Kategori: Explore

The one thing I have in common with the average TikToker is my longing for expensive fixed-lens point-and-shoot cameras. It seems the two companies—Fujifilm and Ricoh—have the biggest brand recognition by the app-obsessed crowd, and they’re individually calling up two cameras to help feed audiences and algorithms alike. The first on our list from the folk at Fuji looks and feels incredibly old school, but it’s designed specifically to funnel vertically-oriented shots to an Instagram account.

We won’t have to wait long for the most anticipated cameras of the year. First up, Fujifilm finally announced its $850 X Half camera. If you’re wondering about the strange naming convention, it’s because the fixed-lens camera is a “half-frame” shooter with a portrait-oriented, 18-megapixel sensor. The lens is equivalent to 32mm with an f/2.8 aperture. It includes a far more shrimpy body and half the sensor size compared to the company’s landmark X100V and X100VI point-and-shooters. It sports an old-school, lightweight body complete with an actual working tactile frame advance lever. The rear screen is dedicated to seeing your shots in the 3:2 aspect ratio and for picking from 13 different film simulations that have become such a staple on Fuji’s digital products.

If you didn’t already think this camera was made for the person who simply wants to funnel their photos to Instagram, then know the Fujifilm X Half won’t shoot in RAW format, which is what the vast majority of professionals prefer for photo editing. Instead, it features a dedicated smartphone app. It will also operate with various Instax printers. Fujifilm said this camera is directed at the Gen Z audience who want a digital camera to use alongside their phone.

You need to use the frame advance lever after taking every image, which makes the X Half seem more of an expensive film camera simulation than a professional device. And yet, there’s something magical about the limitation inherent with film cameras that’s missing from today’s high-end digital devices. The camera even includes grain effect and time stamp options to add noise to your final shots. The Fujifilm X Half should be available in late June.

If you were looking for something that’s a little more typical, Ricoh is edging closer to finally unveiling the sequel to its all-time classic fixed-lens camera, the Ricoh GR III. In a release, Ricoh said the Ricoh GR IV is in development. It will sport a redesigned lens, a new sensor, and a redesigned digital imaging engine. The company suggested the new shooter may also connect to a new app, which should make it easier to get from the camera directly to your phone. We won’t actually get to see what it looks like until May 31, when it will be shown off at various GR Spaces in Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai. We’ll have to wait until the fall for a full release.

TikTok’s attention has largely spun away from its previous darling, the Fujifilm X100VI. That’s despite the initial glowing reviews of the more expensive $1,600 camera. The X100VI has been notoriously hard to acquire new or used. Meanwhile, the Ricoh GR III (which you can still find for under $1,000 used or about $1,100 new) has been around for more than five years, and it’s still one of the gold standards of this compact form factor thanks to its low-key design and its capacity to take crisp shots. There are two versions of that camera with the same 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor—the GR III with the 28mm lens and the GR IIIX with a 40mm lens that’s better for close-ups and street photography.

It may be harder for today’s internet-famous photographers to get one of these cameras going forward. Ricoh said it will stop shipments of the GR III in July “due to difficulty in procuring parts and components,” but the GR IIIX should be available for a while longer. The wait until then may be excruciating for those of us desperate for another unassuming but ultimately powerful camera.

You’ve probably watched Hot Ones or Man vs. Food, but have you ever considered trying a food challenge? There are so many food challenges around the world where willpower and digestion are pushed to their limits. From a ten-pound bowl of pho to a 105-pound burger to some of the hottest wings on Earth, there is a food challenge out there just waiting to be defeated. Here are the ten most outrageous restaurant food challenges.

Related: Top 10 Foolish Food Fads

10 The 105-Pound Burger

Clinton Station Diner in Clinton, New Jersey, has created one of the craziest and largest burger challenges known to man. Known as the “8th Wonder of the World,” their whopping 105-pound (47.6-kg) burger stacks up to be one of the largest burgers ever. The challenge can be attempted with nine friends, but the entire 105-pound burger must be eaten in one hour. If the challengers tackle the burger, they will win $2,000 and the ultimate bragging rights. If you fail, the burger will set you back around $600.

The diner, partially located inside a blue-and-white rail car, also offers several other food challenges. Five people can attempt the “Mt. Olympus” burger, which is 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of beef that must also be eaten in one hour. The “Zeus” is almost 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of beef and must be completed alone in 1.5 hours, and the “Atlas” contains 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of beef and must be consumed alone in 45 minutes.^[1]

9 69-oz Mixed Grill

The Welsh restaurant Sizzle and Grill added a new menu of food challenges, including a 69-oz (1.95-kg) mixed grill plate. The large plate consists of steak, five pork chops, half a chicken, two pieces of gammon (pork), four pieces of sausage, two eggs, peas, mushrooms, a bowl of chips, and a side salad. The hardest part of the challenge is that it must be completed in one hour or less. Thousands of people attempted the challenge, but only a handful were able to complete it.

The quickest somebody finished the challenge was in 22 minutes. Challengers that defeat the 69-oz plate receive a free T-shirt and their meal paid for. Some of their other challenges include “The Quadruple Bypass Burger,” “The Widow Maker,” and seven “Suicide Wings” laced with some of the hottest sauce imaginable. They also offer two-foot-long po-boys and a six-liter bucket of ice cream. The menu at Sizzle and Grill was inspired by the U.S. television show Man vs. Food.^[2]

8 Fire in Your Hole Wing Challenge

Munchies 420 Tiki Bar & Grill in Sarasota, Florida, has become a world-famous place to eat, as people travel from all over to try their delicious food. They claim to have the best Philly cheesesteaks outside of Philadelphia, burgers made fresh daily, and Fat Sandwiches piled with toppings such as mac & cheese, broccoli cheese bites, and onion hoops. They also offer wings with more than twenty dry rub and sauce options. The Travel Channel has ranked them numerous times as one of the best restaurants in America.

For those willing to try something hot, they have the Fire In Your Hole Wing Challenge. Adam Richman from *Man vs. Food* was only able to eat one wing before bowing out. The challenge is made up of ten wings tossed in sauce extracted from the hottest peppers in the world. Contestants are given 20 minutes to complete the challenge to earn their picture on the Wall of Fame. Those who fail get their picture placed on the “Wall of Shame.”^[3]

7 The Kitchen Sink Challenge

The San Francisco Creamery Company serves up sandwiches, burgers, pasta, salads, and, of course, desserts. Their dessert menu consists of sundaes, floats, shakes, freezes, and more, but they offer the ultimate dessert challenge known as The Kitchen Sink. The gigantic dessert is made up of three bananas, whipped cream, up to eight different ice cream flavors of your choice, more whipped cream, eight servings of toppings, even more whipped cream, and almonds and cherries.

The challenge must be completed alone and under the current record time. Contestants cannot have any help and are prohibited from leaving the table for any reason. If the challenge is completed in record time, the winner will receive free ice cream for a year, and their picture will be placed in a special frame for everyone to see.^[4]

6 The Kodiak Arrest Challenge

Humpy’s Alaskan Alehouse not only has a memorable name, but they also have an insane food challenge that you won’t forget. The Anchorage restaurant offers the Kodiak Arrest Challenge, which is made up of seven crab nuggets, 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of Alaskan king crab, 14-inch (36-cm) reindeer sausage, side dishes, wild berry crisp, and ice cream.

The $450 dish must be completed in less than one hour to earn a spot on the hall of fame and an “I got crabs at Humpy’s” T-shirt. Challengers who beat the record time receive their meal for free. The current record time to complete the challenge is 12 minutes and 10 seconds.^[5]

5 The Bombay Burner

Those looking to try some of the spiciest food in the world will need to head to London. The Cinnamon Club is a modern Indian fine dining restaurant known for its sophisticated service and refined eats, but there is one dish that hides behind its innovative menu. The Bombay Burner won’t be found on any menu, and ordering it requires a secretive process. Challengers must order the dish at least 48 hours in advance and sign a disclaimer.

The Bombay Burner is a lamb mince curry made with Dorset Naga chilies, which are known to reach 1.6 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU). A jalapeño pepper usually starts around 2,500 SHU, just to put it all into perspective. Scotch bonnet chilies are also used in the dish, which rate around 350,000 SHU. There’s a good chance this one will hurt just as badly coming out as it does going in.^[6]

4 Shepherd’s Pie Challenge

An Irish pub in Wisconsin serves up one of the world’s largest dishes of shepherd’s pie. Mulligan’s Irish Pub & Grill created the 8-pound (3.6-kg) Shepherd’s Pie Challenge, which consists of three shepherd’s pies stacked on top of each other and stuffed with peas, carrots, parsnips, cheese, celery, beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy. One person has 60 minutes to complete the colossal challenge.

The dish costs $45, but those who successfully complete the challenge will get their meal for free, plus a $75 gift card and their picture on the “Winner Wall.” Those who fail must pay for their meal and get their picture posted on the “Weenie Wall.” Don’t care for shepherd’s pie? Mulligan’s also offers a 3-pound (1.4-kg) beef burger challenge stacked with half a pound of cheese, a pound of corned beef, and a pound of beer-battered fries—over 1.3 kg more of food.^[7]

3 Carnivore Challenge

One of the best pizza challenges is in Kennesaw, Georgia, and can be attempted with a partner. Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria serves pizza made from scratch and cooked in a stone deck oven. They have several specialty pizzas, such as the West Coast Pesto, the Big Kahuna, and the Carnivore.

The Carnivore is their all-meat pizza and can be turned into a challenge for those looking to attempt the unthinkable. The Carnivore Challenge is an 11-pound (5-kg) pizza loaded with all the meats. Two people can attempt the gigantic pizza and have one hour to finish every bite. It costs $59.95 to attempt the challenge, but those who conquer it will earn $120. Around 25 pairs of people have successfully beaten the challenge, and the record time is just over 30 minutes.^[8]

2 Phozilla

Pho is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat, and many find it quite filling. Now, imagine eating a 10-pound (4.5-kg) bowl of pho. Pho 87 in Las Vegas created the Phozilla—a massive bowl of noodle soup with a savory beef broth. There are 12 ingredients, and 10 pounds must be consumed by one contestant in 1,987 seconds or less.

The bowl is twice the size of an adult human head and is filled to the brim with delicious pho. There is a $50 entry fee to compete in the challenge, and the prize money is progressive. In true Vegas fashion, the jackpot goes to the winner.^[9]

1 Travis on a Silver Platter

Head down Broadway Boulevard in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and you might notice a red-and-white-striped building that looks like an old diner. Grandma K & I Diner is a place that takes you back in time with wood-panel walls and red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, while old pictures and signs line the walls to give it a Western theme. The popular roadside stop serves biscuits and gravy, hamburgers, and chicken-fried steak. The restaurant also offers one little—well, huge—special that’s hard to overlook.

The Travis on a Silver Platter Challenge is an 8-pound (3.6-kg) burrito covered in a mess of fries. It takes three flour tortillas, beans, beef, cheese, red chili sauce, and a mound of French fries to create the gigantic burrito. There is a one-hour time limit, and winners get their meal free and their picture on the wall of fame. The restaurant serves tasty food at a reasonable price but makes sure the helpings are hefty. Make sure to come hungry when visiting Grandma K & I Diner.^[10]

Netflix’s runaway hit, Squid Game, will soon make its grand return with its third and final season. Ahead of its release, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed the games to come will push Lee Jung-jae’s Seong Gi-hun and the surviving players to their absolute limit and send the series out with a bang.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hwang said the show will capitalize on the hopelessness Gi-hun and crew are wallowing in after their failed rebellion by participating in games that will expose the darkest aspects of human nature.

“In the case of season 3, I wanted to introduce games that could really show the lowest bottom of human beings, because the series itself is reaching its climax,” Hwang said. “I wanted very intense games to bring out the bottom parts of human nature.”

As EW notes, Hwang curated a list of childhood games to refer back to throughout the Emmy-award-winning series. Squid Game season 3 will see even more childhood games with a murderous twist added to them. However, one theme of the games that Hwang wanted to spotlight is reintroducing games where the literal height of them will play a pivotal role in all the stomach-churning anxiety.

“In season 1, we had lots of games like Tug of War that really utilized height and the fear that this height gives, but in the case of season 2, we didn’t have that element,” Hwang said. “That is why in season 3, I decided to introduce games that could infuse fear in people with sheer height.”

While Hwang kept the particulars of what those games Gi-hun will have to endure under wraps, Netflix’s dropping the official teaser trailer for the show does give us an inkling of what some of those games might entail. One moment in the trailer shows the players receiving blue and pink balls from a candy machine, denoting a team-based battle that will split the mother-son duo of Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun). Another glimpse of the forthcoming season showed the players walking a maze and Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) preparing to throw hands. Granted, none of these sneak peeks showcased any heights in the game. However, emotions appear to be at an all-time high in the final season when you consider the baby wail at the butt-end of the trailer—all but confirming Kim Jun-hee (Jo Yuri) will give birth at the worst possible time.

As he has stated in the past, Hwang reiterated that Squid Game season 3 will serve as the show’s final season. However, speaking with the Hollywood Reporter in January, Hwang did leave the door open to revisit the series through a spin-off, should an opportunity arise.

“The third season will really explore that sense of loss and failure, that guilt weighing so heavily on Gi-hun. How’s he going to navigate the story further with all of that weighing down on him? Personally, I see the third season as being the finale to this story,” Hwang told THR. “That’s because I believe I’ve had closure to the story I wanted to tell about society through the character of Seong Gi-hun. If I ever wanted to go back to the world of Squid Game, it would be about different characters with a different story arc. Some kind of spinoff, maybe.”

In io9’s review for Squid Game 2, we walked away liking parts of the show, despite its shorter episode count, more than we disliked, highlighting pivotal moments like the iconic Russian roulette scene, its new cast of memorable characters, and, of course, Thanos. However, parts of the episode season we didn’t jive with revolved around the show spending way too much time on boat antics with Jun-ho, it’s Empire Strikes Back middle-story syndrome, and the games themselves being just alright.

Hopefully, Hwang will stay true to his word on upping the ante of the deadly children’s games with Squid Game Season 3 when it premieres on Netflix on June 27.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

First lady Melania Trump’s 2024 self-titled memoir will represent the “future of publishing,” she said, announcing that an audiobook of her memoir would be narrated by an AI-generated replica of her voice.

Trump unveiled “Melania: The Audiobook” via X, proclaiming it as “A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING.” In an attached promotional clip, the narrator declares, “My story. My perspective. The truth.” The seven-hour audiobook can be found on Trump’s personal website.

Software company ElevenLabs created the AI narration for Trump’s audiobook. Despite only launching in 2022, ElevenLabs’ voice synthesis technology has fueled multiple controversies after 4Chan users easily generated deep fake celebrities to spout hateful content and a nightmarish harassment campaign targeted actual voice actors.

Since then, the company says it has tightened things up so you can only clone your own voice. Per Newsmax, Melania Trump said that ElevenLabs’ developed its replica “under my strict supervision” and it will “establish an unforgettable connection with my personal story, in multiple languages for listeners worldwide.”

Currently, Trump’s audiobook is only available in English, but there are plans to release additional languages in the fall. ElevenLabs can create audio in over 30 languages including Hindi, Spanish, and Russian.

A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING
I am honored to bring you Melania – The AI Audiobook – narrated entirely using artificial intelligence in my own voice.   
 
Let the future of publishing begin.
 
Exclusively: pic.twitter.com/ab4Qb43AOC

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) May 22, 2025

Trump released her memoir towards the end of last year’s presidential election campaigns. It debuted at the top of the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, but don’t read too much into that. Trump’s memoir barely sold over 85,000 hardcover copies in its first week. Compare that to Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” which also debuted at number one and became the best-selling hardcover of 2018, selling 2 million copies in 15 days.

Although “Melania” didn’t generate huge sales, it does have a 3.83 rating on Goodreads. The book offered some insights into Trump’s life, including how she met Donald Trump. She also surprised many with a pro-choice stance, writing, “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

AI audiobooks are on the rise. Several years ago, Apple quietly rolled out “digital narration” and, last year, Amazon shared plans to use AI narrators, too. ElevenLabs boasts that fake audiobook narrators can save on time and costs. Per its website, AI can narrate an audiobook “often in a matter of hours” and you don’t have to worry about paying it a living wage.  

While ElevenLabs acknowledged back in 2023 that its product “[lacked] the nuanced emotional expression” of an actual person, today the company says it can more capably deal with nuanced intonation, hopefully avoiding the “alien” and “glitchy” labels that earlier AI narration earned. The company has high hopes for its partnership with Trump. Per NewsMax, CEO Mati Staniszewski said, “We’re excited that Melania Trump trusted our technology to power this first-of-its-kind audiobook. We look forward to helping bring this book to the public in many other languages, in Mrs. Trump’s own voice, soon.”

The insect world is home to strange, menacing creatures that, if you were a little bug, you would be wise to steer clear of. Year after year, researchers uncover new species of ferocious creepy crawlies, monsters of the minibeast world. Parasitic wasps, exploding ants, beetles with punky hairdos, there is no shortage of grisly wonders. From Darth Vader sea bugs to fearsome ancient biters, here are some of the most disturbing discoveries from the insect world. Bug spray at the ready.

Related: 10 Creepy Appalachian Creatures That Will Make You Disappear

10 Bone Collector Caterpillar Wears Its Prey’s Body Parts

Hawai’i is home to a menacing-looking critter that knows how to make a fashion statement. The bone collector caterpillar decorates itself with the body parts of dead insects. The moth larvae build an outfit of pieces taken from spider webs. They munch away at dead or injured insects, then wear some of their prey as part of their silk casing. “It’s very serial killer-esque,” explained entomologist Daniel Rubinoff.

Scientists aren’t quite sure why the caterpillars build this macabre collection, but they think it might be for camouflage. The critters need to evade spiders while stealing prey from their webs. Researchers reckon the grisly outfits help them stay under the radar. However, they also make the larvae difficult to study. To date, the team from the University of Hawaiʻi has only found 62.^[1]

9 Ancient Hell Ant Devoured Its Victims with Its Ferocious Jaws

In a 2025 paper, scientists in Brazil announced that they had discovered the oldest-ever ant fossil with fearsome jaws. The University of São Paulo team describes the 113-million-year-old biter as a hell ant, an imposing predator that roamed at the same time as the dinosaurs. The fossil is roughly half an inch long and was found in a chunk of limestone at the Crato Formation quarry.

The insect belongs to a subfamily of hell ants known as Haidomyrmecinae. These lived tens of millions of years ago during the Cretaceous period. Scientists believe their front-facing jaws and horns allowed them to spear their prey. “It’s a very unusual kind of mandible that you can’t find in any insect today,” says Anderson Lepeco. However, it is thought that the hell ant’s restricted hunting style might also have been its undoing. As the Cretaceous period ended, scientists believe hell ants could not diversify, which led to their extinction.^[2]

8 Crypt Keeper Wasp Warps the Minds of Other Species

In 2019, scientists unveiled a parasitic wasp whose young invade the minds of other wasps and live in their dead bodies. They named the species Euredus set after the Egyptian god of chaos. The fiendish critters lay their eggs in the homes of another species, usually the gall wasp, who live in oak trees. Gall wasps create little growths in the trees, where parasitic crypt keepers lay their eggs.

When crypt keeper larvae hatch, the tiny bloodsuckers burrow into gall wasps’ bodies and start to control their minds. They make their hosts tunnel out of their swollen homes, forcing them to chew a hole too small to fit through. The larger wasps become stuck, and the parasites eat them from the inside. Crypt keeper larvae find it difficult to break out of the tree growths, so they emerge through the gall wasp’s head and into the world.^[3]

7 Fuzzy Longhorn Beetle, the Punk Bug from Down Under

A new beetle species in Australia has been described as a punk for its fuzzy white hair. According to Queensland researcher James Tweed, the bug has “a bit of a mohawk-type look.”

Tweed spotted the shaggy critter resting on a leaf while camping. At first, he dismissed it, thinking maybe it was bird poo. However, the government agency CSIRO confirmed that he had stumbled upon a new type of longhorn beetle. The bug is around a centimeter long, with an oikish hairdo that entomologists say is like nothing they have seen before.

“I worked with a couple of colleagues from the national insect collection, who literally wrote the book on these groups of beetles,” Tweed told reporters. “They examined tens of thousands of specimens in museums all over Australia and the world, and they’ve never found it before.”^[4]

6 Exploding Ant Showers Attackers in Toxic Ooze

In the trees of Southeast Asia live ants with an unusual defense method: they blow themselves up. When attacked, exploding ants do exactly what the name suggests. The workers rip their bodies apart, killing themselves in the process, and spray toxic fluid at their foes.

In a 2018 study, researchers uncovered a new species of exploding ant in the leafy canopies of Borneo. Colobopsis explodens workers unleash yellow gunk as they explode. They tense up so hard that they rupture their abdomens, releasing a sticky yellow discharge. The soldiers, on the other hand, have huge heads with flat tops that they use to block up holes if the nest is breached.^[5]

5 Pelican Spider Traps Its Prey with Spear-Like Legs

Going back to Queensland for this next entry, where, in 2024, researchers unveiled a new species of killer pelican spider. The eight-legged assassins have long, pointed limbs like spears. They use these to catch and kill smaller spiders for a tasty treat. Their reddish-brown bodies are a strange shape, even for an Aussie spider.

Scientists discovered the little menace during a wildlife survey of Conway National Park. Coming across a new species was a treat for the team. They called the crawlers Whitsunday hinterland pelican spiders.^[6]

4 Darth Vader Sea Bug is a Foot-Long Menace

In a 2025 study, scientists discovered a new type of giant sea critter that resembles one of cinema’s most infamous villains. The giant Bathynomus vaderi can grow up to 12.8 inches (32.5 cm) long with a weight of 2.2 pounds (1 kg). But more frightening—they look like Darth Vader.

The shady-looking beasts live deep underwater, which makes them tough to study. To date, the only place scientists have found the huge bugs is in the South China Sea, close to the Spratly Islands. But they suspect more bugs are out there, lurking in the watery depths. Giant isopods like B. vaderi are now a delicacy in Vietnam, driving a surge in deep-sea fishing in the area. Researchers discovered the Darth Vader bug from a selection of creatures they picked up at a live seafood market.^[7]

3 Peruvian Parasite Wasp Consumes Its Victims from the Inside Out

The Peruvian rainforest is home to a violent wasp that stabs its prey, drains their fluid, and eats them from the inside out. Scientists found the bloodthirsty bug at the National Reserve of Allpahuayo-Mishana and named it Capitojoppa amazonica. The prefix capito is due to its huge, swollen head.

The bright yellow parasites rub their antennae against other bugs to entice a host. They go for species like caterpillars, beetles, and spiders. When they find a host, the female pricks them with her tube-laying organ and releases a single egg inside their body. When larvae hatch, they eat the host from the inside out and form a tough shell or pupa inside the remains. They only surface when they have grown into adult wasps. In some cases, “females will even stab the host with the ovipositor and feed without laying an egg,” says Brandon Claridge of Utah State University.

Scientists discovered all kinds of creatures in the rainforests of Peru. The parasitic wasp was one of over 100 new species caught using malaise traps.^[8]

2 Movile Cave Centipede Is the King of a Toxic Pit

Under the earth in Romania lies a poisonous cave brimming with strange, hardy creatures. Movile Cave is 65 feet (20 meters) below the ground and dense with toxic gas. It seems like it should be a barren wasteland, but over 50 species call the cave home, including scorpions, spiders, snails, and leeches. At the top of the ecosystem sits a brutal centipede named Cryptops speleorex, first discovered in 2020.

The bug is only a few inches long, but it is still one of Movile Cave’s largest, most ruthless predators. C. speleorex has a yellow-brown body, and its legs are covered in saw teeth. Scientists say the species is related to other centipedes found on the surface in Eastern Europe. But millions of years in a toxic cave without sunlight have forced the creature to adapt by extending its antennae and growing more saw teeth on its legs.^[9]

1 Lord Voldemort Ant Is a Ghostly Underground Predator

It takes an especially spine-chilling beast to earn the name of the Dark Lord of the wizarding world. The Lord Voldemort ant, or Leptanilla voldemort, is a pale creature that lives in the dry Pilbara region of northwest Australia. Scientists named it after the Harry Potter villain for its ghostly look and spindly body.

The Voldemort ant dwells deep underground. Retrieving the species took creative new methods. Scientists from the University of Western Australia captured two specimens using a subterranean scraping technique. They drilled an 82-foot (25-meter) hole in the ground, then scraped a net against the inside of the hole.

Little is known about how the ant hunts in the murky depths. But scientists claim it is “almost surely a predator, a fearsome hunter in the dark.” The team believes they use their piercing mandibles and cutting jaws to take down larger creatures that live under the earth. They reckon the ants feast on centipedes, flies, and beetles. The Voldemort ant is only the second Leptanilla species discovered in Australia. There is still much to learn about their elusive life in the soil.^[10]

North Korea attempted to launch a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer on Wednesday, but the ship suffered a “major accident,” according to state media outlet KCNA, which reports the hull has been damaged. And North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is not happy about it, to say the least.

KCNA reports that Kim called the incident a “serious accident and criminal act caused by sheer carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which should never occur and could not be tolerated.”

North Korea didn’t release photos of the warship or the accident, but South Korean military sources who spoke with that country’s Yonhap news outlet said that it appeared the ship “remains partially capsized on the sea.”

“Due to inexperienced command and operational carelessness in the course of the launch, the launch slide of the stern departed first and stranded as the bogie failed to move in parallel, holes made at some sections of the warship’s bottom disrupted its balance, and the bow failed to leave the slipway, leading to a serious accident,” KCNA said.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, much of North Korea’s naval fleet dates to the era of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist in 1991. The North Korean military is trying to modernize, successfully launching the Choe Hyon class of guided missile destroyers in April. But Wednesday’s failure will be a setback both practically and for morale in a country where military propaganda is vital to compensate for a lack of material progress.

The state media outlet placed blame for Wednesday’s ship mishap on a number of different agencies, including the Munitions Industry Department of the WPK Central Committee, the Mechanical Institute of the State Academy of Sciences, and the Central Ship Design Institute. KCNA also blamed Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, which is where many of North Korea’s nuclear scientists are trained.

North Korea is a nuclear power, and the 41-year-old dictator of the country was said to have a strangely warm relationship to President Donald Trump during the American leader’s first term. Trump apparently empathized with Kim because the North Korean dictator inherited his role at 27 years old, the same age Trump went off on his own after inheriting millions from his own father.

But North Korea hasn’t been in the headlines here in the U.S. nearly as much as during Trump’s first term, perhaps because the president is no longer antagonizing Kim with taunts of “little rocket man” and is instead focused on the dismantling of the American government. Trump has been pushing to get his tax bill through Congress, which passed the House on Thursday morning with a narrow vote of 215-214 and is poised to be a huge handout to the wealthiest Americans while slashing funding for Medicaid and food stamps.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reports that North Korea launched several cruise missiles into the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan) on Thursday morning after the failed ship launch, according to Yonhap. It was the first major missile test since May 8.

Nobody ever said English was an easy language to learn. In fact, many people will tell you that it’s one of the hardest languages to learn! Even for those who are native speakers like us, we seem to get surprised nearly every day by the way a word is pronounced or used or whether it might have a completely different definition than what we expected and thought it to hold.

So, to say English is challenging is an understatement. And if you’ve learned it as a second (or third, fourth, or more) language, our hats are off to ya! In that light, then, let’s have a little fun. In this list today, we will look at ten English language words that are practically impossible to pronounce. They’ve been known to trip up linguists, scholars, authors, writers, and voracious readers alike. Will they trip you up, too? Only one way to find out….

Related: 10 Bizarre People Behind Everyday Words

10 GIF

The man who created the Graphics Interchange Format—or “GIF,” as it has come to be known—has one way of pronouncing this acronym. And the rest of us see it differently. According to Steve Wilhite himself, the best way to pronounce “GIF” is with a soft “G.” He first created the technology back in 1987. So we should probably listen to him when he tells the world time and again to say something like “JIF.” Think of the peanut butter brand if it helps.

But there’s something so wrong about that, isn’t there? After all, the “G” in “graphics” is a hard “G.” So wouldn’t it make sense to call the quickie acronym by that same starting sound? We submit that yes… yes, it would. But no dice! Even though there’s literally a Wikipedia page focused entirely on the debate around how to pronounce “GIF,” and even though most of the online world would seem to agree with us on the matter, Wilhite has remained resolute. “JIF” is how it’s supposed to be, he insists. Bah, humbug.^[1]

9 Gnocchi

The pronunciation of this word seems so simple once you see it laid out phonetically. It’s easy! No problems! Just call it “NYOH-kee,” and you’re good! Okay… maybe we were lying about it being simple once it’s laid out phonetically. That’s still damn hard to say! But that’s the way you are supposed to say it. “Gnocchi” is, of course, an Italian word. And the food it defines is as delicious as any—a dumpling-like dish made from potatoes that has been popular in Italy for ages and ages.

Thus, whenever a difficult word represents a particularly delicious food, we better learn how to pronounce it properly. (Which, get ready, y’all—there are definitely a few more of these food-related words in this list!) Anyway, while the pronunciation is a bit challenging, and the phonetic spelling doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue either, we recommend you just bookmark this page before the next time you go out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Your future hungry self will appreciate you for it!^[2]

8 Mischievous

This is always a fun word about which you can get into worked-up debates with your friends. For some of us, it’s pronounced “mis-CHEEVE-ee-us.” For others, you are supposed to say “MIS-chiv-us.” And maybe there’s a third weird and wacky way to pronounce it, too, that we aren’t aware of. But here’s the deal: no matter how vigorous the debate over those two options may become, there’s really only one way to say it: “MIS-chiv-us.”

“Mischievous” is one of those weird words that, for no apparent reason, has taken on a pronunciation life of its own. At some point, people started dropping the completely wrong pronunciation into the world, and it stuck. But there might be a (small) answer to that little issue. In the early 1700s, there was an extra “i” in the word. That’s right! Three centuries ago, it was actually spelled “mischievious.” Try that today, and you’ll get the little red squiggly spell check line staring at you in the face. But that’s how it was back then… and possibly why there are still some holdovers for the incorrect pronunciation.^[3]

7 Nguyen

Okay, so this isn’t a word in the same sense as many of the other words on this list. It’s more like a proper name. A surname, to be exact! And if we are getting technical, it is by far the most common surname in Vietnam. If you visit that beautiful country in Southeast Asia, you’ll see that “Nguyen” is as common a last name as Smith or Jones here in America. It’s everywhere! So, you should probably know how to pronounce it. Especially because its spelling does not make it obvious exactly.

The pronunciation here is actually pretty simple… and it offers you three choices. Some Vietnamese people swear it’s pronounced “enn-WIN,” with the first “n” spoken out loud. Some say you drop that first letter “N” (“enn”) and simply pronounce it as “win.” Still, others have insisted it should be said: “noo-yen.” That last option is definitely not as commonly used as the first two, for what it’s worth. But now you know the landscape, and you can at least grapple with it semi-intelligently when it comes up next time!^[4]

6 Isthmus

If you don’t know geography very well, an isthmus is a very narrow spit of land that is meant to link two larger pieces of land between two bodies of water. It’s a strange word, too, with that troublesome “th” placed smack-dab in the middle of it. Heck, the “th” sound doesn’t even exist in some languages (looking at you, German and Dutch!), so it is complicated for non-English speakers to say. It’s also tricky for English speakers to pronounce it correctly, though. After all, how would you say it? Can you guess?

If you don’t already know, the correct way to say “isthmus” is “ISS-muss.” So, even though there’s that “th” in the middle of the thing sticking out like a sore thumb, you don’t even acknowledge it when you say the word. Just move right on past it like it doesn’t even exist. At least that simplifies things a bit!^[5]

5 Charcuterie

Who here loves snack boards? Obviously, charcuterie has been around for a very long time. But it seems like snack boards in that classy vein have become super popular again in recent years. Smoked meats, cheese, fruits, and crackers—all become a trendy little party surprise. And we’re here for it! Charcuterie boards are delicious. We’re just left with one little problem: When the party host comes over to us with their snack board in tow, how are we supposed to sound smart, hip, and cosmopolitan by correctly pronouncing its name?

Well, thankfully, we’re on the case—for ourselves and for you. The word “charcuterie” looks like a mouthful, but it’s deceptively simple. You just have to be sure you get the second syllable correct because that’ll make or break the whole thing. And thus, you pronounce it like this: “shar-KOO-tuh-ree.” That’s right; there’s no “you” sound in the second syllable, as you might have thought. Don’t say “kyoo” when it comes up. Keep cool by saying “koo.” And then stuff your face!^[6]

4 Pho

Let’s keep going with the famously fun food trend as far as difficult pronunciations are concerned. But while “charcuterie” has a lot of letters and a lot of syllables, “pho” is so simple. Deceptively simple. Too simple. Far too simple. Our initial inclination is to pronounce it exactly how it sounds and draw out the “o” at the end of the word. You know—something like “foh.” But no! Amazingly, that’s actually incorrect.

The popular Vietnamese soup-laden dish is actually best pronounced as the Vietnamese themselves do it: “fuh.” That’s right, y’all. The “o” in “pho” is supposed to be spoken as an “uh” sound. It seems counterintuitive to us English speakers, but that’s the reality. Don’t feel too bad if you screwed that up, though; something tells us thousands of people have made that exact same mistake. At least now you know the truth!^[7]

3 Omicron

We shudder to even see this word anymore after its use as a title for one of the most recent COVID-19 pandemic variants, but here we are. It’s not just a coronavirus reference, though. Omicron, of course, is a Greek letter that is basically written as an “o” in daily use. It should be so simple to pronounce, too, right? After all, in English, the letter “o” is just pronounced, uh, “o.” Or “oh” if you want to be technical, we suppose. But that’s simple! So, what gives, Greece?

Anyway, our little rant is complete. Let’s talk about pronunciation. To be correct, when you reference the Greek letter (or the COVID variant), you are supposed to say “OH-muh-krahn.” Hit the first syllable particularly hard and cut through quickly on the last two. And voila! You’re speaking Greek. Sort of.^[8]

2 Açaí

Continuing with the commonplace food theme here in this list, let’s transition to one of the world’s foremost health foods: açaí. This delicious thing is actually a species of palm tree that can be found all across the South Pacific and through many parts of Southeast Asia. It produces a delicious fruit that is one of the tastiest natural morsels on the planet and also one of the healthiest to eat. Many people regard açaí fruit as a “superfood” for its variety of health benefits. It is supposed to be ideal for digestion, metabolism, weight loss, and all that good stuff.

While the fruit is wonderful, the word is a mouthful. Though it’s only four letters, açaí has two weird accent marks and a million strange attempts at mispronunciation. So let’s set the record straight once and for all. The way to correctly say açaí is to soften the “c” and hit the final syllable the hardest. Like this: “ahh-sah-EEE.” It all seems so simple once you learn it, right? Delicious on the palate, tough on the tongue.^[9]

1 Worcestershire

We’ve definitely saved the best (or, uh, the worst) for last. If you get a visceral reaction just by seeing this word, you aren’t alone. We do, too. Sure, Worcestershire sauce might be tasty and the perfect complement to the right savory dish. But that doesn’t mean we like to order it when we go out to a restaurant. No, instead of saying its name, we more often just say to the waiter, “Yeah, uh, we’ll have that one sauce with our dinner. You know the one. The ‘W’ sauce from England. Thanks!” And that usually works.

But now that we’re here, we might as well dive in, right? So, let’s do this. Worcestershire sauce is obviously named for the town of Worcester, England, where it originated. And that town’s name is pronounced “WOO-ster,” even though there’s an “r” and a “c” in there. You just don’t say those letters. Then, the “shire” at the end of the sauce isn’t fully pronounced like you might think; instead, it’s spoken like you’d say the end of the state name “New Hampshire.” Thus, “Worcestershire” is supposed to be said like this: “WOO-ster-shur.” There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?^[10]

AI gadgets are back, baby! Or that’s what Jony Ive and Sam Altman hope. Well, they may not really hope they’re back as much as they hope they’re not completely and utterly cooked. ICYMI, Ive and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, announced in a post-Google I/O keynote bombshell that they are teaming up under a new company called, “io” to make, um… something? Whatever it is, it’s apparently worth $6.5 billion of OpenAI’s cold, hard AI revolution money.

We truly, genuinely, do not know what the two are making together outside of the fact that it’s going to be a piece of hardware (or potentially many), and it will be centered on AI (duh). But just because we can’t answer the burning question of what this thing is yet doesn’t mean we don’t have some clues. For your speculative pleasure, I’ve gone ahead and aggregated the best hints we have so far, Pepe Silvia-style, to bring us at least one baby step closer to hazarding a guess. Here are the tastiest “phone-killing” AI gadget rumors we have so far.

Lots of the best hints about what we can expect come from a Wall Street Journal report published on Wednesday. According to the report, Altman gave the OpenAI staff a preview of devices in the pipeline and offered a little insight into what they may be like.

Two key elements, according to the WSJ report, are that the gadget will be “fully aware” of a user’s “surroundings and life.” That obviously doesn’t offer a ton in terms of what shape the form factor will take, but it does point toward the ultimate product having sensors—a camera, microphone, maybe some sort of computer vision? Again, it’s hard to say, but to be “aware,” the AI device is going to need some of that stuff. And that’s not just me guessing on that front…

Another detail from WSJ is that the gadget will be “unobtrusive,” which could refer, at least in part, to Ive’s trademark minimalist aesthetic, but likely hints at a more key aspect of its design—no screen. The screenless aspect seems to be corroborated by an inside scoop from Ming-Chi Kuo, a longtime technology analyst and credible tech rumor source. In a post on X, Kuo writes, “It will have cameras and microphones for environmental detection, with no display functionality.”

That’s not surprising given that Ive has gone on record previously talking about how he doesn’t exactly love what the iPhone has become since he helped pioneer it with Steve Jobs back in the day. Whether a screenless AI device can actually succeed where others like Humane’s Ai Pin failed is a big question, but Ive and Altman seem to be willing to give the idea another go.

My industry research indicates the following regarding the new AI hardware device from Jony Ive’s collaboration with OpenAI:
1. Mass production is expected to start in 2027.
2. Assembly and shipping will occur outside China to reduce geopolitical risks, with Vietnam currently the… pic.twitter.com/5IELYEjNyV

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 22, 2025

One of the strangest details that hit me while sorting through the drip is how Altman is referring to the duo’s hardware. According to WSJ, Altman referred to the device as a “companion.” That could really mean anything, but to me, when I see “companion,” my mind gravitates less to a wearable and more to… a robot? I’m not the only one looking in that direction, either. Altman has at least given some indication in the past that he wants to make a “really cute” computer, and this would seem to be a perfect opportunity to do just that.

I hear what Jony Ive and Sam Altman are building is a small robot. A really cute one.@kscalelabs has a really cute one, a little dude about a foot high.

I already gave the founders my credit card so I could be first to get it. $1,000.

— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) May 21, 2025

Another interesting bit from Kuo’s “industry research” is that the device may ultimately not compute entirely on its own. Kuo writes that “it is expected to connect to smartphones and PCs, utilizing their computing and display capabilities.” If you ask me, that’s a bit of a cop-out in terms of being screenless and nowhere near as quirky as the Humane AI Pin’s projection interface, but probably a smart idea in the long term for making something that’s, uh, functional. There’s a lot we can guess at with this nugget, but my brain skates to some kind of agentic AI—think a connective “companion” that you carry around to do computer stuff for you. A thing that connects to the thing to make things less annoying! Sounds convoluted but potentially useful?

One of the most confusing bits of messaging is on the wearable front. Making an AI wearable has proved difficult, if the Ai Pin is any indication, but according to Kuo, there could be a wearable aspect to it. “One of the intended use cases is wearing the device around the neck,” writes Kuo. That seems to contradict some of the initial rumblings from the WSJ, however. According to the WSJ, the device will be “able to rest in one’s pocket or on one’s desk, and would be a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.”

Pocket and desk? That doesn’t really sound wearable-esque to me, but I guess the answer could be somewhere in between. There are already some AI devices out there—like this AI pendant—that are intended to be worn around your neck, so the idea wouldn’t be totally novel, but something tells me Ive and Altman are looking to iterate on existing form factors for AI gadgets. And wearables? So passé.

The discovery of extraterrestrial life would be the greatest scientific achievement in history. While lots of science and technology exist that’s crazier in technical terms, finding life has the grandest existential implications.

Right now, the best place to find it is Mars. In fact, there are plenty of intriguing life signs and promising environments for past or even present life forms. One idea presents the possibility that we’ve even already discovered and killed Martian organisms, way back in the 1970s. Overall, we should be appreciative, if not massively excited, that the discovery of alien life could happen, well, tomorrow. And if life exists on Mars, it must exist in many other places, including on some planets or moons where it may have become intelligent and formed civilizations.

So let’s thank Mars for the mind-blowing existential implications proffered by the discoveries below.

Related: Top 10 Bizarre And Deadly Exoplanets

10 Life Could Currently Exist on the Surface of Mars

Most scenarios include finding the signs of ancient life, like chemicals or a nice fossil in a rock. But there’s a possibility that life exists on Mars today, and not deep within a cave or somewhere inaccessible.

Instead, life could be thriving in pockets of meltwater on the surface of Mars. On Earth, similar meltwater pools are full of living things, including fungi and cyanobacteria.

Mars’ water ice fell as snow millions of years ago, mixed with dust. The snow solidified into dusty ice, and the dust grains absorb heat because they’re darker. This heat melts a bit of water a few feet under the surface of the ice, potentially creating a habitable environment. Additionally, enough sunlight penetrates to allow photosynthesis to occur down to a depth of 10 feet (3 meters) below the ice.^[1]

9 Maybe We Found Martian Life and Accidentally Killed It

We’ve been exploring Mars for over 50 years, courtesy of the Viking landers launched in the mid-1970s. These landers performed some very tantalizing life detection experiments… that came up positive! Well, some of them did, but not all. Though confusing and intriguing, the consensus was that no life had been discovered.

But another possible scenario is much more mind-blowing and depressing: We did discover life and promptly killed it. As a result, some tests showed a negative. It makes theoretical sense, as any organisms on Mars would be adapted to a very dry way of life.

Since the Viking landers performed experiments that added water to the desiccated Martian dirt, this may have drowned any dry-adapted organisms that may have been present.

Additionally, the experiments heated up a Martian sample to check for organic compounds, which again could have killed certain organisms that may have just been minding their own business until we came along. Ultimately, our future searches for Martian life must also ensure we don’t accidentally kill it.^[2]

8 Mars Was a Habitable “Vacation-Style” Paradise

Mars wasn’t just habitable but a prime vacation spot akin to Earth’s beach-iest paradises. Unfortunately for future spacefarers, Mars’ idyllic beach-beauty is several billion years in the past.

So says China’s Zhurong Mars rover, which had a short but fruitful life because it revealed our red neighbor’s ancient shorelines, sandy beaches, and lapping waves. In its one year of operation, Zhurong (named after the Chinese god of fire) traveled 1.2 miles (1.9 km) to detect underground beach deposits at the site of a long-gone ocean.

The new information helps paint a stunning Martian picture, showing the red planet with a massive ocean that still covered half its surface about 3.6 billion years ago. With waves and rivers carrying sediments, many materials mixed and bolstered the odds of Martian life.^[3]

7 Mars Has Enough Underground Water to Cover Its Entire Surface

Even though Mars once had beach-y ocean idylls long ago, it’s still apparently a very wet planet… below the surface. In terms of being available, this hidden water is not; it’s locked away underground, too deep to tap.

So says recent research using seismic waves (created by “Mars-quakes”) to analyze the red planet’s interior. The amount of water in the Martian interior is actually mind-boggling. Our red neighbor hides enough water to fill its empty, ancient oceans. It has enough water to cover the entire planet to a depth of about one mile (1.6 km).

Sadly, if you’re picturing a Journey to the Center of the Earth-style ocean, that’s not the case. The water resides within tiny rocky pores and cracks in the middle of the planet’s crust, at depths of 7 to 13 miles (11 to 21 km). Excitingly, if life existed on Mars, it could still be extant, feeding off this hidden water and protected from the harsh, airless surface.^[4]

6 Scientists May Have Already Detected the Signs of Life on Mars

In the search for life on Mars, multiple mind-boggling scenarios exist. Including the scenario in which we’ve ALREADY detected life on Mars. This comes courtesy of NASA’s Perseverance, who (yes, we should consider it a person) found tantalizing “leopard spots” and “poppy seeds” on the red planet last year.

These things are suggestive of past Martian life, say multiple scientists. The leopard spots are just 0.04 inches (1 mm) in size, and the poppy seeds among them are even smaller. These dots, basically, are found in an ancient riverbed called Neretva Vallis.

This is one of the places where scientists were most hopeful of finding life, even before this leopard-y discovery. Plus, it doesn’t look like the features were created by abiotic (non-life) processes involving heat.

Finally, combined with the fact that analogous features on Earth are kickstarted by microbes, let’s keep our fingers crossed that this could herald the greatest scientific discovery yet.^[5]

5 Perseverance Paints Pictures of a Warm, Wet, and Weird Mars

Some of the best discoveries happen accidentally or on a whim. Recently, Purdue professor and Mars expert Roger Wiens had the Perseverance rover shoot its laser at an oddly pale Martian rock—no, it wasn’t the type of sci-fi laser that shoots down Tie Fighters, but an exploratory science-advancing type of laser. The laser-assisted evidence points to a “warmer, wetter, and weirder” Mars than expected.

The rock had lots of aluminum associated with kaolinite. Kaolinite is a mineral that usually forms in very life-friendly environments, like in warm, rainy places or around hot springs and other hydrothermal areas.^[6]

4 Let’s Look for Fat

We may be looking for the wrong signs of life; instead of looking for proteins, let’s look for fat! So says Georgetown geochemist Anais Roussel because amino acids aren’t great markers of life. They can form without life and are present in places like meteorites.

However, the lipid (fat) molecules found in cell membranes (a cell’s barrier) are a better indicator since they signal life. However, there’s a problem. Mars lost its protective atmosphere four billion years ago and has been bombarded by the heavy radiation from supernovas.

Sadly, it’s likely that these billions of years of supernova bombardment would have degraded any fatty life signs at the surface of Mars. To find Martian fossils, we may have to dig really deep below the red surface.^[7]

3 Gale Crater (Lake) Would Have Been a Tourist Hotspot

The solar system is full of the wonders of the past, present, and future. One of the planet’s hottest tourist attractions (for any time-traveling spacefarers) would have been Gale Crater, the 95-mile (153-km) wide basin just south of the Martian equator.

Long ago, Gale Crater was a lake. And while it’s evident at a glance that cosmic climate change turned it into a barren desert, scientists now say that its water lasted far longer than anyone believed. How can anyone detect water stretching back to four billion years ago?

It affected other parts of the landscape, namely the sandstone rock. More interesting still, researchers aren’t sure exactly what type of water it was. It may have been brine, slush, or pressurized liquid, each with its own implications for life. Salt water, for example, has a lower freezing point than non-salt water.

Some say that Mars’ water was basically vaporized around four billion years ago—since the protective magnetic field and atmosphere disappeared. Yet it’s possible the water remained much longer. Perhaps it didn’t vanish until the late Hesperian, the age of Mars that lasted from 3.7 to 2.9 billion years ago, boosting the odds for biology emerging on our red neighbor.^[8]

2 Mars Was a “Planet of Rivers”

If you want to find life, follow the rivers. Rivers are highly conducive to life because they sweep sediment and minerals across surfaces and into seas. So the discovery of ancient rivers on Mars is always exciting. And we’re not talking about just a few because a Penn State study has branded Mars as a “planet of rivers.”

The study included satellite data, images from the Curiosity rover, and 3D scans from down here on Earth. Altogether, these data suggest that common crater formations called bench-and-nose landscapes are the remains of ancient riverbeds.

Beforehand, these formations had not been associated with riparian causes, revealing that Mars was even wetter than previously hoped. With all its ancient (and current) water, every discovery seems to make it likelier that Mars was, or is, inhabited by at least some teeny-tiny things.^[9]

1 Mars May Have Been Like Yellowstone

Yellowstone, America’s first national park, has rightfully gained global fame for its many diverse natural wonders. Especially its prismatic hot springs, which steam and bubble with multicolored activity.

But like those Maybelline commercials from the 90s, the springs weren’t born this fabulous. Instead, the colors develop and reflect the microbial communities currently living in these environs. Excitingly, it’s possible that similar communities existed on Mars billions of years ago when our red planetary sibling planet harbored hot springs of its own.

This potential life arose from destruction. Mars has been well-hit by comets and asteroids over its long career, and it took an especially brutal beating all those years ago. The biggest impacts (hundreds of miles across) from the ancient barrage created such intense heat that it could have turned the craters into hydrothermal springs.

What’s so special about springs? They provide nutrients, like the sulfur that keeps microbes alive (and smelly) at Yellowstone. On Mars, they could have offered a window of millions of years for some kind of life to take hold.^[10]

With just one episode to go in The Handmaid’s Tale, the creators, cast, and crew look back in a detailed new oral history that addresses some of the biggest questions viewers have asked about its story over the years. That includes: if Gilead is such a violent police state fond of swiftly executing any and all dissidents, how has Elisabeth Moss’ character, the rebellion-leading June Osborne, managed to survive for six seasons?

This week’s “Execution” saw June literally escaping a hangman’s noose—just her latest miracle after dodging bullets, being run over by a truck, and several other very near misses. (A few characters did meet their ends elsewhere in the episode.) Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, The Handmaid’s Tale novel author Margaret Atwood admitted that was a necessary element in a story that may be inspired by reality, but is obviously fictional.

“About the only thing that would be different from real life is that had June got caught, she would have been shot,” Atwood said. “But you can’t do that because you can’t eliminate your central character. She’s still there because, as there always have been, there are collaborators on the inside helping her. Our rule for the show was: ‘Nothing that you put in can be pure invention. You always have to tell me when this happened in history.’ There’s almost nothing you can make up in this area that hasn’t happened somewhere.”

Keeping the main character alive is one thing, but The Handmaid’s Tale also had to take Atwood’s sequel novel, The Testaments—released in 2019, and set 15 years after her 1985 original—into consideration, especially after Hulu announced it would be adapting it as a Handmaid’s follow-up.

“She gave me a very small no-kill list,” series creator Bruce Miller told THR, and it included Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia—a villain in early seasons who has finally (finally!) started to realize the true evil of Gilead as The Handmaid’s Tale nears its end.

“I wonder if Bruce ever wanted to knock Lydia off! I just adore Margaret Atwood,” Dowd said to THR. “I’m very happy to have it continue because I really do love Lydia. Having the experience of starting already on The Testaments, the way Margaret wrote it just makes so much sense and the writers have captured it beautifully. It’s a very good step from the end of Handmaid’s to the beginning of the Testaments.”

Added Miller, “Lydia is a fucking cat. She has 900 lives, which is exactly how those people survived in those kinds of regimes—they’re very good at stepping slightly out of the way when the shit starts to fall.”

Another character who lived longer than anyone expected? Joseph Fiennes’ Commander Waterford, who was originally only going to stick around for a season or two. (He did eventually meet a brutal-for-him, satisfying-for-viewers demise in season four.)

“Joe’s the most lovely guy and [Waterford is] a despicable character and it’s no fun playing a despicable character when you’re a lovely guy, so I was encouraging him to stick with it,” Miller recalled. “Because June and Serena [Waterford, Fred’s wife played by Yvonne Strahovski) had such an interesting relationship, Fred became much more than just this sleazy, blowhardy pervert in the story.”