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Here’s The First-Ever Picture Of Thunder

During a thunderstorm, it’s normally the lightning bolts that take over Instagram — after all, it’s a little difficult to apply the X-Pro II filter to a soundwave. That is, if you’re a heliophysicist armed with rockets, your own lightning bolt, and some heavy science. In a paper presented today at a meeting of the…

Tech News Chris Mills May 6 '15

Apple Apparently Under Government Scrutiny Over Music Deals

Apple’s long-rumored relaunch of the Beats music-streaming service is slated for June, and in preparation, the company is softening the beaches by playing hardball with record labels. And, not for the first time, federal trade commissioners aren’t particularly happy. According to sources that have spoken to Bloomberg and The Verge, Apple is pushing hard to…

Tech News Chris Mills May 6 '15

A Physical Bitcoin Wallet Will Put Coins In Your Non-Digital Pocket

Owning Bitcoin might give your inner crypto-anarchist a bit of a rush, but the currency lacks the tactile fat-cat feels of physical notes in your wallet. Plus, only dealing with currency in the ether can make Bitcoin insecure and difficult to use. Case, a Bitcoin wallet that fits in your jeans, hopes to solve those…

Tech News Chris Mills May 5 '15

This Table Doubles As an Interactive Maze Game

The Labyrinth Table is a design by Benjamin Nordsmark. Underneath a piece of glass is a maze with three figures that can be controlled handles on the bottom of the table. It’s made of maple and steel, the handles are strong magnets and can be moved to anywhere on the surface. Here it is in…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta May 5 '15

For People With Disabilities, Smartwatches Can Be More Than Just A Toy

It’s fun to mock the Apple Watch for being an expensive, needless gadget for nerds with oversized phones and too much money. But if you stop and think, there’s a second — and far less douchey — group of people for whom a smartwatch can make all the difference. Molly Watt lives with Usher Syndrome,…

Tech News Chris Mills May 5 '15

Wear This Amazing Doctor Who/Beauty and the Beast Art on Your Feet

These shoes are printed with the work of Karen Hallion — whose art we heartily recommend — and are $69.99 from Shoe Fury. This particular print, showing a team-up we’d love to see, is called “Adventure Awaits.” [via Blogtor Who] Contact the author at [email protected].

io9 Katharine Trendacosta May 5 '15

Does The Machine Have A Plan? A Clip From Tonight’s Person Of Interest!

As we go into tonight’s season finale, it seems as though all is lost for the Machine Gang on Person of Interest. But wait — we’ve got an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode, in which Finch and Root still seem to have a few moves left. Person of Interest airs tonight on CBS at 10…

Television Charlie Jane Anders May 5 '15

Syfy & Amblin Will Turn Brave New World Into A TV Series

Aldous Huxley’s landmark scifi novel Brave New World is headed to the small screen but with an interesting set of partners, Syfy and Amblin Television. Alright… we’re listening. Syfy dropped a huge press released that announced their partnership with Amblin Television to develop a scripted series based on the book everyone should have read in…

Television Meredith Woerner May 5 '15

Did You Know Getting Bit By A Tick Could Paralyze Your Face?

30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to the CDC each year, making it the most common vector-borne disease in America. Both you and your dog are exposed to it every time you’re outdoors. It can block your heart, cause intense pain and, sometimes, even lead to death. And reported cases are on the rise.…

Tech News Wes Siler May 5 '15

Has Instagram Ever Nudged You to Make a Major Life Change?

You may have heard that many New Yorkers—perhaps even people you personally know!—are moving to Los Angeles. But apparently they’re not moving because of the harsh winters or the high rents or the bad Mexican food. They’re moving because of Instagram. From last weekend’s New York Times: It started with Instagram. Or maybe it ended…

Tech News Alissa Walker May 5 '15

After The Nepal Earthquake, Everest Is A Little Shorter

The world’s tallest mountain is a little shorter after the newly-named Gorka earthquake that hit Nepal in late April. The Nepal earthquake that hit just before noon on Saturday, April 26, 2015 officially has a name: it’s the Gorkha earthquake. The sudden slip of the tectonic plates during the earthquake literally reshaped the land. In…

Tech News Mika McKinnon May 5 '15

Can Technology Help Us Raise Independent, Free-Range Kids?

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of a county park behind our house which was so vast to my eight-year-old mind that it might as well have been the Arctic tundra. We were constructing some kind of vine-swing over a creek, which I believe we planned to test on bikes. There were no…

Tech News Alissa Walker May 5 '15

Everything We’ve Learned from 50 Years of (Deliberate) Spaceship Crashes

Last week, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft ended its 11-year mission by crashing into Mercury. Of course, Messenger was doomed anyway, but sometimes a mission’s entire point is to smash one thing into a bigger thing and watch the explosion. Messenger isn’t the first (nor the last) craft to end in a dramatic smash. We’ve crashed vessels…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland May 5 '15

Delightful Short Film Traces A Rock’s Journey Over Millions Of Years

In the short animated film An Object at Rest, we see a sleepy, anthropomorphized rock changing and moving over the course of eons. But the rock’s journey really speeds up — and its rest interrupted — once humans enter the picture. Animator Seth Boyden already wowed us with his cheerful short film about a Venus…

io9 Lauren Davis May 5 '15

An Obscure African Plant Tells Miners Where to Look for Diamonds

Diamonds you’re familiar with. Pandanus candelabrum, not so much. And until recently, botanists didn’t pay much attention to this rare, palm-like plant from West Africa either. But the discovery that P. candelabrum grows only over rock that may harbor diamonds has vaulted the plant out of obscurity. Diamonds hunters are going to “jump on it…

Tech News Sarah Zhang May 5 '15

Listen to Thomas Edison’s Scary Talking Dolls and Never Sleep Again

Thomas Edison’s phonograph company came out with a line of groundbreaking “talking” dolls in 1890. They lasted only six weeks before being yanked from stores, because the dolls sound like the risen Satan singing a lullaby. Now with the help of new technology, you too can listen to the dolls’ voices and never be at…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern May 5 '15

Grooveshark Defiantly Resurrected By a Rogue Pirate

Last week, after a protracted court battle with music rights holders, the illegal online streaming service Grooveshark went dark. But an ambitious, and mysterious person named “New Grooveshark” emailed me today with news that they’d defiantly brought back the site at a new address at grooveshark.io. The shark just won’t die. For those that don’t…

Tech News Mario Aguilar May 5 '15

What Animals Have Been To Space?

In the latest episode of Universe Today’s Guide To Space, Fraser Cain talks about the non-human animals that we’ve catapulted to Earth’s orbit and beyond. When we think of spaceflight, we think astronauts. You’re a human, you perceive the Universe with your human-centric attitudes. You… specist. The reality is that the vast number of living…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez May 5 '15

Hormones Drive California Newts To Travel And Transform

Every winter, sex hormones have a remarkable effect on California newts (Taricha torosa), driving them to walk miles to their natal pond and inducing big changes in their anatomy. Find out more in this new video from KQED’s Deep Look series.

Biology Diane Kelly May 5 '15

Laurel Lance Is Getting Her Own Black Canary Action Figure

At first I thought it was a little weird that DC Collectibles’ Arrow series didn’t make a Laurel figure — but I’m kind of glad they waited. Instead of a “Laurel Lance, DA, with hamfisted pill addiction plotline action!” toy getting made, we’re getting an awesome Black Canary version of her. Yay! Revealed in a…

Tech News James Whitbrook May 5 '15

Here’s The First-Ever Picture Of Thunder

Apple Apparently Under Government Scrutiny Over Music Deals

A Physical Bitcoin Wallet Will Put Coins In Your Non-Digital Pocket

This Table Doubles As an Interactive Maze Game

For People With Disabilities, Smartwatches Can Be More Than Just A Toy

Wear This Amazing Doctor Who/Beauty and the Beast Art on Your Feet

Does The Machine Have A Plan? A Clip From Tonight’s Person Of Interest!

Syfy & Amblin Will Turn Brave New World Into A TV Series

Did You Know Getting Bit By A Tick Could Paralyze Your Face?

Has Instagram Ever Nudged You to Make a Major Life Change?

After The Nepal Earthquake, Everest Is A Little Shorter

Can Technology Help Us Raise Independent, Free-Range Kids?

Everything We’ve Learned from 50 Years of (Deliberate) Spaceship Crashes

Delightful Short Film Traces A Rock’s Journey Over Millions Of Years

An Obscure African Plant Tells Miners Where to Look for Diamonds

Listen to Thomas Edison’s Scary Talking Dolls and Never Sleep Again

Grooveshark Defiantly Resurrected By a Rogue Pirate

What Animals Have Been To Space?

Hormones Drive California Newts To Travel And Transform

Laurel Lance Is Getting Her Own Black Canary Action Figure

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