Gizmodo

Scientists say they’ve confirmed a decades-old suspicion about the loss of the Xerces blue butterfly in the U.S by the 1940s. Based on genetic analysis of a 93-year-old specimen and others, they say the Xerces blue really was a distinct species of butterfly, rather than a sub-group of another existing species, as some…Read more...

A unique telescope is set to launch from New Zealand in April 2022, designed to survey the gravitational lensing that occurs when galactic clusters collide. The instrument, called SuperBIT, will be suspended by a stadium-sized helium balloon in Earth’s stratosphere.Read more...

Seeking to give users ever-increasing control over their scrolling experiences, Instagram on Tuesday unveiled plans to debut a Sensitive Content Control option that will allow users to better control which content appears in their Explore feeds.Read more...

The CW’s Batwoman is bringing a familiar DC character into its third season, and she’ll be played by a familiar face, too. Victoria Cartagena, who played former Gotham City cop Renee Montoya on Fox’s Gotham, is now joining the Batwoman cast as... Renee Montoya.Read more...

In the mythology of G.I. Joe, the link between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow is dense and complex. The two fought together, trained together, and became as close as brothers—only to eventually turn into bitter rivals. That relationship carries over not just into the new movie, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, but its…Read more...

If you’ve been watching the news this week you may have heard something about the NSO Group, an Israeli spyware firm that currently stands accused of helping bad actors to hack journalists, politicians, and human rights activists throughout the world.Read more...

Starting next year, Verizon will make Android Messages the default texting app on all its Android devices.

It’s not every day the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, just comes out and shares his company’s secrets. But that happened Monday night during a Black Widow watch party that took place on Twitter. Feige stayed online throughout and told anecdotes, gave shoutouts, and answered fan questions about the film—q…Read more...

Amazon employees and customers should be thrilled to know that the world’s richest man appreciates you for funding his little 10-minute rocket skydive (“space” travel) today. In a post-flight briefing this cowboy hat-wearing motherfucker actually said the quiet part out loud:

You know what James Wan is very good at? Scaring the bejesus out of you. And with Malignant, he’s back in seemingly very fine form.

The coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. must be over because otherwise, Amazon’s decision to end free testing for warehouse workers might seem rather reckless.

Noted cowboy cosplay enthusiast Jeff Bezos visited the edge of space on Tuesday.

Florida might be at the epicenter of a shocking spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations, but that isn’t stopping the state’s iconic Walt Disney World theme park from chugging along with business as usual. That also means that the company’s been gearing up to debut the latest addition to its Hall of Presidents: an…Read more...

Blood Red Sky begins with a frame story—an aircraft makes a wobbly landing in Scotland as troops gather below—before introducing us to a mother and son preparing to travel from Germany to New York. She’s obviously gravely ill and hopes that a specialist in America can cure her. However, as anyone who’s seen the trailerRead more...

Sometimes, you see an expensive gadget and think, “Oh shiz, that’s really expensive, but given the design, feature set, innovation, and build quality, it’s probably worth it.” This is absolutely never the case when luxury brands decide they want in on the tech game. There are dozens of examples of why luxury brands…Read more...

A Section 31 Star Trek show with Michelle Yeoh’s breakout Discovery character Emperor Philipa Georgiou has been rumbling about as a project almost since the earliest days of ViacomCBS’s heady plans for more Star Trek on screen than ever before. But as that plan unfolded, Section 31 somewhat appropriately slunk into…Read more...

It was looking grim there for a while, but Hubble is back in business after a computer glitch kept the space telescope offline for over a month. With no time to waste, the 31-year-old observatory is already back at work, capturing vivid new images of oddball galaxies.

Apple has been a bit more aggressive than most of the tech giants when it comes to returning to the office. However, due to yet another rise in covid-19 cases throughout the U.S., it appears Apple is pushing back the start of its return-to-office timeline by at least a month.Read more...

Millions of people across the U.S. and Canada woke up to smoke-choked air on Tuesday. The source: intense wildfires burning thousands of miles away in western North America. Yes, the western wildfires are now everyone’s problem, proving for the millionth time that nobody will be spared from climate change and that the…Read more...

If you’ve spent any time at a modern arcade you’ve probably seen air hockey tables upgraded with glowing pucks and paddles that make the game more visually appealing. Researchers from Tohoku University in Japan have taken those upgrades one step further in a version of air hockey that replaces the pucks and paddles…Read more...

Charlize Theron is getting ready to sit down, have a little chat, and stop a serial killer. The actress and producer is working on a TV series for HBO Max based on Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group, which is about a group of slasher survivors who must band together after one of their own go missing.

Sony did not come to play this summer. After launching four new speakers in May, the company is now revamping its home theater lineup with the HT-A9, a new modular system, and the HT-A7000, an incredibly beefy Dolby Atmos soundbar. The kicker: They cost $1,800 and $1,300, respectively.Read more...

Newly obtained data shows how 15 companies—including big names like Walmart, Ikea, and Amazon—are responsible for millions of tons of pollution and carbon emissions from an often-overlooked sector of their business: importing goods into the U.S. on cargo ships. A new report released Tuesday by Pacific Environment and…Read more...

Jeff Bezos utterly smashed the Kármán line, the internationally-recognized edge of space 62 miles above sea level, at approximately 9:04 a.m. Eastern Standard Time this morning, awarding him the permanent honorific: “astronaut.” As Blue Origin has made sure to clarify ahead of time, Jeff Bezos is now a no-asterisk …Read more...

Get up close with Michael Myers’ new look in Halloween Kills. One of the charmed ones has called time on Charmed’s next season. Game of Thrones prequel spinoff House of the Dragon has been hit with covid-induced production shutdowns. Plus, what’s to come on Rick and Morty. To me, my spoilers!

If you’re serious about virtual reality, then few headsets can beat the HTC Vive Pro 2. It’s not cheap, so if you’ve invested a substantial sum in VR, then you’ll want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Here are 10 tips to help you do just that, many of which will work with other HTC and SteamVR headsets…Read more...

AMC Networks, Skybound Entertainment, and Image Comics revealed the new cover to the book The Art of AMC’s The Walking Dead Universe from illustrator Brian Rood.

The first Space Jam starring Michael Jordan was released in 1996 and opened with $27.5 million. By the time the film ended its run, the overall domestic total was $90 million in box office sales.

The reigning queen of martial arts cinema, Michelle Yeoh, has offered up some info on her role in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

A few years ago, instead of leading my best friend and I through a lovely and picturesque Spanish mountain trail, Google Maps took us to an isolated field with some cows. While I learned then not trust the internet when it comes to nature, it appears that an increasing number of visitors to the Scottish mountain Ben…Read more...

To get an in depth analysis of the film as a whole, read Germain Lussier’s review for Black Widow. Now on with it.

Zola director Janicza Bravo will direct and serve as executive producer on the FX pilot for Kindred—an adaptation of the novel written by prolific science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler.

Amazon has gotten Fakespot, a popular service on the web that works to identify fake reviews on the e-commerce platform, kicked off the Apple App Store. The incident has pitted two of the biggest giants in the tech industry against a small company, and Fakespot is crying foul.Read more...

The new trailer for Ultra City Smiths has hit the internet! The half-hour series was created by Steve Conrad (Patriot), who also serves as showrunner. Seth Green’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (Robot Chicken) will act as one of the show’s many producers.

Daniel Craig is absolutely, positively done with James Bond.

Two California men have been indicted in connection with an apparent plot to attack the state’s Democratic Party headquarters, located in Sacramento, the Justice Department said Friday. The men also discussed attacks at other locations throughout the state that they “associated with Democrats,” including the…Read more...

While I have not considered myself part of the Youth for quite a few years now, I did not yet feel like I was an Old—until today, when I found out that Dictionary.com had added the word “yeet” to its repertoire. Even Microsoft Word doesn’t know what “yeet” means, as it keeps correcting it to “yet” and drawing an angry…Read more...

Frank Darabont, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind The Shawshank Redemption, was a key figure in bringing The Walking Dead to AMC way back in 2010. A few years later though, the showrunner and executive producer realized he wasn’t compensated properly for his stake in the show, and a lawsuit was filed.Read more...

Between WandaVision and Kevin Can F*ck Himself, shows revolving around warped pocket realities have been having quite the moment in 2021. It seems like a moment that Apple TV+’s new musical series Schmigadoon—from co-creators Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and director Barry Sonnenfeld—very much wants to be a part of.Read more...

A recent paper that suggested masks may be dangerous for kids to wear has now been retracted. It’s the second pandemic-related study written by the lead author to be pulled from publication in less than a month, following the retraction of another paper claiming to show that covid-19 vaccines would kill almost as many…Read more...

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular roundup of all things good, plastic, and—this week, at least—very, very large. Yes, that’s right, we’ve got the first details on Hasbro’s next Marvel Legends crowdfunder project, plus Boba Fett on his new throne, Lego Camper Vans, McFarlane’s intriguing new Disney line, and…Read more...

If you want most of the companionship that comes with a dog with less of the work, cats are great. They sleep most of the time, and a lot of the rest they’re inclined to spend by themselves. Walks are purely an optional affectation for the feline-obsessed, as is outdoor time (which many pet experts don’t recommend).…Read more...

Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan is returning to the big screen with Old, which promises to be a fresh start for the director who defined modern suspense films in the 2000s. Every one of his projects in his two-decade catalog—from The Sixth Sense all the way through his Unbreakable trilogy—carries with it a…Read more...

The song of ice and fire is getting a bit louder. According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO Max is now working on at least three potential animated shows, including one focused on the Golden Empire of Yi Ti.

Boeing’s had a rough go of it lately: After two crashes of its 737 Max jetliners in 2018 and 2019 resulted in a cumulative 346 deaths, the entire line was grounded for months and subsequent investigations showed the manufacturer rushed out the craft with shoddy software and without sufficient oversight from …Read more...

A small but face recognition-equipped Detroit roller rink kicked out a Black teen last Saturday after misidentifying her as a person who’d allegedly gotten into a fight there in March. The girl, Lamya Robinson, says that security scanned her face upon entry and barred her from going inside, despite her claim that…Read more...

At least 120 people have died and around 1,300 people are still missing across western Europe in the wake of extreme rainfall, bursting rivers, and heavy flooding that devastated parts of Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.Read more...

Although practically all Star Wars media coming out right now has to nestle itself in the ever-growing continuity of the post-Disney-acquisition reboot of its canon, Star Wars Visions is one of the rare new projects that is firmly and unequivocally outside of that canon to better free its creators. That doesn’t make…Read more...

While you might be more familiar with permanent pacemakers, temporary versions of the device are sometimes needed after open-heart surgery, heart attacks, or overdoses. The problem is these devices can cause infections, become dislodged, or introduce other complications like scarring during removal. But now,…Read more...

In Kevin Smith’s Netflix sequel to the classic Masters of the Universe cartoon, the warrior/Prince Adam’s best friend Teela plays just as important a role as He-Man himself. It’s a change to be sure, and change is something some 40-year-old nerds traditionally don’t handle well when it comes to the classic franchises…Read more...