspired by true events, and Winchester has an especially rich history. The enormous, bizarre mansion at its center has long been one of San Jose, California’s biggest tourist attractions. Unfortunately, the story the movie chooses to explore within its walls is utterly predictable. That’s not to say Winchester is…

Movies Cheryl Eddy Feb 2 '18

A New Campaign Wants to Fight Hostile Urban Design With Instagram

If you’ve even set foot in a big city, it’s almost definitely happened to you. Your feet are aching and you want to take a seat for just five minutes—maybe check your phone or finish off your coffee. But the only thing around are window sills with huge spikes jutting out of them, or a…

Tech News Alex Cranz Feb 2 '18

How the Teams Behind Black Panther and Infinity War Worked Together to Create a Unified Wakanda

You wouldn’t know it driving through the streets, but in the spring of 2017, two huge Marvel movies were simultaneously shooting in Atlanta. At Pinewood Studios, it was Avengers: Infinity War. Down the street at Screen Gems Studio, it was Black Panther. And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. As audiences clearly saw in…

Movies Germain Lussier Feb 2 '18

Tesla Is Betting You’ll Drop Thousands on Solar Panels at Home Depot

In October 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stood on the Universal Studios set of Desperate Housewives and revealed to a crowd that the roof tiles on the “Wisteria Lane” houses were actually solar panels, showcasing a future in which Tesla installs attractive, solar tiles that power homes across the the country. But it’s taken a…

Tech News Jennings Brown Feb 2 '18

Kentucky’s Biggest City Wants to Send Surveillance Drones Into Neighborhoods After Shootings

The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky wants to create the nation’s first fleet of aerial surveillance drones programmed to respond to gunfire. Speaking to press Wednesday, Mayor Greg Fischer said unmanned aerial vehicles could be key to curbing the city’s gun violence. “The No. 1 issue is using all means we have to increase public safety,…

Tech News Sidney Fussell Feb 2 '18

Watching These Daredevils Leap Across Rooftops in Hong Kong Gave Me a Fear of Heights

The talented parkour collective known as Storror wants you to believe this video shows a daring escape from a security guard, and the local police, across the rooftops and streets of Hong Kong. The backstory about escaping security might be exaggerated, but the stunts are real, and terrifying enough to make me anxious about going…

Sploid Andrew Liszewski Feb 2 '18

10 of the Silliest Star Wars Names for Real-World Objects

The Star Wars galaxy is a weird and wondrous place, full of laser swords, aliens, and sentient robots. This can make trying to depict the banality of life there a bit difficult. So over years of tie-in material, writers have had to come up with oodles of new words to make the normal things people…

Movies James Whitbrook Feb 2 '18

Oil Giant Sues Other Oil Giant Over Climate Change Because This Is Our World Now

Last fall, the cities of Oakland and San Francisco sued oil behemoth Chevron for billions of dollars because of its role in causing climate change. Chevron is, of course, fighting the case, but if it loses, it wants to take down another oil company with it. In a complaint filed in December and highlighted by…

Environmental Justice Brian Kahn Feb 2 '18

I Wish More Comic Book Events Were as Fantastically Weird as Milk Wars

Comic book events have the unenviable task of proving to readers that their story is fresh (but familiar), big (but intimate), and important (but not taking itself too seriously) all at once. “Milk Wars,” the bizarre battle at the heart of the Justice League of America and Doom Patrol’s new crossover, does all that and…

Books & Comics Charles Pulliam-Moore Feb 2 '18

It Just Got Easier for Oil and Gas Companies to Lease Public Lands

U.S. public lands are getting hit from all angles these days. Not only can those interested in gold and uranium mining now explore treasured lands like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, but oil and gas interests can now access all public lands in a much quicker, less regulated way. In a memo the Bureau of…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes Feb 2 '18

Bitcoin Fell Off a Cliff and No One Knows How Far It Is to the Bottom

All good things must come to an end—and bad things, too. Bitcoin has had a hell of a ride over the last year, but that all seems to be over as almost 60 percent of its value has vanished in the last month. Enthusiasm in the cryptocurrency market is low as Bitcoin dropped below $8,000…

Tech News Rhett Jones Feb 2 '18

Uber and Lyft Have a Hot New Idea for Screwing Over City-Dwellers

The arrival of autonomous vehicles is an inevitability, so it makes sense that before mass adoption hits, companies like Lyft and Uber would want to band together to determine what our self-driving future will look like. Sounds pretty harmless, right? Well, not so fast, because a new pledge by 15 big-name transportation companies seems designed…

Gadgets Sam Rutherford Feb 2 '18

YouTube Will Warn Users When They’re Watching State-Sponsored Propaganda

Confirming an unusual screenshot which circulated earlier this week, YouTube has officially announced its intentions to mark content from certain news agencies as “funded in whole or in part” by whatever state happens to be their patron. In short, the platform is calling out propaganda. YouTube also intends to similarly mark news agencies that receive…

Tech News Avery Ellis Feb 2 '18

January in New Zealand Was Way Too Hot

January is peak summer in New Zealand, and this year’s summer has been like nothing on record. According to new figures, January was the island nation’s hottest ever month, with no other month coming close. The average temperature for the month was 20.3 degrees Celsius (68.5 degrees Fahrenheit), more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees…

Climate Change Ari Phillips Feb 2 '18

Even TV Dramas Without Dragons in Them Are Packed Full of Invisible VFX

Before you go on a rant about the over-use of visual effects ruining the film and TV industries, watch this behind-the-scenes breakdown of HBO’s Big Little Lies. Computer graphics and digital compositing have actually become so prevalent as a filmmaking tool that your eyes probably don’t realize they’re being fooled 90 percent of the time.…

Television Andrew Liszewski Feb 2 '18

Please Enjoy These Non-Groundhog Rodents

That Boring FBI Surveillance Memo Doesn’t Say What House Republican Thinks It Does

Open Channel: Which Fictional Character Did You First Relate to?

Put Down the Cape Comics and Read These Stories About Elderly Bounty Hunters and Hungry Ghosts

Scientists Shocked—Shocked!—to Learn Anti-Vaxxers Tend to Believe Other Conspiracies, Too

Winchester Is Full of Ghosts, But It Won’t Haunt You

A New Campaign Wants to Fight Hostile Urban Design With Instagram

How the Teams Behind Black Panther and Infinity War Worked Together to Create a Unified Wakanda

Tesla Is Betting You’ll Drop Thousands on Solar Panels at Home Depot

Kentucky’s Biggest City Wants to Send Surveillance Drones Into Neighborhoods After Shootings

Watching These Daredevils Leap Across Rooftops in Hong Kong Gave Me a Fear of Heights

10 of the Silliest Star Wars Names for Real-World Objects

Oil Giant Sues Other Oil Giant Over Climate Change Because This Is Our World Now

I Wish More Comic Book Events Were as Fantastically Weird as Milk Wars

It Just Got Easier for Oil and Gas Companies to Lease Public Lands

Bitcoin Fell Off a Cliff and No One Knows How Far It Is to the Bottom

Uber and Lyft Have a Hot New Idea for Screwing Over City-Dwellers

YouTube Will Warn Users When They’re Watching State-Sponsored Propaganda

January in New Zealand Was Way Too Hot

Even TV Dramas Without Dragons in Them Are Packed Full of Invisible VFX

Latest news

The ‘Invincible’ Game’s Story Brings Action and New Voices

‘Daemons of the Shadow Realm’ May Be Your New Shonen Fave

South Korean Man Might Get Prison Time for Posting AI Wolf Picture

Return to ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ With an Astarion Prequel Book

Palantir Debuts Chic Chore Coat So the World Knows You’re One of the Baddies

Hopeful Thought of the Day: Robots Can’t Do Human Conflict

‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ Almost Led to an Insomniac Venom Game

‘Gen V’ Won’t Return for a Third Semester

Latest Reviews

Anker’s UV Printer Can Handle Almost Anything… If You Know What You’re Doing

HP’s EliteBoard Keyboard-Computer Proves We Can Stick a PC in Anything

Sleep-Tracking Earbuds Didn’t Fix Me, but They Did Open My Eyes

I’ve Tested a Lot of Bad Smart Glasses and These Are the Worst Yet

Roborock’s Qrevo Curv 2 Flow Is the Ultimate Robot Mop—If You Don’t Have Corners or Walls

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

Let us help you find what you’re looking for...