Author: Wired Magazine

Monkeypox Can Be Contained—but Time Is Running Out

When monkeypox briefly found its way into the US in 2003, it infected prairie dogs. “We know that ground squirrels are highly susceptible to the virus and that there is a wide host range of species,” says Rimoin. “If monkeypox were able to become established in a wildlife reservoir outside of Africa, it would be… Continue reading Monkeypox Can Be Contained—but Time Is Running Out

The Best Gear for Your Home Emergency Kit

You know the drill. Maybe you’ve even participated in it once or twice. As a natural disaster looms, everyone in town makes a mad dash for the grocery stores, home improvement stores, and gas stations. Demand overruns stock in a capitalist’s nightmare, and most people leave empty handed, without enough flashlights, batteries, or cookware to… Continue reading The Best Gear for Your Home Emergency Kit

Reshuffled Rivers Bolster the Amazon’s Hyper-Biodiversity

From the window of a passenger plane flying over the Amazon, the view is breathtaking. “It’s just miles across of river and river islands,” said Lukas Musher, a postdoctoral researcher at Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences. The massive rivers below branch into a dense, treelike network that has continuously rearranged itself over hundreds of… Continue reading Reshuffled Rivers Bolster the Amazon’s Hyper-Biodiversity

Meta Hits the Brakes on Portal, AR Glasses, and Other Hardware

As the old adage goes, “hardware is hard.” Doubly so in the metaverse. The company Meta (née Facebook) has slowed its pursuit of AR glasses. The headset, which Meta had aimed for release in 2024, was likely years away from actual development. Now, those plans seem to be on indefinite hold. That report comes a… Continue reading Meta Hits the Brakes on Portal, AR Glasses, and Other Hardware

How China Hacked US Phone Networks

How do you smuggle information into the USSR right under the nose of the KGB? Create your own encryption system, of course. That’s exactly what saxophonist and music professor Merryl Goldberg did during the 1980s. This week Goldberg revealed that she used musical notation to hide the names and addresses of activists and details of… Continue reading How China Hacked US Phone Networks

The Last-Ditch Effort to Save Wild Salmon

But outside the walls of Warm Springs, so much is beyond the recovery team’s control. By nature, salmon transcend borders and boundaries, which exposes them to a gauntlet of threats. In rivers, fish face warmer water, droughts, wildfires, landslides, predators, and pollution; at sea, more predators, fishing, and competition for food. By amplifying these hazards,… Continue reading The Last-Ditch Effort to Save Wild Salmon

The Tricky Business of Elon Musk Getting Twitter Fire-Hose Access

Elon Musk’s never-ending attempt to take over Twitter has taken yet another weird turn as the social media platform appears to have acceded to the entrepreneur’s request to gain access to a “fire hose of” internal data held by the company. For weeks, Musk has pressed Twitter to provide data that would allow the South… Continue reading The Tricky Business of Elon Musk Getting Twitter Fire-Hose Access

The January 6 Hearing Was a Warning

Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, outlined how future hearings would focus on the particulars of the conspiracy and the careful construction of Trump’s knowing lies—committee members explained that they saw in Trump’s behavior a “sophisticated” seven-step plan for overturning the election—but Thursday’s hearing mostly focused on reminding Americans of the stakes involved.… Continue reading The January 6 Hearing Was a Warning

The January 6 Hearings Are Fighting for Your Attention

The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter. Last night, a large swath of Americans tuned in to watch the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol hold a hearing live on television. Glossily produced, it… Continue reading The January 6 Hearings Are Fighting for Your Attention