Ukraine Is Crowdfunding Its Reconstruction

The new fundraising appeal comes amid a certain “tiredness” from donors, as Ukraine’s finance minister put it. Yaroslava Gres, United24’s main coordinator, says overcoming that fatigue is his mission. “We ask ourselves: What will motivate them to keep standing with Ukraine?” he tells WIRED. Gres says he hopes that letting prospective donors see the homes… Continue reading Ukraine Is Crowdfunding Its Reconstruction

Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue

“It was pretty amazing how well the experimental data and numerical simulation matched,” Eckert said. In fact, it matched so closely that Carenza’s first response was that it must be wrong. The team jokingly worried that a peer reviewer might think they’d cheated. “It really was that beautiful,” Carenza said. The observations answer a “long-standing… Continue reading Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue

All the Fish We Cannot See

The destination for this yet-untargeted bounty? Livestock feed, says Payne. This exploitation of the mesopelagic required a huge harvesting effort in the southwest Indian Ocean and southern Atlantic, including employing boats with helicopters and fish-processing facilities to support a fleet of smaller fishing vessels. After the Soviet Union collapsed—along with its fisheries subsidies—momentum in the… Continue reading All the Fish We Cannot See

The EU Just Passed Sweeping New Rules to Regulate AI

Over the two years lawmakers have been negotiating the rules agreed today, AI technology and the leading concerns about it have dramatically changed. When the AI Act was conceived in April 2021, policymakers were worried about opaque algorithms deciding who would get a job, be granted refugee status or receive social benefits. By 2022, there… Continue reading The EU Just Passed Sweeping New Rules to Regulate AI

The First Crispr Medicine Is Now Approved in the US

Casgevy uses the Nobel Prize–winning technology Crispr to modify patients’ cells so that they produce healthy hemoglobin instead. The Crispr system has two parts: a protein that cuts genetic material and a guide molecule that tells it where in the genome to make the cut. To do this, a patient’s stem cells are taken out… Continue reading The First Crispr Medicine Is Now Approved in the US

Google’s NotebookLM Aims to Be the Ultimate Writing Assistant

Steven Johnson has written 13 books, on topics ranging from a London cholera outbreak to the value of video games. He’s been a television presenter and a podcast host. He’s a keynote speaker who doesn’t have to call himself that in his LinkedIn profile. And for over a year now, he’s been a full-time employee… Continue reading Google’s NotebookLM Aims to Be the Ultimate Writing Assistant

End-to-End Encrypted Instagram and Messenger Chats: Why It Took Meta 7 Years

Since 2016, the social behemoth now known as Meta has been working to deploy end-to-end encryption in its communication apps. CEO Mark Zuckerberg even promised in 2019 that the data privacy protection would roll out by default across all of the company’s chat apps. In practice, though, it was a wildly ambitious goal fraught with… Continue reading End-to-End Encrypted Instagram and Messenger Chats: Why It Took Meta 7 Years

Video Games That Encourage Human Interaction Can Build Better Vibes

Gamers have long been stigmatized as lonely weirdos. Some of that has been deserved—ask anyone who’s had a bunch of children shout horrible slurs at them during a match of Call Of Duty. But some leaders in the gaming industry want to push back against that narrative by creating games that encourage users to form… Continue reading Video Games That Encourage Human Interaction Can Build Better Vibes

Police Can Spy on Your iOS and Android Push Notifications

While Wyden’s letter says that governments outside the US have requested people’s push notification records, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has done so as well. A February 2021 search warrant application submitted by an FBI agent to the US District Court in Washington, DC, requested details for two accounts controlled by Meta (then Facebook),… Continue reading Police Can Spy on Your iOS and Android Push Notifications

9 Great Deals on Electric Kettles, Mugs, and Tumblers

The holidays are around the corner. These next few weeks might feel a little hectic, but sipping on a warm, cozy cup of tea is always the answer when you’re looking for a sense of peace amidst the madness. You’re in luck because we’ve found some great deals on our favorite electric kettles, plus WIRED-tested… Continue reading 9 Great Deals on Electric Kettles, Mugs, and Tumblers