The Only Place You Can Legally Climb a Redwood
Dangling like a piñata from a polyester rope, I’m inching up a 1,000-year-old tree named Grandfather. This forest in Northern California’s Santa Cruz Mountains is said to be the only place where one can legally climb a redwood. I’ve covered about 100 feet in 30 minutes, halfway to the top. Suspended in my saddle—a sort…
Just How Much Food Do Cities Squander?
This story originally appeared on Citylab and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Last winter, teams of researchers in three US cities donned goggles, gloves, and respirators, tore into bags of other people’s household garbage, and then pawed though the contents. Separating slimy banana peels from clumps of coffee grounds was dirty work, but it had a laudable…
Witches, Frog-Gods, and the Deepening Schism of Internet Religions
In its four decades, the internet has seen a lot of conceptual alchemy, but there's nothing quite so odd as the Cult of Kek. The maybe-maybe-not religion is the brainchild of the so-called alt-right, some of whom claim to believe not only in white supremacy, but also in the supremacy of an ancient Egyptian deity…
It's Past Time for You To Ditch That Fancy Scientific Calculator
Bruce Sherwood, the co-author of Matter and Interactions, had a question for me when I saw him at the American Association of Physics Teachers conference not long ago: "What calculator do you use?" If this seems odd, well, it was a conference of physics teachers. I responded with something along the lines of "I don't…
Author Marlon James' New Epic Topples Fantasy Tropes
The first installment of Marlon James' Dark Star trilogy tests the reader's commitment. "The child is dead. There is nothing left to know." Of course, that's not entirely true—620 pages follow. James, a deft stylist with a taste for violence and grand revelation (just look to his Man Booker Prize–winning historical saga, 2014's A Brief…
Resurrecting a Long-Lost Galapagos Giant Tortoise
If you go to Floreana Island, in the Galapagos, you can still see descendants of the giant tortoises that Darwin documented in the 19th century when he visited these islands. From the dock, just weave between indolent sea lions and impassive ruby-red marine iguanas and ask around for the truck to the highlands. It’ll be…
See How Human Activity Is Changing Animal Migration Patterns
This story originally appeared on CityLab and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Zozu, like any other white stork in Europe, typically flies to southern Africa for the winter. Yet when researchers at Germany’s Max Plank Institute for Ornithology tracked the bird’s path using a GPS logger in 2016, they found that he and a few others had…
The Internet Made Dumbledore Gay
Just imagine the fanfiction now. It’s the kind of thing people write on social media after a tense scene between two heavily “shipped” characters, or when fan-favorite actors get cozy off set. It’s also what Potterverse creator J.K. Rowling said to a shocked Carnegie Hall in 2007, moments after she revealed that she’d “always thought…
Colloidal Silver Turns You Blue—But Can It Save Your Life?
In 2008, Paul Karason, a 57-year-old man from the Pacific Northwest, agreed to appear on the Today show. And appear is the best word for it, since he was there because of the way he looked. From head to toe, Paul Karason was the color blue. Not a subtle light-wash tint, either. This was closer…
Game of Thrones' Final Season Has a Launch Date
Happy Monday, and welcome to another installment of The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture. In today's news, HBO has finally coughed up a release date for the final season of Game of Thrones, Netflix is facing a lawsuit, and it looks like the Super Bowl won't be marooned without…