WIRED Science: Space, Health, Biotech, and More

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop He shed his identity with the goal of disappearing for one month. Then the manhunt began. Written by Evan Ratliff. Originally published on November 20th, 2009. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Including what Elizabeth Holmes said to him last week. A WIRED exclusive interview with the comic auteur, as his first feature film hits theaters. The conversation between Katie Drummond and Nathan Fielder is performed by voice actors. These are not their actual voices. Written by Katie Drummond. Originally published on October 19th, 2026. Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back. Written by EJ Dickson. Originally published on September 14th, 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Microsoft spawned two billionaires. Paul Allen is the other one. Written by Paulina Borsook. Originally published on August 1st, 1994. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop A cat wearing a short tie plays music on a cat-shaped keyboard (“Pancake Meowsic Video,” 185,459 views). A woman performs sun salutations with a cat on her back (“Cat Loves Yoga,” 1,539 views). A man slaps two cats on an ironing board to the beat of “Atmosphere” (“Cat Slap Joy Division,” 357,605 views). Written by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Originally published on August 31st, 2012. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Soon, hundreds of new top-level domains, including .meow and .fart, could be added to the internet. WIRED goes inside the backroom shenanigans of ICANN, the organization at the helm. Written by Pete Millspaugh. Originally published on October 6th, 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Right now, there are no rules to keep you from owning a bitchin’ corporate name as your own internet address. Written by Joshua Quittner. Originally published on October 1st, 1994. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Our most powerful 21st-century technologies—robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech—are threatening to make humans an endangered species. Written by Bill Joy. Originally published on April 1st, 2000. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Lost time. Lost jobs. Lost friends. Lost family. Lost Lives. How Israeli checkpoints suffocate Palestinian life in the occupied West Bank. Written by Lama Rabah, Sabrina Slipchenko, Charles Boutaud, Firas Tawil and Elena DeBre. Originally published on September 30th 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Digging through manuals for security cameras, a group of gearheads found sinister details and ignited a new battle in the US-China tech war. Written by Amos Zeeberg. Originally published on April 4th, 2023. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Dispatches from the New American Holiday: Writer Bruce Sterling takes the kids to the Temporary Autonomous Zone, where survival is a personal choice. Written by Bruce Sterling. Originally published in WIRED on November 1st, 1996. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop No IVF. No surrogacy. No polygenic tests. Emma Waters is leading a national fight against fertility tech—with her hot husband’s permission, of course. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop The novelist makes the Earthly rituals of sex, marriage, childbirth—and all of human life—appear delightfully outlandish. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Human cases keep ticking up, are very likely to be underreported, and offer the virus the opportunity to learn how to spread from person to person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Measles, bedbugs, and dengue have all been cited as concerns for tourists and athletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, with the tropical virus in particular forcing authorities into action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guilt-free air travel is a beautiful dream, but there’s simply no way to get enough solar energy to keep a cabin full of people in the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers believe they have discovered oxygen being produced 4,000 meters below the sea surface, and think polymetallic nodules—the sought-after bounty of deep-sea miners—could be the source. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The next wave of obesity drugs could help people lose even more weight—and make some pharma companies a fortune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Activists believe that the vice president, who is already the leading voice for reproductive rights in the Biden administration, will champion their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Doctors find themselves without critical systems and diagnostic tools—and face the daunting reality that a full recovery could take days—after CrowdStrike’s botched deployment of a software update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Analysis of lunar imagery has ended a longstanding debate over whether there are accessible underground areas on the Moon; an emptied lava tube in the Sea of Tranquility is of particular interest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Missions to explore other worlds, like Mars or Saturn’s moon Titan, could disrupt or destroy extraterrestrial life in the process of seeking it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Legislation in coming years will set up a publicly owned clean power company and leverage the Crown Estate for investment in green infrastructure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Improperly discarded batteries leak toxic chemicals and are prone to exploding. A new program funded by the Department of Energy will prop up battery drop-off sites across the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robotics researchers are exploring how large language models can give physical machines more smarts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a livestreamed update on X, Elon Musk and Neuralink executives gave an update on the company's next study participant—and its next-generation brain implant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Generative artificial intelligence tools, now part of the everyday user experience online, are causing stress on local power grids and mass water evaporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deepfake scam services. Victim data. Electrified shackles for human trafficking. Crypto tracing firm Elliptic found all were available for sale on an online marketplace linked to Cambodia’s ruling family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cheap, low-energy evaporative cooling devices are keeping water, food, people, and even whole buildings cool across India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Much of health care is designed with the “comfortable middle” of society in mind, says designer Yves Behar, when it should be tailored to children, the elderly, and those with disabilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When butterflies not native to South America appeared on a beach in French Guiana, entomologists started sleuthing to prove where they came from—and how they might have got there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than 30 million Brits have the NHS app. This represents an opportunity to transform the health service, which shadow health secretary Wes Streeting calls “an analog system in a digital age.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To improve outcomes for female patients, all evidence needs to be considered—while outdated myths about the significance of sex differences need to be retired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For many patients, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy lead to substantial weight loss. But some see much less benefit, and researchers are trying to figure out why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Collins Aerospace is expected to back out of a contract with NASA, while high interest rates and a difficult supply chain environment have affected Axiom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are biological underpinnings to aging—and so researchers are investigating cell manipulations, transfusions of young blood, and chemical compounds that can mimic low-calorie diets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google’s AI research lab DeepMind is steadily building knowledge of how genes and their products work inside the body—and how and why they sometimes go wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Heatherwick believes architecture has a “nutritional value” to society—and that the public desperately deserve a better offering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a question of when, not if, highly effective treatments become available, says the CEO of Alzheimer’s Research UK. But that doesn’t solve the problem of one-third of dementia patients still going undiagnosed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new project is paying researchers to find errors in other scientists’ work. The only problem? Even error hunters make mistakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With chatbot and AI development largely coming from the US, some EU entrepreneurs and politicians say local champions are needed to prevent a cultural flattening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To understand how to take a match-winning penalty, you’ve got to understand the physics behind the perfect kick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The vehicle mostly survived launch and reentry—key stepping stones toward operational flights of the largest rocket in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme weather threatens the investment value of many properties, but financing for climate mitigation efforts are only just getting going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UK retailers have accused Amazon of using its Buy Box section to choke their businesses, reigniting a years-long debate over whether there was foul play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices