Society

Nvidia Unveils Robot Training Tech, New Gaming Chips, And Toyota Deal

The CEO of Nvidia Admits What Everybody Is Afraid of About AI

As the AI chipmaker rockets past a $4 trillion valuation, CEO Jensen Huang lays out a stunning vision of a future with robot assistants and revived American factories, but admits the transition won't be painless.

Artificial Intelligence Luc Olinga Jul 13

Bad News: Northern Brits and Irish Can Instantly Spot Your Fake Accents

People in the northern UK and Ireland are especially good at identifying fake accents compared to their southern compatriots.

Human History Isaac Schultz Nov 19

35 Years Later, Heathers Has Been Often Imitated, Never Duplicated

The high-school satire's points still feel razor sharp and cut just as deep, despite a few elements that will forever situate it squarely in the '80s.

Movies Cheryl Eddy Mar 28

What Does Mastodon Mean for ‘Climate Twitter’?

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has scientists and activists signing up for the decentralized social network.

Climate Change John McCracken, Grist Nov 17

The Worst Charlatans of the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the pandemic, some took advantage of the situation to peddle misinformation and exploit a broken system.

Health Tom McKay Jul 9

A Third of the World’s Population Could Be Blanketed in Sahara-Like Heat by 2070

Brain geniuses like Elon Musk may want to colonize Mars, which sure. But for simpletons like me, keeping Earth mostly habitable seems like a better use of time and resources. If carbon emissions are allowed to continue unchecked, though, that may be a tough proposition. According to a new study, extreme heat now only found…

Earther Brian Kahn May 4

What Would Happen to Earth If the Avengers Undid Thanos’ Snap?

In 2018, half of all sentient life disappeared with Thanos’ snap of the fingers in Avengers: Infinity War. Five years passed. Then, it all was (mega spoiler alert, but come on, the movie’s been out for a month now) salvaged in Endgame. Professor Hulk, equipped with a fully-powered Infinity Stone-loaded gauntlet, brought all that life—including…

Conservation Robin George Andrews May 30

Could a Society Develop Advanced Technology WithOUT Written Language?

It’s a fascinating question. Over at Charles Stross’ blog, he responds to a reader question: What would a technological society look like without written language? And could such a thing even happen? Stross’ answer: probably not. After a certain point, a lot of things that we think of as necessary for an advanced technological civilization…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Jan 6

Mapping the Rising Poverty of the U.S.

Poverty is increasing in the U.S. A new series of detailed maps created by Justin Palmerplots its rise across the country. As Palmer points out, the City Observatory reports that the number of high-poverty neighborhoods in urban areas across the U.S. has tripled since the 1970s. In the same time period, the number of poor…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Aug 6

9 Different Visions Of What Families Will Look Like 50 Years From Now

Family is a moving target. Our ideas about what constitutes a “normal” family have changed a lot since the 1960s, and there’s no reason to believe they’ll stop changing. How weird could things get? Here are nine different ideas about the future of the family. No rigid definition exists for the “family,” and there’s no…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 13

Why Zack Kopplin Is Losing Ground In The War Against Creationists

For the past eight years, 21-year-old Zack Kopplin has been fighting to keep creationism out of Louisiana’s science classrooms. Despite a series of setbacks and the feeling that he’s continually losing battles, Kopplin still feels he’ll win the war. We spoke with him to learn more. The latest effort to repeal the Louisiana Science Education…

io9 George Dvorsky May 4

Off-Kilter Cube Houses Creatively Renovated Into Homes for Ex-Cons

Parts of the famously off-kilter “cube houses” project constructed back in 1984 to a design by architect Piet Blom in Rotterdam, Holland, have been transformed into new homes for 21 former prison inmates by Personal Architecture. The old, oddly angled complex has been updated with skylights and internal light-wells to allow more natural illumination, offering…

Tech News Geoff Manaugh Mar 10

Will the technology of the future even be recognizable to us?

The baby in this video understands an iPad, but she doesn’t know how to read a magazine — and that could have some serious implications for the tech of the future. In response to this post about the ways that technological change is wrapped up with societal change, commenter HollywoodCed, posted a snapshot of a…

io9 Ria Misra Feb 17

You can’t speculate about technology without speculating about society

We’re living in a time of extreme technological change. Gadgets that didn’t exist a decade ago are shaping your existence. So we need science fiction, more than ever, to speculate about the future of technology. But here’s the hard part: You can’t speculate about technological change without also speculating about social change. Top image: Surrogates.…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Feb 17

The Purge could be this year’s most hamfisted political movie

In The Purge, a suburban family is put through hell because right wingers came up with a plan to eliminate the poor and the sick. And we all come face to face with how broken the American dream really is. Yadda yadda. Basically, it’s like this year’s Atlas Shrugged or Now: a clunky and implausible…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jun 7

Gorgeous Vintage Advertisements for Heroin, Cannabis and Cocaine

Drugs such as cocaine and heroin aren’t just glamorous because they’re illegal. Even when you could buy them at any pharmacy or grocery store, they still had a certain cool factor. Just look at these fantastic vintage advertisements for opium, coca-laced wine and “medicinal tonics.” Mrs Winslow’s soothing syrup This stuff was compounded by Mrs.…

io9 Vincze Miklós May 30

Two Competing Theories as to Why Americans Have Stopped Gaining Weight

Do you think obesity rates in the United States are on the rise? Despite what you’ve heard, they’re not. The Centers for Disease Control says obesity rates plateaued for men, women, and children in the late 2000s. In addition to the CDC report, a recent Journal of the American Medical Association article points out that…

io9 Keith Veronese Sep 28

Charles Darwin ruminates on the pros and cons of marriage

Charles Darwin married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, in January 1839 — but not before giving it some serious thought. In the months leading up to his marriage proposal in November of 1838, the preeminent naturalist maintained a number of lists, scrawled in his journal, dedicated to the pros and cons of marriage, and the impact…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 14

Gossip is basically only thing holding society together, says science

Gossip is generally seen as malicious, something that destroys relationships and reputations alike with a deadly mix of garbled half-truths and outright lies. But did you ever stop to consider all the good that gossip does? That’s the idea explored by a team of psychologists at UC Berkeley, who argue that gossip helps keep bad…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jan 17

The sudden evolutionary shift that drove ancient hominids to socialize with each other

Our capacity for complex social interactions is a defining feature of humanity, but how did it evolve? It seems like it would have been a slow, gradual process, but a new statistical model suggests something very unusual happened 52 million years ago. The last few decades have seen remarkable strides in our understanding of social…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 10

Society

The CEO of Nvidia Admits What Everybody Is Afraid of About AI

Bad News: Northern Brits and Irish Can Instantly Spot Your Fake Accents

35 Years Later, Heathers Has Been Often Imitated, Never Duplicated

What Does Mastodon Mean for ‘Climate Twitter’?

The Worst Charlatans of the Covid-19 Pandemic

A Third of the World’s Population Could Be Blanketed in Sahara-Like Heat by 2070

What Would Happen to Earth If the Avengers Undid Thanos’ Snap?

Could a Society Develop Advanced Technology WithOUT Written Language?

Mapping the Rising Poverty of the U.S.

9 Different Visions Of What Families Will Look Like 50 Years From Now

Why Zack Kopplin Is Losing Ground In The War Against Creationists

Off-Kilter Cube Houses Creatively Renovated Into Homes for Ex-Cons

Will the technology of the future even be recognizable to us?

You can’t speculate about technology without speculating about society

The Purge could be this year’s most hamfisted political movie

Gorgeous Vintage Advertisements for Heroin, Cannabis and Cocaine

Two Competing Theories as to Why Americans Have Stopped Gaining Weight

Charles Darwin ruminates on the pros and cons of marriage

Gossip is basically only thing holding society together, says science

The sudden evolutionary shift that drove ancient hominids to socialize with each other

Anker Nano Charger Drops 43% to Its Lowest Price Yet, Small in Size but Powerful Enough for Laptops

It’s Already Time to Start the Casting Rumors for Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Movie

Forget MacBook, GEEKOM Shifts Focus From Mini PCs to Laptops With the GeekBook X14 Pro Now at an All-Time Low

Google TV Streamer 4K Returns to a Record Low, Standing Out in Amazon’s Streaming Device Deals as Stock Runs Low

Return to ‘Tron: Legacy’ With Hasbro’s Electric New Action Figures (Exclusive)

These 1970s Predictions for Inflation in 2026 Show Things Could Be a Lot Worse

Bring Your Artemis II and ‘Project Hail Mary’ Excitement Back Down to Earth With this LEGO Technic Set of the the Sun, Earth, and Moon, Now at All-Time Low

Artemis 2 Day 10: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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