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io9New trailer for Luc Besson’s Lockout is basically the entire movie in 2 minutes
So why exactly does Guy Pearce have to go a prison in space and rescue the president’s daughter from a prison riot, in the Luc Besson-produced Lockout? This new U.S. trailer explains everything, including the fact that it’s all some one-eyed Scottish bloke’s fault. Apparently this film, whose title was changed to MS One: Maximum … Continued
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io9The Most Ridiculous Science Fiction Plots From Actual Soap Operas
Science fiction and fantasy on television have gone full-on soap opera, thanks to shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, True Blood, Once Upon a Time and Being Human. But long before genre shows were doing soap-opera storytelling, actual soap operas were featuring totally insane science fiction plots. Here’s our tribute to the nuttiest soap operas that … Continued
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io9Brian Aldiss Back in the Spotlight. It’s about time!
If you love a dash of weirdness and mile-a-minute storytelling, then you’ve never stopped loving the novels of Brian Aldiss. But anybody who’s slept on Aldiss’ dizzying writing is going to get a new chance to appreciate the master, who’s probably best known for writing the story that became Spielberg and Kubrick’s A.I. There are … Continued
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io9
Do girls naturally prefer dolls to trucks? Evidence from 2 primate studies
Are gender roles in-born, or are they imprinted upon us? Science blogger Paul F. Norris went searching for answers in the scientific literature and came up with two incredible studies… one on rhesus monkeys, and the other on chimpanzees. What he discovered sheds some thought-provoking light on the nature/nurture debate over gender identity. https://jezebel.com/video-of-little-girl-getting-pissed-off-about-pink-toys-5871009 Last … Continued
Paul F. Norris -- AnimalWise -
io9Books & Comics
Why Video Games Are the New Pulps
A couple of days ago, the esteemed Charlie Jane Anders looked at the dearth of new, sustaining pop culture heroes and villains. That, with the exception of Harry Potter, we haven’t seen a new character with the perceived permanence of a James Bond or a Captain Kirk or Spider-Man — and she blamed it on … Continued
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io9
The Disney Princesses, if they lived in Williamsburg or Portland
We’ve seen the X-Men receive the club kid treatment. Now artist Viria13 has given the Disney Princess pantheon new duds (presumably in the spirit of a certain internet meme). In short, Belle’s on her way to the Belle and Sebastian concert, Snow White communicates solely through Theodor Adorno quotes, and Ariel has an entirely non-ironic … Continued
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io9
On Touch, math and total bullshit reveal the secrets of the universe
Last night, Fox aired a preview of its new series Touch, which kicks off properly in March. What we saw was a just barely decent show about connectivity, fate, lost cellphones, and the mysterious, mystical powers of numbers. Spoilers ahead! I might as well start by addressing the colossal elephant in the room and say … Continued
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io9Everything we know about Ridley Scott’s Space Jockeys
Now that we’re all 100% certain that the Space Jockeys will be making a cameo in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus, it’s time to sit down and get the lonely space pilot’s story straight. For example, are they elephant people or suits? How tall are they? What is their role in Prometheus ? We rounded up … Continued
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io9Watch a glowing mouse embryo grow from cell to creature in one minute
A mouse embryo grows to maturity in just three weeks, transforming from a microscopic blip to a tiny, wriggling rodent. University of Cambridge biologist Erica Watson studies this transformation because the developing mouse shares with humans many of the same genetic signals that cause this incredible transformation. In this video, she shares some of the … Continued
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io9
Psychedelic Petri dishes turn lab work into a freakout session
Can you guess the subject of this photograph? It’s a bloodshot alien eyeball! Just kidding, although all that red totally resembles vasculature don’t you think? Don’t worry, the real answer is just as awesome: believe it or not, this is actually a Petri dish, created by artist Klari Reis. Reis uses individually-crafted dishes like the … Continued
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io9
It took 1,000,000 spiders to weave this single cape
This cape — which required four years, one-million Malagasy golden orb spiders, and eighty workers to catch and release the two-inch arachnids daily — was commissioned by Nicholas Godley and fabric researcher Simon Peers. Every day, weavers would extract up to 40 yards of silk from a single spider before returning it to the wild. … Continued
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io9
Check out the Martian frost we made!
The Agricultural Research Service produced scanning electron microscope images of what frost would look like on Mars. And it isn’t water crystals that form this frost — it’s carbon dioxide. Because Martian exploration and study is an expensive and time-consuming task, it’s helpful to recreate the planet’s conditions here on Earth. By examining these recreations, … Continued
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io9How to grow a 100-pound tumor
Tumors the size and weight of another human — how on Earth does this happen? This medical anomaly makes for interesting television specials and news blurbs, but what about the lives and circumstances of the people involved? Let’s a take a look at the type of tumors grow to this size, the rather simple reasons … Continued
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io9Snoring dormouse is so adorable your head will explode
What you’re seeing here is a hibernating dormouse filmed by Dave Williams of the Surrey Wildlife Trust Mammal Project. Despite his log-sawing, this slumbering little guy isn’t in any trouble — he’s just an unusually stentorian sleeper. Dormice can hibernate for up to one-third of their lives. They wake up in the springtime (minus one-quarter … Continued
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io9
You are biologically wired to disagree with [insert political ideology here]
Evidence continues to mount that your political leanings are determined, to some extent, by aspects of your biology. The latest installment in this emerging area of research comes from the University of Nebraska, in a study that looks at peoples’ responses to certain forms of visual stimuli — politically themed or otherwise. Wired’s Brandon Keim … Continued
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io9Fantastical places around the world where you can live in a cave
You don’t need to be an eccentric billionaire or rugged survivalist to take up residence in a cave. All around the globe, living in an rocky recess is just a fact of life and can be way more homey than any manmade structure. Here are some real estate destinations to investigate should you attempt to … Continued
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io9Chinese boy claims he can see in the pitch-dark
As with pyrokinetics and human magnets, a heaping dose of skepticism is requisite when one hears that a little boy possesses superhuman night vision. According to this news report posted by the Alien Disclosure Group UK — promisingly titled “Alien Hybrid Or Starchild Discovered In China?” — Nong Youhui of southern China has the eyes … Continued
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io9TelevisionNew plot details for The Amazing Spider-Man reveal what motivates the new Peter Parker!
Zachary Quinto discusses the filming of the Star Trek sequel, while Sigourney Weaver reveals her role in the origins of Prometheus. Evangeline Lilly gives us the lowdown on her Hobbit character. Plus meet the characters of CW’s Green Arrow pilot! Spoilers from here on out! Top image from The Amazing Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man Though … Continued
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io9
Picture of the Day: January 25, 2012
EIGHTIES RETRO-FUTURISM | The lobby of a New York office building in the 1980s, as photographed by Steven Siegel. Siegel’s photos of 1980s NYC are a window into a lost world, and a fascinating study in urban ruins. Via Notes to Self. Want to read today’s io9 stories a different way? Check out our blog … Continued
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io9
A computer program “painted” this artwork from its own imagination
This landscape may not look like that much – it’s a solid B+ in middle school art, I’d say – but this might just be proof that its creator, a computer program named the Painting Fool, is a creative being. The program is the brainchild of Dr. Simon Colton, a computer scientist at Imperial College … Continued
