io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 3:49 PM
Mon Dec 28
20 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.
Death Will Ride the Wings of Radio
Tired of holiday peace, love and understanding? So was an editor at the Los Angeles Times, who in the days leading up to Christmas 1924, ran an article that asked "What Will Happen When ‘Science' Perfects the Art of War?" More »19th Century Camera Gives Dubai a Retrofuturistic Feel
Dubai's futuristic buildings get sent back in time thanks to an 1857 view camera. Photographer Martin Becka points his 19th century camera at a 21st century to create an anachronistic vision of the city. More »H. G. Wells Strikes Back with 'Things To Come'
H. G. Wells disliked Fritz Lang's Metropolis with a fiery passion, tearing it apart in a review for the New York Times. The movie Things To Come' is his brilliant celluloid riposte, and you can watch it online for free. More »Retrofuturistic Burglars Use Silent Airplanes to Commit Daring Crimes
In the early years of the airplane, a New York Tribune artist wondered if this amazing new technology might not inspire some supervillainous acts. In this retrofuturistic image, some daring thieves employ the wicked device. [Paleofuture via William Gibson]The Art of the Space Race
Over at Berg London, Megan Prelinger has an amazing essay about the design of advertisements for defense industry companies during the mid-twentieth century space race. Interestingly, socialist-inspired designs were used to advertise anti-commie missile systems. More »Would "The Matrix" Have Been Better As A 1930s Musical?
This semi-funny parody of The Matrix picks up on something serious, which is that the Matrix flicks were heavily-inspired by 1930s iconography. I do love the 30s-style trailer, showing the dance sequence. Compare it with a real 30s trailer! More »Will Women Rule Over Men In The Future?
In the next month, women will overtake men in the labor workforce, according to statistics from the US Labor Department. Way back in the 1950s, a science fiction author predicted what would happen when this came to pass. More »Gas Masks That Turn Biochemical Warfare Into Art
Tom Banwell's ornate gas masks capture the creativity and detail of retro-futurist style. If you must plunge into a world of zombifying gases, at least you can look good. More »The Inventor Of The Light-Space Modulator Couldn't Let The Nazis Get Their Hands On It
When Laszlo Moholy-Nagy fled the Nazis in the 1930s, he lugged this bizarre contraption through customs in country after country. The Light-Space Modulator looks like a mad-science experiment and sounds like a time machine, but it helped pioneer digital design. More »Concept Art That Will Make You See Steampunk Anew
Yap Kun Rong's incredible "Lord Of Yamamoto" adds some much-needed color to steampunk. It's just one of our collection of concept art images which might make you see steampunk a whole new way. Banish those boring goggles and waistcoasts! More »The Vatican's Secret Storehouse Of Space Knowledge Is On Display At Last
The Vatican didn't just torment Gallileo — it also helped further the development of astronomy, with masterpieces like this 18th century Planetarium, created by Martin Benjamin. And now the Vatican's treasures of astronomy are going on display. Gallery below. More »The Trippy Robot Toys of Yesteryear
Children of the 1950s might have delighted in the battery-powered robots lining their toy shelves, but the real gems are the boxes they came in, depicting alien scenes of our multicolored, sparking, smoking, and missile-launching robot future. More »It's An Existential Post-Apocalypse in Video Short "Bunker"
The world has been nuked. Under Paris, a woman waits months alone in a bunker with only canned food for company. She's about to commit suicide when a voice comes over the radio. Find out what happens next in Bunker. More »The Architect Who Inspired J.J. Abrams' Star Trek
When TrekMovie.com asked designer Scott Chambliss what influences he and director J.J. Abrams lifted from for the new Star Trek, he listed only one name: Finnish-American designer Eero Saarinen. And it's easy to see why: Saarinen's creations define space awesomeness. More »Laptop Depicted in 1937 Flash Gordon Comic
A Macedonian comics fan recently noticed this panel from a reprint of the 1937 Flash Gordon arc "The Outlaws of Mongo," which depicts the henchmen of Ming the Merciless apparently communicating via laptop computer. [Science Fiction Observer via Reddit]Happy Birthday to Science Fiction's Oldest Film
Science fiction cinema turns 107 today with George Méliès A Trip to the Moon, which debuted in France on September 2, 1902. Watch as silent astronauts construct a rocket ship, put out the moon's eye, and fend off irate aliens. More »Bomb Shelter Decor for Post-Nuclear Living
In the days of duck-and-cover drills and atomic anxiety, many families bought space in bomb shelters, stocking and decorating their possible nuclear homes. Richard Ross's photographs capture the abandoned shelters and what some families planned to take to the apocalypse. More »Yesterday's House Of The Future Went Cheap
You missed your chance to own a piece of retro-futurist awesomeness. The Futuro House, a Finnish flying-saucer-shaped masterpiece built (wait for it) in 1968, sold at auction for only $50,000. Also auctioned: a Zen chair, and Buckminster Fuller blueprints. More »A Military Targeting Computer, Circa 1922
A stiff-backed man manipulates the knobs and levers of a "target computor (sic)," designed to help aim large pieces of artillery, in this image from 1922. Bigger version at the link. [Shorpy, thanks Bec!]Century-Old Science Fiction Film Flies Us to a Handpainted Moon
If you are looking for an antidote to the pyrotechnics and computer generated effects of summer blockbusters, look no further than Segundo de Chomón's century-old films, which depict space travel using painstakingly handcrafted optical trickery. More »Gilliam Animator Brings Puppets to Steampunk
Take one part steampunk, add a dash of spy comedy, mix liberally with puppets and computer animation — and you've got the recipe for 1884: Yesterday's Tomorrow, a film concept by animator and frequent Terry Gilliam collaborator Tim Ollive. More »