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A-poo-llo Mission

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.
WIRED Health

Boring Architecture Is Starving Your Brain

WIRED Health

Revolutionary Alzheimer’s Treatments Can’t Help Patients Who Go Undiagnosed

Health

Post-Pandemic Recovery Isn’t Guaranteed

The aftermath of a disaster like Covid can be divided into roughly three stages: the honeymoon, the slump, and the uptick. The aim is always to build back better—but in some cases that never happens.

How to Exercise Safely During a Heat Wave

An expert in heat-related illnesses outlines the dos and don'ts for when you're exercising or working outside this summer.

How to Avoid Getting Sick This Summer

A microbiologist explains how to not catch summertime germs at the barbecue, in the pool, or on the trail.

With So Much Bird Flu Around, Are Eggs, Chicken, and Milk Still Safe to Consume?

A food microbiologist explains why you shouldn’t worry about consuming poultry or dairy—so long as you take the right precautions.

Space

Starliner Faces an Indefinite Wait in Space While NASA Investigates Its Faults

The space agency has pushed back the spacecraft’s return to an unspecified date in July, to give it more time to look into the problems that beset the vehicle on its journey into orbit.

Starship’s Successful Test Moves SpaceX One Step Closer to Mars

The vehicle mostly survived launch and reentry—key stepping stones toward operational flights of the largest rocket in history.

Boeing’s Starliner Has Finally Launched a NASA Crew Into Space

Seven years behind schedule, and after two scrubbed attempts last month, Starliner has at last sent two astronauts to space on a mission for NASA. The troubled company still has lots of catching up to do.

The Auroras Should Be Spectacular This Summer, Thanks to Solar Maximum

Increasing solar activity over the next year could bring more opportunities to see fantastic displays of the northern lights.

Environment

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.

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.

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.

Don’t Believe the Biggest Myth About Heat Pumps

Not only do heat pumps work fine in cold weather, they’re still more efficient than gas furnaces in such conditions.

Climate

Everything’s About to Get a Hell of a Lot More Expensive Due to Climate Change

Intensifying hurricanes, floods, and heat waves are wreaking havoc across the country—and on all of our bank accounts.

Greener Is Getting Going

We’ve reached a tipping point where we’ve got a cleaner alternative for most transport. Now we have to commit.

Instead of Mining the Deep Sea, Maybe People Should Just Fix Stuff

A new report contends that deep sea mining is not only an environmental risk, it’s also not going to help meet the world’s renewable energy needs.

Banks Are Finally Realizing What Climate Change Will Do to Housing

Extreme weather threatens the investment value of many properties, but financing for climate mitigation efforts are only just getting going.

Energy

Fusion Sparks an Energy Revolution

After hitting a power-output milestone, fusion technology is ready to graduate from small-scale lab experiment to full-sized power plant.

Light-Based Chips Could Help Slake AI’s Ever-Growing Thirst for Energy

Optical neural networks, which use photons instead of electrons, have advantages over traditional systems. They also face major obstacles.

Ecuador Is Literally Powerless in the Face of Drought

Drought-stricken hydro dams have led to daily electricity cuts in Ecuador. As weather becomes less predictable due to climate change, experts say other countries need to take notice.

How Many Charging Stations Would We Need to Totally Replace Gas Stations?

The United States could fully transition to electric vehicles in about 20 years. When that happens, we’re going to need a lot of chargers.

Physics and Math

What Came Before the Big Bang?

By studying the geometry of model space-times, researchers offer alternative views of the universe’s first moments.

How Much Energy Would It Take to Pull Carbon Dioxide out of the Air?

A physicist runs the math on direct air capture and warns: This tech won't save us from climate catastrophe.

The Hunt for Ultralight Dark Matter

Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have been searching for. New experiments are springing up to look for these ultra-lightweight phantoms.

Does String Theory Actually Describe the World? AI May Be Able to Tell

Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra dimensions translate into sets of elementary particles—though not yet those of our universe.

Biotech

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.

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.

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.

Neuralink’s First User Is ‘Constantly Multitasking’ With His Brain Implant

Noland Arbaugh is the first to get Elon Musk’s brain device. The 30-year-old speaks to WIRED about what it’s like to use a computer with his mind—and gain a new sense of independence.

Robots

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.

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.

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.

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.

Psychology and Neuroscience

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.

Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot

Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices.

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.

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.

Latest

hot mess

Each of the Past 12 Months Broke Temperature Records

unblinding effect

The Case for MDMA’s Approval Is Riddled With Problems

Fires of Hell

Zombie Fire Season Is Here in the Arctic

Climate Emotions

Who Wants to Have Children in a Warming World?