Madeline Ashby took all the conventions of “artificial life form” novels and shredded them with her novel vN and its sequel, ID. Now she’s doing the same thing for the posthuman “everybody gets upgraded and has free ice cream forever” story, in her brutal new novel Company Town.
The Pentagon's already got brain-controlled prosthetics, and they are a major improvement over old-school artificial limbs. The devices are far from perfect, however. They rely on metal implants, which aren't compatible with the body's tissues, and they can only transmit a few signals at a time - turning what should…
Britain's National Archives has created an amazing online collection of "public information films," or what we in the United States call "public service announcements" (PSAs). It's an incredible collection that goes back to the 1950s and continues up through 2006. Some of the movies are just silly, and others are…
Biotechnology now outpaces the bodies we were born with. Today, we can give ourselves additional senses or improve the ones we've got, and we can heighten our strength while also building limbs better than the breakable ones most of us have. Here's a gallery of all the human enhancements that will be improving lives…
Call it a silent killer: some 6 percent of the U.S. population has some kind of voice disorder, most of those resulting from scarring of the vocal cords that can lead to diminishing or even total loss of the ability to speak. Giving voice to the voiceless, a team of Harvard and MIT researchers have developed a …
Ever wonder how we're going to create humans who can breathe underwater? Of course you do. Now a study published this week about how algae insinuate themselves into salamander embryos (and DNA) could provide the beginnings of an answer.
If you read any science fiction or futurism, you've probably heard people using the term "singularity" to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today's io9 flashback.
NASA's Human Research Program is all about risk reduction, finding ways to counter fatigue and mitigate radiation damage, among other potential issues in space travel. But what if a different kind of program had evolved?
Tibetans handle high altitudes much better than most people. New research pinpoints the genes that allow them to breathe easily on mountain peaks, and avoid deadly side-effects.
A one-time intelligence analyst with the Pentagon, Aimee Mullins is an athlete, model, and activist. And she does it all using a collection of experimental prosthetic legs. She says her special "cheetah" legs give her superpowers.
If you read any science fiction or futurism, you've probably heard people using the term "singularity" to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today's backgrounder.
J. Hughes is the executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a professor at Trinity College Hartford, and author of the book Citizen Cyborg. Here he explains the idea of transhumanism - and its dark side.
So apparently there's tritium leaking into one of New Jersey's main aquifers. As a proud Garden Stater, I have no choice but to hope that this environmental clusterfuck will give us fancy new phenotypes and not horrible, horrible cancer.
In Larry Clark's 2002 Teenage Caveman, a virus wipes out humanity, leaving only scattered human tribes and teenage immortals who love blowing lines and orgies. And if you have sex with the immortals, you gain superpowers or spontaneously combust. WTF?
Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2009, Jamais Cascio is a futurist who writes about the environment, technology, and culture. Here he argues that yesterday's posthumanism is today's boring quotidian.
Berlin gynecologist Dr. Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) was a titan of anatomical illustration thanks to his imaginative portrayals of the human body as a living factory. Pop on some Kraftwerk, because here come the man-machines!
Canadian geek artist Steve Mann has augmented his vision with wearable computers for most of his life. He invented his "smart pants" in high school, perfected his body tech rig at MIT, and now has one eye that's a camera.
Do you feel exhausted after a couple of drinks? Need constant Red Bull infusions to make it out of the bar? You might have a mutation that prevents you from becoming an addict.
Iron Man's suit isn't as science fictional as you might think. Most of its components exist right now in research and development labs. What would it cost Tony Stark today to put them together and become superhuman?
People have long imagined automatons for society's drudge work. The possibility and its implications are among science fiction's favorite topics. One question that crops up constantly: What is a sentient android's legal status? Is something that feels still property?
