WIRED Politics Lab

We knew it might be an Election Day unlike any other. But after last Tuesday, it soon became evident that this year’s US presidential race would culminate in an election week. On this week’s Get WIRED podcast, we talk to Gilad Edelman, Lily Hay Newman, and Emma Grey Ellis about why the forecasting polls were so wrong (again), how we know we can trust the election results, and why people keep spinning up conspiracy theories online. Also: Election Memes.

You’ve probably heard of Rock the Vote, the MTV approved get-out-the-vote campaign aimed at mobilizing young people. But how do you reach young voters when everyone’s stuck at home and the sheer volume of political ads on social media can feel mind-numbing? WIRED Senior Writer Arielle Pardes takes us into the TikTok world that’s organizing to get out the vote through memes, mashups, and dance videos.

Boston Dynamics is one of those companies that either makes you feel like we’re living in a Black Mirror episode or like we’re on the cusp of technological innovation. Over the past decade they’ve made a name for themselves through viral videos that demonstrate unparalleled robotics engineering. You’ve probably seen some of these: robot dogs loading the dishwasher, a humanoid robot doing a backflip, a segue-like robot effortlessly moving heavy objects. And now, after almost 30 years, their products are finally on the market. Reporter Matt Simon talks to Marc Raibert, the founder of Boston Dynamics, to check in on the ambitious robotics company.

California’s catastrophic 2020 wildfire season kicked off midway through the hottest August on record with a dry thunderstorm in which 12,000 lighting strikes ignited hundreds of fires over the course of a week. America’s best fire researchers have been trying to learn more about what causes fires—especially extreme fire events like fire tornadoes. Reporter Daniel Duane talks to Get WIRED Host Lauren Goode about his November cover story for Wired magazine, which goes deep into the cutting edge of fire research.

As protests filled the streets this summer, WIRED Senior Writer Jason Parham went looking for radio broadcasts from 1992, when he watched Los Angeles go up in flames. What he found instead was a trove of broadcasts from throughout his 1990s coming of age, archived by a French YouTuber. Parham then talks with cultural critic Jace Clayton, also known as DJ Rupture, about how the move from analog to digital has changed our relationship to music.

Think about your favorite video game growing up. You can probably imagine exactly how it sounded and even hum some of the tunes.

As it turns out, a lot of the iconic video game scores of the 80’s and 90’s were created by a group of women, young Japanese composers - sometimes just out of college. This music has such a strong legacy - but it’s almost impossible to find information about the women who wrote it. 

So for this episode of Get Wired, Host Lauren Goode talks to Dia Lacina--a writer and video game music expert. Dia recently went on a journey to find out more about this group of composers—who they were, and what they worked on—and ultimately, how these women shaped the scores we know so well, despite working in a male-dominated gaming industry.

And then later on in the show, we hear from Eímear Noone, a conductor who has brought 8-bit video game music to the symphony.

In another special episode of Get WIRED, join WIRED 25 as host Lauren Goode sits down with Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar to talk about the hyperlocal platform. They discuss human vs. AI content moderation, how Nextdoor is measuring its efforts to prevent racial profiling, and the importance of knowing at least six neighbors. You can watch past interviews and join the remaining WIRED 25 virtual events at events.wired.com.

In this special episode of Get WIRED, join this year’s WIRED 25 conference as we sit down with filmmaker Nia DaCosta, one of the WIRED 25 innovators who are shaping culture and using technology to lead society through this period of global uncertainty. In 2020, the horror of a global pandemic, natural disasters, and police brutality are as tangible as the grip of a boogeyman. That doesn’t mean fictional dread no longer has its place. For Nia DaCosta, the director behind the upcoming remake of the 1992 horror classic Candyman, it is as relevant and crucial as ever. DaCosta’s breakout debut, Little Woods, was a Western thriller. Now, she turns to the horror genre for the Candyman remake produced by Jordan Peele and written alongside Peele. DaCosta speaks with WIRED senior writer Jason Parham about her upcoming film, Candyman (now delayed to 2021), the horror genre, and how the pandemic will change the future of the movie industry. 

Find out how you can join the remaining WIRED 25 virtual events at events.wired.com. See the trailer for Candyman here and tune in next week, September 21st, for Get WIRED Host Lauren Goode’s interview with Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar.

The 90s were an iconic decade for technology and society – it set up the foundation for how tech has become so ingrained into our current lives. We're excited to share with Get WIRED listeners a new podcast from Vogue that looks the decade, this time through the lens of fashion.

The story of a pivotal decade, In VOGUE: The 1990s is a new audio docuseries that revisits the pivotal moments in 90’s culture; from slip dresses with army boots to colorful tracksuits and minimal pantsuits, Vogue experts and star guests highlight the stories in fashion history that reflected this new era of connectivity. 

Presented by Anna Wintour and hosted by Hamish Bowles, this fashion podcast examines how the 90s sparked a cultural fusion that continues to shape our world today — and why no one is exempt from fashion.

Listen to In Vogue: The 1990s

Check out the first episode featuring Camilla Nickerson, Tonne Goodman, Victoria Beckham, and Garren here:

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In this week’s episode of Get WIRED, host Lauren Goode and reporter Ben Wofford tell the story of an election clerk and computer scientist who spent years at odds with each other over election security, until finally taking up arms to tackle the problem together. The problem? Too much power in the hands of a few private companies. We trace their tough journey to develop and build technology that could change the future of voting.