Jupiter, that blustery ball of noxious gas, is probably the last place that comes to mind when you hear the words “life supporting.” But for twenty years, astronomers have suspected Jupiter of doing just that: supporting life on Earth, by shielding us from destructive comets. Now, one scientist is saying that’s dead wrong.

“It’s been taught somewhat dogmatically, that Jupiter protects our solar system,” astrophysicist Kevin Grazier told Gizmodo. “But that’s just not how it works at all.”

Indeed, the so-called Jupiter shield hypothesis hasn’t held up under scientific scrutiny, and Grazier’s latest JPL-funded research, which appears next month in the journal Astrobiology, may lay the idea to rest once and for all. His models show that Jupiter doesn’t—and never has—protected Earth from unruly space rocks. Rather, the prodigious gravity of Jupiter and Saturn has been slinging icy material our way for eons.

What’s more, those comets probably delivered the water, oxygen, and other volatiles that are essential to life as we know it. Without Jupiter’s rain of cometary terror, life on Earth may never have evolved.

Jupiter: Friend or Foe?

The idea that Earth’s largest neighbor protects us from deadly impacts traces back decades, to models published by astronomer George Wetherill in 1994. Curious to learn how Jupiter influences the distribution of planet-forming material in its cosmic neighborhood and the ejection of comets from the solar system, Wetherill performed a series of numerical simulations.

“He put thousands of particles between Jupiter and Saturn, and let them run,” Grazier explained. “Then he did the same thing for embryos, or ‘failed Jupiters,’ and asked, how many objects leak into interstellar space?”

Wetherill’s models showed that if Jupiter didn’t grow into a fully-fledged gas giant, but instead devolved into a “failed” core—which would still weigh an impressive 15 Earth masses—there’d be a thousand times more icy material whizzing about the inner solar system today. He didn’t conclude that Jupiter shields Earth from deadly impactors, simply that the gas giant helped sweep stray, planet-forming particles out of the ancient inner solar system. Nevertheless, some astronomers took his models as evidence that Jupiter is our planet’s cosmic barrier, and the idea stuck.

For the past fifteen years, models by Grazier and others have debunked pieces of the Jupiter shield hypothesis. To lay the matter to rest once and for all, Grazier decided to revisit Wetherill’s original models and give them a 21st century upgrade. He put 30,000 hypothetical particles on orbits between Jupiter and Neptune, and tracked their fate over 100 million years. Simulations of this magnitude weren’t possible in the 90s, but, Grazier says, thousands of particles and millions of years are needed to come to robust conclusions.

The new simulations show that significant fraction of particles evolve into Earth-crossing orbits over time when gas giants are present — flipping the Jupiter shield hypothesis on its head. Grazier’s models also demonstrate that Jupiter and Saturn “assist” one another in delivering material to the inner solar system, in a way that wasn’t appreciated before.

“To look at relative influences, I took out Saturn in some instances,” Grazier said. “Without Saturn, a lot of that material stays put, becoming an asteroid belt between Jupiter and Uranus. Likewise if you take out Jupiter, you end up with a planetesimal belt, and a lot of stuff stays put.”

It’s the complex gravitational dance of the two gas giants that hurls icy material onto our cosmic turf. And strangely enough, that might be a good thing when it comes to habitability.

“These models show that a lot of material gets kicked into the inner solar system—material that can form atmospheres and hydrospheres,” Grazier said.

Many astronomers have suggested that icy comets could have delivered Earth its water, a hypothesis which a new study supports. Image: University of Warwick and Mark Garlick

What’s more, as Jupiter shepherds comets into the inner solar system, its gravitational tug appears to slow them down. “If something hits Earth really fast, it can be erosional, and blow off atmosphere,” Grazier said. “If it hits slower, it can be accretion event. Ideally, to accrete an atmosphere, you want slower impacts from comets.”

Astrophysicist Konstantin Batygin of Caltech agrees with Grazier’s main conclusion — that Jupiter doesn’t protect terrestrial planets from comet impacts — but offers one caveat. His work shows that during the very early Solar System, when a thick nebula of gas still surrounded our Sun, Jupiter’s inward migration swept rocky planetesimals into the Sun, effectively clearing out the inner solar system. Not only could Jupiter’s violent primordial dust-busting activity have destroyed an ancient population of Super-Earths, it might have set the stage for the formation of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, as Batygin argued in PNAS earlier this year.

Jupiter’s relationship to the terrestrial planets is undeniably complex, but from the perspective of a life form on Earth, it seems to have been a positive one — overall. And as we peer into distant star systems in search of other habitable worlds, that knowledge could help guide us. Strangely enough, stars harboring tempestuous, somewhat vindictive gas giants might be the right places to search for a second home.

[Read the full scientific paper at Astrobiology]

Follow the author @themadstone

There’s already a ton of great Kylo Ren cosplay out there, but I haven’t seen one go the extra mile like Alhon has.

The outfit is great, but it’s the location that makes these shots so fantastic; he went outside in a “Minnesota blizzard”, which not only gets him a nice dusty effect on the black costume, but is as close as he’s going to get to the...

*VERY MILD SPOILER*

...end of Force Awakens without travelling to Starkiller Base (or the inside of a Hollywood effects studio). Well...except for the baseball field fence there in the background.

One of gaming’s better rumors is each koopaling in Super Mario Bros. 3 was named after a celebrity. One of the seven is Lemmy, allegedly inspired by Lemmy Kilmister, founder of the rock band Motörhead. Kilmister died of cancer yesterday. To learn more, I asked the person who named the koopalings.

Before Dayvv Brooks was a product analyst at Nintendo, involved in the early days of localizing Nintendo’s biggest games, he was nothing but a fanboy.

Stuck in a difficult NES game, he called the company’s famous tipline, staffed by “game play counselors” that could help guide players on the right track.

“[I] combed through the instruction book to find the number for the game play counselors in the back of the manual,” he told me. “I called and they helped me figure out what I needed to do. After hanging up, I remember thinking that must be the coolest job on the planet.”

Who wouldn’t want the “coolest job on the planet”? Weeks later, Brooks stumbled upon a newspaper ad promising people could “play video games” to “make money.” It was a chance to become a Nintendo game play counselor.

Fortunately for Brooks, the interview was super simple.

“This was in the early days where there wasn’t much training,” he said. “I think you had to say that you beat Zelda and Metroid or something like that.”

Brooks enjoyed the job so much—and he was so good at it—that he dropped out of college, moved into management of game play counselors, and eventually got roped into a few marketing projects. When Nintendo had some openings in its R&D department, he applied to become a product analyst within the company.

Besides an interview, Brooks had to review Sim City for the Mac to “see if I could clearly write about games and provide constructive ideas as to how the game could be made better.” He pulled it off, and moved deeper into Nintendo.

One of his early tasks was taking poorly translated Japanese text and making it sound better. (At the time, there weren’t really “localization” departments.)

That’s where Super Mario Bros. 3—and Lemmy—comes in. I’ll let Brooks explain:

“Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been a DJ for years and have been a music collector for even longer. When I first saw the group of seven Koopalings, music was on my mind.

The hairstyle on one of them reminded me of Ludwig von Beethoven for some reason and Ludwig von Koopa was born. Next was the one with the glasses—that has to be Roy Koopa in homage to Roy Orbison, who almost always wore glasses. Then Wendy O. Koopa (Wendy O. Williams) [and] Iggy Koopa (Iggy Pop). One looked like a loudmouth, so he was Morton Koopa Jr. from [the] loud-mouthed talk show host Morton Downey Jr. And then there was Larry. There’s no real-world equivalent—he’s not Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 or Larry King—he just looked like a Larry.

That brings us to Lemmy. In addition to being a great name, it’s perfect for a video game character. This Koopaling struck me as being the kind of character who would do his own thing, no matter what anyone else thought. I think it was those crazy eyes. Lemmy Koopa was in the crew.”

While Nintendo had to approve Brooks’ translation ideas, all of these stuck. So, yes, Lemmy Koopalina is actually based on Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead.

Before Nintendo, Brooks had worked at Tower Records, and while not a Motörhead fanatic, he “certainly appreciated Motörhead’s significance.”

Brooks eventually left Nintendo in 1992. These days, he works in Internet marketing for Bass Pro Shops but regularly participates in pinball tournaments.

This isn’t the only time Lemmy would show up in a video game, either. He actually voiced a character—Kill Master—in Double Fine’s Brutal Legend.

You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.

Today, new futuristic-looking technologies often attract investors hoping to make gobs of money. And airships of the past were no different. In the first few decades of the 20th century people scrambled to figure out how they might cash in on these exciting new inventions, which were slowly beginning to prove themselves technologically reliable.

But not everyone thought that commercial flight was a good investment. The January 2, 1909, issue of Literary Digest re-published portions of a December 10, 1908 editorial in Engineering News under the headline, “A Warning to Air-Ship Investors.” The article spells out the various ways people of the era thought there may be money in flight — transporting freight, passenger travel, warfare — but the author remains extremely skeptical that any of those applications would pay off financially anytime soon.

Literary Digest explains that “companies to build, sell, and operate new types of flying-machines will before long be seeking stock subscriptions in every city in the country. How shall we distinguish the false from the true? The advice of the [Engineering News] is to keep clear of the whole business.”

From the December 10, 1908 Engineering News:

So far as the possibilities of freight transportation are concerned, it may be passed with a word. Wherever ordinary methods of transportation on land are available, it will be absurd to carry goods of any sort through the air. The cost of such transport would be measured not in mills per ton mile, as in rail or water carriage, or cents per ton mile, as in wagon haulage, but in dollars or hundreds of dollars per ton.

It is true that for exploration in difficult country, as over the Arctic ice or in rough mountain regions, there are possibilities in the air-ship. But such use, of course, is rather scientific than commercial.

The article continues by laying out the impracticality of passenger air travel, seeing it as more of an amusement that might be useful at fairs, rather than as a practical means of transportation. Interestingly, the author also calls out the high-speed automobile as a toy of the rich which allows them to “vent their surplus energies.”

For the carriage of passengers, the necessary risks attendant upon flight through the air, either with the dirigible balloon or the aeroplane, are certain to limit passenger traffic to the field of sport and amusement. This is, of course, a much more considerable field than is often realized. The public is willing to pay very high prices for mere amusement, and it is altogether probable that a few years hence aeroplane flights will be a drawing card at county fairs and other public occasions, just as ordinary balloon ascensions have been for a century past. The experience of the high-speed automobile, too, has proved the existence of a very large leisure class of wealthy men who find vent for their surplus energies in undertaking all sorts of risky exploits. Flight through the air may very likely become as popular a fad a few years hence as automobile racing is to-day; but it will have just as little relation to the serious, practical, every-day business of carrying freight and passengers for the great workaday world as have the hundred-horsepower automobiles that break speed records in France or America.

Warfare of the future isn’t even seen as a possible use for airships. As Engineering News explains, flying machines are far too vulnerable to bullets from the ground.

It is said that the leading military nations are vying with each other at the present time in the development of military air-ships, but this does not prove that these structures can be made practically useful in the serious business of actual warfare... Of all the apparatus ever proposed for use on the battle-field, a flying-machine is beyond all question the most vulnerable. It offers an ideal mark to the bullets of the enemy. Its limitations of weight forbid its protection by any sort of armor. Had the flying-machine been developed forty or fifty years ago, when projectiles were limited to small velocities and short ranges, it might have performed some service in observing the enemy’s forces; but with modern infantry rifles discharging projectiles with an initial velocity of 2,700 feet per second, and with light artillery fitted to discharge a perfect hail-storm of bullets having equal velocity and range, the rise of an air-ship at any point within several miles of a hostile army would be merely the signal for its immediate destruction.

Engineering News was correct that military airships were being developed. These planes would advance considerably in the lead up to the First World War, where they were not only used for reconnaissance, but also mounted with machine guns and used for strategic bombing. In 1909, on July 27, the Wright Brothers tested a military airplane in Fort Meyer, Virginia. Film from the National Archives of the Wright Brothers testing that plane is embedded below.

This post originally appeared at Smithsonian.com.

Photo: Thomas Scott Baldwin’s airship at the St. Louis Exposition (Library of Congress, 1904)

Check out brand new looks at X-Men Apocalypse and Ghostbusters. Benedict Cumberbatch almost didn’t manage to star in Doctor Strange. Kristen Bell heads to iZombie. Plus, tons of new glimpses of Shadowhunters, and the return of Supergirl. Spoilers Now!

Star Wars

Ever since The Force Awakens released, speculation has been rife about the true identity of the saga’s biggest new villain: Supreme Leader Snoke, the head of the First Order. The current prevailing theory sweeping the internet —and thus beginning to make its way into the Star Wars media cycle—is that Snoke is in fact Darth Plagueis, the Sith Lord who trained Palpatine and had allegedly discovered the key to holding back death through the force.

Although Snoke does share some visual similarities with Plagueis, the “evidence” fans are turning to are a comparison of similarities between John William’s theme for Snoke in The Force Awakens and the music that plays during a scene in Revenge of the Sith where Palapatine discusses Plagueis with Anakin (via Radio Times):

But so far discussion of Snoke’s identity from official sources has all but denied the link between the two characters. Andy Serkis has said in the past that the character is completely new to the Star Wars universe, but more recently the art book The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens revealed that at some point the production team were considering that Snoke could be a female—which would rule out the male Plagueis pretty quickly, and the fact that it was under consideration does seem to imply that there isn’t any real link between the two villains.

Star Wars Episode VIII

Lawrence Kasdan discusses how Rian Johnson’s film will differ to The Force Awakens:

These movies will all be so different. [“Episode VIII” director] Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing. If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in Star Wars. You couldn’t have three more different people than J.J., Rian and Colin [Trevorrow, Episode IX director].

[The Independent]

Doctor Strange

Kevin Feige says that the movie nearly went ahead without Cumberbatch in the lead role:

He was someone that we were very interested in for a very long time. [But] he kept getting more and more popular! He kept getting more popular, and more popular, and he kept getting busier, and busier, and it looked like the timing wasn’t going to work. So we looked at some other actors for a while and ultimately decided, ‘We have to try and make it work with Benedict and with his schedule.’

[Entertainment Weekly]

Ghostbusters

Entertainment Weekly have released a new image from the film, and a brief description hinting at some of the ghosts that the team will face:

Dead criminals from all eras of New York’s under­belly past have returned to roost among the living in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot. Pilgrims, old-­timey sailors, Revolutionary War spirits, and even a couple of zoot­-suited gangsters are ready to take on four formidable female busters looking to rid the city of its phantasmic filth.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Empire has an exclusive new still of Eddie Redmayne in the movie:

X-Men Apocalypse

And back to Entertainment Weekly, this time for a new piece of concept art of Magneto using some extremely enhanced versions of his abilities, as well as an explanation from Bryan Singer as to what Apocalypse does to his “Horsemen”:

One of Apocalypse’s many powers is he can imbue other mutants with greater ones. Magneto [Michael Fassbender] is demonstrating a small taste of what he can do now. Magneto is already enormously powerful… Now Apocalypse gives him powers far beyond what we’ve seen before.

Deadpool

And now to both Empire and Entertainment Weekly! First up, Empire has a new promo picture of Deadpool on their January cover, alongside a promo for the issue featuring Ryan Reynolds in character:

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly has two new pictures from the movie: Deadpool fighting Ajax (Ed Skrein), and Ryan Reynold’s abs.

iZombie

Kristen Bell will be teaming up with former Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas on the show, but only for a cameo—Bell will lend her voice in a currently undisclosed role to Episode 11, titled “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter,” an episode where Liv easts the brain of a secret erotic fiction novelist. [Entertainment Weekly]

Agents of SHIELD

Jed Whedon teases how Daisy’s relationship with Ward will have left an impact on the Inhuman creature inhabiting the former SHIELD/Hydra Agent’s dead body:

It could be, that’s a good theory. We know that Will’s memories lived on, so some of that could carry. As I’m sure you have guessed, it’s going to get complicated. Spoiler alert, it’s going to get complicated.

[Entertainment Weekly]

Supergirl

Here’s a new promo for the show’s midseason return, “Blood Bonds”, teasing Kara discovering Hank’s true identity and Cat Grant needling Kara about her own secret identity:

The Expanse

A gallery of pictures for episode six, “Retrofit”, has been released—more at the link. [Spoiler TV]

Galavant

Even more promo pictures, this time for “Bewitched, Bothered, and Belittled” and “Giants vs Dwarves”—go here for more from the former, and here for more from the latter.

Shadowhunters

Finally, a bevy of videos for the series have been released, introducing the main characters on the show:

Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson and Charlie Jane Anders. Image: Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

We’re in the middle of that already weird limbo-week between Christmas holidays and New Years celebrations. Are you stuck at work with nothing to do? Stuck at home and wanting to unwind after all that family togetherness? DC Comics’ might be able to help.

Every January release from the company will have one “Adult Coloring Book” uncolored variant cover from a host of DC regular artists—Mike Allred, Cully Hammer, Scott Kolins, Timothy Green II, and many more. Each is ready for you to take a crayon to and try a hand at coloring in.

Adult coloring books are all the rage these days. They’re meant to help people relax in a creative exercise, and pop culture has latched on to the idea with eager abandon. There’s books for Outlander, Sherlock, Game of Thrones, even crazy 3D app-enabled efforts like Disney’s in-research coloring range. Now DC’s getting in on the fun.

Here’s a selection of the covers, in all their black-and-white glory:

Green Lantern #48 variant by Mike Allred

Superman/ Wonder Woman #25 variant by Aaron Lopresti

Green Arrow #48 variant by Cully Hamner

Flash #48 variant by Derec Donovan

Detective Comics#48 variant by Timothy Green II

Wonder Woman #48 variant by Emanuella Luppicino

Action Comics #48 variant by Scott Kolins

Seeing all these plain covers makes you appreciate the work of comic colorists a little bit more, when you see how much of a comics visuals, the style and texture of amazing art work, is left to them.

So if you’re looking for something to do today, grab some pencils and print a few of these out. Or paste them into something like GIMP or Photoshop and give it a go digitally. If you do, share them in the comments—who knows, you might awaken the budding comic book colorist within you!

Header Image Credit: JLA #8 variant by Cully Hamner.

Before LEDs and lasers came along, video projectors would shine white light through a rotating color wheel to produce full-color images. But researchers at Dartmouth College and Disney Research Zürich have come up with a more unusual projection approach using prisms and very precise computer-generated black and white images.

What’s most remarkable about this unique setup isn’t that all the components cost less than $30; it’s that there are no visible colors involved until the final projection appears. That’s remarkable unless you’re the type who always points out that white light is technically all colors combined. You’d be right, and kind of an annoying know-it-all, but that’s the key to how this projection system works.

A full-color source image is passed through a custom algorithm developed by the researchers which generates two unique black and white images that are used as masks on either side of a prism. The first mask, full of tiny slits, sits in front of the prism and produces thousands of tiny “pixel” rainbows as light passes through both of them. The second black and white mask sits behind the prism and serves to block the colors of the raindow not required to reconstruct the full-color image being projected.

The results, at least in their current form, are nowhere near as sharp, vibrant, or crisp as what you’d get from a more conventional digital projector. But there’s some exciting potential here when it comes to both miniaturizing and making projectors simpler and more affordable. One day the flash on the back of your smartphone might double as a surprisingly decent projector if this research pans out.

[Dartmouth College via Gizmag]

Images via Dartmouth College

It was a year of splendid science fiction, some pretty strange science...and a little movie called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Somehow that dress made the cut too. These are the 100 most popular io9 posts from 2015, according to data from Google Analytics.

This Animated Data Visualization Of World War II Fatalities Is Shocking

It’s difficult to conceptualize excessively large numbers, particularly when they pertain to human tragedies. But this highly-engaging animated data visualization by Neil Halloran makes WWII-related deaths all too comprehensible.

The Photographer Who Took This Picture Barely Escaped With His Life

Pakistani nature photographer Atif Saeed managed to capture this stunning shot of a lion — just before it leapt at him.

Holy Hell This Power Rangers Reboot Is Dark As F*ck

James Van Der Beek and Katee Sackhoff star in Joseph Kahn’s (Detention, Toque) R-rated, NSFW Power Rangers short film. We did not think the Power Rangers could be this dark. We were so wrong.

The Magnus Effect Is Why a Ball With a Bit of Backspin Goes Like This

Drop a basketball with backspin from a great enough height, and something rather interesting happens. In the video below, Veritasium’s Derek Muller explains the Magnus effect, and why the phenomenon can cause a ball with even a little spin to swerve so dramatically from its expected path.

How Mice Turned Their Private Paradise Into A Terrifying Dystopia

In 1972, animal behaviorist John Calhoun built a mouse paradise with beautiful buildings and limitless food. He introduced eight mice to the population. Two years later, the mice had created their own apocalypse. Here’s why.

10 Books You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Really Read Them)

Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books—but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it’s easier to fake it. We asked some of our favorite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them.

Medieval Skeleton Found Dangling From the Roots of a Fallen Tree

After a violent storm ripped through the Irish town of Collooney, locals were shocked to discover the remains of a 1,000-year-old skeleton hanging from the roots of a fallen tree.

The Real Story Of Apollo 17... And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. This was not only our final Moon landing, but the last time we left low Earth orbit. With the successful launch of the Orion capsule, NASA is finally poised to go further again. So it’s important to remember how we got to the Moon — and why we stopped going.

Field Cameras Catch Deer Eating Birds—Wait, Why Do Deer Eat Birds?

Deer aren’t the slim, graceful vegans we thought they were. Scientists using field cameras have caught deer preying on nestling song birds. And it’s not just deer. Herbivores the world over may be supplementing their diets.

This is What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Exercising

It takes a lot of hard work to stay in shape, which is why it’s important to exercise on a regular basis. But it’s not always possible to remain active, and sometimes a few days off can turn into a more... extended hiatus. Here’s what happens to your body when you suddenly stop exercising.

The Best Meteor Shower of the Year Is Tonight, and Here’s How to Watch it

The Perseids is my favorite meteor shower of the year, and this year is likely to be the best one in recent memory. Here’s when, where, and how to watch it—and just what is going to make this year so spectacular.

Holy Cow, This International Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer Has Tons Of New Footage

Wow. You thought you were done with new Star Wars trailers after the recent, amazing one we just had? Think again. Disney has released an international cut of the trailer—one that is packed with new shots and dialogue.

The Correct Way(s) To Load A Dishwasher

The dishwasher! The perennial optimization problem. Even the chronically untidy have been known to harbor strong opinions on efficient loading technique. But did you know dishwasher manuals actually include photos and illustrations of ideal rack layouts? (Be honest – did you even realize your dishwasher had a manual?)

The “What Color Is This Goddamn Dress?” Debate Explained By Science

A rift is tearing the internet apart. And it’s the question of what color this dress is. Society has been split into the white/golds and the blue/blacks. Thankfully some people have stepped up to explain, scientifically, what color this goddamn dress is.

Neill Blomkamp’s Secret Alien Movie Looks So Good We’re Furious

Guess what? Neill Blomkamp was working on a secret Alien project that included Sigourney Weaver reuniting with Corporal Hicks, and the concept art is gorgeous. But now it’s dead, or was never going to be made in the first place, and I’m just going to scream “PROMETHEUS” into a pillow all day until I pass out from lack of air.

This ‘Simple’ Puzzle Once Stumped 96% of America’s Top Math Students

Twenty years ago, this puzzle appeared on a test administered to top-tier math students from 16 countries around the world. Only 10% of test takers got it right. In the U.S., only 4% managed to provide a correct response. Can you find the “simple” solution that so many intelligent students missed?

Lucasfilm is Pissed About These Amy Schumer Star Wars Photos

Thursday afternoon, GQ Magazine revealed photos from their latest issue featuring Trainwreck star Amy Schumer in joking, sexual situations with Star Wars characters like C-3PO and R2-D2. Friday, Lucasfilm responded and not in kind.

NASA Totally Found an Alien Crab on Mars and Didn’t Tell Anybody

And then—get this—THEN they accidentally posted a picture of it online. And then some people spotted it and called a spade a spade crab a crab. Hey everybody! Look! It’s a crab on Mars!

I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here’s How.

“Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted around the internet and beyond, making news in more than 20 countries and half a dozen languages. It was discussed on television news shows. It appeared in glossy print, most recently in the June issue of Shape magazine (“Why You Must Eat Chocolate Daily,” page 128). Not only does chocolate accelerate weight loss, the study found, but it leads to healthier cholesterol levels and overall increased well-being. The Bild story quotes the study’s lead author, Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D., research director of the Institute of Diet and Health: “The best part is you can buy chocolate everywhere.”

Luke Skywalker Is a True Jedi Master in his First Photo from The Force Awakens (Updated)

I wish I had something clever or profound to say about the first photo of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker taken in 30 years, or about it being the first time we’ve ever seen Luke wearing traditional Jedi robes. But I don’t. My stomach is full of tiny Star Wars-obsessed butterflies and I’m just really, really happy right now. Enjoy.

Do You Realize Mad Max: Fury Road Is A Miracle?

I’m serious. Mad Max: Fury Road should not exist. It should never have gotten made. It certainly shouldn’t be as awesome as it is. And yet somehow, against all odds, this impossible cinematic masterpiece is in theaters right now, in defiance of reality itself.

22 Incredible Facts About The Life and Career Of Sir Christopher Lee

If Sir Christopher Lee had just been a movie star, he would still have been an icon. But the late actor, who passed away last week, had an amazing life even beyond his incredible body of work. Whether you’re still lamenting his passing or unsure why his death is such a loss, here’s 22 reasons why Christopher Lee will always be a legend.

New Test Suggests NASA’s “Impossible” EM Drive Will Work In Space

Last year, NASA’s advanced propulsion research wing made headlines by announcing the successful test of a physics-defying electromagnetic drive, or EM drive. Now, this futuristic engine, which could in theory propel objects to near-relativistic speeds, has been shown to work inside a space-like vacuum.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/nasa-reveals-n...

10 Superheroes Who Can Never Have Sex

It’s tough to be a superhero. Not only do you have to drop everything and get into a brawl at a second’s notice, but you’re frequently misunderstood. Superheroes’ personal lives are a mess — especially their sex lives. But it gets worse. Here are 10 superheroes who are physically unable to have sex. Ever.

King Tut’s Burial Mask Has Been “Irreversibly Damaged”

The most famous archaeological relic in the world has been damaged during a botched cleaning attempt. After being knocked off, the blue and gold braided beard on King Tut’s burial mask was “hastily” glued back on with an inappropriate adhesive, damaging the item even further.

Islamophobic Bus Ads In San Francisco Are Being Defaced With Kamala Khan

Well, this is just brilliant. Racist adverts promoting hatred against Muslims are currently being run on buses in San Francisco - but someone has started covering them up with anti-hatred messages from Marvel’s première Muslim superhero, Ms. Marvel.

10 Terrible Movies That Absolutely Everyone Should See

Sometimes you can learn more from a bad movie than a good one. And certain atrocious films have become cultural touchstones, influencing generations of creators and spawning endless memes. So here are 10 really awful science fiction and fantasy movies that everybody should watch at least once.

Why Is The Dollar Sign A Letter S?

The letter S appears nowhere in the word “dollar”, yet an S with a line through it ($) is unmistakably the dollar sign. But why an S? Why isn’t the dollar sign something like a Đ (like the former South Vietnamese đồng, or the totally-not-a-joke-currency Dogecoin)?

Black Widow: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

The arguments over Black Widow have gotten ugly. Last night, Joss Whedon quit Twitter, with an image that pointed the blame at Twitter haters. But there’s a real issue with Black Widow, and her role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and it’s worth talking about. It’s worth talking about it like adults.

Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home?

Unlike a certain companion animal that will go unnamed, dogs lose their minds when reunited with their owners. But it’s not immediately obvious why our canine companions should grant us such an over-the-top greeting—especially considering the power imbalance that exists between the two species. We spoke to the experts to find out why.

Why Is There A Hole In Airplane Windows?

Here’s a question you’ve probably asked at some point in your life. Most likely you’ve asked it in passing, while parked in seat 22A on a flight to... wherever: What’s with that little hole in the airplane window?

Key and Peele’s Spoof of Neil deGrasse Tyson Was Astronomically Brilliant

Tonight’s episode of Key & Peele was pretty geeky overall—there was a long sequence about Game of Thrones. But the penultimate Key & Peele also included a fricken brilliant running gag about Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos.

All Signs Indicate a New Monster El Niño Is Coming

Ocean conditions in the Pacific Ocean are increasingly suggestive of a potent El Niño event later this year. While that might seem like good news to the water-starved regions of the United States, the resulting torrential rains could be exceptionally hazardous.

This is What We’ve Learned About Pluto in the Past 24 Hours

New Horizons is racing to Pluto so quickly, we’re literally learning new things every single day. Exploration is a true planet-wide “Today I learned...” moment: we now know what makes up Pluto’s atmosphere, what makes up its ice cap, and exactly how big it is.

Jared Leto’s New Joker Already Has An Epic Set Of Memes

By now, you’ve seen David Ayer’s Twitter reveal of Jared Leto’s Suicide Squad Joker. But have you seen all the memes inspired by his, uh, eye-catching take on the classic villain? Here are the best we’ve seen ... so far ... along with some other visually inventive reactions.

We Just Saw The First Amazing Footage From Dr. Strange and Captain America: Civil War

How will Marvel’s Phase Three movies manage to top the spectacle of Phase Two? We just got our first glimpse at D23. Marvel just showed us the first footage from Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange—the latter of which hasn’t even started filming yet.

Luke Skywalker Is Back! Second Teaser For Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Here it is — the second teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode VII. In which Luke Skywalker monologues about his family, and its powerful connection to the Force. And we glimpse how much things have changed since Return of the Jedi.

Why Are You Still Washing Your Clothes In Warm Water?

More than 60% of Americans still wash their laundry in warm water. It’s a practice that’s as costly as it is environmentally unfriendly. What’s more, it doesn’t make our clothes appreciably cleaner. Here’s why you should make the switch to cold water.

The New, In-Canon Star Wars Comic Just Did Something Completely Insane

Oh my god. Today’s issue of Star Wars #6, written by Jason Aaron, contains a surprise that changes one of the series’ main characters completely — a change that, thanks to the new Disney mandate that everything is 100% official, is now Star Wars canon. Get ready to have your mind blown.

Everybody Hates Superman in the First Batman v Superman Trailer

The first Batman v Superman trailer arrived a few days before it was set to premiere at a special IMAX event on Monday. And what we get seems to be an all-fronts attack on Superman from the press right on to an eye-glowing, voice-growling Batman. UPDATED with official HD trailer.

First Look At Axanar, The Star Trek War Movie We’ve Waited Decades For

Star Trek fans have been curious for years about the Battle of Axanar, the decisive turning point in the war against the Klingon Empire. And now, a new unofficial movie will show what really happened at Axanar, and how Captain Garth triumphed. Here’s your first image from Star Trek: Axanar, exclusively at io9!

Every Member Of The Avengers, Ranked

They’re called Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but some of the are mightier than others. We’ve broken down all of the official Avengers — minus a few too recent to judge — to determine who should be assembled first when evil strikes.

Carrie Fisher Has The Best Response To The Slave Leia Merchandise Controversy

Recently, the Star Wars fanbase took time off from freaking out about The Force Awakens to freak out over a rumored ban on merchandise depicting Princess Leia’s “Slave” outfit from Return of the Jedi. Many words about the matter have been said since—a lot of them pretty good!—but leave it to Leia herself to put it best.

We Have a Crazy Theory About How Darth Vader Might Fit Into Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The first trailer for The Force Awakens announced to the world there was a brand new Star Wars villain. We then learned his name: Kylo Ren, owner of the ominous, hilted red lightsaber. A second trailer followed, and immediately we were greeted by the face of Darth Vader. The obvious question was, “Why?”

Ryan Reynolds Reveals Deadpool’s Face, Fixes Everything X-Men Did Wrong

The Deadpool movie is currently filming in Vancouver, which means scads of photos are pouring from the set, revealing fun spoilers for all die-hard fans. This included one incredibly great look at Ryan Reynold’s’ new character face for Wade Wilson beneath the Deadpool mask.

Nightmare Video Game Turns Your House Into A Horror Movie—NOPE NOPE NOPE

Behold a smart phone game so clever/horrifying we’ll probably never play it. Night Terrors is a game that puts ghosts into your home. Never use your phone again!

10 Comics That Shut Down Terrible Internet Arguments

Is there a persistent Internet argument that you’re just sick of responding to? Don’t have the energy to explain the problem with the argument for the billionth time? These comics can help, countering those troublesome arguments with a few words and pictures.

Every Time Travel Movie Ever, Ranked

With the release of yet another time travel movie this week (Terminator Genisys), it’s time for us to look back at the great time travel movies of our past. Here are all the major time travel movies ever, ranked.

The Entire Marvel Cinematic Universe Has Been Cast In Civil War

Disney announced the cast for what could be the most comic book character-loaded Marvel movie yet. Captain America: Civil War will have (as it stands now) up to 16 comic book characters in its cast. It’s almost the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe — well, besides Thor and Hulk.

Jurassic World Is A Huge Mega-Hit, And That’s Terrible News For Movies

Jurassic World is now on track to beat the box office records of both Avengers films, and it has a shot at beating Avatar. This is terrible, awful news for anybody who loves movies. Not because Jurassic World is a horrible movie—it’s actually pretty fun. But because this means a lot more pandering sequels.

Interstellar’s Original Ending Actually Made Sense—And It Wasn’t Happy

The final act of Interstellar was a bit of mess, packed with feel-good mystical pseudoscience that was out of place in a sometimes glorious space opera. It turns out that ending was all director Christopher Nolan’s idea and that Jonathan Nolan’s original script called for a more straightforward—and darker—ending.

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Let’s Break Down The Secrets And Spectacle Of The New Star Wars Trailer!

The latest trailer for The Force Awakens is here! While we’re still trying to calm ourselves down, there’s plenty of discussion to be had about all the goodies we can find in all this new footage. Join us once again as we go on a spoiler-and-speculation-laden dive into the latest scenes from a Galaxy far, far away.

Here’s a Shot-by-Shot Breakdown of All the Goodies in the Final Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

If you’re like us, you’re still recovering from the amazingness of the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. It’s so incredibly filled with good stuff, we just had to go through and pick it apart frame by frame.

Every Hint and Clue Hidden in the Captain America: Civil War Trailer

You’ve seen the trailer and basked in its glory. It’s huge-cast, heroes-fighting-heroes glory. Now it’s time to slow down and figure out what it all means. Spoilers in the form of references to rumor and theory ahead.

Jem and the Holograms Fails in a Way That I’ve Never Seen a Movie Fail Before

Young people, right? They like young-people shit, like YouTube videos, Instagram selfies and crazy hair. If you hate young people but want to pander to them for some reason—like, if you have loathsome, foul-smelling stepchildren—you can always take them to see Jem and the Holograms.

The Glorious Poster For Star Wars: The Force Awakens Has A Giant Planet Killer On It

The official one-sheet poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens just dropped, and it’s glorious. It’s also loaded with new details, including our first glimpse of the rumored planet-killer superweapon.

The Real Story About That Wheel Of Time Pilot That Aired Last Night

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan is one of the most popular book series of all time. So you’d think the first episode of a TV version would air with massive fanfare... so why did the pilot air in the middle of the night instead? We reached out to the producers and found out why. Now updated with more info!

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East Middle Earth: A Story Worth Telling?

It is often said that Tolkien had only finished 1/3 of his life’s work before he died and looking through all his books and notes shows much truth to that. Virtually nothing was written about what happened in the east of Middle Earth during the events of Tolkien’s work, though from what we do know, it indicates something big was happening there.

The Milky Way Over Yellowstone is Impossibly Beautiful

These photographs of Yellowstone National Park by Dave Lane are so gorgeous it’s difficult to believe they’re from real life.

Jon Snow’s Head May Have Confirmed A Terrible Game Of Thrones Spoiler

Um, I can’t even report this news without it being a spoiler for those who know certain things about the Game of Thrones TV show, the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, or even just one pertinent behind-the-scenes fact. Do not read unless you want news that could destroy one of GoT’s most popular fan theories.

New Star Wars Photos Reveal The Villain, A Space Pirate And Lots More

Good news, everyone! JJ Abrams killed Jar Jar Binks (probably). Also, Vanity Fair has Star Wars: The Force Awakens set pics with lots of new information, including what’s behind the main villain’s mask, a brand new space pirate, and much, much more.

8 Things People Say In Interviews That Usually Mean A Movie Will Suck

We constantly get our hopes up for upcoming movies... and then they let us down. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype cycle, as people talk up their projects — but sometimes, you can tell just from the way people talk about a film that it’s probably not going to work. Here are eight key phrases that usually indicate danger.

All The Game Of Thrones Fan Theories You Absolutely Need To Know

If there’s two things fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series can agree on, it’s that 1) author George R.R. Martin is weaving an incredibly dense tale where far more happens (and has happened) than what’s just on the page, and 2) that no character is safe from GRRM’s murderous pen.

Top 10 Biggest Design Flaws In The U.S.S. Enterprise

Star Trek broke new ground by having a spaceship without fins and rockets, and by consulting with the RAND Corp. on its design. And the Enterprise is indeed a beauty. But the Federation’s coolest starship isn’t flawless, by any means. Here are the 10 biggest design flaws in the U.S.S. Enterprise.

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Behold The Suicide Squad In the Flesh, Including Harley Quinn

As has been the tradition for Suicide Squad thus far, David Ayer’s tweeted the first full-on cast photo, with pretty much everyone (save the Joker and Amanda Waller) in costume. UPDATED: Now with a look at Deadshot’s full costume.

5 Game Of Thrones Book Plots We’re Glad The TV Show Is Skipping

The Game of Thrones TV series has been a remarkably faithful adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series so far, but that will change when season 5 debuts on April 12th. But not every alteration from the books is a bad thing! Here are five storylines from the novels we won’t miss at all.

Adam Sandler Has a Hell of a Lot to Answer For

Pixels reminded us all just how shitty an actor Adam Sandler can be. But it’s worse than you probably realize. As a star, and also as a producer, Sandler has created a string of horrible, vapid comedies that have helped make us all dumber. His movies are “films,” in the same sense that colonoscopies produce films.

The 5 Scariest Cults in Modern History

Some terrifying cults are so well-known they can be described with a single word: Manson, Waco, Jeffs, Jonestown. Others may not be as iconic—at least in America—but still provide plenty of nightmare material.

Game of Thrones Just Burned Through Half A Dozen Plots In An Hour

Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones was brutal — and not just because it once again featured intense violence, much of it involving rape. It was also just insanely ruthless, in the sense of tearing through major plot points at a crazy pace. Spoilers ahead!

15 Actors Who Tried To Become Action Stars And Failed Miserably

For every Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Daniel Craig, there are a dozen would-be action stars who tried to get their movie careers off the ground, but couldn’t quite manage it. Here are 15 actors who thought they could punch, shoot and leap into stardom, but reality had other plans.

Here’s Where The Marvel Movie Characters Stand, Now That Phase 2 Is Over

Now that Ant-Man is out, Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is over. This slate of six movies began with Iron Man 3, and included some bold experiments (Guardians of the Galaxy) as well as huge upheavals. Now that it’s over, where do all our favorite characters stand? Let’s get you up to speed for Phase Three.

New Discovery Channel President Declares “No More Bullsh*t” Policy

Have you been angered by the Discovery Channel recently? Maybe for its completely erroneous Megalodon “documentary,” or its disgusting, botched “man eaten alive by anaconda” stunt? Well, then you’re probably a decent person. You also might be Rich Ross, the new president of the Discovery Channel.

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67 Science Fiction And Fantasy Movies To Watch Out For In 2015!

What’s hitting the big screen this year? Basically, everything. Luke Skywalker, James Bond, the Terminator, Velociraptors, all the superheroes. But there are also some great surprises, like a movie based on a beloved Nebula-winning novel. Here are the 67 science fiction and fantasy movies you need to know this year.

Mad Max: Fury Road Is An Astonishing Work Of Art

You don’t realize just how crappy most action movies are, until you see something like Mad Max: Fury Road — a movie in which there are no “action scenes” because the action pretty much never stops. And the film’s constant sense of violent motion is in the service of incredible imagery and transcendant moments.

15 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Farts

Admit it. You’ve always wanted to know whether farts can carry germs.

This May Be The Live-Action He-Man Movie’s Badass Battle Cat

Details on the live-action Masters of the Universe movie have been scarce to say the least, but the Senior VP of Production at Sony/Columbia Pictures, DeVon Franklin, just tweeted this extremely impressive picture of He-Man’s steed Battle Cat. What could it be other than concept art from the movie?

Force Friday Was A Disaster For Many Star Wars Fans

I’d been looking forward to this for months: Force Friday, the big reveal and release of the first toys from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’d previously lined up for toys from Episodes I, II and III—and VII was going to be no different. But this Force Friday was a truly awful experience.

Secrets Are Revealed and Worlds Collide in the Final Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

The third and final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is here. Now, before you watch, take a deep breath, make sure everything is quiet, and get ready, because it’s fantastic.

Scan Reveals This Buddha Statue Has A Mummy Inside

This is no ordinary Buddha statue. As the CT scan at the right clearly shows, there’s a mummy concealed inside!

Local Governments Crack Down On The Monstrous Evil of Tiny Free Lending Libraries

It’s good to know that people are focusing on what’s really important. Local governments in a few different U.S. cities and towns have looked past the problems of homelessness, crumbling city services and displacement, to tackle the real crisis: people are putting up tiny “take a book, leave a book” libraries.

One Thing the Game of Thrones TV Show Does So Much Better Than the Books

As an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, the Game of Thrones TV series will always be compared to its source material. Given how beloved the books are, the show can usually only match them, more often falling short. But there’s one way that the show is kicking the books’ collective ass.

11 TV Shows That Were Canceled Just When They Were Finally Getting Interesting

It’s starting to be the saddest time of year. This fall saw a slew of new TV shows, but nowadays there’s just too much television to keep track of. And as winter comes, fall TV shows get mown down like wheat. Sometimes, cancelation is a mercy. But here are 11 shows that died just as they found their feet.

11 Incredible Secrets About The Making Of Back To The Future

Back To The Future turns 30 this year — and this fall, Marty McFly arrives from the past. And a new book travels back and reveals a wealth of info about this legendary film. We read We Don’t Need Roads by Caseen Gaines and dug up 11 things you never knew about Back to the Future.

The Original Power Rangers Cast Reunites For The First Time Ever! [UPDATE]

If you were obsessed with television 20-odd years ago, then you probably have a soft spot in your heart for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the show that introduced the Japanese Super Sentai series to American audiences with an all-American cast (whenever the helmets were off.) And it’s hard to believe that original cast has never done a convention together.

Captain America and Iron Man’s Civil War Teams Revealed

While there’s been many rumors circulating about just who is fighting who in the next Captain America movie—but newly emerged promotional art has given our first look at just who is standing with Captain America or Iron Man in Marvel’s impending superheroic dustup. There’s even a surprising face or two... spoilers ahead!

Somehow, Avengers: Age Of Ultron Saved The Awesomest Trailer For Last

To be fair, this is actually a new TV spot, not a full trailer. But something tels me that really won’t bother you much when this unbelievably amazing new batch of footage kicks your ass. You don’t believe me? Go ahead and watch.

8 Logical Fallacies That Fuel Anti-Science Sentiments

We need science more than ever, yet many people find it hard to get accurate information about the scientific method and its achievements. Making things more difficult, their misconceptions about science are often driven by logical fallacies, or errors in deductive reasoning. Here are eight of the most common anti-science fallacies.

How The Hell Did They Screw Up The Muppets So Badly?

Seriously, I’m asking, because I don’t know the answer. It’s not that the jokes aren’t funny—some of them were super funny, although last night’s series premiere was definitely hit and miss. It’s more that this whole concept is just wrong for the freaking Muppets. And then there’s Miss Piggy. Sigh.

10 Worst Misconceptions About Medieval Life You’d Get From Fantasy Books

Some tropes are so ingrained in Medieval-inspired fantasy stories that it’s tempting to think that they represent real aspects of Medieval life. But often these stories are just reinforcing myths and misconceptions about life in the Middle Ages.

The Terrifying True Story Of America’s Youngest Serial Killer

In 1872, 12-year-old Jesse Pomeroy was briefly sent to reform school after brutally attacking several children. After his release, “the Boy Fiend” progressed to murder. A new book takes a look at this unusual case, one of the first to bring the insanity defense — and all its complications — into the public eye.

10 Authors Who Wrote Gritty, Realistic Fantasy Before George R.R. Martin

When George R.R. Martin released A Game of Thrones in 1996, he helped to change the game with his grounded approach to fantasy tropes. At the same time, people sometimes talk as though Martin was the first to bring realism to epic fantasy. So here are 10 other authors who were doing “gritty” fantasy before Martin.

50 Brilliant Science Fiction Movies That Everyone Should See At Least Once

Science fiction has rocked cinemas for a century, and the genre has produced many undisputed classics during that time. But which movies are essential viewing for anyone interested in the genre? We broke down the 50 must-watch science fiction films.

There Really Is An LSD Shortage, And Here’s Why

Lysergic acid diethylamide used to be everywhere. LSD played a huge role in shaping pop culture in the 1960s, and in the 1980s everyone lived in fear of LSD-laced temporary tattoos and acid-popping Satanists. But nowadays, you rarely hear about it. What happened?

God Damn You to Hell, The Walking Dead

Two things, guys: 1) This was an especially brutal, infuriating episode of The Walking Dead, so consider this your extra-special spoiler warning (although if you haven’t been spoiled already, you soon will be); and 2), I’m beginning to think Rick’s plan to herd the zombies out of Undead Gorge wasn’t a very good plan at all.

Seattle Neighbors Are Seriously Pissed About Those Crows That Bring Gifts to an 8-year-old Girl

Remember that 8-year-old girl who receives small objects from crows in return for feeding them? Well, her parents are now facing a $200,000 lawsuit accusing them of running a large-scale feeding operation out of their backyard.

Everything We Know About Star Wars’ Post-Return of the Jedi Future

Last week’s “Force Friday”* wasn’t just about the release of new Star Wars toys. It also heralded the start of “Journey To The Force Awakens,” a planned series of stories detailing the 30 years between Return of the Jedi and the new film. Here’s everything we know so far about the formative years of Disney’s new Star Wars canon.

How To Fix What’s Wrong With Game Of Thrones

Winter hasn’t arrived yet on Game of Thrones, but there’s still a bit of “winter of our discontent” going on. Season five veered way off George R.R. Martin’s road, with shall we say mixed results. Here’s how to get Thrones back on its game.

Why Did Japanese People Stop Performing Seppuku?

Seppuku, a highly ritualized form of suicide that involved cutting one’s own stomach, was once part of the bushido samurai code, and considered an honorable way to die and, until the 20th century, was quite common. So what happened? Why did this practice die out?

The Most Popular Antidepressants Are Based On An Outdated Theory [UPDATED]

One in ten Americans takes an anti-depressant drug like Zoloft or Prozac. These drugs have been shown to work in some patients, but their design is based on a so-called “chemical imbalance” theory of depression that is incomplete, at best.

Last Night’s Game Of Thrones Was Actually Pretty Hard To Watch

Two different groups of scary fanatics went on a rampage in the latest Game of Thrones episode, and it was pretty upsetting to watch, even by Thrones standards. The Sons of the Harpy and the Sparrows both want to restore old traditions, and they both build on the weaknesses of two very different queens.Spoilers ahead...

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It’s almost impossible to think of Back to the Future and not instantly conjure thoughts of Drew Struzan’s iconic poster of Marty McFly stepping out of the Delorean. But we almost had a poster where the amazing time-traveling car wasn’t the star. Hell, it was barely even on the poster.

This unused poster concept recently came to light after a former employee at Lonsdale Advertising in England found it in their collection, offering it to Ewbank Auctions for a series of movie poster auctions taking place in February 2016. The artist of the poster remains unidentified, all these years later.

Partially because Struzan’s artwork is burned so fiercely into our minds, it’s almost bizarre to see a Back to the Future poster where the DeLorean is pushed way into the background. You can also imagine a path where the retro 50s element of the first movie would have been the focus of the advertising, rather than the technical aspects of the time travel process.

Decades of pop culture success has perhaps proven that the better poster won out. After all, Struzan’s art was so beloved the concept was reused and tweaked for the main posters for Back to the Future Part II and Part III. This newly discovered post is still a very nifty, rarely seen piece of Back to the Future history. Part of history you can own, too: Ewbanks is estimating the sale of the 27 x 40 inch poster at £200-£400 (that’s around $300-$600) ahead of its sale in a few months.

[Ewbanks]

Image via Ewbanks

There seems to be two occasions when people most enjoy making predictions: anniversaries (think the American Bicentennial, New Year’s, etc) and dates that include round numbers (any year ending in zero). Such was the case in 1950 when many people halfway through the 20th century enjoyed predicting what life would be like in the year 2000 — obviously the roundest numbered year of our modern age.

The January 1950 issue of Redbook magazine asked, “What will the world of 2000 A.D. be like? Will the machine replace man? How will our children and grandchildren spend their leisure? How, indeed, will they look?” The mag asked four experts — curiously all men, given that Redbook was and is a magazine aimed at women — about what the world may look like fifty years hence.

Aldous Huxley, author of the 1931 dystopian novel Brave New World, looked at working life in the year 2000. Specifically, how people might work in the home, in the laboratory, in the office, in the factory and on the farm.

Aldous Huxley began his article by describing the major challenges that would confront the world at the dawn of the 21st century. He predicted that the global population would swell to 3 billion people — a figure less than half of the 6.1 billion that would prove to be a reality by 2000.

During the next fifty years mankind will face three great problems: the problem of avoiding war; the problem of feeding and clothing a population of two and a quarter billions which, by 2000 A.D., will have grown to upward of three billions, and the problem of supplying these billions without ruining the planet’s irreplaceable resources.

Let us assume—and unhappily it is a large assumption—that the nations can agree to live in peace. In this event mankind will be free to devote all its energy and skill to the solution of its other major problems.

Huxley’s predictions for food production in the year 2000 are largely a call for the conservation of resources. He correctly points out that meat production can be far less efficient than using agricultural lands for crops. Moreover, he discusses the growing importance of synthetic materials (a reality we take for granted in so many ways today). His description of synthetics was incredibly prescient, if not very surprising, coming from a man whose most famous novel imagined a high-tech world built on mass production.

By 2000, let us hope, the peoples of the world will have adopted a program to increase the planet’s output of food and other necessities, while conserving its resources. Because all available land will be needed for food production, concerted efforts will be made to derive all the fibers used for textiles from inorganic materials or vegetable wastes. Food crops will be cultivated on the land now devoted to cotton, flax, hemp and jute, and, since wool will no longer be used, the huge flocks of sheep which now menace Australian and North American watersheds will be greatly diminished. Because of the need to give overworked soil a rest and to extract the greatest possible number of calories from every acre under cultivation, meat production, which is fantastically wasteful of land, will be cut down, and increasing attention will be given to the products, vegetable no less than animal, of the ocean. Landlocked inlets, lakes, ponds and swamps will be scientifically farmed.

In many parts of the world forests are being recklessly destroyed. To conserve them we shall have to develop new types of synthetic building materials and new sources for paper. That the production of a comic supplement should entail the death of thousands of magnificent trees is a scandal which cannot much longer be tolerated.

How will individuals be affected by all this? For many farmers the changes will mean a shift from one kind of production to another. For many others they will entail a transfer to the chemical industry. For the chemical industry is bound to grow more important as world erosion compels us, for the sake of the land, to rely increasingly on synthetics derived from practically inexhaustible inorganic materials.

The world of 2000 A.D. was seen by many to be one of increased leisure. But Huxley sees that potential for better working conditions and increased standards of living as obtainable only through a sustained peace. These same predictions of a leisure-oriented society, by Huxley and others living mid-century, would inspire the push-button cliche later parodied in the 1962 TV show “The Jetsons.”

Huxley rightly predicts that the world would have to face the challenges that go along with having an aging population. Huxley himself would only live to see the year 1963, but he acknowledged what life would be like for young people reading his article.

Perhaps Huxley’s most inaccurate prediction is his assumption that an increase in productivity will mean an increase in wages for the average worker. As we’ve seen over the last half a century, increased worker productivity has not led to a dramatic increase in wages.

That enormous technological advances will be recorded during the next fifty years is certain. But to the worker as a worker, such advances will not necessarily be of great significance. It makes very little difference to the textile worker whether the stuff he handles is the product of a worm, a plant, a mammal or a chemical laboratory. Work is work, and what matters to the worker is neither the product nor the technical process, but the pay, the hours, the attitude of the boss, the physical environment. To most office and factory workers in 2000 the application of nuclear fission to industry will mean very little. What they will care about is what their fathers and mothers care about today—improvement in the conditions of labor. Given peace, it should be possible, within the next fifty years, to improve working conditions very considerably. Better equipped, workers will produce more and therefore earn more. Meanwhile most of the hideous relics of the industrial Middle Ages will have been replaced by new factories, offices and homes. More and more factories and offices will be relocated in small country communities, where life is cheaper, pleasanter and more genuinely human than in those breeding-grounds of mass neurosis, the great metropolitan centers of today. Decentralization may help to check that march toward the asylum, which is a threat to our civilization hardly less grave than that of erosion and A-bomb.

All in all, I’d say that Huxley’s predictions were fairly accurate in spirit. Like so many prominent people of mid-century, he fails to predict or consider the dramatic social changes that would occur which had a direct impact on the 21st century workforce. But his idea that “work is work” and people simply want to find the best work they can with the best conditions and pay seems to be a timeless observation.

If the finished product means little to the worker, it means much to the housewife. New synthetic building materials will be easier to keep clean. New solar heating systems will be cheaper and less messy. Electronics in the kitchen will greatly simplify the task of the cook. In a word, by 2000 the business of living should have become decidedly less arduous than it is at present. But, though less arduous, it will last on the average a good deal longer. In 2000 there will be more elderly people in the world than at any previous time. In many countries the citizens of sixty-five and over will outnumber the boys and girls of fifteen and under. Pensions and a pointless leisure offer no solution to the problems of an aging population. In 2000 the younger readers of this article, who will then be in their seventies, will probably be inhabiting a world in which the old are provided with opportunities for using their experience and remaining strength in ways satisfactory to themselves, and valuable to the community.

What do you say? I’m by no means an expert on Huxley and would welcome the opinion of others who may be able to read between the lines and offer insight into his vision of the year 2000.

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/50-years-of-th...

This post originally appeared at Smithsonian.com.

Axanar has attracted a lot of attention since its hugely successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns raised over a million dollars to make a movie set decades before the events of the original Star Trek series. But after over a year of tolerating the film’s existence, CBS and Paramount have cracked down.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/first-look-at-...

Axanar promised to be a lavish independent production, a movie that looked at the early days of the Federation’s conflict with the Klingon Empire in the years before the original Star Trek television series and that culminated in a bloody battle at the titular planet of Axanar. The story was uncovered ground in CBS’s official Star Trek work in both movies or live-action television. Meanwhile, CBS not only had a long-standing reputation of embracing the Star Trek fan film community and their projects but had also met with Axanar executive producer Alec Peters in recent months to confirm that, as long as the new film wasn’t made for commercial purposes, CBS was fine with it.

Until now.

The Hollywood Reporter just revealed that CBS and Paramount filed a lawsuit on Christmas Day seeking an injunction against Axanar in an effort to get the movie scrapped as well as seek damages for “direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.” The thrust of the suit seems to be that because of Axanar’s vast crowdfunding success, the project has evolved beyond the sort of fan film that CBS would tolerate into something that violates its copyright. And presumably, with a new Star Trek show entering production next year, the thought of a wildly popular fan creation attracting attention and potential confusion is not something CBS wants.

It’s a shame, but perhaps not a surprising turn of events for Axanar. The bigger it got, the more likely it seemed that CBS would intervene—and that day has finally come.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Header image via Prelude to Axanar on Youtube

One of the worst environmental disasters of the decade is currently underway in a quiet community 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Putrid, methane-rich natural gas has been spewing into the air at an estimated rate of nearly 1,300 metric tons per day for over two months. Experts are calling it the climate version of the BP oil spill, and the leak isn’t going to be contained anytime soon.

Natural gas is often touted as a cleaner energy source than oil or coal, because of the lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with burning it. But as this disaster highlights, there are insidious risk to natural gas production. Coupled with weak regulation, they can make this energy source as dirty as the fossil fuels it’s meant to replace.

“The science is crystal clear: if you allow the methane to leak, you can wipe out its climate benefits,” Tim O’Connor, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Oil and Gas Program in California told Gizmodo.

In fact, everything about the leak is eerily reminiscent of the oil spills that have blackened oceans and beaches for over a century. These parallels underscore a hard truth: we need to transition off carbon-based fuels entirely to fix our planet.

Like 7 Million Cars

On October 23rd, a natural gas leak erupted at a storage well beneath the community of Porter Ranch. The well stores gas carried by pipelines from extraction operations hundreds of miles away in Texas, the Midwest, and the Rocky Mountains.

The leak has taken a serious toll on Porter Ranch residents, who for weeks have reported headaches, nausea, dizziness, and other symptoms. Methane is odorless and non-toxic, but natural gas producers inject it with trace quantities of sulfurous chemicals called mercaptans so that leaks can be detected by scent. According to Cyrus Rangan, director of the Toxics Epidemiology Program at LA County’s Department of Public Health, the stench from the leak is so foul that residents are having a physiologic response to it.

“People are having very real responses, based on their own sensitivity,” Rangan told Gizmodo. “In terms of acute chemical exposures, this is a really, really big deal.” Rangan estimates that somewhere between four and five thousand families have filed for help, with 2,200 families temporarily relocated so far.

As of this week, the leak has sent over 73,000 metric tons of methane gas skyward, according to estimates published by the Environmental Defense Fund, which is providing real-time updates on the situation. And that’s a big problem for our climate. Although short-lived in the atmosphere, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with up to 80 times the global warming potential of CO2 in the first twenty years of its lifespan. 73,000 metric tons of methane is the global warming equivalent of over six million metric tons of CO2. Put another way, the daily emissions from Porter Ranch are essentially equivalent to sticking seven million additional cars on the road.

Plugging the Hole and Fixing the Problem

The first order of business for California is getting this well plugged. After several failed attempts to stop the flow of gas using conventional methods, SoCalGas began drilling a secondary “relief well” on December 4th. This well will intersect the leaky one and plug it. “After we intercept the well at more than 8,500 feet of measured depth, we will pump heavy fluids and drilling mud into the bottom of the leaking well to stop the flow of gas up from its source, the reservoir,” a statement provided to Gizmodo by SoCalGas, which manages the well, reads. “Once the flow of gas has been stopped, we will pump cement into the well to permanently seal the leak.”

Here’s what the entire operation will look like:

Image via SoCalGas

At last check-in, the drilling operation had reached a depth of 3,850 feet, and—in an important milestone—workers have now identified the seven-inch wide leaky gas pipe using magnetic ranging technology.

Still, SoCalGas warns that plugging the leak and stopping the flow of methane could take until the end of March.

Estimates from California’s Air and Resources Board show that total statewide methane emissions rose 25% this fall, dramatically diminishing any climate benefit natural gas industry offers. “SoCalGas recognizes the impact this incident is having on the environment,” SoCalGas spokesperson Anne Silva told Gizmodo in an email. “While working to stop the gas leak and alleviate its impact on the community, we also have been evaluating options to mitigate the environmental impact.”

But whatever mitigation measures SoCalGas takes, the leak highlights the shortcomings of natural gas—and how it’s regulated.

Nobody’s sure exactly how the Porter Ranch leak started, but a report by the EDF paints a disturbing picture of the state of natural gas pipes around Los Angeles. Nearly 40 percent of the pipes in SoCalGas’ jurisdiction are over 50 years old, and they’re leaking everywhere. The EDF reports an average of one methane leak every four to five miles across Pasadena, Inglewood, and Chino, three geographically disparate neighborhoods. These leaks vary from less than 1,000 to over 60,000 liters of natural gas per day. That means tens of thousands more cars worth of carbon emissions thanks to crappy infrastructure.

But this isn’t just an LA problem. Another report by the EDF estimated over 13 million metric tones of natural gas leakage on federal and tribal lands in 2013 alone. “Globally, we know that more methane is leaked into the air from oil and gas infrastructure than the entire gas production of Norway—which is one of the world’s leading gas producers,” O’Connor said. “Methane is a significant problem, and in the US, it can erode the climate benefit of the gas industry.”

Nationwide, O’Connor estimates there are approximately 400 underground methane storage areas subject to little to no federal regulation—other Porter Ranch disasters waiting to happen. “These facilities are exempt from federal requirements for underground injections, and they fly under the radar until catastrophes strike,” he said.

And that’s not to mention leaks during drilling, transportation through pipelines, and distribution. If we’re going to see a net climate benefit from natural gas production over fossil fuels, experts say no more than 3 percent of gas can leak during the entire production process. In some parts of the country, we’re well beyond that figure. In other areas, the amount of leakage simply isn’t known.

For the first time this year, the EPA has introduced national standards that would directly regulate methane emissions from oil and gas facilities built in the future. But as the EDF points out, these rules say nothing about facilities already in operation. If the natural gas industry wants to sell an environmentally-friendly alternative to oil, all of its infrastructure needs to be air-tight.

“We need to think of natural gas as a bridge fuel, “ O’Connor said. “It’s an energy source that can have a benefit, but that benefit is only realized if you keep it in the pipes.”

Follow the author @themadstone

Top image: Crews from SoCalGas and elsewhere work at a relief well located near Porter Ranch. Image via Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News/AP

Ever since Han, Luke, and Chewbacca triumphantly strode through crowds of Rebel soldiers to mark their roles in the Death Star’s destruction, Star Wars fans have jokingly wondered why the poor Wookiee was left out. Well the final issue of Marvel’s Chewbacca miniseries has an answer, all these years later.

Minor Spoilers ahead for Chewbacca #5, by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, and Joe Caramagna.

Chewbacca #5 serves as the culmination of a short adventure a crash-landed Chewbacca has had with a young girl named Zarro. The duo has freed Zarro’s father from a local thug’s mines and escaped the clutches of the Imperial troops said thug was working for. Following an explosive escape from a Star Destroyer, Chewbacca and Zarro make to go their separate ways... but not before the young girl says it would’ve been nice if they had some recognition of what they did to save the planet from the Empire.

Perhaps recognizing the same feeling fans have assumed Chewie had at the end of A New Hope, the wookiee turns around and clasps something around Zarro’s neck:

His medal! Turns out Chewbacca had one after all, presumably given to him after the main ceremony. Maybe Princess Leia didn’t want to have to use a stool to get high enough to put one on him in front of so many Alliance soldiers? Or maybe Chewie was just being shy?

Chewbacca goes on to tell Zarro that he’s not too keen on having the medal anyway. It clashes with his “warrior vibe,” according to Zarro’s translation of his roars. Poor guy, but at least we know he wasn’t left out back on Yavin—or why we’ll never see him with the medal again.

Marvel’s Star Wars comics have been doing a pretty fun job of filling in the gaps between the movies in Disney’s new canon. While it’s been nice to theorize all these years about whatever happened to Chewie’s medal (because that’s the sort of thing Star Wars fans love to do, let’s be honest), this is a pretty cute way to touch on it in Disney’s new official capacity as custodians of all things Star Wars.

Images via Marvel

A new study shows we’re still suckers for canny packaging of cigarette brands, especially those claiming to be slightly less bad for us than the usual variety.

A team of Australian researchers investigated the effects of plain packaging laws, publishing their findings yesterday in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. Plain packaging and warnings on cigarettes seem like a useless precaution. Who doesn’t know that smoking is bad for people?

They found that Aboriginal and Torres Island people certainly did know that smoking was bad. What plain packaging did was reduce was the perception that certain kinds of cigarettes were “less bad” for people. Packages depicting healthy icons with words like “slim” and “light” gave the impression that certain kinds of cigarettes were healthier. Some packages even used the same word as the NICO card: mild.

There’s actually a long history of marketing efforts to lessen people’s anxiety over the adverse health effects of consumer products — and no more so than with cigarettes. In the 1960s, when it really started hitting home that smoking kills, companies adopted a popular marketing strategy that involved uranium. Radium skin cream and radioactive suppositories are well-known examples of historically bogus uses of radiation as a health tonic, but there are a number of bit players we don’t always hear about. One of them was the NICO Clean Tobacco Card.

This card first appeared in Japan, and soon became a popular export, as Americans clamored for a way to keep on smoking without worrying about the health consequences. The card was small and blue and contained a shake or two of uranium. Smokers were to slip it into their packs of cigarettes, where the radiation from the uranium would somehow eliminate the poisons in the cigarettes.

The packaging for the card claimed it was effective in “lowering tar and nicotine 17%,” that it allowed for “milder smoking with no sacrifice in taste,” and that it caused a 50% reduction in the “poisonous substance contained in tobacco smoke.” Needless to say, it did none of those things.

While the card is a thing of the past, it’s still with us today in spirit. In health food stores and new agey places, it’s possible to purchase a metal medallion to attach to one’s cell phone to eliminate the harmful electromagnetic radiation given off by the phone.

Everyone has been suckered in by healthy packaging at some point, or tried to pick the least harmful of a slate of bad options. Tailoring marketing materials to promote the perception of a “least bad option” has never stopped being lucrative.

Image: Energy.gov

In a new interview, The Martian’s Drew Goddard discusses how to script a blockbuster with mass appeal—without dumbing down its science elements: trust that your audience is actually willing to learn, and put special emphasis on the story’s universally relatable emotional aspects. [Deadline]

Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Do you love your hoverboard? They’ve become so popular, you’d think they could actually hover. Well, enjoy them while you can, because everyone seems to be banning them — from the smallest universities to entire countries.

Below, we have a comprehensive list of every place in the world that has explicitly banned hoverboards. We expect this list to grow over the next year, so we’ll continually update it as we see more bans enacted around the world.

Airlines (all)

Athens, Ohio (pending)

CES

Cleveland, Ohio

• Quicken Loans Arena
  

Denmark

• Public spaces
  

Disney theme parks

Dubai, UAE

• All shopping malls
  

George Washington University

Humble, Texas

• Deerbrook Mall

Legoland, California

Los Angeles, California

• Metrolink trains
  

Minneapolis, Minnesota

• MSP International Airport
  

Netherlands

New South Wales, Australia

New York City, New York

Ocean City, Maryland

• Boardwalk (pending)

Salve Regina University, Rhode Island

Santa Clara University, California

United Kingdom

University of Arkansas

University of Findlay, Ohio

University of Hartford, Connecticut

If we’ve missed some place, don’t be shy about letting us know in the comments. Or give me a shout over email: novak@gizmodo.com

Happy hoverboarding! (While you still can.)

Image via Getty

Is it the Godzilla El Niño or harbinger of a future hell? Weird, deadly weather has been sweeping the country for the past week, from tornadoes and blizzards in the Southwest, to historic flooding in the corn belt. If one thing’s certain, it’s that the hottest, climatically wackiest year on record is going out with a bang.

The madness started over the weekend, when a freakish storm descended across the US from the Southwest to Michigan. While record snowdrifts buried parts of New Mexico, next door in Texas, it was summertime. Dozens of tornadoes swept through the Dallas area, damaging up to 1,000 buildings and homes.

Damaged property in Garland, TX following the EF4 storm that hit this weekend. Image via Getty

According to the National Weather Service, at least one of the tornadoes recorded this weekend was an EF4, which clocked wind speeds of up to 180 miles per hour. EF4s account for less than 1% of all tornadoes, but they’re the second most damaging class, known for leveling houses and flinging cars into the air.

A day after summer-like weather and fatal tornadoes, the same regions of Texas were under blizzard warnings. Dallas had a high of 82 ºF on Saturday and was down to 41 on Sunday, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, states from Michigan to Georgia saw blizzards, ice, heavy snow and rain over the weekend and continuing into the week. The result? By Monday, the Mississippi river was engorged with water, leading to record flooding in parts of Illinois and Missouri. Earlier this week, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency. Hundreds have been forced to evacuate their homes as 19 federal levees across the Mississippi threatened to break.

Cars submerged in a park in Kimmswick, Mo., on Monday, December 28th. Image Credit: Jeff Robertson / AP

All in all, the floodnado blizzard-pocalypse has left at least 53 people dead since last week, NBC News reports.

What’s behind the freakish weather? It’s complicated, and we’re not entirely sure yet. But you can bet El Niño, coupled with the general abnormality of 2015 as we rush headlong into a hotter, more disaster-prone future has something to do with it. As National Geographic points out, record-smashing high temperatures across much of the eastern US (remember July in Christmas?) are causing copious amounts of water to evaporate into the air, giving the recent storms additional fuel and firepower.

Don’t forget: we knew we were in for a crazy winter. And despite all the madness, it’s still just getting started. Happy New Year!

Follow the author @themadstone

Top image: Floodwater surrounds a McDonald, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015, in Union, Mo. Image via Jeff Robertson / AP

Sure, Star Wars fans might dream of igniting a lightsaber and calling on the force like a Jedi. But honestly, if we were in a galaxy far far away, we’d want to lock our S-Foils in attack position like the dashing X-Wing pilots of the Alliance and Republic. But who’s the best of them all? We ranked them to find out.

Warning: There are some incredibly mild spoilers for The Force Awakens below. View at your own discretion!

1) Wedge Antilles

Sure, in the movies, at first Wedge might have been seen as an almost-sidekick to Luke’s superior piloting talent—but while Luke wandered off to be the hero and a Jedi, it was Wedge who transformed into the ultimate X-Wing pilot. There is, after all, only one pilot who survived two Death Star runs. And it’s Wedge.

From helping to found Rogue Squadron, to commanding Red squadron at Endor,—and then further exploits in the Expanded Universe as he lead the Rogues and founded a second elite pilot team in the Wraiths—Wedge is undoubtedly the most influential X-Wing commander. There was no one who could fly an X-Wing like Wedge to the point he was drawn out of retirement about three or four times, just to get him back commanding troops and flying ships whenever the galaxy was under threat.

2) Poe Dameron

Sure, Poe might be new on the scene, but he really does deserve to be this high up—and his turn in The Force Awakens reignited our love of insanely charming X-Wing pilots all over again.

Not only is Poe the best pilot in the Resistance, he displays something rarely seen in the starfighter battles of the Star Wars movies—a genuine joy for piloting. Most of the film’s pilots spend their time in a cockpit tense or relieved that they survived in victory. Poe hoots and hollers with joy as he takes down enemy fighters and blows up Starkiller base, and we can’t help but root for him because of it.

3) Luke Skywalker

Luke might have gone on to become much more than an X-Wing pilot—but even if he’s more famed as a Jedi, he’s still one of the finest pilots in Star Wars. A natural before he even knew he could tap into the Force, Luke’s years of training with the hopes of entering the Imperial Academy made him a keen shot behind the controls of a ship—and with the Force as his ally, he could do impossible things like blow up the Death Star with a one-in-a-million shot.

Even though he went on to become a Jedi Master, Luke’s piloting legacy lived on thanks to his role in founding Rogue Squadron, the best of the best when it came to X-Wing pilots.

4) Tycho Celchu

Like many of Star Wars’ best pilots, Tycho started his pilot career for the Empire—but witnessing the destruction of his home planet of Alderaan swayed him to the Rebellion’s cause. Tycho’s skill was so great that Luke immediately recruited him into Rogue Squadron upon his defection, quickly becoming one of the most iconic members behind Luke and Wedge.

Although a brief stint in an A-Wing tarnishes his X-Wing piloting record—he only used it because his X-Wing was damaged before the Battle of Endor—Tycho was considered by the Rogues, the Rebellion at large, and even his former allies in the Empire, as one of the greatest pilots in living history.

5) Corran Horn

Corran Horn’s a triple threat: detective (he used to be a police officer), pilot, and Jedi. When Rogue Squadron was being reformed, Corran was at the top of an already elite group of rookies. As a member of Rogue Squadron, Corran flew into the middle of a storm to take down the shields around Coruscant and, for his trouble, was captured by the Empire. He broke out in time to lead the Rogues in resigning from the New Republic so they could take down the current leader of the Empire, Ysane Isard.

Although Horn became a Jedi Master later in life, he should always be best known for his exploits in the cockpit.

6) Derek “Hobbie” Klivian

Infamously pessimistic and with a penchant for injuries, Hobbie was one of the original members of Rogue Squadron. Recruited for the squadron under Luke and Wedge, Hobbie flew in both the Battles of Hoth and Endor. Hobbie spent some time training other pilots, before being briefly put in charge of the official Rogue Squadron after Wedge’s reconstituted one resigned. As good as he might have been at training, Hobbie demanded to rejoin the Rogues, where he became one of the most famous X-Wing pilots in the galaxy.

Wedge, Tycho, Hobbie, and Wes from the cover of Starfighters of Adumar

7) Wes Janson

Of “Good shot, Janson,” fame, Wes was likewise an original Rogue-turned-trainer-turned-back-to-Rogue. In addition to flying at Hoth and Endor, Wes is famous for his crack shot abilities and his irrepressible sense of humor. In addition to being a Rogue, Wedge made Wes his executive officer when he founded the Wraiths. Wes tried to retire twice, but was pulled back into service twice. The first time, he turned a group of volunteers into an elite piloting unit. The second time was in support of Luke Skywalker’s fight against Jacen Solo.

8) Gavin Darklighter

Despite starting out his career in the shadow of his cousin, Biggs, Gavin’s long period of service ranks him higher. Gavin joined the New Republic where his skill in an X-Wing landed him in Wedge’s reformed Rogue Squadron. His leadership and flying skill were so good that he assumed command of the elite squadron when Wedge and Tycho retired.

9) Jaina Solo

Jaina in her Rogue flightsuit with her brothers Jacen and Anakin, on the cover of The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin.

Another Jedi and pilot, Jaina’s Force skills always tended to the mechanical and piloting. Although it was her mother’s, Leia, insistence that got her into Rogue Squadron, it was her own skill that kept her there and eventually led to her being in charge (along with her brother, but since he was turning evil at the time, he doesn’t get to be on this list).

10) Kasan Moor

Another Imperial Alderaanian who defected after the Death Star destroyed the planet, Kasan was already one of the most elite TIE pilots in the Imperial Navy—but her skills flourished when Luke placed her into Rogue Squadron.

Over a series of months, Moor used her knowledge of Imperial plans to plot a campaign against her former superiors, even handing her TIE Interceptor over to the Rogues so they could learn more about the Imperial’s best starfighters.

11) Myn Donos

Myn Donos: trained by Hobbie and Wes, put in charge of his own squadron right out of training, member of both the Wraiths and the Rogues. If he doesn’t represent one of the best X-Wing pilots out there, no one does.

12) Bror Jace

Bror was Corran’s competition for best new Rogue when Wedge rebuilt the squadron. A skilled flyer, Bror left the Rogues to help found his home planet’s aerospace defense force.

13) Kell Tainer

Kell was a skilled X-Wing pilot recruited and trained by Wedge for Wraith Squadron, ending up with the highest scores of his training group. He performed a series of terrifying and dangerous manuevers to try to save a fellow Wraith, earning him a commendation. Five kills in one fight made him an instant ace pilot, but Kell had to overcome his third panic attack while flying to do it.

14) Pash Cracken

Son of General Airen Cracken, Pash led a whole wing of TIE fighter pilots to defect to the New Republic. He became a mythical pilot in his own time, eventually requesting a transfer to Rogue Squadron to make sure he was as good as everyone kept saying he was. He’s only this low on the list because he spent most his career in an A-Wing. Traitor.

15) Asyr Sei’lar

Corran Horn and Asyr Sei’lar, by Frank-Joseph Frelier for Lucasfilm/Suvudu.com

A Bothan who trained in the Bothan Martial Academy, where her skill was equal to that of pilots older than her. Asyr stumbled into the Rogues while they were undercover on Coruscant, ending up a member. She spent years with the Rogues before faking her own death.

16) Ooryl Qrygg

Corran’s wingman, Ooryl was a distinguished member of Rogue Squadron. His deeds gained him enough notice that his homeworld of Gand granted him the status of “Janwuine-jika,” which recognizes the most famous and successful Gands as folk-heroes and allows them to use the first person.

17) Inyri Forge

Even though she started out loyal to her lover, a member of the Black Sun organized crime syndicate, Inyri eventually proved her loyalty to the Rogues by saving Corran’s life. Instead of being a member of the New Republic’s fighting force, Inyri was made a member by the Rogues themselves after her help when the New Republic took over Coruscant. Since then, she was a constant and skilled member of Rogue Squadron.

18) Aril Nunb

Sister to Nien Nunb, Aril was a member of Rogue Squadron who was captured and experimented on by Imperials. She escaped and rejoined her squadron, helping them defeat Ysane Isard. Aril rose through the ranks, eventually becoming an admiral.

19) Plourr Ilo

You know how secret princesses are also brilliant pilots who quickly rise through the ranks in the most famous X-Wing squadron there is? Yeah, that’s Plourr, who continued to serve with the Rogues whenever she could. Even though she was technically ruling a planet at the same time.

20) Biggs Darklighter

Oh, Biggs. Out of the live action pilots except for Luke and Wedge, he’s probably the one we get to see the most actual flying of in A New Hope, and that was probably enough to make him one of the best. But even with his untimely demise, before the Death Star assault Biggs was a poster boy for the Alliance starfighter corps.

Like many others he was a defecting Imperial, but even Wedge was impressed by Bigg’s innate skill and knowledge of Imperial tactics, speedily propelling him to the position of one of the Alliance’s best pilots. He became an Ace—a pilot with five confirmed kills—in his first ever mission with the Rebels, and was a hero ever since.

21) Thane Kyrell

The hero of Lost Stars, Claudia Gray’s excellent novel, Thane lead Corona Squadron, in many space battles during the Galactic Civil War. Although he never joined the Rogues, his X-Wing skills gave him a high estimation among his fellow pilots.

But, Thane gets points knocked off because Lost Stars tries to claim that it was his decision to attack the engines of Darth Vader’s Super Star Destroyer Executor during the Battle of Endor that sent the ship crashing down into the second Death Star, not an A-Wing pilot luckily (and hilariously) exploding into the ship’s bridge. You don’t get to deny that, Thane!

22) Garvin Dreis

The original leader of Red Squadron at the Battle of Yavin, Dreis was beloved by the pilots under his command for his fatherly nature and his keen eye for training Alliance pilots in the art of X-Wing flying. Although he met his end at Vader’s hands at Yavin, Dreis’ skill was undeniable—after all, he nearly made the shot to destroy the Death Star, and that was without the Force to help him.

23) Riv Shiel

Gavin’s original wingman in Rogue Squadron and a talented pilot, who was instrumental in the taking of Coruscant by the New Republic and fought with Rogue Squadron against Ysane Isard. It was in that fight that he died, during an ambush.

24) Falynn Sandskimmer

Another brilliant pilot from Tantooine, Falynn’s career stalled for her tendency to insubordination. She once ended up in a piloting contest against Wedge, which her pure skill brought her close to winning. Wedge’s tactical mind—AKA “cheating”—was what allowed him to win.

25) Voort “Piggy” saBinring

Voort saBinring, by Brian Rood for The Essential Readers Companion, via Wookieepedia.

Another member of Wraith Squadron, Piggy was a Gammorean subject of horrifying Imperial experimentation, which resulted in a genius-level mathematical IQ. In addition to being a skilled pilot on his own, Piggy’s math abilities meant he acted as a sort of tactical computer for the rest of his squadron.

26) Ibtisam

Ibtisam’s a weird one. A B-Wing pilot at Endor who miraculously survived the destruction of her ship, upon returning to service she was assigned to Rogue Squadron, an X-Wing group. And she hated it, frequently disparaging the little ship in comparison to what else the Alliance, and then Republic, fleet had to offer.

But the Mon Calamari grew to be one of the Rogue’s finest trainees, with dozens of simulated kills in her training already putting her up with the best of the Squadron even before she got her hands/flippers on an actual X-Wing.

27) Garik “Face” Loran

Face Loran was a member of the original Wraith Squadron, eventually becoming its commander. While a semi-skilled pilot with a tendency towards getting ships destroyed, Face’s real skill was in lateral thinking and commanding an Intelligence group.

28) Jek “Piggy” Porkins

Originally a bomber pilot, Porkins achieved sixteen kills in under forty hours of combat time. He eventually joined the precursor to the Rogues, Red Squadron, flying with them against the first Death Star, where he unfortunately perished. Yes, there were multiple X-Wing pilots nicknamed “Piggy!”

29) Shalla Nelprin

Like so many of the Wraiths, Shalla eventually ended up working for New Republic Intelligence and shedding her X-Wing pilot status. However, Shalla’s skill is undeniable. For her part as a member of a Wraith operation against Warlord Zsinj, Shalla was allowed to paint half a Super Star Destroyer on her X-Wing as recognition that half of that kill was hers.

Wraith Squadron, on the cover of X-Wing: Wraith Squadron

30) Snap Wexley

Aside from having an incredibly Star-Wars-ian name, Temmins “Snap” Wexley was one of the Resistance’s most valued pilots next to Poe Dameron: he single-handedly scouted out Starkiller Base undetected, allowing the Resistance to discover the planet-destroyer’s weaknesses. He was even one of the handful of X-Wing pilots to survive the attack on the Base, too.

31) Lujayne Forge

A skilled pilot who joined Rogue Squadron when Wedge rebuilt it, Lujayne’s piloting abilities were the result of learning how to fix and fly landspeeders back home on Kessel. She had some of the lower scores in her unit and died in an Imperial raid of their base.

32) Jesmin Ackbar

Niece of the famous Admiral Gial Ackbar, Jesmin joined the Wraiths as other commanders feared putting her in harm’s way because of her uncle. Although she died in the Wraiths, she was an exemplary pilot during that time.

33) Elassar Targon

A superstitious pilot, Targon transferred to the Wraiths right after he graduated the New Republic’s Fleet Command Academy. Whereas the first round of Wraiths were washouts and screwups, Elassar chose to join the unit for its elite reputation and fit in almost immediately.

34) Dia Passik

Dia became a pilot out of necessity, getting anyone she could find to teach her so that she could escape her life as a slave. Finally getting free and shooting down the ship of her “owner,” Dia joined Wraith Squadron. She served them well there, saving Kell, Face, and Shalla’s lives by recognizing a trick that was being played on them.

35) Gara Petothel/Lara Notsil

Gara changed identities and sides a lot in her career, but she eventually proved to be totally loyal to the Wraiths. The Empire had turned her into a spy, even though her desire was to be a pilot and she had the skills to back it up. She proved that it was where she belonged when the Wraiths and Rogues broke her indoctrinated loyalty to the Empire.

36) Jessika Pava

Pava talks to C-3PO in art from The Weapon of a Jedi, by Phil Noto.

A member of the Resistance’s Blue Squadron, Jess Pava grew up on tales of Luke’s piloting prowess, which inspired her to join the group in fighting the First Order. Alongside Nien Nunb, Snap Wexley and Poe Dameron, she was one of the handful of X-Wing pilots to survive the battle at Starkiller Base.

37) Hohass “Runt” Ekwesh

Runt was pilot in Wraith Squadron and a member of the Thakwaash, a race which has several personalities for different tasks. His “pilot mind” had a tendency to charge heedlessly into battle screaming war cries. With help from his wingman, Kell, Runt eventually became a stable pilot.

38) Tyria Sarkin-Tainer

Tyria eventually became a Jedi Knight, but was a pilot and Antarian Ranger before that. Her skills in intrusion and escape—gained as an Antarian Ranger—won her a place in Wraith Squadron. While well-rounded, Tyria’s piloting skills were nowhere near as high as her other ones.

39) Nien Nunb

NIEN NUNB TOTALLY COUNTS. Thanks The Force Awakens! 30 years after he co-piloted the Millennium Falcon at Endor, Nien Nunb signed on with the Resistance as part of their starfighter corps, taking flight in an X-Wing in the Battle of Starkiller Base. It might be a downgrade from the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, but Nunb’s survival at least shows he was a pretty capable X-Wing pilot.

40) Nawara Ven

Nawara Ven was a lawyer-turned-pilot who joined Rogue Squadron. While he must have been a skilled pilot to get there, he was in the bottom of the squadron and received an injury while flying which took him out of combat. He stayed on to manage Rogue Squadron as its executive officer, as a recognition of his brilliant mind.

41) Eurrsk “Grinder” Thri’ag

An original member of Wraith Squadron, Grinder was an able pilot. But his virtuosity was in “code slicing,” the Star Wars name for hacking.

42) Zev Senesca

Zev may have met his end in a Snowspeeder on Hoth, but before that, Zev was major player in the first incarnation of Rogue Squadron, following its formation after the Battle of Yavin. He had a dodgy experience with the Alliance—he quit shortly after joining thinking they’d been responsible for his parent’s death, but rejoined after discovering it was Imperials pinning the blame on the Rebellion—but that didn’t stop him from being one of the Alliance’s brightest pilot recruits.

He was best known early on for single-handedly engaging (and destroying) three TIE fighters to defend an unarmed transport’s escape, an act which lead to him being recruited into the Rogues.

43) John D. Branon

A member of Red Squadron at Yavin, Branon was an able pilot, but holds an infamous record: he’s the only one of two pilots in the battle to have been taken out by TIE pilots, rather than Vader or the Death Star’s turbolasers. Not the best record to keep.

44) Theron Nett

The other pilot was poor Theron, who died taking a shot to protect Red Leader in the Death Star trench.

45) Ton Phanan

Another original Wraith, Phanan was a unit leader in lateral thinking and humor. Allergic to bacta and being shot down twice in five missions, he was considered a liability in his first squadron. As a Wraith, he got to be a member of an elite squadron.

46) Castin Donn

Another code-slicer who joined the elite Wraith unit, Castin’s impulsivity led to his death.

47) Grizz Frix

One of the rare named X-Wing pilots to appear in Return of the Jedi (which was pretty much an A-Wing-palooza), Frix was actually a promising potential Rogue before an accident left him mentally scarred. Retired to the support services, Frix was put into an X-Wing at Endor simply because the Alliance was desperate for pilots.

He didn’t help much—he ended up crashing into a Star Destroyer.

48) Ello Asty

Poor Ello Asty was meant to be a brash and reckless pilot in the Resistance (or at least that’s what his action figure said), but he manages to be the only X-Wing pilot who gets taken out not during the battle for Starkiller Base, but the final trench run in The Force Awakens, seconds after it begins.

Cool action figure or not, he was a bit of a chump.

49) Soontir Fel

Probably one of the best pilots in history, Fel’s so low on this list because he got that title mostly from his time as TIE pilot for the Empire. And because, while he joined Rogue Squadron after being captured by the Republic, Fel had a nasty habit of joining whoever captured him.

50) Erisi Dlarit

Erisi Dlarit was a good enough pilot to make it into the ranks of the Rogues, but since she ended up being an Imperial spy, she hits the bottom of the list.

Worried that genetically-modified foods could be quietly, secretly, making their furtive way towards your plate even as we speak? Don’t be—you’ve already been eating them for a long time now.

A lot of the consternation over GMOs—particularly amongst those calling for wide-spread labeling—has centered around the idea that GMOs are something brand new and unknown. But the truth is that for a lot of crops GMO isn’t the exception. Instead, it’s long been the rule.

The USDA has been keeping updated data on the percentage of which top U.S. crops are genetically-engineered—including the number one farm crop, corn. For the last five years, all but two to three percent of American corn is genetically-engineered for insect resistance or herbicide tolerance (or both, as in almost ninety percent of all corn).

But it’s not just recently—for corn, cotton, and soy, genetic-engineering has been heavily in play for fifteen years at least—and genetically-engineered insect resistance in corn becomes an even more interesting example if you look further back than the fifteen years you see on the chart.

Most of the insect-resistant corn—called Bt corn—in the U.S. comes from genes from a bacteria found in soil called Bacillus thuringiensis. But decades before Bt-corn began to show up in U.S. farms about twenty years ago, Bacillus thuringiensis was in heavy use as a spray-on pesticide. In fact, it still is used today, in organic farming.

Part of the confusion is simply around the term GMO. What does GMO mean? Is Bacillus thuringiensis usage a better example of the rise of organic farming or GMO farming? Is cheese, by necessity, a GMO? The answer to all these questions depends on who you’re asking. GMO has no set definition.

What is clear is that for a lot of people it’s come to stand for something—some murky, mutant future food, sprung up from a test tube rather than the ground in a dystopian near-future. The truth is that these crops are not from some far-flung future—grim or not. They’re the crops of our present, and, indeed, our past.

Illustration by Tara Jacoby