January 13, 2011 – Minecraft is a dream game for fantasy lovers. Not only is it a fully immersive, open-ended fantasy tale, but it's a platform for speculative fiction communities. More »
Six Of The Most Widely-Believed Alien Conspiracy Theories
November 17, 2010 – Disappointed by Skyline? Tantalized by Castle's X-Files-y episode this week? Want an alien conspiracy with some meat on its bones (or exoskeleton, as the case may be)? More »
The Cartograpic Wonders of Lost Island
February 24, 2010 – It isn't easy to get your bearings in the world of Lost. That's where cartography comes in. Here's a sampling of the best maps of Lost's island, both from the show and from fans. Rousseau's Maps This rambling, confusing pile of maps is the first significant cartographic revelation on the show. More »
Let’s Send A Nuclear Reactor To The Moon!
January 8, 2010 – Humanity is eventually going to go to the moon again, and we're bringing nuclear technology with us! NASA has long been working on the problem of electricity on the moon, and the newest possible solution is a portable nuclear reactor. The reactor itself is about the size of a large wastebasket, but... More »
Sci Fi Foods We Wish Actually Existed
January 8, 2010 – Sometimes, the strange foods in speculative fiction can make your mouth water. These delicious, fantastical items seem so good, you wish you could take a bite. More »
Lost’s Time Travel Pedigree
January 8, 2010 – Whatever happened is fixed - or we rule our fates? Over 5 years, Lost has developed its philosophy of time-travel, influenced by works that came before. More »
The Case For Aliens Who Are Truly Alien
December 25, 2009 – In James Cameron's Avatar, we're introduced to an alien race that we immediately take to: the almost-human Na'vi. But sympathizing with slightly-different people is easy. More »
8 Mesmerizing Sci-Fi Flavored Tracking Shots
December 25, 2009 – In science fiction cinema and TV, creators need to draw audiences into their world seamlessly. One way to do this is the tracking shot, an immersive one-take journey through a scene. More »
The Oceans Are Getting Louder
December 25, 2009 – We all know carbon emissions are making our planet warmer. But the increase in carbon brings with it other surprising problems. More carbon apparently means low sounds travel farther underwater, making the ocean a noisier place to live and work. The reason is complex. More »
Glitter-Sized Solar Cells For Electricity-Producing Clothes
December 25, 2009 – While it may look like some sort of metallic snowstorm, this is actually an assortment of tiny photovoltaic cells, each less than a millimeter across. More »
Ornamented Spider Webs Are Better At Luring Prey
December 25, 2009 – While we humans are sprucing up our homes for the holidays, one type of spider is adding decorative flourishes to its web to lure prey more effectively. More »
Remember Your Inner Child Superhero
December 25, 2009 – Remember the good old days, when you were a kid and felt like a superhero? So does "Growing up Heroes," a blog collecting vintage shots of kids doing their heroic duty.
Enter The Multiple Demented Worlds Of The Perry Bible Fellowship
November 6, 2009 – Imagine a place filled with giant robot pizza boys, cardboard time machines, hideously mutated crime-fighting mole rats, and apocalyptic destruction. That place is the Perry Bible Fellowship, and now you can visit it with The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack. The man behind the Perry Bible... More »
Join Mountain Goats And Vanderslice For A Lunar Organ Harvester’s Descent Into Madness
November 1, 2009 – Last year, The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice released an EP called Moon Colony Bloodbath. It's the tale of a guard at a secret organ harvesting colony on the Moon slowly descending into madness, and it's pretty great scifi horror. The set-up to the tale is telegraphed on the back of the... More »
The Strange, Twisted, And Destructive Love Stories of Joss Whedon
October 11, 2009 – Beloved geek television creator Joss Whedon is well known for his propensity for long romantic arcs in his television stories. But Whedon seems to favor a very specific kind of romantic relationship: More »
The Bears Of Svalbard Have Started Giving Out Piggyback Rides
October 2, 2009 – In this image, snapped by a tourist in the Svalbard region of Norway, a polar bear cub hitches a ride on its mother's back. Biologists say that this behavior is rarely seen but might be more common than previously thought. A paper published in the journal Polar Biology discusses the possible... More »
The Protein That Makes Sperm Such Speedy Swimmers
September 30, 2009 – In competitive swimming, athletes will slim down and shave themselves to get a speed boost. Scientists have discovered sperm do the same thing, using a molecule that forces the cell to super-compact itself for a swimming advantage. Genetic material is passed on through sperm via long strains of... More »
Another Frog With Fangs Is Discovered In Southeast Asia
September 25, 2009 – Just weeks after discovering a frog with fangs in Papua New Guinea, the World Wildlife Federation is reporting another 163 new species in southeast Asia, including another frog with fangs. More »
Australia’s Red Dust Storm Looks Like The Apocalypse, Even When Seen From Space
September 23, 2009 – Earlier today, a giant dust storm swept over all of eastern Australia, the worst the area has seen in 70 years. The storm also brought hail and strong winds. More »
“Sky Pod” System Lets Commuters Ride In Personalized Pods
September 18, 2009 – Using NASA-designed software, Unimodal Systems has designed a solution to some of the major hassles in commuting. Their sky pods can take individuals or small groups straight to their destinations, with no stops and no other creepy passengers. The pods hang from a magnetic line, and they use maglev... More »
