Global Warming Predictions May Now Be a Lot Less Uncertain
If one is the loneliest number, two is the most terrifying. Humanity must not pass a rise of 2 degrees Celsius in global temperature from pre-industrial levels, so says the Paris climate agreement. Cross that line and the global effects of climate change start looking less like a grave situation and more like a catastrophe.…
Sea Level Rise Will Imperil Humanity's Future and Its Past
The modern human obsession with beachfront property is nothing new. For tens of thousands of years, our kind has been bonded to the coast and its bounty of food. Inland is alright, too, but nothing matches the productivity of the sea. The problem with coastal living is that while the food supply is relatively stable,…
The Climate-Obsessed Sci-Fi Genius of Kim Stanley Robinson
As one of the solar system's pre-eminent writers of climate change-driven, politically astute science fiction, Kim Stanley Robinson wouldn’t be anyone’s prime suspect for a crime against nature. Yet here we are, standing at the edge of his plot in a community garden, and it’s bare except for some scrubby, dying shrubs and what looks…
How You Could Road Race—and Win—From Your Living Room
Dave McGillivray is an improbable advocate of virtual exercise. The race director of the Boston Marathon for 30 years, McGillivray estimates he's logged more than 150,000 miles in his lifetime, the overwhelming majority of them outside, and a formidable number of those in Forrest-Gumpian feats of endurance. In 1978, he ran from Medford, Oregon to…
How Science Is Solving Health Issues at All Stages of Life
Health issues hit us in different ways at different ages. Here are some big ones science and tech are helping to solve. Age 0 — 12 Allergies Roughly 8 percent of kids in the US suffer from food allergies—often from peanuts. Epicutaneous immunotherapy could help. It’s a skin patch with a layer of peanut protein…
Hungry for a Little More WIRED? Turn on Your TV
You can find WIRED a lot of places these days. There’s the magazine, of course (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year!). There’s this website, which you might be reading on a laptop or tablet but are probably reading on your phone. There’s YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat and Glizznork,…
When Overtaxed Working Memory Knocks Your Brain Out of Sync
In 1956, the renowned cognitive psychologist George Miller published one of the field’s most widely cited papers, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.” In it, he argued that although the brain can store a whole lifetime of knowledge in its trillions of connections, the number of items that humans can actively hold in…
Game of Thrones' Final Season Is Shaping Up to Be a Beautiful Mess
When it comes to Game of Thrones opinions, there's really only one I trust: WIRED alum Laura Hudson's. Back when we worked in the same office I used to secretly marvel at her dog-eared and tattered copies of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books like they were the Dead Sea Scrolls. That's…
It’s Time for the Next Wave of Ocean Exploration and Protection
This week marks the 10th Annual World Oceans Day, a global confluence of ocean-awareness events intended to bring our oceans the level of public attention they deserve. As we both have had the opportunity to explore a fair amount of our globe’s seas, on this occasion we’d like to share our excitement and our vision…
Researchers Used This Genealogy Site to Build a 13 Million-Person Family Tree
In the last 20 years, genealogy websites have attracted more than 15 million customers by promising insights into your past. Maybe you’ll uncover a secret infidelity or be reunited with a long-lost cousin, like when Larry met Bernie on Finding Your Roots. It’s deeply personal, affecting stuff. But when your family tree contains thousands, millions,…