Gizmodo

Stuck working the midnight shift on the eve of her 30th birthday, London bus driver Natasha (the excellent Susan Wokoma of the late, great Truth Seekers) believes her vehicle is empty—until the bell starts dinging... and a cloaked figure seems to materialize in one of the upper-level rows.Read more...

With the 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the books, it’s time to let the public choose the top nature images from the past year. The contest, produced by the Natural History Museum, London, saw over 50,000 photos entered from 95 countries. For the People’s Choice award, the public was asked to vote on a…Read more...

In a major turn of events, embattled identity verification company ID.me says it will make facial recognition verification optional for all of its public sector government partners. Additionally, starting March 1, the company says all ID.me users will be able to delete their face scans.

He’s one of America’s greatest living composers, his work scoring films has elevated cinema soundtracks as a whole and some franchises specifically. He’s John Williams, and he’s celebrating his 90th birthday today. So why not celebrate with him by listening to a few of his greatest songs?

In a new case report this week, medical professionals in California say that at least two of their patients have experienced substantial and rapid relief from their long covid symptoms with the help of over-the-counter antihistamines. Importantly, the findings are only anecdotal at this point, but they may point to…Read more...

The highest court in Ecuador ruled last week that Indigenous communities in the country should have a stronger say over extractive projects like oil drilling and mining that affect their ancestral lands.Read more...

He’s jumped off buildings, hung outside airplanes, and will soon be diving off a cliff on a motorcycle. However, for his next trick, Tom Cruise might be going on his most impossible mission yet: ending the franchise.Read more...

January was a banner month for renewables Down Under. According to an analyst at Rystad Energy, who shared the figures with clean energy site Renew Economy, three of Australia’s six states saw new records for wind and solar power production. In total, utility-scale wind and solar produced 3,628 gigawatt hours of power…Read more...

The United States military just inched one step closer to bringing autonomous helicopters to the battlefield. Like most strange feats of advanced military technology, this one comes from The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known simply as “DARPA.”Read more...

Federal authorities have arrested a DeFi investor and his finance influencer wife for allegedly having laundered billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen from a crypto exchange.Read more...

For more than 150 years, Leica has made a name for itself producing binoculars, microscopes, rangefinders, cameras, and other devices with high-quality optical lenses, but for the first time ever, the German-based company is expanding into high-end timepieces. Unfortunately, the new L1 and L2 watches somehow make…Read more...

Two young women—one an African warrior, one a Viking princess—become important allies in Black Shield Maiden, a new medieval fantasy that’s the first in a new series from musician turned debut author WILLOW, co-written with Jess Hendel. io9 is excited to share a vivid first excerpt from the book today.

Bernardinelli-Bernstein is officially the largest comet ever discovered, according to updated observations of the inbound object.Read more...

He’s among the most popular Star Wars characters of all time. He was a fan-favorite years before he appeared on screen in The Empire Strikes Back. He was so popular he was retroactively inserted into A New Hope and then introduced in the prequels, where he’s treated with so much narrative reverence he effectively…Read more...

The month of January had more than its fair share of newsworthy surprises, but the end of the month certainly threw some sizable curveballs our way. In the gaming space, everyone was shocked to learn that Bungie, the original developers of Halo and currently working on the Destiny franchise, had been bought by Sony…Read more...

A Canadian judge has ordered the horde of anti-vax truckers clogging the streets of Ottawa to stop it with the goddamn horns already, according to the Ottawa Citizen.Read more...

Over his 80-plus year history, Batman has largely been defined by the artists creating him. Each person telling the story changes the character in some ways, and in the upcoming film The Batman, that’s not just happening again, it’s happening in some ways film audiences may not be ready for.Read more...

Good things often come better in pairs. That sentiment held true during this year’s Close-up Photographer of the Year Challenge which saw contestants from around the world submit remarkable images of couples navigating the natural world.Read more...

Science fiction cinema would not be what it is today without the work of Douglas Trumbull. Trumbull helped drive effects on films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, each time changing the field in ways that would resonate for decades. After an incredible life and career,…Read more...

Apple usually waits until its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June to reveal new software features that replace products by other companies and third-party developers. But the company is kicking things off early this year with the reveal of Tap to Pay, which allows iPhones to function as standalone digital…Read more...

Peloton will replace its CEO, cut about 2,800 jobs, and revamp its leadership team as the company faces declining demand for its exercise equipment. The layoffs account for around 20% of the corporate workforce but will not affect instructors or content.

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has found its way into white-tailed deer living in New York, new research released this week has found. The results are the latest to show that deer in the U.S. have become frequent carriers of SARS-CoV-2—a phenomenon that could have important implications for the future of the…Read more...

After facing fierce criticism from the Biden Administration and environmental groups over its decision to prioritize new, gas-guzzling mail trucks, the United States Postal Service wants people to know it is indeed still committed to electric vehicles… if only it had more money!

Protestors in Berlin, Germany glued themselves to a main roadway Monday morning, demanding legislation against food waste and cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural industry. Their protest caused major traffic jams in the capital and followed actions held throughout Germany last week. More than 20…Read more...

Nvidia’s $40 billion bid to acquire Arm has officially ended, Softbank announced on Monday citing “significant regulatory challenges.”

The first footage from Lightyear already gave us Captain Marvel vibes, putting Toy Story’s sci-fi hero into a militaristic, Top Gun-with-spaceships aesthetic. Its latest trailer only helps to amplify those feelings further with the addition of one hell of a cute mascot cat.Read more...

Despite an over-abundance of hype heralding their arrival, the first product from Carl Pei’s Nothing, the ear (1) wireless earbuds, was a solid alternative to pricier options like Apple’s AirPods Pro. The only real downside was a lack of access to popular smart assistants: a feature that Nothing is finally adding…Read more...

Paramount is planning the return of The Smurfs in 2024. The Russo brothers return to Disney for an unlikely new adaptation. Claudia Black and David O’Hara go hunting for god in a new sci-fi movie. Plus, Catherine Zeta-Jones officially boards the National Treasure streaming series, and more casting for Disney’s Beauty…Read more...

When the Academy Awards nominees were announced last year, the results were rather underwhelming. There had been so few films of note released in 2020 because they’d been pushed back in hopes of being released in 2021, when the pandemic was over. Well, the pandemic isn’t over, but some studios still decided to bite…Read more...

Apple now has two ways to get work done with your Mac and iPad: Universal Control, currently appearing in beta versions of iPadOS and macOS, and Sidecar, which was introduced back in 2019. If you’re not sure about what these two features actually offer, how they can be used, or what the difference is between them,…Read more...

With Samsung’s Galaxy S22 lineup due out in just a couple days, I’m sitting here wondering: What exactly is the point of the company’s new Galaxy S21 Fan Edition? There seems to be no element of fan service to it whatsoever, and I can’t imagine what devoted Samsung user would pull the trigger on this phone today just…Read more...

The White House’s top science advisor announced his resignation late Monday after an internal report found he bullied his subordinates. Dr. Eric Lander, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, was spearheading the Biden administration’s “war on cancer” initiative and is a close personal friend of…Read more...

Apple recently acquired AI Music, a startup that creates soundtracks by using artificial intelligence to piece together sounds from royalty-free music. The purchase of the London-based company was reportedly completed in recent weeks, according to unnamed sources speaking with Bloomberg.

Here’s what you need to know about the new TV show Sunny: Rashida Jones. Robot. Plane crash mystery. Seriously, what more do you need to know?Read more...

I’ve found myself, even in this impending flood of more new Star Trek than ever, returning to Voyager recently. No matter how many times I’ve seen the show in its entirety, it still surprises me just how much of its first season immediately dives into the well of the titular ship’s crew seemingly finding a way to…Read more...

It’s the end of an era at Meta. Just last week, the company’s stock buckled after Facebook reported its first decline in daily active users in the company’s history. Now, the company formerly known as Facebook has parted ways with Peter Thiel, one of its longest-serving and most controversial board members.Read more...

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 was an exciting development in Android smartwatches because it brought Samsung and Google together to make Google’s watch software platform better. But, weirdly, the best Android watch lacked a major Android feature: Google Assistant. Samsung today said that’s about to change.Read more...

A few years ago we compiled a list of nerdy romantic (or at least thematically relevant) movies to stream on Valentine’s Day, including titles like 13 Going on 30 and My Bloody Valentine. (We did that a few times, actually.) Those recommendations still stand, but if you need a fresh list of sweet (and bittersweet)…Read more...

Researchers have documented a remarkable behavior among wild chimpanzees: chimps applying insects to wounds on themselves or others, perhaps as a sort of first aid. Little is still known about the practice, but the researchers suspect it to be the latest example of altruistic behavior in nonhuman animals.Read more...

One of the reasons people use Apple devices is because they work so seamlessly together. You can easily hand off web-browsing from your iPhone to your Mac, AirDrop photos to friends, or share wifi passwords between devices. Google’s Nearby Share aims to replicate that seamlessness on the Android side, letting you…Read more...

For nearly 26 years, Pokémon games have been predicated on a singular, combative formula: catch Pokémon, train them, fight them, collect badges, be the very best Pokémon trainer there ever was. You can do all that in Pokémon Legends Arceus, but it’s not really the focus. Instead, it asks you to reconsider how you…Read more...

Well here’s something you don’t see everyday: A discarded Falcon 9 second stage booster that’s going to slam into the Moon. This inevitable impact, predicted for March 4, won’t be visible from Earth, but tomorrow will be our last chance to see this 4-ton chunk of space junk before it permanently drifts away from view.

Before Disney+, the relationship between Marvel movies and Marvel shows was always a little weird. At first, shows like Agents of SHIELD or Jessica Jones would mention events in the movies. Sometimes they’d even base stories around them. But as the shows went on, those connections became less frequent, and when Marvel…Read more...

A new center established by the International Astronomical Union is seeking to protect the interests of astronomers as the number of satellites in Earth orbit continues to climb.

Give me a moment to put on some noise-canceling headphones so I can block out the latest AirPods Max chatter, because a new rumor going around suggests Apple might nix one of the device’s best features.Read more...

The release of The Matrix Resurrections was predictably divisive among fans, but apparently the rifts go even deeper than that. Village Roadshow, a co-producer on the film, is suing Warner Bros over a breach of contract regarding the release, citing it as the latest example in a larger plot to distance the companies…Read more...

In a major reversal, the Internal Revenue Service says it will transition away from using ID.me’s controversial facial recognition identity verification software following weeks of public controversy and criticism from privacy groups.Read more...

The world’s leading companies are seriously overstating their plans to act on climate change, according to a report released Monday. In findings that should surprise no one, 25 firms, including Google, Unilever, and Walmart, are only on track to reduce emissions by an average of 40%—a far cry from what’s suggested by…Read more...

If, for some ungodly reason, you need more evidence of how superheroes have conquered mainstream pop culture, you can stop your search at the ongoing 2022 Winter Olympics. That’s because it’s the place where Joker and Harley Quinn took to the ice-skating rink to do an interpretative routine exploring their troubled,…Read more...

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has compelled Donald Trump to finally hand over a bunch of official government documents he decided were his personal property when he left office.