We're familiar with the phenomenon where a show is in the final moments of its season finale, and all of a sudden there's a wacky twist that the writers thought would make people freak out over the summer. Often, viewers are left wondering more "What were they thinking?" than "What's next?" As in the case of Vampire Diaries.Read more...    
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Omni Magazine was a huge inspiration to all of us at io9. And its original editor, Frank Kendig, just passed away yesterday. Here's a great tribute to his legacy, including helping to form the unique mix of stories that Omni boasted.Read more...    
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There is nothing that embodies the idea of "terrible beauty" more than an approaching sandstorm. Here is what these awe-inspiring forces of nature look like, right before they consume the ocean or landscape in blinding clouds.Read more...    
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If you got a great score on a test, you'd like to continue your winning streak, wouldn't you? One experiment proves you wouldn't. You'd self-sabotage. Not unintentionally and not subconsciously. You'd knowingly and deliberately screw up.Read more...    
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There are certain times when the woods begin to glow. Sometimes they glow so much that people call the Park Service and ask them to send a hazmat team. What they're actually seeing is foxfire. And although we know how it happens, we don't know exactly why.Read more...    
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Lauren Beukes won critical acclaim for her first two novels, Zoo City and Moxieland, both of which were urban fantasies set in her native South Africa. Now she's set her imagination loose on a different continent, to explore the inner life of a serial killer in Chicago who figures out how to travel through time. The Shining Girls is a must-read.Read more...    
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Without mosquitoes, malaria wouldn't be able to infect humans. But in addition to hitching a ride, it now appears that the parasite also alters insect behavior — making infected mosquitoes thirstier for human blood. Like, a lot thirstier.Read more...    
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The "Big Dumb Object," as christened by Roz Kaveney, has been a staple of science fiction for decades. But what's your favorite massive freakin space object? Share your most beloved Dyson Sphere, ringworld or mega-space station below!Read more...    
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Have aliens finally discovered the joys of poutine and the Arrogant Worms? UFO sightings in Canada doubled in 2012, which raises troubling questions about whether the U.S. is falling behind as a favored destination for extraterrestrials.Read more...    
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Lurking beneath Yellowstone National Park is a massive underground reservoir of magma, capped by the park's famous caldera. 640,000 years ago, a super eruption rocked the region. What would happen if another such event blasted the park today? We asked USGS geologist Jake Lowenstern, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.Read more...    
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The official Andre Norton website, staffed by volunteers, has been around since 2004 — but it's just gotten a major facelift. The new version is way easier to navigate and more searchable. And packed with videos of interviews as well as her appearances on convention panels. Definitely worth checking out!Read more...    
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If the stars of an '80s cop show started playing D&D, I imagine the result would be a lot like "Wizard Cops," this wonderful short from Light Forge Studios. Loose-wand McDunna is a tough cop who doesn't play by the rules. But can he stop an evil Warlock's magic bean-running operation before he's kicked off the force?!Read more...    
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We love watching cities being crushed, blown up and swept away — it happens in a lot of this summer's biggest movies. There's just something so viscerally thriling about structures coming down in flames. Here's some of our favorite concept art of cites getting totally smashed.Read more...    
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We've all been wondering how the Game of Thrones TV show will end. Will George R.R. Martin finish the book series in time? Will HBO try to pad it out? Will it be canceled? Now we have an answer — assuming all goes well. the show will last seven seasons, according to producer Frank Doelger.Read more...    
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We were all impressed with the dramatic trailer for Gravity, with George Clooney weathering an explosion on an orbiting space station and Sandra Bullock spinning off into the void of space. Things like that make good cinema. There are other space crises, though, that will never get their own movies. Here are some space disasters that are just too awkward for the cinema.Read more...    
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Here it is at last — the first full-length trailer for Europa Report, the tense thriller about a mission to Jupiter's moon that goes horribly wrong. It's filled with stunning visuals and neat character moments. Plus laudatory quotes, including a couple from io9.Read more...    
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Science fiction is an actor's dream. The genre has created some breakout stars, like Harrison Ford, but it's also turned scores of working actors into beloved fan-favorites, who work the convention circuit. But here are 12 great science fiction actors who swing for the fences, and just don't get the appreciation they deserve.Read more...    
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Amazon has decided not pick up the Zombieland TV series, whose pilot premiered last month. Writer/producer Rhett Reese was especially bitter, tweeting that "die-hard Zombieland [movie] fans" had "hated it out of existence." I guess the fact that the pilot was just a lackluster imitation of the movie was just a coincidence, then.Read more...    
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At the close of the 19th century — just before cars made their appearance — a wealthy American businessman began construction on a private, for-profit bicycle superhighway that would stretch from Pasadena to Los Angeles. It almost got built. Read more...    
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NASA’s Kepler space telescope is busted and it may never work normally again. But during its four years of exemplary service, the planet-hunting telescope provided astronomers with an unprecedented glimpse into the Milky Way. Here are the most incredible discoveries made by Kepler. Read more...    
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I suffer from narcolepsy which is something I still find a bit unbelievable. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 24 or 25 (I'm 28 now, symptoms begin in the late teens). Fortunately I do not have the added agony of cataplexy. I slept through most of high school and four years of college and had been teaching high school for a year before I decided that I might have a problem (I'd always assumed I was lazy). I suffered from auditory and sometimes visual hallucinations and would fall asleep without any "nodding off" - I'd simply go into REM sleep while playing video games, reading, or having a conversation with my wife.Read more...    
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This seems a bit counter-intuitive, but a new study has shown that marijuana protects people from the emotional pain of being socially excluded. Read more...    
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Seems the concerns about Warehouse 13 ending were valid. SyFy has announced that Warehouse 13 will return next season for 6 episodes. Then I'm assuming an artifact will be used to capture everyone involved in the show and put in the Warehouse to never been heard or seen from again. Though maybe we'll get lucky and they'll get freed by Indiana Jones in his next film.Read more...    
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