MEET YOUR TENTACLED DOOM | "Red Dawn of the Apocalypse" by elestrial — just one of the beautiful apocalyptic artworks featured in this gallery.
This is the worst reproductive strategy in the animal kingdom
Think pandas are inept when it comes to carrying on the species? Think again. The giant panda is a champion reproducer compared to a chubby, land-bound parrot called the kakapo. More »
An autistic savant spent 20 years designing an entire city on paper
The French city of Urville exists in two places: in the mind of Gilles Trehin and in the elaborate drawings Trehin created. But what's incredible isn't just the detailed designs he created for the city's architecture and layout, but the entirely plausible history for his fictional city. More »
What does science fiction tell us about the future of reproductive rights?
If everything from technology to politics will be different in the future, then so will human reproduction. That's why so much science fiction deals with the question of how humans make babies - or don't make them - in alternate worlds that are often quite close to our own. More »
When NASA shot a rocket into the Northern Lights to study mysterious waves
This is a fisheye view of a NASA-funded rocket being shot into the Aurora Borealis in Alaska. In a move applauded nationwide, NASA has declared war on the sky. More »
The creators of Doctor Who were a scandal
These days, Doctor Who is approaching its 50th anniversary as one of the most successful television shows of all time. But originally? Doctor Who was a small show that the BBC expected to run for a few episodes, and then vanish forever. More »
Researchers resurrect new species of life from ancient Andean tomb
Close to 1,500 years ago, indians living in what is now Quito, Ecuador buried their most revered dead in 16-meter-deep tombs. An ancient alcoholic beverage was commonly included in these burial vaults. More »
This is the binary message we sent out to aliens 38 years ago
This is the Arecibo message, created by legendary astronomer Frank Drake in 1974. Of course, it's still competing with all the TV and radio signals we're constantly emitting...but at least this interstellar communication has a touch of dignity, you know? More »
Time crystals: One of the weirdest ideas in physics
Physics is defined by its symmetries, from thermodynamics laws like the conservation of mass and energy, to the principle that the universe is basically the same all over. More »
Scifi author spoils his entire book series for terminally ill fan
This is both heart-rending and wonderful. Nachu Bhatnagar is a huge fan of author Harry Turtledove's The War That Came Early alternate history novels. More »
The Earth might have a "pulse" that causes extinctions every 60 million years
Every sixty million years, the biodiversity of our planet's oceans mysteriously crashes. This strange boom and bust cycle goes back 500 million years, and we now might know why. More »
Scientists confirm Alan Turing's 60-year-old theory for why tigers have stripes
Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician, cryptographer, and logician, plus the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He also worked in biology, and now, 58 years after his tragic death, science has confirmed one of his old biological hypotheses. More »
The fake chemical compound Isaac Asimov invented to punk science writers
By 1947, Isaac Asimov was already an established scifi author, but he had to leave scifi temporarily to get his biochemistry PhD. Before he left, he wrote a hilariously turgid spoof of scientific papers about a time-hopping compound called thiotimoline. More »
10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Endings We'd Like to See More Often
All too often, endings are synonymous with "letdown." We all love to complain about how our favorite science fiction TV series or movies ended. And we're kind of sick of twist endings and "WTF Mindfrak" endings. More »
There really could be a giant planet hidden far beyond Pluto
Pluto is about forty times the distance from the Sun as Earth. But the Solar System is over 50000 times that length across, meaning it could be hiding some huge secrets. More »
The secret story behind Admiral Ackbar's "It's a trap!" line
Thirty odd years ago, radio dramatist Erik Bauersfeld recorded the voices of Admiral Ackbar and Bib Fortuna for Return of the Jedi, saw the movie, and promptly forgot about the whole experience. More »
How an 1870s marine expedition changed oceanography and drove eight sailors insane
When was the first voyage of the Challenger? No, not the Space Shuttle - the original Challenger, a sea ship that sailed in 1872. The HMS Challenger traversed the world's oceans for four years, drove some of its sailors completely insane, caused about a quarter of the crew to jump ship, and forever changed the face of ocean science. More »
Did The Hunger Games really rip off Battle Royale?
Its inevitable: Every time we start a conversation about Hunger Games, someone always starts a "Battle Royale did it first" argument. It's unavoidable. More »
