Sci-Fi

Yes, It Matters If The Science In Your Science Fiction Story Is Accurate

There’s been a lot of debate lately over whether science fiction needs accurate science — or whether it’s even worth discussing the accuracy of science in science fiction. What kind of person expects a science textbook instead of just a fun romp? But as a new essay points out, this is really a matter of…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Tell Us Some Six-Word Science Fiction Stories!

Science fiction epics can stretch onwards through hundreds of thousands of words, but you can spin one for us in just six? We want to hear your very best (but also very, very brief) science fiction stories! Whether you have a potentially Faustian internet bargain to strike (Terms: tldr; for immortality, click agree. – dkasper)…

io9 Ria Misra

Red Dawn Was An Accidental Remake—In More Ways Than One

A bellicose enemy attacks a complacent country and institutes martial law until a ragtag group of unbroken patriots rally and re-take their country. It sounds like Red Dawn, but actually it’s The Invasion of 1910. And due to some editing, it was widely popular in the country of both the rebels and the invaders. Red…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

This Weird Video Installation Shows How Cosmic Dung Beetles Really Are

What do you get when you combine a planetarium projector and footage of dung beetles? If you’re video artist Diana Thater, you get a science lesson as well as a meditation on how humans disrupt other forms of life on this planet without even meaning to. Top image via David Zwirner Gallery Thater’s new video…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Japanese craftsman creates perfect sci-fi ship replicas using just paper

This is one of the most amazing craftsmen I have ever seen. He doesn’t only make the exterior of his sci-fi ships using just paper but also the guts! The level of detail is amazing—some look like perfect resin models but it’s only paper. Behold the X-Wing, TIE Interceptor, Viper Mk2, 2001’s Orion and many…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

This Is What It’s Like To Write Science Fiction Novels In China

What’s it like to write science fiction novels in China? Novelist Cixin Liu, author of The Three Body Problem takes us through the history, present, and the possible future of science fiction in China. Today, Cixin Liu joined us — along with the book’s translator Ken Liu, who also translated both our questions and his…

io9 Ria Misra

Let’s Write Some Six-Word Science Fiction!

Can you build (and then maybe destroy) a fictional world in just six words? Then we want you to write one for us. Maybe you want to explore life on Kepler’s exoplanets, or the inner-lives of robots, or follow commenters Topher and ManhackMan‘s lead with this two-part story that begins and ends with an unsettling…

io9 Ria Misra

Who Would Win in an All-Out Battle: Star Wars or Star Trek?

A classic debate! Good or Evil? Chocolate or Strawberry? Star Trek or Star Wars (excluding the Death Star)? But unlike those timeless questions this one really does seem to have a compelling answer. And its not what the majority seem to think. A few necessary caveats (take heed ye trolls): 1) Although it (should) hardly…

Tech News Rom Lokken - Quora

Cool frontal shot really makes the F-35 look like a sci-fi starfighter

OK, F-35 Lightning II, OK. You look amazingly futuristic in this full frontal shot. That’s some Robotech-level shit right there. You win. SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Sploid Jesus Diaz

This is how sex robots would look inside one day (NSFW)

I initially thought this was a photo of a real art installation reflecting on the the objectification of women. It is not. It’s a computer generated cutaway of a futuristic sex robot made by French 3D artist Cesar Vonc. After seeing this, I don’t think I would be able to get aroused by a sex…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

These beautiful paintings feel like 1980s sci-fi film concept art

I’m so in love with the amazing paintings of Simon Stålenhag. So much that I’m posting about him again. There’s something about his aesthetics that remind me of the sci-fi movies from the 1980s—the combination of color, everyday suburbia scenes, and the kids wandering around his world. Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish illustrator who lives…

Sploid Jesus Diaz

Can We Spot Rocky, Sun-Squished Planets?

In 1954, a high school physics teacher wrote a science fiction story set on a highly oblate exoplanet, one so squished the gravity varied dramatically from equator to pole. Now researchers are contemplating how to detect such bizarre, alien worlds in our ever-expanding search for exoplanets. Artist’s concept of an oblate spheroid of an alien…

Tech News Mika McKinnon

11 Sci-Fi Films That Actually Deserve Reboots

Hollywood’s favorite pastime is remaking movies, or at the very least, slapping on another sequel and making millions. While that’s all fun and good—I’m looking forward to the new Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Terminator like everyone else—many other sci-fi films also deserve adequate reboot/sequel attention. I asked that very question last week and the…

Tech News Darren Orf

Write A Six-Word Science Fiction Story For Us!

Six words is all you’ve got, and six words is all you need, to enthrall, spook, surprise, and delight us with your ultra-short science fiction tales! Maybe your story will have a twist, like this one from commenter buckgoose: “First on Mars!” *Tap on shoulder. Or maybe it will be seasonally appropriate, like this one…

io9 Ria Misra

Why Is It That Zombies Eat Brains?

Zombies have been a pop culture staple for decades, and in that time the concept of the dead coming back to life somehow to feast on the living has proliferated virtually every form of media that exists. One trait that is seemingly synonymous with zombies is their apparent need to feed on the brains of…

Tech News Karl Smallwood - TodayIFoundOut.com

What Sci-Fi Films Actually Deserve a Reboot?

Over the weekend, I watched the always wonderful and under-appreciated Titan AE (via HBO Go). It had been awhile since I’d seen it—maybe a five years or so—and I was amazed how great that movie still is. Think about it: an animated film that nearly kills the entire human race before the title screen. Gutsy.…

Tech News Darren Orf

New Star Wars trailer perfectly remade with original Star Wars footage

When I saw the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it felt instantly familiar. That’s very probably because anything Star Wars feels nostalgic but also because, well, we’ve seen all those scenes from the trailer before! Here is the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens remade shot-by-shot with original footage. It’s perfect! The…

Sploid Casey Chan

What to Buy the Paleofuturist Who Has Everything

What do you get for the paleofuturist who has everything? Forget the boring book and DVD sets. How about a real flying car? Or a robot butler? These paleofuturistic wonders can all be yours! Provided you have a few hundred thousand dollars lying around. Aerocar Flying Car (1954) — $975,000 We keep hearing that the…

Tech News Matt Novak

Brilliant Jodorowsky’s Dune Makes the Oscar Documentary Shortlist

It’s a great time to be an Alejandro Jodorowsky fan. (Isn’t it always, though?) Today, it was announced that Jodorowsky’s Dune — Frank Pavich’s doc about the director’s failed (yet still highly influential, gloriously envisioned, and endlessly fascinating) efforts to bring Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel to the big screen — made the Oscar shortlist for…

io9 Cheryl Eddy

Short film: The hilarious truth about time travel is that we’re selfish

If you could travel through time where would you go? To the future? To go see dinosaurs? And what would you do? Cure cancer? Prevent wars? Sure. But what about just using time travel to selfishly make your life easier? It sounds silly but it really might be the funniest thing you can do with…

Sploid Casey Chan

Yes, It Matters If The Science In Your Science Fiction Story Is Accurate

Tell Us Some Six-Word Science Fiction Stories!

Red Dawn Was An Accidental Remake—In More Ways Than One

This Weird Video Installation Shows How Cosmic Dung Beetles Really Are

Japanese craftsman creates perfect sci-fi ship replicas using just paper

This Is What It’s Like To Write Science Fiction Novels In China

Let’s Write Some Six-Word Science Fiction!

Who Would Win in an All-Out Battle: Star Wars or Star Trek?

Cool frontal shot really makes the F-35 look like a sci-fi starfighter

This is how sex robots would look inside one day (NSFW)

These beautiful paintings feel like 1980s sci-fi film concept art

Can We Spot Rocky, Sun-Squished Planets?

11 Sci-Fi Films That Actually Deserve Reboots

Write A Six-Word Science Fiction Story For Us!

Why Is It That Zombies Eat Brains?

What Sci-Fi Films Actually Deserve a Reboot?

New Star Wars trailer perfectly remade with original Star Wars footage

What to Buy the Paleofuturist Who Has Everything

Brilliant Jodorowsky’s Dune Makes the Oscar Documentary Shortlist

Short film: The hilarious truth about time travel is that we’re selfish

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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