Scientific proof that the Deepwater oil plume is over 20 miles long #breaking #deepwaterhorizon

Classic science fiction theme tunes sound even spacier slowed down #themetunes #startrek

Fall movie preview: 10 movies we're sure will rule, and 10 that might surprise us #fallpreview #tronlegacy

Our giant guide to fall TV that will satisfy your science fiction cravings #television #fallpreview

Giant star that should have been a black hole became something even stranger #madastronomy #space

io9

FAQ. Include # before tag:

#observationdeck, #tips, #calendar, #corrections, etc.

San Francisco, 6:49 AM
Fri Aug 20
23 posts in the last 24 hours

IO9 TEAM

#spaceopera

One of space opera's greatest rogues is getting his own movie at last

Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3-D comes out today, but he's already planning his next project: the roguish Space Pirate Cobra. A precursor of Han Solo and Mal Reynolds, the anime character became huge in Europe, but now he's coming for us. More »

06:30 AM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#morningspoilers

The most crazily complex Marvel movies rumor ever! Plus the Spidey reboot is down to five potential leading ladies!

The alpha and the omega of Marvel movie rumors all boils down to which character one actress wants (or doesn't want) to play. Five actresses are vying to play Spider-Man's girlfriend. Plus Cowboys & Aliens, Skyline, and much, much more! More »

06:00 AM

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By Alasdair Wilkins

Yesterday - August 19, 2010

#bookreview

What it's like to be cut off from your Internet brain implant

In John Dickinson's WE, everybody's connected to the World Ear, a tiny communications device that connects your brain to the internet — except Paul Munro, cut off from humanity at the fringes of the solar system. It's a thrilling premise. More »

04:30 PM

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By Thea James - The Book Smugglers

#drugs

Two new scientific studies reveal hallucinogens are good for your mental health

LSD and ketamine, two powerful hallucinogens, are also potential cures for depression, OCD, and anxiety. Two studies published this week, in Science and Nature, confirm that hallucinogenic drugs stimulate healthy brain activity, even promoting the growth of neurons. More »

03:39 PM

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By Annalee Newitz

#exclusive

Spot the hidden probe droid in this exclusive new Star Wars poster

A single probe droid scours the icy landscape of Hoth, in this new Star Wars poster which we're bringing to you exclusively, a day before it goes on sale. The last three posters sold out within an hour. More »

03:30 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#spaceporn

Ancient galaxies defy convention, crank out stars well into their old age

02:37 PM

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#frankmiller

Captain America and the Vampire Queen of Louisiana have noir-tinged sex in Frank Miller's new film

Frank Miller's solo directorial debut, The Spirit, may have crashed and burned, but he's not done bringing camp to noirtown. Check out this sexy 30-second tease for his Gucci fragrance ad, starring Chris "Captain America" Evans and Evan Rachel Wood. More »

02:30 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#breaking

Scientific proof that the Deepwater oil plume is over 20 miles long

Today scientists revealed the results of an investigation into the severity of the Deepwater oil spill. The plume of petroleum hydrocarbon chemicals measures a staggering 22 miles long, and has settled in a deep underwater layer (see photo). More »

01:38 PM

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By Alasdair Wilkins

#themetunes

Classic science fiction theme tunes sound even spacier slowed down

The other day, the internet went crazy over Justin Bieber's anthem "U Smile" slowed down 800 percent. But we slowed down the theme tunes from Doctor Who, Star Trek and other classics, and we discovered they sound just as cool. More »

01:31 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#postagestamps

Beautiful postage stamps from the "Mad Men" era celebrate spaceships and progress

12:40 PM

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#lifefindsaway

A portrait of the bizarre future of marine life

This picture shows the hybridization of plastic garbage with marine life - algae and tiny invertebrates have made a home on plastic that has been floating in the North Atlantic for decades. Now scientists say the plastic is disappearing. More »

11:52 AM

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By Annalee Newitz

#madcosmology

The "mother of the universe" particle is running out of hiding places

11:29 AM

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#holycrapwtf

The evil mastermind version of a wildlife special

10:45 AM

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#television

Our giant guide to fall TV that will satisfy your science fiction cravings

Set your DVR's: we've got the entire schedule of can't-miss science fiction and fantasy television. The good news is, fall TV offers more of Fringe's red-haired alternate Olivia Dunham. Plus rogue spies, weird conspiracies, superpowered families... and the Walking Dead. More »

10:24 AM

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By Meredith Woerner

#techversaries

Happy 50th Birthday to Sputnik 5, Proof That Space Travel Is Survivable (And Adorable)

Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Union launched the Korabl-Sputnik 2 spacecraft—known as Sputnik 5 in the west—carrying two dogs named Belka and Strelka, along with mice, rats and flies into space. More surprising? Everyone came back alive. More »

09:55 AM

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By Sam Biddle

#io9university

Ride a space shuttle rocket booster into space, then plunge back to Earth

09:30 AM

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#conceptart

Concept art pays tribute to the richness, as well as the realism, of George R.R. Martin's Westeros

For those of us who can't wait for the HBO series to start seeing every little detail of George R.R. Martin's Westeros, artist Xavier Garcia has started creating A Song Of Ice And Fire concept art. Here's his Jon Snow. More »

09:00 AM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#conceptart

The insectoid monsters of the Russian subway system

In a series of doctored photographs called Metronomicon, artist Alexey Andreev recreates the world of H.P. Lovecraft in the Russian subways. It's the perfect place for Cthulhu and his spawn. Check out our gallery. More »

08:30 AM

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By Annalee Newitz

#exclusive

Doug Jones explains how to bring humanity to an inhuman character

Nobody is better at playing bizarre creatures of the imagination than Doug Jones, who's probably Guillermo del Toro's most frequent collaborator. We asked Jones the secret of bringing creatures to life, and whether we'll ever see Hellboy's Abe Sapien again. More »

08:00 AM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#madastronomy

Giant star that should have been a black hole became something even stranger

A star went supernova with more than twice the mass needed to ultimately collapse into a black hole. But something weirder happened - the star became a magnetar, an asteroid-sized star with the most powerful magnetic field in the universe. More »

07:30 AM

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By Alasdair Wilkins

#jumper

Hayden Christensen is ready for a "darker" Jumper 2

Ready to watch Hayden Christensen brood and teleport and fight Paladins once again? Christensen says he's down for Jumper 2, and it sounds as though he's got a plan for how the sequel would play out. More »

07:00 AM

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By Meredith Woerner

#earthporn

The ferocious blooms of Ireland's plankton are visible from space

Check out that blue alien swarm off the coast of Ireland. It's phytoplankton in bloom, in an image captured last spring and released this week. They swirl in the water, almost like an intelligence... with a purpose. [ESA via NationalGeographic]

06:30 AM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#morningspoilers

Joss Whedon discusses the Captain America script, plus Torchwood takes us inside The New World

Before starting The Avengers, Joss Whedon made sure the script for Captain America made sense. Torchwood unveils the new miniseries and new character. Guillermo del Toro gives his last, bittersweet update on Hellboy III. Spoilers for miles around! More »

06:00 AM

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By Alasdair Wilkins

Wednesday - August 18, 2010

#tronbetrayal

One of the greatest Judge Dredd artists reimagines the world of Tron

Jock is one of our favorite artists, for his work on The Losers, Batman, and especially Judge Dredd. So we're super excited to see the art he created for a new Tron Legacy prequel comic, Tron: Betrayal. More »

06:00 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#wedding

Geeky wedding invitations to make your heart go squee

We're over the three moons of Tatooine for this Star Wars-inspired wedding invite. So we went searching for other creative couples and their equally awesome science-fiction-inspired invites. And this was what we found: Browncoats, zombies, and Trekkers in love! More »

05:23 PM

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By Meredith Woerner

#mutants

Veronica Mars loves a Thing-like mutant in the music video for Yeasayer's "Madder Red"

04:00 PM

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#fallpreview

Fall movie preview: 10 movies we're sure will rule, and 10 that might surprise us

It's been a mostly underwhelming movie summer. But fear not, moviegoers! There are still 10 movies left in 2010 that look set to rock your worlds, including Monsters, Skyline and Tron. And there are 10 more that, well...could surprise us. More »

03:41 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#culturalstudies

Does "defriending" mean that your relationship is over?

In this excerpt from her book The Breakup 2.0, media studies professor Ilana Gershon explains the rituals around breakups on social networks. To defriend or not defriend? What about creating a warning ringtone for your ex? More »

03:19 PM

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By Ilana Gershon

#dinosaurweapons

Ancient "terror birds" used their mega-beaks to stab prey

03:00 PM

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#scifashion

Cosplay on acid — the weirdly redundant art of dimestore scifi costumes

Vintage department store costumes followed a strangely predictable formula: soulless plastic mask + psychedelic torso art with the character's face again (for absolutely no reason). Here are some of your favorite scifi characters looking like narcissistic lunatics. More »

02:55 PM

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By Cyriaque Lamar

#vanishing

Hayden Christensen refuses to "Vanish," even in the face of the apocalypse

02:08 PM

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#afternoonreading

The right to life in a posthuman society

01:48 PM

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#travel

The next best thing to landscape photography on other planets

Photographer Allison Davies hasn't yet been able to leave Earth for other biospheres. But the photographer has made it to some of Earth's most otherworldly locations, in between her assignments as an undercover investigator for a private detective firm. More »

01:00 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#ps3

The Best Empire Strikes Back Furniture $10 Can Buy [Kotaku]

12:30 PM

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#readingbarsoom

How Edgar Rice Burroughs became one of the twentieth century's biggest scifi authors

12:30 PM

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#harlanellison

The original pilot script for television's most famous disaster, the Starlost, coming out as a comic book

It should have been the greatest television show ever: conceived by Harlan Ellison, with science advisor Ben Bova and scripts by Dick, Le Guin, Herbert and Van Vogt. A new comic based on The Starlost shows what could have been. More »

12:00 PM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#dccomics

New DC Universe Online trailer pits players against the Justice League

The first trailer for DC Universe Online showcased a post-apocalyptic DCU and a peeved Superman. The latest teaser unveils the types of characters players can create and control. And yes, you can make like Wesley Willis and whup Batman's ass. More »

11:37 AM

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By Cyriaque Lamar

#mysteries

The "mystery stone" that suggests ancient Greeks were in New Mexico in 500 BC

The "mystery stone," discovered on a mountainside in New Mexico, appears to be inscribed with ancient Greek or Hebrew. For decades, scholars have wondered if it's proof that Mediterranean peoples came to the New World thousands of years ago. More »

10:48 AM

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By Annalee Newitz

#space

An Enchanting Time-Lapse Look at the Greatest Show in Space

If you missed the Perseids meteor shower—and I truly hope you didn't—this beautiful time-lapse video of the view from Joshua Tree National Park should get you caught up. And fill you with more than a little wonder. [Gizmodo]

10:40 AM

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By Brian Barrett

#lawsuits

Battle of Los Angeles takes fellow LA alien invasion film Skyline to court

Two upcoming alien-invasion flicks might have a lot more in common than aliens and a Los Angeles setting. Turns out the directors of Skyline worked on the VFX for Battle: Los Angeles. And Sony is none too happy about that. More »

10:00 AM

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By Meredith Woerner

#poll

What went wrong with Caprica?

Producer David Eick promised we'd know the fate of Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica by August 15, but there's been no word. Is the show doomed? We hope not. But it hasn't gotten BSG-level ratings. What do you think went wrong? More »

09:30 AM

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By Charlie Jane Anders

#paranormal