From Get Out to Wonder Woman, These Were the 10 Best Movies of 2017
All told, 2017 was a surprisingly great year for movies. There were wickedly smart horror flicks like Get Out, wonderfully imaginative superhero movies like Thor Ragnarok, and brilliant dramas like Lady Bird. There was also a little thing called Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Not every flick was perfect, but there were a lot of…
This Gene-Editing Tech Might Be Too Dangerous To Unleash
To get to work in the morning, Omar Akbari has to pass through a minimum of six sealed doors, including an air-locked vestibule. The UC Riverside entomologist studies the world’s deadliest creature: the Aedes aegypti mosquito, whose bite transmits diseases that kill millions each year. But that’s not the reason for all the extra security.…
What Biotech CEOs (and Their Funders) Learned From the Theranos Debacle
The collapse of the diagnostic company Theranos shook the world of venture-funded biotechnology. Theranos was a “unicorn,” valued by its investors at $9 billion at one point. That made its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest woman billionaire in the world for inventing a technology that, she said, allowed pharmacies and doctors’ offices to do a…
Is a Meme Born in a Private Account Still a Meme?
I write a lot about memes—the phenomenon, writ large. So it caught me off guard last week when, scrolling through Instagram, I found myself barred from the very thing I was reporting on. Major meme accounts were suddenly private, and left my follow requests dangling—for days and days. I was reduced to trawling through the…
Could Spider-Man Actually Pass Physics?
Now that Spider-Man: Homecoming is available on DVD and digitally, I can start analyzing the physics in my favorite parts of the film. Normally, I love looking into the physics of superheroes—the flying, the swinging, the clobbering. But this time, physics shows up in a different way. Near the beginning of the movie, a scene…
What Makes Screams So Bone-Chilling?
No two screams sound alike. They can swing in pitch, like the The Wilhelm; blare cacophonous, like The Donald Sutherland; or fire off spasmodically, like (my favorite) The Shelley Duvall. Few vocalizations are as nuanced as the fearful shriek. And yet, no matter the cry in question, you always know a scream when you hear…
What We're Most Looking Forward to at This Year's Comic-Con
Every year, the tradeoff is real: What panel are you willing to sacrifice in order to see another? Even in a year when HBO and Marvel are staying away, the days at Comic-Con International are so stacked with events that hard choices need to be made. We feel that pain, and are here to help.…
Living in Demon's Souls as the Servers Shut Down
When I begin Demon's Souls, I am not alone. My avatar's character model is overlapped by a ghost. It runs out ahead of me, raises a spectral shield, and charges into the unknown. I wish it luck, and creep carefully forward. Related Stories This ghost is another player, and for the time being Demon's Souls…
How to Hoist Yourself Out of a Hole With Physics
No one can deny that there are some great physics videos out there in the wild internet. Today, I found this one floating around—featuring what appears to be a worker that needs to get out of a cone-shaped hole. Oh sure, he could possibly climb up the side or maybe even use a rope as…
Fortnite Season 5 Is Here, and the Rest of the Week in Games
Welcome, dear reader, to the first edition of Replay, where we look the happenings in the gaming industry and play catch-up at the end of another busy week. This time, we've got some really unfortunate firings, a rare boon for independent creators, and time travel a la Fortnite. Let's get to it. Fortnite's Fifth Season…