In unholy-army-of-the-night news, scientists have a new way to turn swarming beasts of the sea into unreasoning killers. Nothing is safe from their merciless aggression. Not . . . even . . . you. More »

James McAvoy explains how his portrayal of lead mutant Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class is different from Patrick Stewart's. Zack Snyder explains what Christopher Nolan has brought to the latest Superman movie that was missing from the previous ones. Plus the worlds of Harry Potter and Twilight collide in futuristic prison movie Incarceron, the new Red Sonja has found its director and maybe its star, the latest Battlestar Galactica prequel starts filming, and the minds behind Fringe reveal what's next for the craziest love triangle in history. More »

Today we got our first glimpse of the X-Men: First Class trailer, an elegant, retro-thriller about the origins of the mutant superhero team. And we can't stop thinking about it. More »

We have so few examples of female military leaders on Earth that only science fiction offers a glimpse of what it will be like when women are leaders during wartime. And that's one of the many reasons you'll get sucked into Lois McMaster Bujold's classic novels Shards of Honor and Barrayar (now collected into one volume from Baen called Cordelia's Honor). They're a realistic picture of a woman, Cordelia Naismith, who becomes a military leader - and who has to juggle that responsibility with her ethics, as well as a burgeoning love affair and eventual marriage to a man who is her planet's sworn enemy. Oh and just to make things more complicated, Cordelia's husband Aral Vorkosigan comes from planet Barrayar, whose culture does not welcome female leaders of any sort. More »

Big reboot news! Warner Bros is busy trying to bring Ryan Gosling and his frequent collaborator, director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Drive), together for the Logan's Run remake. Which means, this reboot might actually have a snowball's chance in hell at being awesome. More »

You've seen the amazing trailer for X-Men: First Class — now pore over every mutant detail, with our insane roundup of 75 screencaps. Welcome to the first meeting of our school for gifted mutants... whose mutant power is over-analyzing screencaps. Shall we begin? More »

New research following more than 4,000 children has shown that a high junk food diet before the age of 3 led to a significantly lower IQ later in life, regardless of later diets. Conversely, a healthy diet as an infant gave an IQ increase, but after that it didn't make a difference. Of course, the study only tracked the children until the age of 8, so that's not a license to start gorging on chocolate-covered potato chips after eating only salad until the age of 18. More »

If you're smart, the first thing that comes to mind when you think about visiting other universes or traveling through time is "file a ton of patents." After all, just because someone else invented something, doesn't mean you can't patent it, if you get there first. Reverse-engineering is still a kind of engineering, right? More »

Holy crap, it is on. The guitar-saturated trailer for X-Men: First Class issues a bold challenge to Green Lantern, Captain America and Thor to raise their game. And the Kennedy-era setting actually adds a whole new layer of coolness to the whole affair. But what do you think? [via Facebook] More »

It starts when you're young. In fact, it's encouraged when you're young. You're given stuffed animals or little dolls. You're asked to name things around your house. Things are explained to you in terms of 'likes' and 'dislikes'. For example, I was told that the toilet dislikes having all my clothes flushed down it - apparently, that makes it 'sick'. The world is sketched out for you in terms of relationships, and inanimate objects have relationships as readily as humans do. More »

The latest crazy doomsday theory is upon us, and unlike the two suns story, there isn't even really a grain of truth behind this one. This new theory says that the magnetic poles will shift in the near future (which, in all likelihood, they won't, at least not in human time scales), and that this will change our climate (which maybe it could, but not nearly as much as the drastic change we're already experiencing), all this will somehow create superstorms (no idea), and this somehow probably all ties into 2012...somehow. We feel it is our duty as skeptics and lovers of good science to point you in the direction of Phil Plait's epic takedown of this "theory" over at Bad Astronomy. More »

This is like the poster for the greatest crossover movie ever. The Eleventh Doctor and Amy team up with ShatnerKirk and NimoySpock to fight the Klingons, Romulans, Daleks and Cybermen. For the record, though, the Daleks would p0wn the Klingons and Romulans, and then take on the Federation. Artists Mike Mayhew & Rainier Beredo created this piece for the late, lamented Wizard Magazine. [Summerset on DeviantArt via Geek Tyrant, thanks Alex!] More »

Mark Coleran, creator of "fantasy user interfaces" for films like The Bourne Ultimatum and Children of Men, is now focusing on solving real-world problems. John Pavlus with Fast Company Design explains. More »

This is one of the most surreal tributes to science fiction ever. In 1978, the magazine Boys' Life tried to pay tribute to the popularity of Star Wars by getting a group of boy scouts to paint their faces, wear freaky masks, and play with toys. The whole thing just screams, "Show us on the Godzilla doll where the photographer touched you." [Google Books via Paul Di Filippo] More »

Botox injections are the most common cosmetic surgeries performed in the United States, with over 4.6 million people every year being injected with the botulinum toxin in order to paralyze facial muscles and prevent wrinkles. But botox doesn't just make people look younger (or, if done poorly, like a lion) - it might actually force its patients to stop feeling angry or sad, even if they don't want to. More »

As politicians in Maryland ponder the question of gay marriage, a group of activists from Protect Marriage Maryland try to persuade them that gay love will inevitably lead to the worst possible outcome. That's right: Marriage between humans and artificial intelligence. Listen to the evidence! More »

Drew, a young bartender with a sick home-made Transformers costume auditioned for American Idol last night. So, how'd it go? Not so good. Not only did he forget the words, but he also forgot that Optimus Prime's favorite karaoke jam is a serenade for his unrequited love bot, Mustang Sally. Plus he also opened himself up for a lame Steven Tyler burn. Sorry Drew — take solace in the fact that your costume might still be of use to you at Comic Con. More »

Didn't get your fill of awkward CG movie-making from The Spirit? Then watch the trailer for Bunraku, which has an amazing cast: Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman and Kevin McKidd. But a very sour Frank Miller taste to it even though it was written and directed by Guy Moshe. More »

Awesome discovery of the week: Glass melts when it gets too cold More »

If you've stopped by io9 before, you'll notice that the front page looks quite a bit different these days. We've got one big story that takes up most of the page, and a list of today's headlines in a column down the right side of the page. At last we have a way to display big, gorgeous images and videos on the front page of our site. That's the point. More »