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io9How Could We Talk To Alien Life Forms?
Chances are when alien visitors show up, they won’t speak any language we can recognize. We’ll be lucky if they have recognizable music, like the aliens in Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow. They may not have eyes or ears, as we understand them. So how can we prove to our first contacts that we’re smart … Continued
By Charliejane -
io9
An Alien Prepares for Her Nuptuals
Kimiko Yoshida is a Japanese artist who likes to dress up in wedding garb. The wedding veils she chooses, though, are nowhere near conventional. On her web site, she has sixty-some photos of herself dressed as brides from different ethnic groups. Here, she takes a break from her anthropological self-fashioning to become an alien. Isn’t … Continued
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io9
Cloverfield’s Secret Japanese Origin
Want to know the origin story behind the mystery monster in Cloverfield before its Friday release? Able to read Japanese? Then this manga tie-in to the movie may be right up your alley. Illustrated by Yoshiki Togawa, the 24-page preview apparently leads into the opening of the movie. Translation, please! Cloverfield The Comic [kadokawa.co.jp]
By Grae -
io9
Genetic Engineers Create Mice With Proto-Wings
Mice and bats like this one share a genetic ancestor, and now they may become one species again. Yesterday, scientists announced they’d engineered mice with proto-bat wings. Researchers added bat genes to the mouse genome, and the results were “mice with abnormally long forelimbs.” Those long limbs are the first evolutionary step towards wings. More … Continued
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io9
Seven Addictive Scifi Comic Books Free Online
It’s Wednesday! Also known as New Comics Day. If you’re not up for the weekly trek to pick up the latest issues, but you’ve been wanting to jump in on this whole comic book thing, we’ll get you set up with some freebie comic books for your downloading pleasure, in an effort to further decrease … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
io9
Satellite Rockets from Ocean Launch Pad at Equator
A communications satellite called the Thuraya-3 launched yesterday afternoon from Boeing’s Sea Launch, a massive ocean vessel. Various laws of physics dictate that the best place to launch a heavy payload like a satellite is on the equator, and that’s why the United Arab Emirates company Thuraya paid to use the Sea Launch pad you … Continued
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io9
Where Did Fake Cloverfield Spoilers Come From?
We saw Cloverfield last night, and we’ll post a full review on Friday. (Meanwhile, here’s a new clip, from much later in the movie than the other clips.) But we were left curious about this incredibly detailed synopsis, which has been all over the Internet for weeks… and which is almost totally wrong except for … Continued
By Charliejane -
io9Television
Guess Who’s Back In The Dark Knight?
Good morning and get ready for maximum spoilage. We have some pretty major spoilers about Batman:The Dark Knight. We also learn more about CJ7, the new movie from Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) and find out an important detail about Halo. Oh, and there are 10 new pictures from next week’s Sarah Connor Chronicles. Don’t … Continued
By Charliejane -
io9
Amphibious Car Can Dive 33 Feet Underwater
Rinspeed’s new sQuba is a concept car designed to dive into water. It’s made with lightweight carbon nanotubes and has an electric motor, rear wheel drive, propellers and jet drives that propel it up to 33 feet underwater, and zero emissions. It makes its debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March. And yes, it’s … Continued
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io9
Post-Apocalyptic Lit Becomes Movie With Pretty People
Cormac McCarthy is currently riding a wave of cinematic bliss after the success of the Coen Brothers adaptation of his dark No Country For Old Men. Hopefully that washed the bad taste out of everyone’s mouth that was the movie version his All The Pretty Horses. Next up is a film version of McCarthy’s dark … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
io9
Enhanced Firefighters Have Really Big… Boots
Futuristic fire-fighting boots and a robot dog may not be the focal point of this piece of concept art, but they’re definitely the most intriguing. We’re not sure what these boots are supposed to do in the first place, but we know that the artist calls them “fire pumps.” Do they spray water out of … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
io9
Flesh-Eating, Sexually-Transmitted Bacteria Hit San Francisco and Boston
Your next kiss could turn into an infection that eats your lips off. San Francisco and Boston are reporting outbreaks of drug-resistant staph bacteria that cannot be stopped with any antibiotics currently being used to fight them. When the bacteria come into contact with your skin, they can burrow into tiny cuts and create infections … Continued
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io9
The Biggest Space Explosions Ever Recorded
You can still see the shock wave from the explosion of supernova Cassiopeia A in this color-enhanced image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The blue glow around the dead star is the “forward shock,” material blasted with energy by the shock wave when the star blew. Click through for a gallery of the biggest space … Continued
By Charliejane -
io9Movies
Ming the Micromanager
On SciFi Channel’s Flash Gordon last Friday, we were all once again reminded why today’s Ming is not as scary nor as campily compelling as Mings of yore. This scene encapsulates everything problematic about today’s Ming. He slurps wine instead of growling; he has no awesome makeup nor a funny hat; and instead of punishing … Continued
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io9
New Book Reveals All the Superman Movies That Never Were
After being burned by tell-all biographies and exposés like Adam West’s Back to the Batcave, it’s easy to turn a wary eye to the next book that promises to give you the “real story” about what went down in Hollywood’s conference rooms and executive offices with regards to one of the most popular comic book … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
io9
Jupiter’s Red Spot May Not Be A Storm After All
Missing the implied comedy and danger evident in its very name, scientists are studying the Giant Red Spot of Jupiter to see just what secrets it can share about its home planet, according to the Discovery Channel. The most recent interest in the eye comes following the discovery that, contrary to popular belief, it’s actually … Continued
By Grae -
io9
2001: A Flatware Odyssey
The knives are little more than a slender metal wedge and the three-tined forks so narrow you can barely spear a green bean, but what Arne Jacobsen’s stainless steel flatware lacks in functionality, it makes up in futuristic style. That’s why it was featured in 2001. I own a set of this famous flatware, and … Continued
By Peril -
io9
Sarah Connor Is Bionic Woman’s Meaner Big Sister
Sarah Connor uses a motorcycle as a projectile weapon in this great set piece from last night’s Sarah Connor Chronicles. Compare that with this lame motorcycle-fu clip from the last Bionic Woman, where the whole sequence is just a set-up for a dumb PMS joke. It’s a good reminder that even though Sarah Connor once … Continued
By Charliejane -
io9
First Look at Indiana Jones in the Cobwebby Alien Dungeon
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a new photograph out today, all packed with cobwebs and spiders. It also looks like Shia LaBeouf’s uniform throughout the film will be his greaser biker jacket, helping hammer home the whole “Hey, I’m a teenaged rebel, man!” attitude. If he picks up the whip … Continued
By Kevin Kelly -
io9
Will Smith As A Drunk Superman
We haven’t mentioned much about Will Smith’s upcoming summer movie Hancock, where he plays an alcoholic, homeless superhero who does a hell of a lot more collateral damage than he does good. Remember (shudder) when Superman gets exposed to that weird fake Kryptonite from Richard Pryor in Superman III and goes on a drinking binge? … Continued
By Kevin Kelly
