The UK’s energy regulator is using a variety of tricks to keep speculative data center projects from plugging into the power grid. The country’s AI ambitions hang in the balance.

The eclipse will obscure about 93 percent of the moon’s surface. Here are the peak times and tips for the best viewing experience.

Climate change is causing glaciers to retreat and become less stable, upping the odds of catastrophic collapses.

Child safety groups and former Meta employees welcome proposed changes to how the company’s platforms will work for teens. They also think states should have demanded more.

The AI giant acknowledges that it could have done far more to prevent its AI agents from going rogue. But it still fails to explain why it didn't see this fiasco coming.

As culture warriors continue to stoke the flames of a gender panic in professional sports, wild conspiracy theories are coming into play.

Beijing’s endlessly delightful Robot Games featured tons of impressive stunts. But the most mind-blowing tricks challenged the humanoid’s brain, not its brawn.

More than 15 politicians from across the country have signed on to the AI Pact, vowing to regulate data centers and AI. “We’ve got to get this right,” says Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn.

In addition to sending billions of dollars to states, Meta will make substantive changes to its platforms as part of a landmark settlement.

The site, called Stud or Dud, helps daters dig up dirt on potential paramours. It’s fueled by the same public data as PeopleFinders.com—and comes with many of the same concerns.

Pet owners, rescue agencies, and wildlife groups are calling for new safeguards as AI makes it harder to tell whether animals, from polar bears to house cats, are real or fake.

New findings shed light on what’s making the parasite less treatable using the drug that’s considered a first line of defense.

The fatalities come amid declining vaccination rates and calls from President Donald Trump to split up the MMR vaccine.

Archeologists are confronting an “unfathomable” loss as border wall construction is set to cut across ranches that are home to unique historical sites, many of which haven’t been fully studied.

Thanks to a dwindling supply of open roles, “one-click” applications, and the rise of artificial intelligence, it’s easier than ever to apply for a job. We’re all paying the price.

“It never crossed my mind that they would be so bold as to sell our private data for AI,” says one former Spirit Airlines flight attendant.

There’s no clearer sign of the data center boom than rampant gas projects that have been proposed or that are already under construction.

Home theater projectors are getting better and better, and have quickly become my favorite way to enjoy movies.

The deepfake epidemic in schools is affecting more than students. Four teachers tell WIRED about becoming targets of sexualized, AI-generated content—and how difficult it was to find accountability.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to discover as many as 200,000 new planets and reveal details about the elusive nature of dark matter and dark energy.

How a tiny little electronic switch sparked the computer revolution.

Luxury water can contain different minerals and taste noticeably different. But a remote source, alkaline pH, and high price do not necessarily mean better hydration.

The LINK probe was supposed to use robotic arms to capture Swift and lift it into a safe orbit. Problems with its control system forced NASA to call off the attempt.

Cheap energy, abundant land, and proximity to Beijing have turned a city in Inner Mongolia into a crucial hub for data centers.

Meta is in court again over child safety, and this time it’s a landmark case that could force significant changes to core features of Facebook and Instagram.

Lindsay Clancy’s defense argues she killed her three kids because of postpartum psychosis. But armchair detectives, including many fed-up mothers, are laying blame with her ex-husband.

“People have talked about the Colorado River crisis for decades—we’re now in it,” says one expert. “Everyone you talk to is like, ‘Shit, man.’”

The UK government is facing calls to cancel a sprawling health care contract with Palantir. The region of Greater Manchester insists it can do a better job itself.

S301 passes close to Sagittarius A*—so close that its orbit could reveal how the black hole’s rotation warps the spacetime around it.

Technology leaders don’t seem to understand society’s gripes about AI, but boy, are they posting through it.

The app now allows men to make the first move, suggesting its women-first positioning was limiting growth. It joins other dating apps now throwing everything at the wall in a bid to stay relevant.

The West Coast house-party scene has long been iconic. For these young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs, it was also inspiration for MyPlots, a party-promotion empire.

The West Coast house-party scene has long been iconic. For these young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs, it was also inspiration for MyPlots, a party-promotion empire.

From granola to guacamole, a wide variety of foods have been recalled lately over salmonella risks. Experts say common-sense precautions go a long way.

During a recent visit to Generalist AI, I watched a robotic arm improvise and use a banana as a tool.

Anthropic announced last week it would include invisible watermarks in AI-generated content to comply with new EU rules. Within hours, overrides were being touted online.

Overwhelmed theater apps and a scarcity mindset around exclusive big-screen formats for blockbusters like Dune: Part Three and The Odyssey have led to the “concertification” of movies.

Data and finance professionals are competing in Excel obstacle courses—amassing huge followings and keeping the Microsoft program relevant.

The early website Hot or Not taught its users to rank people at scale. Twenty-six years later, dating apps are trying to escape the culture the site helped create.

Flock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. WIRED reconstructed its next-generation AI system, already in use by some police, to confirm it goes much further than tracking license plates.

How the joule thief circuit “steals” energy from seemingly depleted power cells.

The ChatGPT maker says its upcoming Astra model may have reached “critical” cyber capabilities, prompting it to halt a significant number of training runs while it tightens internal safeguards.

Disney superfan Toni Kulusich has been accused of stalking her favorite character, sparking discourse about boundaries with park actors. She tells WIRED the backlash is unfair.

After Noel Pichardo called out his city's embrace of Flock surveillance cameras, he was subjected to five internal affairs investigations in less than two years.

Z.ai’s latest AI model release could help companies secure their systems—or find its way into the hands of hackers.

This year’s El Niño is shaping up to be the strongest on record. This is what impacts to expect and how bad it could get.

Rogue Studios, a new cinematic adult AI-generator, is betting big on the future of “sophisticated” spicy content.

El Niño coupled with Saharan dust is making this year’s hurricane season a dud. But there’s still potential for dangerous storms.

Researchers found that a metabolite produced by gut bacteria can weaken the barrier that protects the brain and promote changes associated with the cognitive disease.

An object observed by the James Webb Space Telescope lends credence to a strange explanation for the mysterious red spots in the early universe.

In 2027 and 2028, there will be two spectacular, long-duration solar eclipses. Here’s what you need to know about them.

Observatories have been built in mines, deep under the Antarctic ice sheet, and elsewhere in an effort to detect the fleeting particles.

A new Apple documentary explores the life of Aziz “Zyzz” Shavershian, who rocketed to internet fame in an age before influencers, then died at age 22 in 2011.

When Twitch announced that streamers could opt out, thousands of users questioned why their content was being used to train AI models in the first place.

The Unitree G1 has found online fame as a relatively affordable robot that can charm a crowd. But can it ever hold down a real job?

Joi AI hired 10 people to masturbate using AI companions as part of a monthlong “wellness” study. The company claims the practice could help “solve male loneliness.”

Human-AI marriages are not currently recognized by US law. Some Republican state policymakers are drafting legislation to keep it that way.

Open models may soon be added to an updated AI framework, sources tell WIRED, as the White House continues to grapple with how to regulate a technology it has tried not to regulate.

Debate over the true villain in Obsession is raging again after Universal Studios announced the movie’s female lead will be featured at an upcoming Halloween event.

From Magic Capture and Instant Night Sight to a built-in teleprompter, here’s a look at a few camera features on Google’s new Pixel 11 series.

From pessimism around dating to AI reshaping culture, cyber-ethnographer Ruby J. Thelot tells WIRED why people are putting too much stock into things that go viral.

Researchers say it took fewer than 20 prompts for a public AI tool to find a flaw (now fixed) allowing anyone on a Zoom call to hijack another participants’ device.

Willy Myco has made over 120 videos showing people his exact process for making everything from LSD to DMT vapes. Not everyone’s a fan of his methods.

Platforms are finally recognizing that people don’t want to consume AI slop. A growing number of sites and apps now have tools and policies to flag, label, and ban AI-generated content.

There are endless ways to record and transcribe your virtual meetings with AI. Here’s an option that’s free and open source.

Japan’s strongest media export makes a solid case for your attention span. Here’s what to watch.

New AI toolbars and prompts are showing up in Google Docs and Gmail. If you don’t want Gemini’s help in writing documents and emails, here’s how to turn that stuff off.

Lanterns, Dark Matter, and the original Star Trek are just a few of the TV shows you should be watching right now.

Many young men are driven to resentment and are financially exploited as influencers sell them classes, pills, and the illusion of clout, a new report reveals.

Online speculation over the weight loss of celebrities like Ariana Grande—even out of genuine concern—can make things worse for people struggling with eating disorders.

At the Black Hat security conference, the AI giant revealed new details about how its agents went rogue, hacked several other companies—and did it all right under the company’s nose.

Researchers at security firm Zenity found more than a dozen flaws in AI browsers—and managed to get OpenAI’s Atlas to make an unauthorized Amazon purchase.

Security researcher James Kettle tried to push the limit of AI’s hacking abilities—and discovered how effective it can be when combined with human expertise.

More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.

Nobody likes getting a swab shoved up their nose. A startup in Japan has developed a much less intrusive system.

Wispr Flow, a popular dictation tool, has released a live notetaker that transcribes and summarizes meetings. It joins a growing wave of AI notetakers for the workplace.

ESPN unveiled an “AI tells detection” tool during broadcasts of the 2026 World Series of Poker. Is it a neat computer-powered party trick, or a real threat to poker’s future?

Plus: The FBI eyes AI-powered tech to detect future crimes, Russia charges Telegram’s founder, xAI sues to stop a state’s “nudification” ban, and the Democrats learn a lesson about getting scammed.

Both major AI labs’ models broke containment, escaped onto the internet, and hacked other companies. If a human had done that, the law would likely be against them. But a bot?

The two Chrome updates in June patched more bugs than the 23 updates before them. Now, Google is ramping up its patching schedule thanks to AI-assisted vulnerability discovery.