What's the difference between these two images? On the left is a book cover by legendary artist Chris Foss for Asimov's Stars Like Dust. On the right is a painting by artist Glenn Brown, which just sold at auction for roughly $5.7 million, way more than it sold for in 200 … | Continue reading
From the neon-drenched noir of Altered Carbon to the technophobic Black Mirror, dystopia is all over mainstream entertainment these days—and considering the current political climate, it’s easy to see why. But when was the last time you watched a utopian show or movie? Unless, li … | Continue reading
We've put together this handy primer for you on the Culture, the pan-galactic civilization whose members and ex-members are the subjects of so many Banks novels. Not only do we have a rundown of every single Culture novel, but we've also got some important excerpts from … | Continue reading
After making a mere $84 million at the U.S. box office, Star Trek Into Darkness is considered by some to be a disappointment. Perhaps the problem is that it was a touch confusing. To help our readers better understand it, we've complied and answered these Frequently Asked Que … | Continue reading
If you thought that scene in Sucker Punch where the doctor gave lobotomies with an ice pick was artistic exaggeration - well, it wasn't. That's exactly how Walter Freeman, a popularizer of lobotomies in the 1940s, performed thousands of operations. | Continue reading
As history has repeatedly shown, political systems come and go. Given our rapid technological and social advances, it's a trend we can expect to continue. Here are 12 extraordinary — and even frightening — ways our governments could be run in the future. | Continue reading
After a long and winding journey that’s spawned a rejected pilot and close calls after close calls, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time book series is finally coming to television, thanks to a deal between Sony and Amazon Studios. | Continue reading
When looking up at the sky at night, it's easy to get the impression that the stars go on forever in fairly uniform fashion. We know, of course, that this isn't the case. Stars coalesce into galaxies, and galaxies join together to form clusters. And as for the vast, empt … | Continue reading
Travelers features an icky, insidiously clever form of going undercover: agents from 100 years in the future take up residence in people living in the present’s bodies. It makes things morally complicated. Like when a heroin junkie watches a man die from a heart attack and tearfu … | Continue reading
Space, as we all know, is the final frontier. It’s the star-spangled playground in which our imaginations run amok, and the setting for stories that made us fall in love with sci-fi. Some of us spent hours pretending we were the Doctor’s companions, helping him find Gallifrey fro … | Continue reading
The world of the Expanse novels is getting a whole new tabletop RPG early next year. In many ways, it’s a return to the roots Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham’s award-winning book series actually began as, well before the beloved television show. | Continue reading
“Threshold” is one of the most infamous Star Trek episodes ever. You know what’ we’re talking about—the one with Warp 10 and the weird evolved amphibians. Well, it was also the recent subject of a fake scientific research paper submitted in a test to expose the ever-growing probl … | Continue reading
Looks like Amazon Studios is getting into the role-playing business. It’s developing a sci-fi series based on Tales From The Loop, the crowd-funded art project from Simon Stålenhag that was also turned into a role-playing game. | Continue reading
The first real film based on a Marvel/DC character was 1966's Batman: The Movie, starring Adam West’s campy version of the Caped Crusader. In the ‘40s and ‘50s, Batman, Superman, Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam), and Captain America all had weekly, live-action serials sho … | Continue reading
Last week, an incomplete scene featuring Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor surreptitiously hit the web, giving fans eager for leaks and spoilers a taste of what to expect from the next season of Doctor Who. But while in the entertainment business leaks and spoilers are part and … | Continue reading
For a few brief moments, comic book fans around the world were shocked to hear some tragic news. But luckily, the panic didn’t last long. As first reported by CinemaBlend, Siri spent a little time this week telling people that Stan Lee had died on July 2. Why would a computer pro … | Continue reading
Agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are routinely rounding up people suspected of being undocumented, often separating them from their children, and detaining them in what are essentially internment camps—all without due process. A new animated series wan … | Continue reading
According to one actor involved in the Star Wars franchise, there is a lot going on. | Continue reading
Puffer fish, or fugu, is well-known for being a dish that stands a good chance of killing the person it's served to. But people still eat it — partly because some people like living life on the edge, but mostly because all people like getting high. Find out how the puffer fis … | Continue reading
Before most cables ran underground, all electrical, telephone and telegraph wires were suspended from high poles, creating strange and crowded streetscapes. Here are some typical views of late-19th century Boston, New York, Stockholm, and other wire-filled cities. | Continue reading
There's a gene that's pivotal in not only separating your right brain from your left, but also in making sure that you have two, individual eyes. That gene, and the protein it codes for, are both called Sonic Hedgehog. Here's how that happened. | Continue reading