What's New

Scientists know enough about exoplanets to speculate about how simple plants might arise on them. But don't count on them being green. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The “last man standing” in X’s threat intelligence team has been fired, as the company guts its election integrity response ahead of a year in which more than 50 countries go to the polls. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A deep learning model has joined a vigorous debate over whether volcanoes began dinosaur doomsday well before the asteroid hit. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US Federal Trade Commission filed a long-anticipated antitrust complaint alleging that Amazon uses its power over sellers to keep ecommerce prices artificially high. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme rain is getting more extreme as temperatures rise. That may seem counterintuitive, but the underlying physics is crystal clear. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

California lawmakers, egged on by unions, voted to require a human onboard autonomous trucks over fears about safety and job losses. Governor Gavin Newsom was having none of it. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fintech unicorn Revolut needs a UK banking license to sustain its growth, but it keeps tripping up. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla isn't involved in the strike at Detroit’s Big Three automakers. But the EV maker and its irrepressible CEO had plenty to do with why the walkouts happened. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world is rapidly heating. So why has the central US been weirdly cool compared to the rest of the country? Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once considered a disease of the affluent, hypertension now affects a third of all adults. The WHO wants nations to get organized to combat it. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A prolonged autoworker strike would be especially painful for smaller players inside the complex auto supply chain. It could also impact thousands more workers and push up car prices. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some 150,000 US autoworkers are poised to strike this week for better pay and pledges that green jobs won’t be worse jobs. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why does some wildlife thrive in the city? Figuring this out is the first step to boosting urban biodiversity. And that's good for everyone. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google’s search dominance is going on trial in the biggest US antitrust case since a crackdown on Big Tech that started in 2019. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meta says it will retire Facebook's "news" tag in the UK, France, and Germany, ahead of rules that might force it to pay for content. Users may not care, but it has left the media scrambling. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world needs thousands of new grid battery installations to fight climate change. They rarely catch fire—but many people are skeptical of having one next door. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here's how to request that your personal information not be used to train Meta's AI model. "Request" is the operative word here. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WhatsApp and Signal have threatened to shut down services in Britain if the Online Safety Bill includes restrictions that undermine encryption. The government is pushing it through anyway. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Agriculture is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, so the US is getting serious about reform. But some scientists say current efforts are misguided. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unpredictable weather and delays following Hurricane Hilary turned the festival for ultra-wealthy techno-utopians and Hedonists into a literal quagmire. Welcome to the new normal. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A nonprofit watchdog group has found that the right-wing group PragerU has pushed out more than 100 political ads on Facebook and Instagram, flouting Meta’s policies. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stephen Thaler’s series of high-profile copyright cases has made headlines worldwide. He’s done it to demonstrate his AI is capable of independent thought. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Turtles’ shells contain a chemical record of the environment—including highly enriched uranium, an indicator of nuclear weapons development. What can we learn from these accidental archivists? Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Threads coming to the web doesn’t mean the new social app is the ultimate Twitter killer, but it makes it infinitely more usable. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social norms—not laws—are the underlying fabric of democracy. The Georgia indictment against Donald Trump is the last remaining tool left to repair that which he’s torn apart. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Talk to you next time for more stories from WIRED.com and read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices