The Adorable Microbots That Swarm to Build Structures
The beauty of evolution is that it’s so nonjudgmental. What began as the first organism billions of years ago has diversified into species that fly and hop and run, whatever best suits them in their environment. As Charles Darwin put it, “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been,…
Speed-Listening and the Trouble With 'Podfasters'
Like you—like every delirious commuter—I savor podcasts. They’re a reprieve from my dead-eyed Twitter scroll. But unlike you, I don’t stress about missing an episode or four. In fact, I find comfort in the medium’s buffet of excess. Therefore I reserve special scorn for so-called podfasters: the tweakers who listen at 1.5X, 2X, even 3X…
For the First Time, All Three Streamers Are Oscar-Bound
Only a few years ago, it seemed as though streaming companies were destined to be Oscar outsiders. In 2015, Netflix spent a reported $12 million to acquire the war-time drama Beasts of No Nation, with the hopes of turning both the intense film and star Idris Elba into awards-season frontrunners. (The company had managed a…
We Need to Talk About Crazy Rich Asians
A big thing happened this weekend. Crazy Rich Asians hit theaters and brought in an impressive $34 million over its five-day weekend. (It technically opened Wednesday night.) That may not qualify as "crazy rich" in the era of $100 million-plus Star Wars opening weekends, but for context, it's the best-performing comedy since last year’s Girls…
Why It's So Tough to Keep Antibiotics Out of Your Turkey
David Pitman is a third-generation poultry grower, raising chickens and turkeys with his brother and parents on a property east of Fresno that his grandfather founded in 1954. They’re independent farmers—instead of raising birds for a corporation, they sell directly to wholesalers and stores—and their farming style reflects that freedom. They buy turkeys from a…
How Congress Ignored Science and Fueled Antibiotic Resistance
The gray clapboard house on the two-lane road in a western suburb of Boston looked, in the fall of 1974, the way you would expect a comfortable old Massachusetts house full of children to look. It was rambling and tall, made out of a house and a barn butted together. There were other barns out…
Xbox Tips Its Streaming Hand, and the Rest of the Week in Games
Sometimes it seems like this whole gaming thing is built on the future, and this week bears that out, with hints of things that could, possibly, be good? Someday? Speculation is always a tricky business, but don't worry—there's also news of some long-overdue changes that lots of you will appreciate, as well as a merch…
How Technology Is Changing the Way We Love: A WIRED Investigation
Let’s just get it out of the way: my wife and I met each other online. This was more than 15 years ago, when “online” meant either chatrooms or some sort of personals-based website. (It was the latter.) We had the internet, but not in our pockets; texting and emoji had yet to worm their…
Can We Still Rely On Science Done By Sexual Harassers?
The pandemic of sexual harassment and abuse—you saw its prevalence in the hashtag #metoo on social media in the past weeks—isn’t confined to Harvey Weinstein’s casting couches. Decades of harassment by a big shot producer put famous faces on the problem, but whisper networks in every field have grappled with it forever. Last summer, the…
How to Watch the Total Solar Eclipse Without Glasses
You've surely heard by now that the moon will pass between Earth and the sun on August 21, creating a total solar eclipse that will cast a shadow over much of the US. Jimmy Carter was president the last time this happened, so you definitely don't want to miss it. The best way to observe…