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These Rats Learned to Drive—and They Love It

Driving represented an interesting way for neuroscientists to study how rodents acquire new skills, and unexpectedly, rats had an intense motivation for their driving training.

Bone Marrow Donors Can Be Hard to Find. One Company Is Turning to Cadavers

San Francisco–based Ossium Health has carried out three transplants for cancer patients using stem cells from deceased donors’ bone marrow in recent months.

The Real Problem With Banning Masks at Protests

Privacy advocates worry banning masks at protests will encourage harassment, while cops’ high-tech tools render the rules unnecessary.

A Popular Decongestant Doesn’t Work. The FDA Is Finally Doing Something About It

Oral phenylephrine was shown to be ineffective for treating nasal congestion over a year ago. This week, the FDA took the first steps toward removing it from pharmacy shelves.

States’ Abortion Rights Wins May Be Short-Lived Under a Second Trump Term

More than two years after a historic Supreme Court decision ended the national right to an abortion, some states are fighting back—but the future of abortion rights remains in doubt.

Microplastics Could Be Making the Weather Worse

Microplastics cause clouds to form in places where they wouldn't otherwise, which is likely to have knock-on effects on the weather and climate.

Invasive Species Are Threatening the Quality of New York’s Tap Water

Zebra mussels, hydrilla, and now a water flea have made their homes in New Croton Reservoir.

How a PhD Student Discovered a Lost Mayan City From Hundreds of Miles Away

WIRED spoke with the researchers responsible for the discovery of Valeriana, a lost Maya city in the middle of the jungle of Campeche.

OceanGate Faces Federal Investigation a Year After the Titan Submersible Implosion

A US Attorney's office is investigating the company behind the doomed expedition to the wreck of the Titanic, sources tell WIRED, even as a civil suit is already underway.

COP29 Begins With Climate Finance, Absent Leaders, and Trump Looming Large

The annual UN climate summit has kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, with lofty goals, but many global leaders missing.

Trump Won. What Will Happen to Electric Vehicles?

Thanks to Elon Musk’s influence, the president-elect has waffled on the future of America’s electric transition.

Even Under Trump, California (Yes, That Hellscape) Will Keep Moving the World Forward

The state has been written off as a woke wasteland. But it's still inventing the future on a bunch of frontiers nobody's talking about. For the next four years, it will remain a golden, global example.

A High-Profile Geneticist Is Launching a Fusion-Power Moonshot

Silicon Valley A-listers are funding Pacific Fusion, a startup that founding CEO Eric Lander says will have a full-scale demonstration system within a decade.

How to Design a Real-Life Hot Wheels Loop

You should absolutely not build this thing. But it’s still fun to think through the physics.

Meta’s Next Llama AI Models Are Training on a GPU Cluster ‘Bigger Than Anything’ Else

The race for better generative AI is also a race for more computing power. On that score, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta appears to be winning.

Liquid AI Is Redesigning the Neural Network

Inspired by microscopic worms, Liquid AI’s founders developed a more adaptive, less energy-hungry kind of neural network. Now the MIT spin-off is revealing several new ultraefficient models.

US Government Says Relying on Chinese Lithium Batteries Is Too Risky

A new document shows the Department of Homeland Security is concerned that Chinese investment in lithium batteries to power energy grids will make them a threat to US supply chain security.

Starship’s Next Launch Could Be Just Two Weeks Away

The SpaceX rocket will launch during the late afternoon so its descent into the Indian Ocean is visible.

China’s New Heavy Lift Rocket Looks a Whole Lot Like SpaceX’s Starship

The Long March 9 super heavy-lift rocket made an appearance at a major airshow recently—and looks awfully familiar.

NASA Will Do Space in Style With the Prada Axiom Spacesuit

In Milan, the fashion house and Axiom Space have revealed how astronauts will be decked out on the lunar surface during the Artemis 3 mission in 2026.

SpaceX’s Dramatic Rocket Catch Brings Interplanetary Travel One Step Closer

By proving that its Super Heavy booster can return to Earth and land, SpaceX has moved closer to creating a reusable interplanetary transport system.

Scientists Have Pushed the Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox to New Limits

A research team in China has held atoms in a state of quantum superposition for 23 minutes, suggesting tantalizing new possibilities in research and quantum computing.

The Incredible Power of Quantum Memory

Researchers are exploring new ways that quantum computers will be able to reveal the secrets of complex quantum systems.

The Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time

A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless geometry underlying the standard picture of how particles move.

The Secret Electrostatic World of Insects

Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen, and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.

The First Crispr Treatment Is Making Its Way to Patients

It’s been a year since the gene-editing treatment Casgevy was approved for sickle cell disease and a related blood disorder. It’s finally being infused into patients.

Thousands of People Are Cloning Their Dead Pets. This Is the Woman They Call First

“I try to prepare customers not to expect the same pet all over again. The new pet is not going to know who you are right off the bat.”

RFK Jr. Wants to Reshape US Health Policy. Good Luck With That

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he’ll make big changes in the US government if Donald Trump is elected. He may find them hard to pull off, no matter what position he’s appointed to.

A Neuralink Rival Says Its Eye Implant Restored Vision in Blind People

Science Corporation's retinal implant allowed some people who lost their central vision to read, play cards, and recognize faces.

Eight Scientists, a Billion Dollars, and the Moonshot Agency Trying to Make Britain Great Again

The Advanced Research and Invention Agency—ARIA—is the UK's answer to Darpa. But can it put the country back on the scientific map?

The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot

Before the dear old model could even power down, Boston Dynamics unleashed a stronger new Atlas robot that can move in ways us puny humans never can.

Meet the Next Generation of Doctors—and Their Surgical Robots

Don't worry, your next surgeon will definitely be a human. But just as medical students are training to use a scalpel, they're also training to use robots designed to make surgeries easier.

AI Is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine

Robots, computers, and algorithms are hunting for potential new therapies in ways humans can’t—by processing huge volumes of data and building previously unimagined molecules.

Scientists Are Unlocking the Secrets of Your ‘Little Brain’

The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it is, in fact, a hub of sensory and emotional processing in the brain.

Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot

Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices.

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.

Why You Hear Voices in Your White Noise Machine

If you've ever heard music, voices, or other sounds while trying to sleep with a white noise machine running, you're not losing your mind. Here's what's going on.

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