What's New

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to one count of espionage in US court on Wednesday, ending a years-long legal battle between the US government and a controversial publisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The aftermath of a disaster like Covid can be divided into roughly three stages: the honeymoon, the slump, and the uptick. The aim is always to build back better—but in some cases that never happens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this week, WIRED published a story about the AI-powered search startup Perplexity, which Forbes has accused of plagiarism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The humble potato is a miraculous vegetable, but Americans are eating less of them than ever before and have ditched fresh potatoes for frozen. Is it time to rebrand the spud? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Students and young workers from more than 120 universities have pledged to refuse work at Google and Amazon until the Israeli contract is dropped. 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

Companies aren’t replacing workers with AI yet. But they are sacrificing thousands of jobs in the race to further innovation in the technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Food app Too Good To Go promises to cut waste by directing hungry bargain hunters to leftover restaurant food. But the week we spent living off the app had me wondering if Too Good To Go is too good to be true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Astronomers show how a 50-meter space rock orbiting near Earth isn’t a typical asteroid: It probably blasted off the moon millions of years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Other tech companies want to sell you chatbots. Apple’s demos show the value of seeing the AI as an integrated, holistic experience rather than a stand-alone app or device. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Susan Rice, who helped the White House broker an AI safety agreement with OpenAI and other tech companies, says she's worried China will steal American AI secrets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Foam rubber—like the filling inside your couch—produces an enormous amount of CO2. A Norwegian company called Agoprene thinks seaweed could be the solution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As if trying to land a new gig isn't demoralizing enough, job seekers are meeting with characters powered by generative AI who are capable of meeting with infinite candidates to judge their skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The number of alleged hacks targeting the customers of cloud storage firm Snowflake appears to be snowballing into one of the biggest data breaches of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FDA is considering approving MDMA alongside psychotherapy as a treatment for PTSD. But evidence of the drug’s effectiveness isn’t clear cut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Highly caffeinated drinks have become a cultural staple. But following a death allegedly related to Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade, has our collective obsession with energy drinks become unsafe? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Startup Light Bio has created a bioluminescent petunia using mushroom genes and plans to start shipping the plants next spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists know enough about exoplanets to speculate about how simple plants might arise on them. But don't count on them being green.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Investor Marc Andreessen called tech ethics and safety teams “the enemy” in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” last year. Today he clarified he’s in favor of online guardrails for his 9-year-old son. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show Science, Spoken. Christopher Columbus was blamed for bringing syphilis to Europe. New DNA evidence suggests it was already there. Maybe both stories are true. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wyoming’s secretary of state has proposed ways of “preventing fraud and abuse of corporate filings by commercial registered agents” in the aftermath of the scheme’s exposure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot are becoming part of everyday business life. But they come with privacy and security considerations you should know about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Data breaches at Ticketmaster and financial services company Santander have been linked to attacks against cloud provider Snowflake. Researchers fear more breaches will soon be uncovered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google rushed out fixes after its AI search feature made errors that went viral. Fundamental limitations of generative AI mean that it will still screw up sometimes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show Business, Spoken. Tiny houses started as a minimalist revolution. They ended up as an Instagram aesthetic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices