- Tech NewsGoogle
‘Bro Culture’ Led to Repeated Sexual Harassment, Former Google Engineer’s Lawsuit Says
Loretta Lee, a software engineer who worked at Google for seven years before being fired in February 2016, is suing Google for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination she says she experienced at the company. Lee says in her lawsuit that the company’s “bro-culture” led to continuous harassment and that Google did nothing to … Continued
By Kate Conger - Tech NewsNews
Bank of America Hopes a ‘Safety Officer’ Can Keep Its Ads Out of Internet Cesspools
The brands are finally ready to take a bold stand against willingly associating themselves with things that lots of people hate. Earlier this month Unilever threatened to yank ads from Google, YouTube, and Facebook if those companies didn’t scrub extremism, hate-speech, misleading propaganda, and disturbing child content from their platforms. And today, Bank of America … Continued
- EartherEnvironmental Justice
Groundbreaking Latin American Treaty Will Protect Environmental Defenders
So far, nine people have been killed trying to protect their environment this year. In 2017, that number totaled nearly 200 people. Since 2014, when The Guardian began reporting this data, at least 117 people have been killed a year just because they believe in clean air, clean water, and land rights. Many of these … Continued
- io9Comics
This Artist Loves Static So Much He Drew Him Every Day of Black History Month
Samir Barrett likes Static a lot. So much so, in fact, that the storyboard artist/comics creator/illustrator drew the electromagnetic teenager from Milestone Media’s multicultural superhero universe every day throughout February 2018. Just don’t call him… clingy. As a latter-day character, Static did okay for himself—in addition to a healthy run of comics, the alter ego … Continued
- ScienceAnimals
New Species of Tardigrade Discovered in Japanese Parking Lot
Say hello to Macrobiotus shonaicus, a completely new species of tardigrade—those incredibly resilient microscopic wee beasties that likely have what it takes to survive the apocalypse. Tardigrades, sometimes referred to as moss piglets or water bears, are eight-legged microscopic animals that like to live in moss, lichen, decaying leaves, and soil. These metazoans, first discovered … Continued
- io9Movies
The Religion of Black Panther‘s Jabari Tribe Raises Questions About Cultural Appropriation
The moment you first lay eyes on Black Panther’s Wakanda, you can immediately see the care and attention to detail that went into realizing the fictional nation’s diverse array of cultures. They blend elements of the fantastical with actual African iconography, languages, and tradition. But certain religious aspects have raised eyebrows. Black Panther production designer … Continued
- io9Comics
The Weirdest and Wildest Moments From DC and Young Animal’s Milk Wars
While plenty of comic events are basically the same—universal extinction-level threat, a team (or even teams) of heroes coming together to fight the good fight—DC and Young Animal’s Milk Wars has been the weirdest and most fantastically unsettling comics event from a mainstream publisher in recent memory. It’s not just that Milk Wars’ story about … Continued
- Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Security Firm UpGuard Deletes Report Involving Software Vendor for Major US Bank [Corrected]
Editor’s note: Security firm UpGuard deleted a report from its website that claimed unsecured data from a third-party software vendor assigned to Capital One could have potentially put the bank at risk. This article has be updated to reflect the report’s deletion as well as additional information made available from all parties following initial publication. … Continued
By Dell Cameron - SciencePhysics
Landmark Cosmic Observation Provides Tantalizing Hints of Dark Matter
Today, scientists announced that they’d seen evidence of a long-sought signal from the first stars. This slight change to some ambient radio waves could herald the first step in a new kind of astronomy. But maybe, just maybe, it’s also evidence of dark matter interacting with regular matter in the ancient universe. The discovery consisted … Continued
- io9Movies
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Telling, About a Planet Where Culture Itself Is Illegal, Is Getting a Movie
Before her passing earlier this year, acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin had been working on bringing her novel The Telling to the big screen. Today, the company behind it has announced it’s moving forward on the project, with a scifi favorite along for the ride. Bayview Films has announced that Leena Pendharkar, director of the … Continued
- ScienceSpace
Scientists Discover Long-Sought Evidence of First Stars Forming
When you sweep across the FM radio band, you don’t always hear music—mostly, you hear static. Lots of this ambient noise is actually garbled signals from throughout the Milky Way. If you had perhaps the most sensitive FM receiver on Earth, you might pick up the tiniest dip in volume: a signal that comes not … Continued
- EartherEnvironmental Justice
You Need to Watch This New Netflix Series on Flint
The story of Flint, Michigan, begins long before the lead-tainted water crisis that threw the city into a national spotlight in 2015. And it’ll continue long after the ongoing crisis ends. That’s the premise of the new Netflix docuseries Flint Town coming out Friday. The eight-episode show has little to do with the water crisis that … Continued
- io9Movies
The Last Jedi Quietly Killed Another Star Wars Tradition You Might Have Missed
The Last Jedi takes aim at some of the most deeply-held establishments and tenets of the Star Wars saga, laying the ground for a new generation to build something different in their place. That’s all heady stuff, but it also broke another Star Wars tradition that was a bit easier to miss: It’s the first … Continued
- io9Television
Black Lightning‘s Most Shocking Episode Yet Is Also Its Most Grounded
By now it should come as no surprise that when given the opportunity, Black Lightning never misses the chance to inject elements of real world conversations about police brutality and systemic racism into its plot. In case you’d forgotten that fact during the show’s brief hiatus, “Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder” is a somewhat … Continued
- Tech News
We Regret to Inform You That Vero Is Bad [Updated]
Vero was supposed to be the better Instagram. It was supposed to save social media. It was supposed to do loads of things that other blip-on-the-radar social networks like Ello and Peach promised. Turns out Vero doesn’t do very much of anything, and its CEO is genuinely awful. At first blush Vero is a sort … Continued
By Avery Ellis - Reviews
The New Dell XPS 13 Is So Good, You Can Almost Forgive Its Dumb Webcam
Dammit, I like the Dell XPS 13 again. I never hated it—the laptop is too good to inspire hatred (though the placement of the webcam, which only seems to capture your chin in videos, comes close). But despite great battery life and a design that created an industry standard, the XPS 13 has been really … Continued
By Alex Cranz - io9Comics
Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Taking Over the Captain America Comic
For the past two years, Ta-Nehisi Coates has shepherded Marvel’s Black Panther series to new heights. But while his journey with T’Challa isn’t over yet, he’s just announced that he’ll be taking over another of Marvel’s most iconic comics: the adventures of Steve Rogers in Captain America. In a lengthy essay for The Atlantic, Coates … Continued
- EartherConservation
Southern California Could Be in for More Deadly Mudslides
It’s been less than two months since mudslides tore through Southern California’s Santa Barbara County, killing 21 people and destroying at least 100 homes. Now, Montecito and Carpinteria, small coastal towns that suffered the bulk of that devastation, are under new evacuation orders as a strong rains are forecast. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, … Continued
By Ari Phillips - io9Movies
Sorry, Folks, Black Panther Isn’t Actually Improving Black Cat Adoptions
A Tumblr post has been making the rounds of the past few days where the author claims their local pet shelters have seen a monumental surge of black cat adoptions in the wake of Black Panther’s release. While that would be awesome, especially given how many cats are in need of homes, it doesn’t appear … Continued
- ScienceHealth
Your Hatred of Body Odor Reveals Your Inner Dictator, Study Finds
There’s been no shortage of pundit pontification and data analysis that’s tried to figure out why people voted for now President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. But a new study published today in Royal Society Open Science suggests that one seemingly unrelated behavioral quirk might have played a small role: An abject hatred of … Continued
By Ed Cara