Horse Hoisted from a Sewage-Filled Septic Tank in Rural New South Wales: Inside a High-Risk, Unusual Rescue
A horse in rural New South Wales fell through a septic tank and was lifted to safety by emergency responders using an excavator. Here’s how a risky, messy operation became a successful large‑animal rescue—and what property owners can learn from it.
A 190-Million-Year-Old ‘Sword Dragon’ Ichthyosaur Reframes Early Jurassic Evolution
A remarkably complete, sword‑snouted ichthyosaur from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast illuminates a murky Early Jurassic turnover, capturing anatomy, ecology, and timing in one fossil.
Pentagon buyer: We're happy with our launch industry, but payloads are lagging
A senior defense acquisition official says rockets are no longer the pacing item—spacecraft and sensors are. The Pentagon wants missions built and fielded in months, not years.
The 6 Best Duffel Bags the WIRED Team Travel-Tested—and What Their Picks Reveal About Modern Luggage
WIRED’s latest duffel guide crowns the Eastpak Duffel Pack S Tarp Black2 as its top pick. Here’s why that matters, how to choose a duffel in 2026, and the trade-offs behind the six archetypes of great carry.
Klipsch’s Flexus Core 200 Deal: A Smart, Modular Entry Point to Real Surround Sound
A $50 discount on Klipsch’s Flexus Core 200 soundbar makes it an appealing gateway to true surround—thanks to easy add‑on wireless surrounds and a subwoofer when you’re ready to upgrade.
The Uneasy Future of AI: Why Researchers Are Leaving, Why Bots Are Posting Job Reqs, and Why a Glossy Mag Threw the Week’s Most Telling Party
Resignations from elite AI labs, autonomous agents contracting human labor, and a chic party hosted by a conservative women’s magazine all point to the same thing: power, values, and incentives in AI are shifting—fast.
The Battery Buildout That’s Quietly Rewiring America’s Power Grid
Utility-scale batteries surged onto US grids last year, shifting solar into the evening, calming price spikes, and nibbling at gas peakers—despite political noise. Here’s why it happened and what it changes next.
The first cars bold enough to drive themselves
Before lidar domes and Level 4 dashboards, a Spanish inventor steered boats and tricycles by radio. That quirky lineage—from teleoperated curiosities to today’s robotaxis—shows autonomy grew from a century of bold hacks, not overnight magic.
Creatine Supplements Are Everywhere. Do You Actually Need Them?
Creatine has surged from gym staple to mainstream wellness booster. Here’s what the science really says, who benefits, who should skip it, and how to use it safely.
How to Hide Google’s AI Overviews From Your Search Results
Tired of Google’s AI summaries crowding out links? Here are reliable, practical ways to push AI Overviews out of view—on desktop and mobile—plus alternatives if you’re ready to switch search engines.
NASA Pushes Artemis II to April After Helium Flow Setback: What It Means and Why It’s Not a Surprise
A hiccup in the Space Launch System’s helium flow has pushed NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission from early March to April. Here’s what went wrong, why helium matters, and how this delay fits the broader moon-to-Mars roadmap.
Rockets, reentry, and the stratosphere: A clearer picture of how spaceflight pollutes the air above our weather
A new peer‑reviewed analysis sharpens our view of how rocket exhaust and satellite reentries inject soot, chlorine, water, and metals into the stratosphere—small in mass but large in impact per kilogram. Here’s what it means for ozone, climate, and the fast‑growing launch industry.
Down Fill Power, Fill Weight, and Synthetics (2026): How Warmth Really Works
Labels shout 800, 900, even 1000—but fill power alone won’t tell you how warm a jacket, sleeping bag, or duvet will feel. Here’s how to decode insulation in 2026.
At-Home STI Tests in 2026: How They Work, When to Use Them, and What’s Next
At-home STI tests are more available and more capable than ever. Here’s how to choose wisely, avoid common pitfalls, and know when a clinic visit is still the better call.
The Last Port Standing: Why Six Headphone‑Jack Phones Still Matter in 2026
Headphone jacks are rare on new phones, but not extinct. Here’s what WIRED’s latest roundup signals about the state of wired audio in 2026—and how to buy wisely.
Sony’s WH-CH720N Are Budget Noise‑Cancelers Done Right—and This Week, They’re Cheaper Than Ever
Sony’s featherweight WH‑CH720N already punch above their price in comfort and features. With a fresh round of discounts pushing them under the psychologically key $100 mark, they’re one of the safest headphone buys of early 2026.
NASA plans a rollback: Why Artemis II must return to the hangar before its lunar flyby
NASA will return the Artemis II rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building to fix issues that require indoor access and work platforms—an unwelcome, but not unusual, step in the run‑up to the first crewed lunar mission of the program.
Dinosaur eggshells as tiny atomic clocks: a new way to date fossil beds
Geologists can now use the calcite in dinosaur eggshells to lock in uranium–lead isotopes, turning common nest fragments into precise age anchors for entire fossil sites.
Mapping the “Celtic curse”: a new genetic heatmap spotlights iron overload hotspots in Scotland and Ireland
A new fine-grained map of hereditary hemochromatosis risk across the UK and Ireland highlights striking clusters in the Outer Hebrides and north‑west Ireland, where roughly 1 in 54 people may carry high‑risk HFE genotypes. The findings revive debates about targeted screening, early treatment, and how to discuss ancestry-linked disease without stigma.
Commercial genetic testing is racing ahead—will it change who we are, even if it doesn’t work?
A new book argues that consumer and reproductive genetic tests could narrow human diversity and widen inequality—regardless of their scientific limits. Here’s how hype, incentives, and misunderstanding can transform society faster than DNA ever will.
The Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling Won’t Bring Car Prices Back to Earth
A headline-grabbing Supreme Court decision clipped one tool for imposing trade barriers, but it won’t unwind the tangle of tariffs, supply constraints, and market forces that keep car prices high. Here’s why showroom stickers won’t plunge—and what to watch next.
A 10% Import Surcharge by Executive Order: Tech’s Next Supply Chain Shock After a Supreme Court Showdown
After the Supreme Court curtailed his trade authority, President Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% across-the-board import duty. Here’s what that means for chips, cloud, consumer gadgets, and the legal fight now barreling toward the US Court of International Trade.
Astronomers Confirm an Almost-All–Dark-Matter Galaxy Hiding in Plain Sight
What looked like four faint star clusters turned out to be fragments of a single, ghostly galaxy—one whose mass is overwhelmingly dark matter. Here’s how scientists pieced it together and why it matters for the hunt to understand the universe’s invisible majority.
DHS’s Push for a Single Biometric Search Engine, Explained
Homeland Security is moving to unify face and fingerprint searches across its components. Here’s what it means for privacy, accuracy, and interagency power—and what to watch next.