posted 6 days ago on io9
J.J. Abrams stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote Star Trek Into Darkness, at least until he was asked about the Star Wars sequel. When he admitted he and his team were having some writer's block, a group of fans helpfully offered their opinions on what we should see in Episode VII. I tell you, I think that third fan is really onto something.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
The deadly fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been wiping out amphibian species across the globe for decades. But how did this global environmental disaster get started? A new study suggests that it came from doctors importing frogs for use in pregnancy tests. Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
It’s a major scientific breakthrough, and it could lead to new treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes — but this development also takes us one step closer to human reproductive cloning. The howls of outrage have already begun.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Scientists have discovered fossils of two newfound primate species, dating back to 25 million years ago. One fossil belongs to the group that contains great apes (hominids), while the other is from the group that includes Old World monkeys. The discovery may mark the moment when our primate ancestors first diverged into the two lineages we have today.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
We were just saying yesterday that The CW seems to be where a lot of the most insane genre action is happening — and now here are promo photos of the network's four new SF/fantasy shows. The Originals and The Tomorrow People debut this fall, and Star-Crossed and The 100 come in spring 2014.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
After just five days of non-invasive brain stimulation and a bit of cognitive training, researchers at Oxford University were able to enhance people's high-level abilities, such as mental arithmetic and manual calculations. And remarkably, the effect lasts for months.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
...THIS trailer comes along. It shows way more of how the Kaiju came to Earth, and how they laid waste to our cities, and then how we created fricken great robots to stomp their asses. And that ocean combat scene? TAKE OUR MONEY.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Jack Conte is upstaged in his new video Pedals by two rocking robots. Nothing on the video's Millennium Falcon-inspired set beats the little DJing, claw pumping hexabot. The high energy and catchy Pedals is available for free download with the rest of Conte's new EP.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Working at a depth of 1.5 miles, geoscientists have discovered an ancient and isolated reservoir that contains water estimated to be anywhere from 1.5 to 2.7 billion years old. It’s the oldest free-flowing sample of water ever discovered — and now the researchers want to know what’s in it.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
It's no secret that female armor in games can sometimes be ridiculous and unrealistic. The Repair Her Armor Tumblr recently put together a list of thirteen types of ridiculous female armor you come to expect in MMORPGs—the commentary being less serious than it is for fun.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
So many musicians are fans of science fiction it can be hard to keep track. But there are bands that take it a step further — bands that actually consist of aliens, robots, time travelers and other creatures. Here are 11 bands that don’t just like scifi, they are scifi.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
"Sacrifice," the Arrow season finale, finally deals out the deaths that fans have been predicting all season, along with a generous helping of trailer-worthy lines like, "You have always known the man he is," and "Someone needs to put an end to this." Let us applaud all the characters as they exit, stage left — some never to return.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
The new Star Trek movie isn't a terrible film. Star Trek Into Darkness has some bravura action scenes, and some brilliant comic bits. But it's also aggressively, tragically stupid. It's not even a great popcorn film, because it fails to deliver on its own promises. And it's not half as good as J.J. Abrams' first Star Trek.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
I did not have high hopes for Marvel and Disney's upcoming Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. cartoon, and now I discover I overestimated it grossly. As this first look reveals, the cartoon is presented as a reality show where Hulk, Red Hulk, She-Hulk, A-Bomb and his son Skaar live together. This is the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard of.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Horses Inside Out is an organization that educates horse enthusiasts about the anatomy and biomechanics of horses — by painting the innards of the horse on their outsides. These startling and kind of macabre paint jobs give you an inside look at how a horse moves and functions.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
For most modern people, the story of Marie Antoinette ends with her death. For some, though, it didn't end until 1998, when one of the most credible pretenders to the throne of France was, posthumously, discredited. See how genetics solved a 200-year-old mystery.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Every once in a while a gem of a photo crosses our paths. This time, it's a photo of a collection of personal trainers pounding the gym with a questionably sweaty, wax figure of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. What do you think they're saying here?Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
After four years of service, NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler telescope has suffered a second serious malfunction — one that threatens to permanently end the mission. Controllers on the ground can no longer control its orientation. It looks bad, but NASA isn’t giving up hope.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
The weird hive-mind creatures known as slivers are returning for Magic: the Gathering's summer core set, M14. But they seem... different.Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Italian design firm Do the Mutation is creating high-fashion (and high concept) "mutants," using individualized 3-D-printed masks. This blend of a science fiction aesthetic with cutting-edge design is creating something new and unique. Read more...    

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posted 6 days ago on io9
Plus, Agent Coulson himself explains why S.H.I.E.L.D. represents the Marvel universe's human side. Simon Pegg says Scotty isn't comic relief in Star Trek Into Darkness. Dredd 2 might still happen. Christopher Nolan's Interstellar will soon be ready to film. Plus looks at the futures of Arrow and The Vampire Diaries! Spoilers!Read more...    

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posted 7 days ago on io9
You've probably admired the work of award-winning artist Yuko Shimizu before — her art has adorned some covers of Vertigo Comics' The Unwritten as well as some great book covers and illustrations at Tor.com. But when you see a bunch of her gorgeous work all in one place, it's pretty mind-blowing.Read more...    

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posted 7 days ago on io9
One of the amazing things about The Avengers was just how seamless a lot of the CG cityscapes and creations felt. And it looks like Iron Man 3 had a similar amount of heavy CG. Check out some mind-blowing new VFX reels.Read more...    

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posted 7 days ago on io9
You may never become a Time Lord — but least you can learn to write in their elegant, intricate language. There's no "official" lexicon to the circular Gallifreyan script we've seen in Doctor Who, but Loren Sherman has a guide to writing in it. It looks cool, and it can be your own private code.Read more...    

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posted 7 days ago on io9
Natural disasters have claimed countless human lives throughout history, with their unexpected waves of destruction. But there's still something uniquely terrifying and heart-breaking about an industrial disaster, when our best precautions fail and our achievements turn deadly. Here are the worst industrial catastrophes ever.Read more...    

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