Futurism

Pig-to-human transplants could be closer than you think

Two scientists at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh discussed the state of xenotransplantation—the use of cells, organs, or tissue from one animal in another—in a review in The Lancet. In that review, they touch on the history of one particular subject: pig-to-human transplants. Their conclusion? Clinical trials of pig-to-human…

io9 Dan Nosowitz - Popular Science

Become the best post-apocalyptic chef ever with insect recipes

Perhaps you were not aware that “Bee larvae, when sauteed with a little butter and a few drops of honey, taste very much like bacon.” Well, at Girl Meets Bug you can get that information along with a recipe for ‘BeeLT.’ You’ll also get a YouTube webisode about how to prepare a scorpion (freeze it…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Eddie Murphy/Ben Stiller Comedy That Could Change the Future of Movies As We Know Them

Chances are you haven’t been paying much attention to Tower Heist, the upcoming comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller. But this movie could be the turning point in the transformation of movies. As we wrote back in February, Hollywood is moving towards getting more of its revenue from video on demand (VOD) instead…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders

South Korean airport fights drug smugglers with cloned dogs

At Incheon Airport, the Korean Custom Service has turned to seven cloned pooches to sniff out drug mules. These golden Labrador Retrievers are all the genetic duplicates of Chase, a retired drug-sniffing dog whose nose was among the most discerning Incheon had ever seen. So far the airport’s had remarkable success apprehending smugglers with these…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

In the future, cops may use a breathalyzer to find out where you were drinking

Every breath of air you breathe is swarming with untold numbers of tiny molecular compounds. By the time you’re ready to exhale, many of these compounds will have swapped places with molecules in your body via your lungs. Through this exchange, these molecules wind up telling a story of where we’ve been and the sorts…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Computers can accelerate our collective intelligence to an unheard degree — but will that be a good thing?

Over at FT.com, Tim O’Reilly has a must-read essay about the symbiosis between humans and computers. We’re already propagating our knowledge and our culture at a much faster rate than in the past, he argues, and the next step is computers that can learn from “the activity of human teachers” but then notice things the…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

We might have enough water to survive the 21st century after all

There’s been a lot of talk recently about a coming water crisis, in which there both won’t be enough water to go around and what water there is will be dangerously polluted. Well, there might be some good news. While pollution is absolutely still a major concern, scarcity might not be as big a problem…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

After 28 years in prison, man emerges into a terrifying alien world of cellphones and computers

Randall Lee Church didn’t believe his fellow inmates when they warned him about culture shock after he got out of prison — he thought they were just jealous. But then Church, who’d been locked up since 1983, emerged into a world that made no sense. When Church got out of prison, he tells the Houston…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

The Pursuit of Personal Flight

The photo you’re looking at is of Swiss pilot Yvess Rossy, aka “Jetman,” piloting a jet-powered, six-foot-wide, carbon-fiber wing of his own invention. Rossy’s personal jet craft is considered by many to represent the pinnacle of humanity’s endeavors to achieve personal flight — the ultimate realization of a dream that has driven human innovation for…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Will you be able to disappear off the grid in 10 years?

It used to be that you could just pick up and start over as a new person. You could get yourself a new identity, go off the grid, or just reinvent yourself completely. Even if you’ve never committed a crime, there’s something seductive about going missing. But new technology and a heightened security state are…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Debating Human Enhancement

Where do you stand on the subject of human enhancement? If recent cultural trends in things like music, movies, and video games are any indication, it’s a subject that’s been picking at society’s collective conscience quite a bit as of late. https://gizmodo.com/janelle-monae-turns-rhythm-and-blues-into-science-ficti-5592174 http://io9.com/5827937/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-asks-whether-humanitys-best-hope-lies-in-building-a-better-species https://kotaku.com/a-deeper-look-at-deus-ex-human-revolution-5555342 In the interest of exploring the difficult questions that the subject…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Ghosts With Shit Jobs, a mockumentary about the crap gigs of 2040 AD

In the upcoming faux documentary Ghosts With Shit Jobs, the West has been in a state of financial ruin for decades, and the indigenous North Americas (or “ghosts”) are outsourced labor for China and India. What forms of employment are available? Among several careers, living spambot, robot baby technician, and silk collector. According to filmmaker…

Trailers Cyriaque Lamar

The Real Reason I’m Disappointed in Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card’s homophobic views aren’t exactly news — they’ve been a source of online controversy for years. It’s only newsworthy when Card does something especially notable, like rewriting one of the world’s greatest ghost stories into an anti-gay screed. https://gizmodo.com/orson-scott-cards-hamlet-not-as-good-as-shakespeares-v-5838157 Top image: Cover from “Ender in Exile” comic book And honestly, I wouldn’t care…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Must Watch: John Kessel on Future Stories as a Mirror of the Present

Acclaimed science fiction author and literature professor John Kessel recently gave a fantastic talk about science fiction, and you can watch the whole thing online. Here’s the blurb: Science fiction is popularly understood to be about showing us the world of the future: space travel, robots, immortality, encounters with aliens, mechanized cities, human evolution. But…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Will manufacturing automation finally eliminate the need for any human workers?

Here are some sobering statistics to mull over on the day after Labor Day: according to InsideScience.org, U.S. manufacturers have cut nearly 5 million manufacturing jobs (about 33%) since 2001, “yet the value of manufactured goods rose 27 percent, and U.S. exports reached their highest level in 20 years.” Will automated technology soon remove the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

No, science fiction novelists are not really predicting the future

There’s a curiously wide-eyed article from the New York Times, about some recent science fiction novels that have uncannily come true, which is making the rounds online. Are science fiction novelists really predicting the future after all? Er, no. What it boils down to, in the end, is that some people wrote books about economic…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders

Georgian army rented for Russia-hating war flick

The August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia was fought at sea, in the air, on land … and in the press, as both sides tried to spin events in their favor. The shooting has ended. The propaganda war continues. On Aug. 19, Georgia fired potentially its most powerful information broadside: the U.S. debut of…

Movies David Axe - Danger Room

No, technology is not going to destroy your privacy in the future

Welcome to Privacy Club. You cannot find Privacy Club on the internet. Look for stencils on the sidewalks to find this week’s key to the encrypted directions — as usual, we’ve stashed them steganographically inside a photo posted in a 4Chan forum devoted to politicians having sex with donkeys. You cannot bring your mobile to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The next theater of war will be the South China Sea

Over at Foreign Policy this month, there’s a terrific, smart collection of articles about the future of the world, from tomorrow’s economic trends to what the next great war could be. Robert D. Kaplan, a member of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board, makes a fascinating case for the future of warfare moving to…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Will the anti-science Republicans kill conservatism as Americans know it?

With a few notable exceptions, most of the contenders for the seat of Republican presidential candidate are outspoken critics of science. They and their supporters refuse to acknowledge the reality of climate change, want science teachers to tell students that human life was created by a spiritual force from beyond space, and suggest that the…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Pig-to-human transplants could be closer than you think

Become the best post-apocalyptic chef ever with insect recipes

The Eddie Murphy/Ben Stiller Comedy That Could Change the Future of Movies As We Know Them

South Korean airport fights drug smugglers with cloned dogs

In the future, cops may use a breathalyzer to find out where you were drinking

Computers can accelerate our collective intelligence to an unheard degree — but will that be a good thing?

We might have enough water to survive the 21st century after all

After 28 years in prison, man emerges into a terrifying alien world of cellphones and computers

The Pursuit of Personal Flight

Will you be able to disappear off the grid in 10 years?

Debating Human Enhancement

Ghosts With Shit Jobs, a mockumentary about the crap gigs of 2040 AD

The Real Reason I’m Disappointed in Orson Scott Card

Must Watch: John Kessel on Future Stories as a Mirror of the Present

Will manufacturing automation finally eliminate the need for any human workers?

No, science fiction novelists are not really predicting the future

Georgian army rented for Russia-hating war flick

No, technology is not going to destroy your privacy in the future

The next theater of war will be the South China Sea

Will the anti-science Republicans kill conservatism as Americans know it?

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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