Science
Space Invaders
To Find Alien Life, We Might Have to Kill It
Missions to explore other worlds, like Mars or Saturn’s moon Titan, could disrupt or destroy extraterrestrial life in the process of seeking it.
Becky Ferreira
Environment
The New UK Government Wants Clean Energy, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, and Public Transport Reform
Matt Reynolds
Pancreatic Cancer Turns Off a Key Gene in Order to Grow
New research finds out how one of the world’s most aggressive cancers is able to spread so quickly.
Marta Musso
It’s Shockingly Easy to Buy Off-Brand Ozempic Online, Even if You Don’t Need It
Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are in shortage, and telehealth startups are selling “compounded” versions. A WIRED investigation looks at how easy it is to order these meds online.
Kate Knibbs
Health Care Should Be Designed for the Extremes of Life
Much of health care is designed with the “comfortable middle” of society in mind, says designer Yves Behar, when it should be tailored to children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.
João Medeiros
US Government Awards Moderna $176 Million for mRNA Bird Flu Vaccine
As fears of a pandemic mount, the biotech company’s mRNA vaccine trial is set to release Phase 1/2 results later this year, with a larger Phase 3 trial expected to begin in 2025.
Beth Mole, Ars Technica
The Supreme Court Is Gutting Protections for Clean Water and Safe Air
Four key rulings from the US Supreme Court will hamper the ability of the EPA and other agencies to write and enforce climate policies.
Molly Taft
Recluse Spider Season Is a Myth
The venom of recluse spiders can be dangerous, but the idea of there being a “season” when these arachnids invade homes and bite is unhelpful and wrong.
Andrés Cota Hiriart
The Titan Submersible Disaster Shocked the World. The Inside Story Is More Disturbing Than Anyone Imagined
A year after OceanGate’s sub imploded, thousands of exclusive leaked documents and interviews with ex-employees reveal how the company’s CEO cut corners, ignored warnings, and lied in his fatal quest to reach the Titanic.
Mark Harris
The World’s Largest Fungus Collection May Unlock the Mysteries of Carbon Capture
Research is uncovering the key role that fungi play in getting soils to absorb carbon, and how humanity’s actions aboveground are wreaking havoc in the mysterious fungal world below.
Matt Reynolds
Paris Mayor Defies Poop Threats to Swim in Seine, and Prove a Point
French politicians’ pledge to make swimming possible in the iconic river is a way to ward off criticism about the cost of the cleanup operation.
Morgan Meaker
Cutting-Edge Technology Could Massively Reduce the Amount of Energy Used for Air Conditioning
Roughly 10 percent of the world’s energy is used for cooling, with much of the necessary electricity generated by fossil fuels. Companies need to make AC much more efficient—as soon as possible.
Chris Baraniuk
Hurricanes Are Trapping Small Island Nations in Ever-Worsening Spirals of Debt
Damage from tropical storms like Beryl saddles islands with debt, which they have no hope of clearing before the next storm hits.
Courtney Lindsay, Emily Wilkinson, and Matt Bishop
America’s Aging Dams Are a Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
Climate change presents a growing threat to the nation’s nearly 92,000 dams, many of which are more than 100 years old, as heavy rainfall, flooding, and other forms of extreme weather become more common and severe.
Kristoffer Tigue
The Race for Space-Based Solar Power
Once a sci-fi staple, the ability to beam solar power from space now seems closer than ever—but a lot of work remains.
Kat Friedrich, Ars Technica
It Will Soon Be Easier for Americans to Recycle Batteries
Improperly discarded batteries leak toxic chemicals and are prone to exploding. A new program funded by the Department of Energy will prop up battery drop-off sites across the US.
Emily Mullin
AI's Energy Demands Are Out of Control. Welcome to the Internet's Hyper-Consumption Era
Generative artificial intelligence tools, now part of the everyday user experience online, are causing stress on local power grids and mass water evaporation.
Reece Rogers
Britain’s Brewing Battle Over Data Centers
The Labour Party, which is leading in UK election polls, has proposed making it easier for companies to build new server farms—risking a new type of conflict in communities across the country.
Morgan Meaker and Isabel Fraser
A Chinese Space Startup Launched Its New Rocket by Accident
Space Pioneer blamed a “structural failure” for the unintended blastoff.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica
The US Wants to Integrate the Commercial Space Industry With Its Military to Prevent Cyber Attacks
As more and more infrastructure is deployed in space, the risk of cyber attacks increases. The US military wants to team up with the private sector to protect assets everyone relies on.
Sharon Lemac-Vincere
NASA Desperately Needs New Spacesuits. Private Firms Are Struggling to Make Them
Collins Aerospace is expected to back out of a contract with NASA, while high interest rates and a difficult supply chain environment have affected Axiom.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica
Pooping on the Moon Is a Messy Business
If humans are to return to the moon, space agencies and governments need to figure out the legal, ethical, and practical dimensions of extraterrestrial waste management.
Becky Ferreira
Everything You See Is a Computational Process, If You Know How to Look
Computer scientist Lance Fortnow writes that by embracing the computations that surround us, we can begin to understand and tame our seemingly random world.
Lance Fortnow
How to Run on the Moon
It’s hard to stay fit in low gravity. Here’s a simple solution, using Einsteinian physics and an old carnival stunt.
Rhett Allain
Cryptographers Are Discovering New Rules for Quantum Encryption
Researchers have proved that secure quantum encryption is possible in a world without hard problems, establishing a new foundation for what is needed to keep information secure.
Ben Brubaker
If Betelgeuse Explodes, Just How Bright Will It Get?
This supergiant star is in our celestial neighborhood, and it’s threatening to go supernova. What would that look like from down here?
Rhett Allain
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Is Ready to Implant a Second Volunteer
In a livestreamed update on X, Elon Musk and Neuralink executives gave an update on the company's next study participant—and its next-generation brain implant.
Emily Mullin
Woman Who Received Pig Kidney Transplant Has It Removed
Surgeons at NYU took out the pig kidney because it wasn’t getting enough blood flow.
Emily Mullin
Gene-Edited Salad Greens Are Coming to US Stores This Fall
Biotech giant Bayer plans to distribute mustard greens that have been genetically altered to make them less bitter to grocery stores across the country.
Emily Mullin
WTF Is With the Pink Pineapples at the Grocery Store?!
Using DNA from tangerines and tobacco, food scientists have made a familiar fruit tastier—and more Instagrammable—than ever. We looked into it so you don’t have to.
Emily Mullin
The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot
Before the dear old model could even power down, Boston Dynamics unleashed a stronger new Atlas robot that can move in ways us puny humans never can.
Carlton Reid
Meet the Next Generation of Doctors—and Their Surgical Robots
Don't worry, your next surgeon will definitely be a human. But just as medical students are training to use a scalpel, they're also training to use robots designed to make surgeries easier.
Neha Mukherjee
AI Is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine
Robots, computers, and algorithms are hunting for potential new therapies in ways humans can’t—by processing huge volumes of data and building previously unimagined molecules.
Amit Katwala
This Artificial Muscle Moves Stuff on Its Own
Actuators inspired by cucumber plants could make robots move more naturally in response to their environments, or be used for devices in inhospitable places.
Max G. Levy
Scientists Are Unlocking the Secrets of Your ‘Little Brain’
The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it is, in fact, a hub of sensory and emotional processing in the brain.
R Douglas Fields
Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot
Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices.
Emily Mullin
Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell
Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little.
Amy Paturel
Why You Hear Voices in Your White Noise Machine
If you've ever heard music, voices, or other sounds while trying to sleep with a white noise machine running, you're not losing your mind. Here's what's going on.
Jennifer Billock
Latest
Heating Up
Extreme Wildfires Have Doubled in Frequency and Intensity in the Past 20 Years
Víctor Fernández García and Cristina Santín
WIRED Health
The UK’s NHS Going Digital Would Be Equivalent to Hiring Thousands of New Doctors
João Medeiros
hot water
Hurricane Beryl Isn’t a Freak Storm—It’s the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted
Dennis Mersereau
WIRED Health
Revolutionary Alzheimer’s Treatments Can’t Help Patients Who Go Undiagnosed
João Medeiros