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In the summer of 1997, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration picked up a sound from deep beneath the Pacific. The sound seemed to come from an animal far larger than any we've ever seen. This was the Bloop. More »
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When you think about science fiction theme tunes, chances are there are a few that are especially stirring and heroic. Star Wars. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Superman: The Movie. And all of these theme tunes have something in common: they rely on the same basic intervals. More »
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Bacillus anthraces — more commonly known as anthrax — is not to be trifled with. Once the bacterium enters the blood stream, it releases a lethal cocktail of toxins that spreads rapidly throughout the body, leading to severe tissue damage, bleeding, and respiratory collapse. The fact that anthrax spores can infect a host via inhalation have made it a popular biological weapon in recent years. More »
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What would Tron be without black light? Or television crime scene investigations, for that matter? Just screw in a special lightbulb, and suddenly everything glows in an awesome way. But how does this actually work? More »
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Why haven't we cured cancer yet? It seems like almost every day, we hear about another miraculous advance in cancer treatment. Drugs that cause tumors to shrink, gene therapies, and even a possible vaccine. And yet, our loved ones keep dying of cancer. More »
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It's tough to be a fan sometimes — there are so many famous characters, who have been going for so long, that it's hard to be an expert on all of them. And what's the fun in being a fan without being an expert? More »
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This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the discovery of Mitochondrial Eve, the common ancestor of every human alive today. Here's everything you need to know about why the mother of humanity is so important. More »
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You probably think of your nervous system as a kind of computer network, or some kind of electrical system that passes nerve impulses around. But in reality, the miraculous journey of a signal thorough your nervous system is a story that involves cell biology, chemistry and physics. Your brain contains 30 billion neurons, and each of them is a staggering achievement. More »
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It was the dawn of the third age of television, many years before networks would discover the power of long-form storytelling, when Warner Brothers helped former Murder She Wrote writer J. Michael Straczynski realize his dream to cross The Lord of the Rings with Casablanca...IN SPACE! More »
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Allergies were pretty much completely unknown until the beginning of the twentieth century, and allergic diseases have skyrocketed in the last twenty years, and well over half of all Americans are allergic to an airborne substance. What's going on here? More »
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The closer we come to inventing a viable tractor beam - a ray of light that can move objects - the more obvious it is that real tractor beams will not look anything like the glowing blue rays from science fiction. So how will beams of light actually move matter? Let's find out by looking at three ways that scientists can already move solid objects using nothing more than light. More »
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This week, io9 is teaming up with Marvel Comics to celebrate the release of Uncanny X-Force #18, the final issue of author Rick Remender's eight-part mutant epic "The Dark Angel Saga." This issue promises to have longstanding ramifications for founding X-Man Archangel, who's been almost irrevocably corrupted by the supervillain Apocalypse. More »
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Last week, we learned that an ozone hole had formed above the North Pole for the first time ever. But what exactly is an ozone hole, why are they so dangerous, and what can we do to fix them? More »
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The sword is the perennial symbol of empires, knighthood, chivalry and fantasy. But it's also one of the world's most ancient technologies, connected with breakthroughs in metallurgy that would change the world. There are even some types of ancient swords so strong that modern science still can't determine how they were made. More »
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On Fringe, a sensory deprivation tank can activate your mental powers and even open a gateway to another universe. But what can floating in a dark warm tank do for you in real life? And why would people even want to do such a thing? More »
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Torchwood is reborn tomorrow night, as a big-budget co-production with the American cable network Starz. But with three seasons of this British science fiction show already out there, what do you need to know to enjoy it? More »
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When people think of cryptozoology, they often scoff at the idea of people studying Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. But the hunt for cryptids, or mystery animals, isn't just about myth chasing. It's also about finding new species. More »
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Green Lantern is quite possibly the most fiendishly complicated of all the superheroes, surrounded by cosmic mythology, strange aliens, and convoluted backstory. But let us help you through the insanity with this beginner's guide to all things Green Lantern. More »
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Tonight, Voltron returns to the small screen, after an 11-year hiatus, with Voltron Force. But what do we really know about the giant machine made-up of lion-bots? We lifted the lid on Voltron, and here's what we discovered. More »
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Are you confused by all those crazy space vikings running around in the Thor preview? Don't know what a Mjolnir is? Well, put on some Ride the Lightning, because here's a crash course in all people, places, and things Asgardian. More »
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We already have many of the medicines we need to kill pandemic diseases. But to stop a pandemic itself, we need math. More »
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Yesterday, physicists announced the discovery of a strange anomaly, one that cannot easily be explained by our current understanding of particle physics. We examine what's really going on here, and why we all may have missed the really exciting discovery. More »
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There was a time when all the pain alleviation involved in surgery was a little cotton wool in the surgeon's ears to keep the screams of the patient from hurting them. Fortunately, things have changed. More »
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It's easy to tell if your kid is mature enough to watch a PG-13 movie — it's pretty much right there in the rating. But how do you tell if your kid is ready for the hand-chopping Empire Strikes Back? More »
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In the wake of the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake that has devastated Japan, an obvious question arises...why didn't we see it coming? The fact is that earthquake prediction has long baffled scientists, and the current consensus is that it's actually impossible. More »
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Almost two million years ago, a band of brave explorers left their families behind in their warm, tropical home and sought refuge in northern lands. Armed with sharp stone tools and their wits, they followed the coast as far north as they could, then began to veer east, settling on the sunny, fertile shores of an inland sea that today we call the Mediterranean. Their children spread further north and east, and a million years later they had established settlements along the coasts of today's Europe, England, and China. More »
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To help humanity explore the universe and spread to the stars, we first need to escape the gravity well of planet Earth. The only way to do that right now is to ride a rocket - which takes an enormous amount of energy and money, especially if you want to send anything bigger than a mobile phone into orbit. Rockets are useless for the kind of offworld commuter solution we'll need if we're going to become an interplanetary civilization - let alone an interstellar one. That's why an international team of scientists and investors are working on building a space elevator. Using very little energy, these 62,000-mile-high elevators could carry travelers out of the gravity well and up to a spaceship dock. More »
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If you read any science fiction or futurism, you've probably heard people using the term "singularity" to describe the world of tomorrow. But what exactly does it mean, and where does the idea come from? We answer in today's io9 flashback. More »
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Earth's continents are constantly changing, moving and rearranging themselves over millions of years - affecting Earth's climate and biology. Every few hundred million years, the continents combine to create massive, world-spanning supercontinents. Here's the past and future of Earth's supercontinets. More »
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Bane! Even the name sounds ominous. He's been confirmed as the villain of Christopher Nolan's third Batman film, but now people are wondering just who this wrestler-masked guy is. We've got you covered with our complete guide to Bane. More »
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The new Green Hornet movie is a goofy superhero send-up. But the franchise has a serious past. Dig into some Hornet history and learn how its heroes went from radio and comics to TV, and finally to Seth Rogen. More »
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This week, 5,000 blackbirds fell from the skies over Arkansas, followed by 500 more in Louisiana. And now it's happening in Sweden too. You've got to wonder what the hell is going on. We'll explain. More »
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Monday's Astronomy Picture of the Day was this beautiful shot of the nearest 1.5 million (or so) galaxies, as mapped by the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey, with ours shaded in blue. How did the galaxies end up clustered together like that? More »
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After watching the latest Doctor Who Christmas special, one thought kept sticking in our brains: When did the Doctor become so good at controlling his time machine, the TARDIS? He used to be unable to steer it at all. More »
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Eight recently discovered teeth are very similar to those of modern humans and date back 400,000 years... 200,000 years older than our species is supposed to be. To explain this mystery, we must retrace human evolution. More »
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In the 1980s, science fiction ruled over everything. Most of the biggest movies and books of the decade were scifi, and cyberpunk became the era's pop aesthetic. Here's how the 1980s changed the genre forever. More »
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NASA scientists have just announced the discovery of life fundamentally different from anything else we've ever seen before. Here's what this discovery means for our understanding of biology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and even how this could revolutionize bioenergy. More »
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Hiccups don't serve a useful function anymore, but they were useful to our very ancient ancestors. Find out how early fish 'hiccuped' in order to breath underwater. More »
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I stumbled upon Harry Potter fan fiction shortly after the sixth book in the series arrived. I was quickly addicted. More »
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Today, a mint-edition copy of The Walking Dead #1 sold for an astounding $1825 on eBay...and the issue came out in 2003. If you have no idea what all the fuss is about, here's the scoop on Robert Kirkman's zombiverse. More »
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