Society

For people who make video games, 2024 was a year of holding on for dear life. At the annual Game Developers Conference in March, “Survive till ’25” was this year’s incantation, summoned to keep morale on pace. Others resorted to full-on screams, as layoffs in the industry charted record highs and developers found themselves under…

Chi Vibes on the Edge Curved Edge Hairstyling Iron for $110: I’m a longtime Chi devotee, having owned and loved the original ceramic flat iron until it broke after a decade. So I admit, I was excited to zhuzh up my bathroom counter with this metallic-rainbow version from Chi’s Vibes line. The 1- or 1.5-inch…

A wooded area. A roaring fire. A bit of gently falling snow. This is my happy place. Except, it’s not out my window; it’s on TikTok. For months I have “taught” TikTok to serve me this content: people, usually dudes, building shelters by hand in the wilderness. Most of them are ultra-sped-up timelapses that start…

In the game known as the streaming wars, Disney+ came out swinging, bringing with it a massive library of movies and TV shows—with new ones being added all the time. Watched everything on Netflix? Disney+ has a seemingly endless selection of Marvel movies and plenty of Star Wars and Pixar fare too. Problem is, there’s…

Within 24 hours of centibillionaire Elon Musk using his X platform to upend a congressional funding bill and push the federal government to the brink of a shutdown, three GOP lawmakers are now calling for him to be named Speaker of the House. On Thursday, Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, was the first to…

The US Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Wednesday after congressional leaders earlier this month stripped the bill of provisions designed to safeguard against excessive government surveillance. The “must-pass” legislation now heads to President Joe Biden for his expected signature. The Senate’s 85–14 vote cements a major expansion of a controversial US…

These images were created by an artist known as Botto, which exhibited at Sotheby’s in New York this October and has made more than $4 million from sales of its work. In truth though, Botto needs only GPUs to get creative juices flowing. Botto is a decentralized semi-autonomous artistic agent created in 2021 by the…

We all know you can fake a watch or a handbag, but a wine? It’s a real thing, and much more widespread than you might imagine. Accurate estimates for the scale of the problem are hard to come by, but most experts—as well as bodies such as Interpol and the World Trade Organization—settle on a…

In 2025, AI and climate change, two of the biggest societal disruptors we’re facing, will collide. The summer of 2024 broke the record for Earth’s hottest day since data collection began, sparking widespread media coverage and public debate. This also happens to be the year that both Microsoft and Google, two of the leading big…

THIS MONTH’S PROMPT In six words, write a story about octopuses. Submit stories on X or Instagram, or email us at [email protected]. We’ll choose one to illustrate. Disclaimer: All #WiredSixWord submissions become the property of WIRED. Submissions will not be acknowledged or returned. Submissions and any other materials, including your name or social media handle,…