Author: Wired Magazine

Traces of Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA May Have Been Discovered on a Red Chalk Drawing Called ‘Holy Child’

Researchers from the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project (LDVP) report that by analyzing the drawing of Holy Child and other Renaissance artifacts, such as letters written by a da Vinci relative, they have recovered some Y chromosome DNA sequences that appear to belong to a genetic group of people with common ancestors in Tuscany, where… Continue reading Traces of Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA May Have Been Discovered on a Red Chalk Drawing Called ‘Holy Child’

Grok Is Generating Sexual Content Far More Graphic Than What’s on X

This story contains descriptions of explicit sexual content and sexual violence. Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has drawn outrage and calls for investigation after being used to flood X with “undressed” images of women and sexualized images of what appear to be minors. However, that’s not the only way people have been using the AI to… Continue reading Grok Is Generating Sexual Content Far More Graphic Than What’s on X

New Records Reveal the Mess RFK Jr. Left When He Dumped a Dead Bear in Central Park

At this point, it’s useful to examine what precisely Kennedy said about the incident in his August 2024 video, in which he is speaking with, for some reason, Roseanne Barr. “I was taking a group of people falconing up in Goshen, New York, up in the Hudson Valley,” Kennedy says. (Goshen is in Orange County,… Continue reading New Records Reveal the Mess RFK Jr. Left When He Dumped a Dead Bear in Central Park

The Ancient Art of Nasal Rinsing Might Protect You From a Cold

On average, the typical American contracts two to three colds per year between September and May, at an estimated cost of around $40 billion to the economy. Effective forms of treating or preventing colds have proven hard to come by, with the majority of over-the-counter medicines yielding modest results; it’s hard to devise a drug… Continue reading The Ancient Art of Nasal Rinsing Might Protect You From a Cold

Venezuela Is the First Big Test for the Pentagon’s Influencer Press Corps—and It’s Failing

In the days following the kidnapping of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro, members of the Pentagon’s new right-wing influencer press corps weren’t reporting on the operation. Instead, they were enforcing loyalty in a manner similar to the Iraq war bloggers of the early 2000s. On Monday, Laura Loomer tried to crowdsource information on Pentagon press officials… Continue reading Venezuela Is the First Big Test for the Pentagon’s Influencer Press Corps—and It’s Failing

Grok Is Pushing AI ‘Undressing’ Mainstream

Elon Musk hasn’t stopped Grok, the chatbot developed by his artificial intelligence company xAI, from generating sexualized images of women. After reports emerged last week that the image generation tool on X was being used to create sexualized images of children, Grok has created potentially thousands of nonconsensual images of women in “undressed” and “bikini”… Continue reading Grok Is Pushing AI ‘Undressing’ Mainstream

‘Industry’ Takes on the Age Verification Wars

When they decided to take on age verification in their latest season, Industry cocreators Konrad Kay and Mickey Down didn’t anticipate the issue would become such a political football. “It was in the ether of British politics, but it wasn’t front and center when we started writing the scripts or shooting it, and then it… Continue reading ‘Industry’ Takes on the Age Verification Wars

Steve Jobs’ Early Apple Items Are Going Up for Auction—Along With His Bow Ties

Courtesy of RR Auction Coincidentally, that original partnership agreement between Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, signed on April 1, 1976, is also up for bid this month at Christie’s. (Wayne got cold feet shortly after the signing and sold his 10 percent stake to the Steves for $800.) It’s among the “works of art, furniture… Continue reading Steve Jobs’ Early Apple Items Are Going Up for Auction—Along With His Bow Ties

Ring and Watch Duty Team Up to Keep a Closer Eye on Wildfires

The new partnership automates crowdsourcing of user video. “Their system will get a ping and say, hey, there’s a fire within a mile of your property, you should know about it,” says John Mills, the CEO of Watch Duty. Users then get the option to share a live feed of the view from their front… Continue reading Ring and Watch Duty Team Up to Keep a Closer Eye on Wildfires