WIRED Science

By Wired

What's WIRED Science about?

Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.

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WIRED Science episodes:

04.19.2024
The Rise of the Carbon Farmer
Farmers around the world are reigniting the less intensive agricultural practices of yesteryear—to improve soil health, raise yields, and trap carbon in the atmosphere back down in the soil. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.18.2024
US Infrastructure Is Broken. Here’s an $830 Million Plan to Fix It
WIRED spoke with US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg about recent grants to fix ancient roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure before it’s too late. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.17.2024
The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision
Elon Musk’s Neuralink and others are developing devices that could provide blind people with a crude sense of sight. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.16.2024
The Paradox That's Supercharging Climate Change
Humanity needs to burn less fossil fuels. But that means fewer aerosols to help cool the planet—and a potential acceleration of global warming. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.15.2024
Can You Really Run on Top of a Train, Like in the Movies?
To pull off this classic Hollywood stunt, you gotta know your physics! Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.12.2024
Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program
An attempt to reauthorize Section 702, the so-called crown jewel of US spy powers, failed for a third time in the House of Representatives after former president Donald Trump criticized the law. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices....
04.11.2024
Mexico City’s Metro System Is Sinking Fast. Yours Could Be Next
Subsidence is causing parts of Mexico City to sink, and it’s happening at an uneven rate. That’s bad news for its sprawling public transportation system. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.10.2024
He Got a Pig Kidney Transplant. Now Doctors Need to Keep It Working
Researchers think a combination of genetic edits and an experimental immunosuppressive drug could make the first pig kidney transplant a long-term success. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.09.2024
Why the East Coast Earthquake Covered So Much Ground
Friday morning's earthquake was felt from New York City all the way to Washington, DC. Blame ancient fault lines and bedrock for the jolt. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.08.2024
Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?
Here’s a cool way to watch the eclipse—and learn about the weird physics of light while you’re at it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.05.2024
‘In 24 Hours, You’ll Have Your Pills:’ American Women Are Traveling to Mexico for Abortions
Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more women have been crossing the border to Mexico for abortion medications and procedures. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.04.2024
How to View April’s Total Solar Eclipse, Online and In Person
Here’s some advice for safely experiencing the total solar eclipse on April 8 as the moon casts a slender shadow across Mexico, the United States, and eastern Canada. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.03.2024
This Bag of Cells Could Grow New Livers Inside of People
Donor livers are in short supply for transplants. A startup is attempting to grow new ones in people instead. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.02.2024
Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot
Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
04.01.2024
The Next Heat Pump Frontier? NYC Apartment Windows
New heat pumps easily fit over window sills, meaning they could replace clunky apartment air-conditioning units. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.29.2024
The Real Reason Why Some Abortion Pill Patients Go to the ER
The abortion pill mifepristone went in front of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday. Antiabortionists say an increase in emergency room visits shows it’s unsafe. Medical experts disagree. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.28.2024
The Next Generation of Cancer Drugs Will Be Made in Space
Injectable immunotherapy drugs can be made, in theory, but gravity prevents them from crystallizing correctly. A startup thinks the solution could be right above us. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.27.2024
Why the Baltimore Bridge Collapsed so Quickly
Steel structures aren’t as strong as you might think—and the immense power of a container ship shouldn’t be underestimated. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.26.2024
A Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Person for the First Time
A 62-year-old Massachusetts man with failing kidneys is the first living patient to receive a genetically-altered kidney from a pig. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.25.2024
Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell
Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.22.2024
Europe Is Struggling to Coexist With Wild Bears
A fatal bear attack in Slovakia reignited accusations that conservationists are protecting the animals at the expense of human safety. Experts argue it's a people problem, not a bear problem. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.21.2024
The World's E-Waste Has Reached a Crisis Point
A new UN report finds that humanity is generating 137 billion pounds of TVs, smartphones, and other e-waste a year—and recycling less than a quarter of it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.20.2024
DeepMind Is Helping Soccer Teams Take the Perfect Corner
A soccer AI model created by Google DeepMind makes predictions about where corners will go, and suggests tweaks to make goals more or less likely. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.19.2024
The Global Danger of Boring Buildings
Unloved buildings turn to ruin, leading to a deluge of construction waste worldwide. Designer Thomas Heatherwick tells WIRED why cities need to prioritize human health and joy in architecture. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.18.2024
A Pill That Kills Ticks Is a Promising New Weapon Against Lyme Disease
Your pets can already eat a chewable tablet for tick prevention. Now, a pill that paralyzes and kills ticks has shown positive results in a small human trial. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.15.2024
Climate Change Is Bad for Your Health, Wherever You Are
Rising temperatures are a threat regardless of where you live on the planet—they’re just dangerous in different ways. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.14.2024
Stop Misunderstanding the Gender Health Gap
Sex differences explain some of the gaping health inequalities between men and women—but a lot of the time, it’s sexism. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.13.2024
So You Want to Rewire Brains
When everyone's hooking their brains up to computers, we'll need surgeons to install the hardware. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.12.2024
Get Ready to Eat Pond Plants
Meet the amazing azolla, a nutritious fern that grows like crazy, capturing carbon in the process. Could it be a food—and fertilizer and biofuel—of the future? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.11.2024
Is This New 50-Year Battery for Real?
BetaVolt’s nuclear battery lasts for decades, but you won’t see one in your next iPhone—powering a mobile device would require a cell the size of a yak. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.08.2024
Cities Aren’t Prepared for a Crucial Part of Sea-Level Rise: They’re Also Sinking
Coastal land is dropping, known as subsidence. That could expose hundreds of thousands of additional Americans to inundation by 2050. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.07.2024
A New Headset Aims to Treat Alzheimer’s With Light and Sound
An experimental device developed by Cognito Therapeutics seeks to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients using light and sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.06.2024
Forget Carbon Offsets. The Planet Needs Carbon Removal Credits
The carbon removal market is fast growing, with an array of different removal methods available to businesses keen to mitigate their environmental impact. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.05.2024
Good Climate Solutions Need Good Policy—and AI Can Help With That
Climate Policy Radar's tools scan global environmental laws to see what works and what doesn't. What its AI is discovering today will help shape the regulations of tomorrow. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.04.2024
A Tragic Tower Block Fire Exposes the World's Failing Fire Regulations
A deadly tower block blaze in Spain has focused attention on notorious flammable building materials—but around the world, there's little momentum to stop using them. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
03.01.2024
US Cities Could Be Capturing Billions of Gallons of Rain a Day
With better infrastructure and “spongy” green spaces, urban areas have made progress but should be soaking up way more free stormwater. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.29.2024
Humanity Is Dangerously Pushing Its Ability to Tolerate Heat
Extreme heat waves are already here, and they are killing tens of thousands of people. Blasting through 2 degrees Celsius of warming means they’ll happen many times more frequently. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.28.2024
Alabama IVF Patients Are Running Out of Time
“I feel so powerless in this state.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.27.2024
What Would Happen if Every American Got a Heat Pump
Getting these climate superheroes into more US homes would massively cut emissions, and it would be cost-effective. Here’s how the revolution would play out. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.26.2024
A New Startup Wants to Turn the Sugar You Eat Into Fiber
Americans eat too much sugar. Food tech company Zya is developing a substance to add to sweet foods that can convert some of that sugar into fiber in the digestive system. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
02.23.2024
The Transport Companies Leaving Fossil Fuels Behind
Hydrogen-powered planes, more fuel-efficient aircraft designs, and all-electric parcel delivery services are just some of the ways in which the transport sector is looking to decarbonize. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.22.2024
Metal Prices Are Soaring. So Is Metal Theft
It’s a multibillion-dollar global problem, and in a rapidly electrifying world, the profits—and ease—of stealing metals are only going to increase. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.21.2024
Tech Still Isn’t Doing Enough to Care for the Environment
Priscilla Chomba-Kinywa, CTO of Greenpeace, says technology firms must shape up—and consumers and business clients should walk away if they don’t. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.20.2024
Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be
As relentless rains pounded LA, the city’s “sponge” infrastructure helped gather 8.6 billion gallons of water—enough to sustain over 100,000 households for a year. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.19.2024
Kyiv Is Using Homegrown Tech to Treat the Trauma of War
Millions of Ukrainians are suffering the mental health implications of two years of Russian bombs and shells. The country’s recovery depends on building systems to help treat the trauma. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.16.2024
The Leading Lab-Grown-Meat Company Just Paused a Major Expansion
Upside Foods is putting plans for its Illinois-based cultivated-meat factory on hold and laying off staff to focus on its existing plant. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.15.2024
Why Fake Caviar Could Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution
An alternative to environmentally harmful plastic is already within reach: seaweed. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.14.2024
Farming Prioritizes Cows and Cars—Not People
Farmers and scientists are getting better at growing more crops on less land, but they’re not focusing on plants that people eat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02.13.2024
Did Climate Change Help This Skier Achieve the Impossible?
A slalom skier just achieved a remarkable result in the Alpine Ski World Cup—coming from last place to win. As mountains get warmer and conditions less predictable, expect more freak occurrences like this. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad...
02.12.2024
Why Is Our Solar System Flat?
It started as a big old ball of dust, so how did it end up like a giant pancake? Get the true story using fake forces. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's WIRED Science about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

WIRED Science episodes:

The Rise of the Carbon Farmer

US Infrastructure Is Broken. Here’s an $830 Million Plan to Fix It

The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision

The Paradox That's Supercharging Climate Change

Can You Really Run on Top of a Train, Like in the Movies?

Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program

Mexico City’s Metro System Is Sinking Fast. Yours Could Be Next

He Got a Pig Kidney Transplant. Now Doctors Need to Keep It Working

Why the East Coast Earthquake Covered So Much Ground

Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?

‘In 24 Hours, You’ll Have Your Pills:’ American Women Are Traveling to Mexico for Abortions

How to View April’s Total Solar Eclipse, Online and In Person

This Bag of Cells Could Grow New Livers Inside of People

Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot

The Next Heat Pump Frontier? NYC Apartment Windows

The Real Reason Why Some Abortion Pill Patients Go to the ER

The Next Generation of Cancer Drugs Will Be Made in Space

Why the Baltimore Bridge Collapsed so Quickly

A Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Person for the First Time

Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell

Europe Is Struggling to Coexist With Wild Bears

The World's E-Waste Has Reached a Crisis Point

DeepMind Is Helping Soccer Teams Take the Perfect Corner

The Global Danger of Boring Buildings

A Pill That Kills Ticks Is a Promising New Weapon Against Lyme Disease

Climate Change Is Bad for Your Health, Wherever You Are

Stop Misunderstanding the Gender Health Gap

So You Want to Rewire Brains

Get Ready to Eat Pond Plants

Is This New 50-Year Battery for Real?

Cities Aren’t Prepared for a Crucial Part of Sea-Level Rise: They’re Also Sinking

A New Headset Aims to Treat Alzheimer’s With Light and Sound

Forget Carbon Offsets. The Planet Needs Carbon Removal Credits

Good Climate Solutions Need Good Policy—and AI Can Help With That

A Tragic Tower Block Fire Exposes the World's Failing Fire Regulations

US Cities Could Be Capturing Billions of Gallons of Rain a Day

Humanity Is Dangerously Pushing Its Ability to Tolerate Heat

Alabama IVF Patients Are Running Out of Time

What Would Happen if Every American Got a Heat Pump

A New Startup Wants to Turn the Sugar You Eat Into Fiber

The Transport Companies Leaving Fossil Fuels Behind

Metal Prices Are Soaring. So Is Metal Theft

Tech Still Isn’t Doing Enough to Care for the Environment

Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be

Kyiv Is Using Homegrown Tech to Treat the Trauma of War

The Leading Lab-Grown-Meat Company Just Paused a Major Expansion

Why Fake Caviar Could Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution

Farming Prioritizes Cows and Cars—Not People

Did Climate Change Help This Skier Achieve the Impossible?

Why Is Our Solar System Flat?