http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/ring world http://io9.com/tag/ring world

Larry Niven is best known as author of Ringworld novels and creator of the Known Space universe — but did you know he also helped to reinvent the Green Lantern Corps and their masters, the Guardians? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5719823&view=rss&microfeed=true

Imagine a vast, geoengineered ring around a star, its inner surface entirely devoted to human habitation. Larry Niven used this idea for his Ringworld books. And now VFX artist Simon Terrey flies us through Niven's creation in this video. Gorgeous. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5638057&view=rss&microfeed=true

Larry Niven's Hugo-winning novel from 1971 has a surprising amount in common with network television's biggest sci-fi hit. But what's really interesting is how Ringworld differs from Lost. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5566084&view=rss&microfeed=true

Dennis Antinori's guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld teems with information about its specs, but that's not all. There's also the equivalent of Google maps for Ringworld — it even lets you zoom in on key locations. Awesome. [Ringworld, via Metafilter] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5561479&view=rss&microfeed=true

We all complain every time Brian Herbert or Eoin Colfer takes over a beloved book saga. Why can't they just leave it alone? But which book series do you secretly fantasize about taking over and totally rocking out with? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5449271&view=rss&microfeed=true

They swagger, they fight, they laugh in the face of danger. Science-fiction books have given us some of the greatest swashbuckling heroes, cutting a swathe through space and countless alternate timelines. Here are some of our favorite book heroes. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5408634&view=rss&microfeed=true

Ringworld author Larry Niven didn't just pioneer the "cool massive object in space" genre — he also helped predict today's world, including flashmobs, cochlear implants and planets orbiting Epsilon Eridani. NASA even found a possible ringworld, in 2004. [USA Today] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5300181&view=rss&microfeed=true

Planet Earth might be home sweet home, but is it really humanity's birthplace? We explore science fiction stories where humans come from everywhere but Earth, be it by colonization, alien experiments, or good old-fashioned panspermia. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5143698&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of the worst examples of unrealistic science in movies is the overly simple alien planet. Oftentimes, our heroes will visit the desert planet, or the Irish planet. But the best extraterrestrial worlds in science fiction are the ones with variety and a realistic ecosystem. They have cities as well as countryside, and a range of environments. Here's our guide to the most realistic — and interesting — planets in science fiction. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5015534&view=rss&microfeed=true

It takes a lot of energy to zip around the stars standing akimbo in your rolled-down boots. So the best battlecruisers and starships have really powerful energy sources. But what's the most powerful spaceship or station, in terms of energy output? This isn't just an idle question, because we'll need to know which fictional technology to aim for, when we finally conquer interstellar space. Click through for our ranking of the least and most powerful spacecraft. (Hint: It's not the Death Star!) More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=361674&view=rss&microfeed=true

What would weather be like if you lived in a planet-sized bag of oxygen? What would reproduction be like if there were a third sex who combined the genetic material of two other sexes by linking them at the neurological level and giving them braingasms? What would scientific progress be like in an anarchist-feminist society? One of the ingredients in many great science fiction novel is world-building, the practice of creating an entire unfamiliar (yet familiar) world whose strange permutations allow us to explore how unfathomable environments can dramatically reshape events that happen all the time in our own lives. Here are five cool world-building novels to suck your attention away from the misery of cooling weather and impending turkey day doom. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=321698&view=rss&microfeed=true