The Tetris Effect and Our Boundaryless Digital Future
The videogames of Tetsuya Mizuguchi have chased a singular, mystical effect—one the celebrated designer first experienced 30 years ago, in 1988, when he wandered into an arcade in Tokyo. A young college student at the time, Mizuguchi enjoyed the shooters and racing games but was mesmerized by a colorful, musical waterfall of 2-D blocks. “I…
Catching up With Pepper, the Surprisingly Helpful Humanoid Robot
Listen, humans are great and all, but sometimes they’re horrible. That’s especially true if you’ve just spent 12 hours stuck in a flying aluminum tube with a few hundred of them. Now all you want to do is lock yourself in a hotel room, and for the love of all that is holy get away…
Netflix's Umbrella Academy Is Your New X-Men—Ugh
Superhero TV follows a Betty Crocker recipe. Throw some unlikely ingredients into a stylish receptacle. Add a binder. Beat on high until everything doubles in size. Stir in some supporting flavors. Finally, bake in villainous fires until goodness rises. Delicious! Related Stories People simply keep eating. The reliable satisfactions of superhero stories continue to attract…
The FDA Approved its First Cannabis Drug. What Next?
Five years ago, I bought a safe for my son’s doctor to store drugs. It was blue, about three feet square, and weighed 965 pounds—like the Acme safes Wile E. Coyote used to try to drop on Road Runner. My family and I had evidence the drugs might cure our 11-year-old son of his relentless…
The Most-Read WIRED.com Stories of the Past Five Years Say So Much
Do you remember where you were when you heard about The Dress? We do. We were in the WIRED newsroom cocking our heads at our screens and squabbling. Well, most of us were squabbling. A few reporters started making phone calls (what is the science of this crazy thing?) and the result was a story…
America's Fastest-Growing Urban Area Has a Water Problem
This story originally appeared on CityLab and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When Latter-day Saint migrants arrived in Utah in 1847, a verse in Isaiah served as consolation to them in the dessicated landscape: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Lately, the…
The 2009 vs. 2019 Meme Is a Gift From Our Smartphones
You saw it. We saw it. Everyone saw it. Slowly but surely this past weekend everyone started posting current pictures of themselves next to photos from 2009. Largely marked #2009vs2019 or #10yearchallenge the posts flooded Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. As might be expected, the meme quickly got picked up by those looking to make a…
Can Our Phones Save Us From Our Phones?
Hi. My name is Robbie, and I'm addicted to browser tabs. For years, I deluded myself into thinking they were an efficient way to gather information on a given subject. Or subjects. Sub-subjects, too. You see the problem. Which is why, for the past few months, I've been experimenting with a Chrome extension called xTab.…
Cantina Talk: Episode IX Might Feature Lando's Daughter
Sure, we're past the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special by now, but it's still the season of giving. If it wasn't, how would you explain the fact that we might have learned about new characters for Star Wars: Episode IX or new cast members for The Mandalorian? And if that isn't enough,…
You Can Model China’s Tiangong-1 Space Station Crash
At some point this week, the Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is going to crash down to Earth. When and where? We can't know for sure. And for that, we have physics to blame. Tiangong-1 is in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of about 138 miles. At first approximation, there is only one force…