io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 6:03 PM
Wed Dec 23
22 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz |
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders |
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner |
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis |
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan |
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier |
Ed Grabianowski |
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan |
Lauren Davis |
Chris Hsiang |
Lynn Peril |
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins |
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox |
Interns:
Tim Barribeau |
Julia Carusillo |
Alex Eichler |
Cyriaque Lamar |
Caitlin Petrakovitz |
Mary Ratliff |
Josh Snyder |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
The Scariest Map Ever - At Least for Americans
More precisely, this map will be scary for people in the US. It's a time-lapse video of unemployment rates over two years - the darker the color, the higher the rates. Welcome to the jobless future. More »The Cold War in Science Fiction
During the Ice Ages, An Arctic Paradise Bloomed
This incredible map shows "Beringa," a region that existed millions of years ago during the Ice Ages. What it reveals is that, oddly, far northern regions like the Yukon and Siberia were hotbeds of ice-free life. More »How the Victorians Imagined An Ideal London
In 1865, an antiquarian named John Leighton proposed a surefire way to eliminate expensive cab fares in London: Convert the entire city to a hexagon grid, eliminating the twisty streets cab drivers used to extend rides and drive up costs. More »In the Early Days of Comic-Con
The year after humans walked on the Moon, a small gathering called the West Coast Comic Book Convention met in a California hotel. Now called Comic-Con, it packs in crowds of over 100 thousand and launches careers. What happened? More »Mid-Twentieth Century Rubber Recycling
Those aren't missiles. They're actually used beverage containers, made of rubber, which these mid-century factory workers are recycling into devices for fighter pilots in World War II. More »47 Million Year Old Skeleton Reveals the Missing Link Between Lemurs and Humans
Meet Ida, the 47 million year old fossil who may represent one of our earliest known ancestors. She's probably the most complete primate fossil ever discovered, and she explains where humans (and lemurs) come from. More »Where Do Robots Come From?
The Tragic Beauty That No Human Eye Will Ever See
The grandeur and sadness of a post-human Earth will be coming back to your TV screens soon. The History Channel is turning its hit documentary Life After People into a series, with more stunning visuals. More »German SF Through Two World Wars And The Berlin Wall
Blackbeard the Pirate's Sword and Booty Discovered
Blackbeard's beloved ship Queen Anne's Revenge sank off the coast of North Carolina in the 18th Century, and now researchers have recovered a sword handle and some gold stashed aboard. More »A Case of Spontaneous Combustion from 1916?
This photograph from 1916 is of a fire at the Treasury Dept.'s "Bureau of Engraving and Printing," presumably in Washington, D.C. Mysteriously, however, whomever labeled it described the fire as "spontaneous combustion." More »Black Plague "Vampire Skull" Found in Venice
The oldest remains of a person accused of being a vampire have been found outside Venice, buried in a mass grave of plague victims. More »Wax Anatomical Models of Plague Victims from the Seventeenth Century
This tableau of the rotting bodies of plague victims was created by an obscure waxwork artist over 300 years ago, in an effort to create anatomically accurate models for medical researchers. More »The History (and Future) of Commercial Space Flight
Right now, the final frontier of space is only open to a select few. But in the coming decades, you won't need to be a supersoldier to go into orbit. You'll just need your wallet. More »Trilobites: The Greatest Survivors in Earth's History
With all of the news about irreversible global warming and environmental collapse, it's time to take a look at one of the Earth's mega-survivors: the versatile Trilobite. More »A Map of Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960
Back in 1951, Colliers magazine went scifi with a special issue devoted to what would happen if the US occupied Russia. They called it the "preview of the war we do not want." More »The Secret History of Moon Maps, 1609-1613
Though Galileo is lauded as the first person to peer at the Moon through a telescope and draw its topography, he was actually beaten to the punch by an obscure British mathematician. More »2,900-Year-Old Gravestone Reveals Ancient Belief System
Digital Dark Age Could Destroy Our Cultural Record
The Timeless Artistry of the Syringe
This medicine case, which dates back to the early twentieth century, is packed with drugs and poisons. Also, a syringe. Though medical technology may have changed tremendously over the past 100 years, some equipment remains essentially the same. Such is the case with syringes, as you can see in the online exhibits of the British Columbia Medical Museum. We've got more weird old medicine delivery systems for you below. More »