Building High-Rises Out of Wood Can Help Save the Planet

Concrete and steel come with massive emissions. So let's ditch them and build towers out of wood. Yes, wood.

Billie Eilish Cleaned Up at the Grammys

The 18-year-old won five of the six awards for which she was nominated. 

Defying Vertigo to Capture Aerial Photos From a Hang Glider

A photographer overcame her altitude anxieties to capture canvas-worthy aerials of the French countryside.

Tinder Swipes Right on AI to Help Stop Harassment

The dating app says its new machine learning tool can help flag potentially offensive messages and encourage more users to report inappropriate behavior. 

The Best Dyson Vacuums (2020): V11, V7 Trigger, and More

It's easy to get sucked into the brand's vast catalog. Here are the ones that floored us.

AI License Plate Readers Are Cheaper—So Drive Carefully

Police can add computer-vision software to ordinary security cameras for as little as $50 a month.

Pepe the Frog Foretold the Fraught World of Modern Memes

The new documentary Feels Good Man traces the frog's evolution from an indie comic to one of the world's most polarizing symbols.

Apple's iPad Turns 10: A Look Back at Its First Decade

Here's what WIRED writers have had to say about Apple's tablet in the 10 years since its arrival.

Today's Cartoon: Invasion of Privacy

Who’s watching the baby watchers?

I Monitor My Teens' Electronics, and You Should Too

Kids should have no expectation of privacy on devices given to them by their parents, for better and for worse.

How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids in the Digital Age

Experts tips and tricks for helping your younglings think critically about what they see on TV and social media. 

I Thought My Kids Were Dying. They Just Had Croup.

The old-fashioned-sounding illness is mostly harmless. So why does it cause so much parental panic?

An Origin Story, Smart Headlights, and Other Car News

General Motors' Cruise unit shows off its self-driving concept vehicle, while Hyundai smothers road noise. 

The 'Book Murderer' Tops This Week's Internet News Roundup

What kind of sick person slashes apart their novels and posts the deed on Twitter?

How to Be Humane to a Lab-Grown Brain

Ethicists and biologists seek to head off challenges raised by tissue “organoids” as they become increasingly similar to human brains.

Houdini Power Air Houdi Review: An Environmentally-Friendly Hoodie

This hoodie, which sheds much fewer microplastic fibers, makes me feel bad about wearing any other hoodie.

New Safety Gizmos Are Making Car Insurance More Expensive

The high cost of repairing sensor-packed vehicles outpaces the savings from fewer crashes.

The Sneaky Simple Malware That Hits Millions of Macs

How the Shlayer Trojan topped the macOS malware charts—despite its “rather ordinary” methods.

The Best Running Gear (2020): Shoes, Clothes, Accessories

Whether you’re running in warm weather or in the rain, we have the gear for you, including shoes, socks, and more.

Space Photos of the Week: An Ode to Infrared

The Spitzer Space Telescope wasn’t big, but its view of the universe was certainly mighty.

Writing About Videogames Isn't All Fun and Glamor

David L. Craddock is one of the major voices in longform games journalism, but his reporting hasn't always been easy. 

Google Calls Out Safari for Privacy Flaws

Facial recognition, iCloud encryption, and the rest of this week's top security news.

The Doomsday Clock Moves Closer Than Ever to Midnight

Since the advent of the clock—even during the peak years of the Cold War—the minute hand has never advanced past the 11:58 mark.

Scraping the Web Is a Powerful Tool. Clearview AI Abused It

The facial recognition startup claims it collected billions of photos from sites like Facebook and Twitter. What does the practice mean for the open web?

An AI Epidemiologist Sent the First Warnings of the Wuhan Virus

The BlueDot algorithm scours news reports and airline ticketing data to predict the spread of diseases like those linked to the flu outbreak in China.

16 Best Weekend Deals: Samsung QLEDs, Apple AirPods Pro, and More

If you're in the market for the Gadget Lab's favorite headphones, a smart display, or a new robot vacuum, you're in luck.

London Cops Will Use Facial Recognition to Hunt Suspects

The deployment, at an unspecified number of locations, will be one of the largest uses of the technology by government authorities in the West.

Scientists Predict Wuhan's Virus Outbreak Will Get Much Worse

New estimates of how far the virus could spread suggest an explosion of cases will hit the Chinese city and more infected individuals will show up abroad.

An Esports Exodus to YouTube Reshapes the Livestream Wars

The *Call of Duty* League, the *Overwatch* League, and *Hearthstone* Esports all call YouTube home now. That's not great news for Twitch.

Dolly Parton's Meme Exposes Social Media's Masquerade

The country star's “LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder” post speaks to people's desire to be what any platform needs them to be.

Valve Swears 'Half-Life: Alyx' Is Actually, Legitimately Done

Lots of high-profile games have been delayed lately. Doesn't look like Valve's upcoming VR experience is going to be one of them.

Patreon Can't Solve Its Porn Pirate Problem

Two years ago, Patreon promised to crack down on piracy site Yiff.Party. Now it says its hands are tied.

Chime Chai Maker Review: A Pricey, Speedy Way to Make Chai

For chai lovers, Chime's hands-free and speedy pod-based brewing process is convenience at its finest.

Sure, 'The Goop Lab' Is Absurd—but It Also Offers Hope

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Netflix show offers controversial treatments for people who feel they’ve been failed by everything else.

Athletic Authorities Must Reckon With Racing Tech Again

As World Athletics debates whether to ban Nike's carbon-fiber running shoe, it should heed lessons from the case of “Bionic Olympian” Oscar Pistorius.

The Future of Death Tech Has No Rules—Yet

Mortuary startups, like one that plans to freeze and shatter corpses, have run afoul of some fusty regulations.

Gadget Lab Podcast: Oral Hygiene Tech and Espresso Science

On this week’s episode: hacking oral hygiene with AI, and hacking espresso with science.

The Rise of Mouth Tech: Oral-B, AI Toothbrushes, Burst Oral Care

It’s easy to bristle at a $200 AI-powered toothbrush, but not for the reasons you might think.

The Bird 'Snarge' Menacing Air Travel

When winged wildlife slams into aircraft, disasters can happen. Inside the world of bird-strike countermeasures, where avian goo is the enemy.

The Strange, Subtle Matter of ASMR Erotica

Although many fans and creators claim the appeal isn't sexual, much of the genre flirts with intimacy. Close your eyes—and open up.

No, the Wuhan Virus Is Not a 'Snake Flu'

One paper advanced a controversial theory about the disease's origin. Other scientists aren't biting.

A Robot Dog With a Job, a Noise-Canceling Car, and More News

Catch up on the most important news from today in two minutes or less.

Germany Rejected Nuclear Power—and Deadly Emissions Spiked

After Fukushima, the country opted to decommission its nuclear reactors. The US has a lot to learn from what happened next.

Inside Pwn2Own's High-Stakes Industrial Hacking Contest

At Pwn2Own, hackers had no trouble dismantling systems that help run everything from car washes to nuclear plants.

Why So Many High-Profile Videogames Have Been Delayed

This month alone, *Cyberpunk 2077*, *Marvel’s Avengers*, *Dying Light 2*, and *Final Fantasy VII Remake* have all been pushed back. For some, it's probably for the best. 

A 'Captain Marvel' Sequel Is in the Works

The movie could hit theaters in 2022.

Spot the Robot Dog Trots Into the Big, Bad World

Boston Dynamics' creation is starting to sniff out its role in the workforce: as a helpful canine that still sometimes needs you to hold its paw.

Could You Bungee-Jump Using Only Magnets?

Jumping off a high ledge without a cord … maybe we better run a simulation first.

Hyundai's Luxury SUV Mixes Mics and Math for a Silent Ride

The Genesis GV80 comes with noise-canceling tech to do away with the annoying hum of rolling rubber.

Don't Break Up Big Tech

It won't protect small businesses, it won't preserve our data privacy, and it won't help promote democracy.