Anime movie director Makoto Shinkai’s legacy has already been assured, thanks to the fabulous Your Name. Now he has a chance to add to it courtesy of his new film Suzume, which finally has a U.S. release date.

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In Quantum Radio, a CERN Scientist Makes an Incredible, Perilous Discovery
A.G. Riddle had a hit this year with Lost in Time, about an inventor sent to the distant past using his own time-travel machine after he’s accused of a terrible crime. The author’s next sci-fi thriller, Quantum Radio, also concerns a fantastic invention, albeit one that actually exists in our world—and io9 has a sneak…
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Los Angeles Bans Fossil Fuel Extraction Within City Limits
The Los Angeles City Council opted to end oil and gas drilling within the city’s limits in a historic Friday vote. The decision was unanimous, with 12-0 in favor of a draft ordinance phasing out existing fossil fuel wells and banning new ones. LA will end all of its current oil and gas drilling within the next 20 y…
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NASA Is Building a Robotic Arm That Can Function During the Moon's Frigid Nights
It can get cold on the Moon—so cold in fact that these temperatures are likely to impede the abilities of some current NASA engineering. As a result, the space agency is testing out a new mechanical arm that is designed to withstand the frosty temperatures on the Moon ahead of the ongoing Artemis missions.

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Waze Finally Gets In-Car Integration, but Most American Drivers Will Have to Wait
That annoying friend who’s constantly telling you how superior Waze is over your crappy navigation app during road trips may soon have to put their money where their mouth is. For the first time, the Google-owned social navigation app is getting its own dedicated in-car app, though it will only work with two new…
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Elon Musk's Neuralink Is Reportedly Under Federal Investigation Over Animal Welfare
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s medical implant company, is facing a federal probe over possible animal welfare violations, according to a report from Reuters. The investigation, reportedly opened by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General, focuses on Neuralink’s practices when it comes to animal…
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Did the Ethereum Merge Do Anything to Crypto Emissions? We've Got an Early Answer
In September, the Ethereum cryptocurrency network managed to pull off what it had been promising to do for years: switch to a model of mining that is far less emissions-intensive than the standard, a move known as the Merge. Did the switch do anything for the currency’s emissions? Could it be a good solution to the …
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Amazon Will Pay You $2 a Month to Monitor Your Phone Traffic
Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has a trade offer for you: Amazon will monitor your phone data to verify ads and in exchange, you get $2 a month. Try not to spend it all in one place.

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In Retroverse, Hopping the Multiverse Is An Existential Crisis
What if you suddenly woke up in a universe where you’d been dead for years—and on the surface, it looked like a better one than the world you’d just been in a moment ago? That’s already a horrifying enough existential crisis, but Retroverse decides that’s not enough and throws in some alien nightmares for good measure.

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Margot Robbie Wants Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy's Romance to Make It to the Movies
The Flash teases an all-out battle for its ninth and final season, while in the DC movie-verse the movie version of the speedster runs in a little earlier than planned. David Duchovny ponders X-Files’ future without Gillian Anderson. Plus, what’s coming on His Dark Materials. Spoilers, away!

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Elon Reportedly Wants His Most ‘Hardcore’ Tweeps to Sleep in Beds at Twitter HQ
Imagine walking into work on a Monday after spending the weekend trying to decompress from the constant pressures to do more with less and meet the insurmountable expectations of your new boss. You’ve been harried not just by your own workload but by the constant news cycle reminding you that every day the job you’ve…
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‘Starshield’ Gets SpaceX Deeper in Bed With Global Militaries
As much as SpaceX has become a force of nature in the deployment of commercial space infrastructure, the company’s work assisting nations’ attempts to militarize space has sat simmering on the back burner. Now, with a new military-minded division under the company’s newly christened “Starshield” banner, that could…
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Twitter Notifications Keep Breaking in Wake of Elon Musk's Mass Layoffs
Have you gone to your notifications tab on Twitter, only to see nothing there? You’re not alone. Users have increasingly reported broken notifications in recent days. And while Twitter didn’t respond to questions about why, it’s hard not to see a possible correlation with the mass layoffs of software engineers…
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Jason Reitman Hands Ghostbusters: Afterlife Sequel Directing Reins to Gil Kenan
There are big things on the way for the Ghostbusters franchise: an animated film as well as a live-action sequel for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. And there’s news on the latter. Deadline reports that Afterlife director Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, will be handing over directing duties…
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Daredevil Confirms New Cast, But Karen and Foggy's Fates Remain Unknown
If you’ve been watching the casting announcements around Disney+’s Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again and wondering... what about Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), who were part of the show’s original Netflix incarnation, you’re not alone. Star Charlie Cox, while attending German Comic…
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Here Are 16 Airports That Might Scan Your Face This Holiday Season
From dumping out water bottles to picking easy to slip off shoes, most air travelers have grown accustomed to the regulatory and bureaucratic dance that is navigating major airports. Increasingly, however, travelers may soon encounter a new accessory en route to their destination: a facial recognition scan.
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Mickey 17, the Robert Pattinson Sci-Fi Film, Gets a Teaser and Release Date
The director of Parasite is back and now he’s got a Batman. Warner Bros. just officially announced that Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho is in production on the sci-fi adaptation Mickey 17, which stars Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo. It’s on track for a release date of…
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Anti-Discrimination Laws Are Called Into Question by SCOTUS
The Supreme Court seems poised to rule in favor of a Colorado web designer who appealed for the right to decline her services to same-sex couples. Lorie Smith is the owner of a web design company called 303 Creative, and says she will serve LGBTQ+ customers for general design requests, but says she should not be…
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France Is Banning Some Short Flights in Emissions Crackdown
Short flights won’t take off across France anymore, so long as there’s an efficient train line that can connect commuters from point A to point B. In an aggressive effort to lower the country’s emissions, France has banned flight routes for locations where connecting train service would only take 2.5 hours or less.
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His Dark Materials Returns, as Consistently Inconsistent as Ever
If you care enough about His Dark Materials to watch the season three premiere today, you know the score: It’s been just under two years since the second season finale of the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s acclaimed fantasy trilogy aired. So it’s genuinely impressive how seamlessly season three begins, not only…
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