Another day, another germ to worry about. Scientists in Japan say they’ve shown that a previously undiscovered virus spread by ticks has been making people in the country sick since at least 2014. The Yezo virus, as it has been christened by its discoverers, is thought to cause low white blood cell and platelet…
Source: io9 – New Tick Virus Shows Nature Is Still Inventing Ways to Mess With Humans
Alex Jones, the bloviating founder of conspiracy website InfoWars, has lost two defamation lawsuits over his hoax claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting—having bungled the case so hard the judge ruled he must pay up by default.
Source: io9 – Alex Jones Loses Sandy Hook Defamation Suit With Rare ‘Death Penalty Sanction’
The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch later this year, and NASA has no intention to rename the instrument despite complaints that it’s named after a man who presided over the firings of gay and lesbian NASA employees, NPR reports.
Source: io9 – Space Telescope Will Retain Name of NASA Administrator Who Persecuted LGBTQ Employees
Although Robotech was a heavily edited (even-more-heavily rewritten) mishmash of three unrelated anime series, it’s hard to overstate the importance it had in America. For many, it was their first taste in anime and a key part of creating today’s massive fandom. It was the first time ‘80s kids got to see a serialized…
Source: io9 – This Massive New Robotech Blu-ray Set Is Certainly… Massive
An international team of paleontologists discovered a human jawbone in a cave in southwestern Sulawesi, one of the major islands of Indonesia. The remains are the first indication of a human presence on the island during the Pleistocene epoch, a period of great climatic change and rapid human dispersal.
Source: io9 – Ice Age Human Jawbone Found on Indonesian Island Known for Ancient Cave Art
The Securities and Exchange Commission has penalized companies tied to Guo Wengui, the fugitive Chinese billionaire who fled the nation in 2014 and has since ingratiated himself with several prominent right-wing personalities in the U.S., to the tune of over half a billion dollars.
Source: io9 – Companies Tied to Fugitive Chinese Billionaire Behind Right-Wing Social Network Must Pay SEC 9 Million Settlement
Sheriff’s deputies in Colorado tracked down and arrested a man using Apple’s Find My iOS app, claiming that an officer had “lost” his work phone in the bed of the man’s truck after the suspect fled the scene. The unique case, first reported by Denver NBC affiliate 9News, could serve as a constitutional test of…
Source: io9 – Police Use iOS App to Track Suspect After ‘Accidentally’ Dropping a Phone in His Truck
Pfizer is looking to fast-track approval for a third booster
dose of its covid-19 vaccine and will request emergency authorization from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration in August, Pfizer research head Mikael Dolsten said in a
Thursday interview with Bloomberg.
Source: io9 – Pfizer Plans to Seek FDA Approval of a Covid-19 Booster in August
Shenzhen, China-based gaming giant Tencent has announced it will use a face recognition system to prevent minors in its home country from playing video games late into the night.
Source: io9 – China’s Tencent Says It’ll Use Face Recognition to Keep Minors From Gaming at Night
Today Microsoft announced the next big chapter for its ubiquitous operating system: Windows 11 is here, and while there’s some awkwardness to work out (specifically in the way Microsoft is handling Android app integration), Windows 11 feels like the big facelift Microsoft really needed.
Source: io9 – Windows 11 Is the Overhaul Microsoft Needed
Today Microsoft announced the next big chapter for its ubiquitous operating system: Windows 11 is here, and while there’s some awkwardness to work out (specifically in the way Microsoft is handling Android app integration), Windows 11 feels like the big facelift Microsoft really needed.
Source: io9 – Windows 11 Is the Overhaul Microsoft Needed
Today Microsoft announced the next big chapter for its ubiquitous operating system: Windows 11 is here, and while there’s some awkwardness to work out (specifically in the way Microsoft is handling Android app integration), Windows 11 feels like the big facelift Microsoft really needed.
Source: io9 – Windows 11 Is the Overhaul Microsoft Needed
Researchers at Columbia University and elsewhere say they’ve found a way to track the graying of a person’s hair over time. It’s a discovery that also suggests stress really can turn people’s hair gray or white, and that relieving this stress can then turn the color back on, at least up to a certain point.
Source: io9 – Reducing Stress Can Sometimes Reverse Gray Hair, Study Finds
An intrepid team of biologists embarked on an extensive genetic survey of Chinese cats to determine the true identity of the Chinese mountain cat, an enigmatic feline that inhabits a swath of the Tibetan Plateau. It turns out that the creature is its own wildcat subspecies—Felis silvestris bieti—and, despite its…
Source: io9 – Chinese Mountain Cat Is Fully Wild Despite Its Cuddly Appearance, DNA Shows
The electric vehicle startup Workhorse filed a complaint in federal court on Wednesday challenging the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to award a 10-year, multibillion-dollar vehicle manufacturing deal to a defense contractor earlier this year.
Source: io9 – Workhorse Is Taking the USPS to Federal Court Over Lost Mail Vehicle Contract
Elon Musk, the second richest person in the world, paid precisely $0 in federal income tax in 2018, according to an explosive new report from ProPublica. And Musk isn’t the only one.
Source: io9 – Elon Musk Paid {$permalink} in Federal Income Tax in 2018: Report
Video games give us a chance to live out fantasies beyond imagination—becoming magical heroes, traveling distant galaxies, owning a house. But they also give us a chance to see ourselves, exploring aspects we might not be as comfortable doing so in our real lives at a given moment. Mass Effect was one of those games…
Source: io9 – Revisiting Mass Effect After I Came Out: A Trip In and Out of the Closet
Some of your favorite weird, unforgettable animated shows are coming back in a major way. Adult Swim just announced it’s producing feature length films based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Metalocalypse and The Venture Bros.
Source: io9 – Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Metalocalypse, and The Venture Bros. Are All Getting New Movies
Although there have been about a million Purge movies (and a TV series), I believe The Forever Purge is the first to explore the revolutionary idea that even though all crime is legal for one day, what if some people didn’t stop Purging when the day was over? What if some people decided to keep committing crimes when…
Source: io9 – The Forever Purge’s First Trailer Exposes the Movie’s Fatal Flaw
Finding a wish-granting dragon in a teapot seems a lot easier than summoning a wish-granting dragon by collecting seven Dragon Balls. Or so it seems in Wish Dragon, a new animated movie from Netflix about a young man who stumbles upon his own extremely genie-esque dragon.
Source: io9 – Netflix’s Wish Dragon Trailer Looks a Lot Like Aladdin Ball Z