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io9TelevisionLast night’s Nikita was one of the best hours of TV I’ve seen in ages
How do you follow up one of the weirdest cliffhangers in television history? With an episode chock full of jaw-dropping moments and one terrible shock. They could have called this “The Last Temptation of Nikita.” This show is going out on an amazing high note. Spoilers ahead… Parts of last night’s Nikita felt like a … Continued
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io9What word originated in the year of your birth?
The Oxford English Dictionary has a fun little web toy that lets you see a word that was first used during the year of your birth. What’s your birthday word? Head over to the OED blog, pick the year of your birth, and see which word was also birthed that year. Then hunt around the … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
More than 700 pieces of gingerbread transformed into Optimus Prime
This edible Optimus Prime is made of 700-800 individual pieces of gingerbread. And it doesn’t just look impressive—it also won its maker, artist Caroline Eriksson, a huge cash prize. redditor downvotedagain posted Eriksson’s sweet Transformer, explaining the 3D and compositing artist is a friend of a friend and that she was entering Optimus Prime—which took … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9Movies
Concept art from an imagined dark and gritty NeverEnding Story reboot
The NeverEnding Story doesn’t need a darker reboot in the least, but Nicolas Francoeur‘s concept art, imagining a more “mature” version of the classic films, are still quite lovely. Let’s just hope they don’t give film executives any ideas. Concept Art World has more images from the series, including Francoeur’s remakes of Gmork, Rock Biter … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
JK Rowling is collaborating on a play about Harry Potter pre-Hogwarts
Harry Potter is getting a prequel, but it’s not a book or movie about the Marauders at Hogwarts or the rise of Voldemort. Instead, it’s a stage show about Harry Potter’s life before he received that precious acceptance letter. The stage play is being helmed by producers Colin Callender and Sonia Friedman, and Rowling will … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9Gorgeous NASA video shows the sun at different wavelengths
The sun takes on a jewel-like quality in this video from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, which converts light at various wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye into images that humans can see. Watch as various features on the sun’s surface appear and disappear depending on the wavelength range. This video is based on … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9
A scholarly zombie is forced to aid a princess of thieves in her quest
Sette Frummagem and Duane Adelier are an unlikely pair of traveling companions. She is the young daughter of the head of a criminal family, quick with a lie or a boast, eager to liberate money from its rightful owner, and oddly gifted with a lion’s tail and a nose that can sniff out things that … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9Movies
Anna Paquin’s Rogue has been cut from X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past reunites many of the cast members from the earlier X-Men film trilogy, but one previously announced character will be absent: Anna Paquin’s Rogue, whose scene ended up on the cutting room floor. Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer told EW that the decision to cut Rogue from the film … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9TrailersJeff gets a visit from Santa Dean in this animated Community promo
Community may not be getting a claymation Christmas special this year, but it does get a bit of animated holiday cheer in this ad for the new season, in which Dean Pelton crashes Jeff’s lonely Christmas with a costume and a willing reindeer. This promo’s a bit heavy on the new season’s scheduling, but it … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9TelevisionThe Animated Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present
This weekend in the world of cartoons, a lot of shows are still off, but we are greeted by the once-in-a-year joy of holiday specials! My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the sole new bit of regularly scheduled animated joy this week, but a new Robot Chicken special airs to fill the void. We … Continued
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io9Watch the first urgent spacewalk to repair the ISS cooling system now
Astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio are currently on the first of three scheduled urgent spacewalks to repair the cooling system on the International Space Station. You can watch the event live online thanks to NASA TV. Hopkins and Mastracchio are replacing the faulty pump module in the cooling system over the course of their … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9Movies
Several Random Things You Didn’t Know About Walking With Dinosaurs 3D
They took an educational BBC series about dinosaurs and turned it into a goofy kids’ movie. To be honest, I expected Walking With Dinosaurs to be a lot worse than it actually was. The actual movie is lovely to look at, but dumb as bricks. And full of surprises — including Saved by the Bell-style … Continued
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io9TrailersFirst trailer for Transcendence shows Johnny Depp going full AI
It’s starting to look like 2014 is going to be the year of artificial intelligence movies. First Her, now Transcendence, look at what happens to humanity when AIs live among us. Yesterday we got some interesting teasers for this movie, and now we’ve got the complete trailer. It’s hard to tell from whether it’s going … Continued
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io9Watch a nuclear bomb create a lake
This is the Chagan nuclear test. It was part of a larger effort to both test nuclear weapons and to use those weapons for peaceful purposes. The result is a lake it is barely safe to swim in and a severely polluted river nearby. An often-overlooked aspect of nuclear proliferation was the effort to use … Continued
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io9
Why wine and tea taste so good
Wine and tea are both delicious, this we know and have always known. But, new research has finally given us the precise locus of just where their deliciousness comes from. Today, we took a look at the most amazing scientific breakthroughs that this year has seen in a pretty incredible year in science. And commenter … Continued
By Ria Misra -
io9
Yes, electrons are perfectly round — and that’s a problem
Bad news, everyone! New measurements show that electrons are perfectly round. This is a problem because it means something’s still seriously wrong with a critical theory that’s supposed to tell us why the universe exists. Last year, Harvard and Yale physicists conducted an experiment to measure the “lumpiness” of electrons. The researchers were hoping to … Continued
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io9TelevisionThe Doctor finally meets a problem the Sonic Screwdriver can’t solve
Check out the first clip from the Doctor Who Christmas special, “Time of the Doctor.” In which the Doctor finally faces a problem too big for the sonic screwdriver. It’s just a short snippet, but it showcases one of the main features of this special: We’re rebooting Clara’s home life, getting rid of the “nanny … Continued
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io9
Birds offer insight into the evolution of extended families
Humans often rear their children with help from family and friends. But why would such a strategy evolve? What could we possibly get out of rearing somebody else’s child? Now, scientists believe that they’ve unraveled this mystery — at least when it comes to birds. In some species, birds temporarily forgo having chicks so that … Continued
