(((Wait a minute – a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis that kills people in TWO WEEKS? How can that possibly be true? I can't even get through my blogroll in two weeks! This is sci-fi disaster-catastrophe territory: ninety-eight percent of us will be dead by 2008 and the survivors will be coughing up chunks of lung as we thumb through vintage paperbacks of George Stewart's EARTH ABIDES.... So much for that carbon-emissions problem... Paging Mr Cascio, your Apocalypse Rating Scale is waiting on line one...)))
You Probably Aren’t Going to Get the Plague
The death of a lab worker in Russia has authorities looking at whether plague played a role. Even if it did, though, the odds of it spreading are very low.
Emily Mullin
What to Know About Shamonda Virus Following the First Reported Human Infection
Although the case is considered exceptional, investigators are working to determine how the infection occurred and whether the pathogen played a role in the patient’s death.
Fernanda González
Earth’s Condition Is ‘Serious and Getting Worse’ as Climate Change Intensifies
Seven of 16 planetary vital signs are in their most extreme state ever recorded, and El Niño is here to make matters even worse.
Brian Kahn
The Atlantic’s Near-Record Hurricane Drought Is About to End
Tropical Storm Isaias is set to become the basin’s first hurricane of the season, bringing life-threatening rain and storm surge to the Gulf Coast.
Brian Kahn
WIRED Ghost Stories
Five hauntings from the other side of technology.
People Are Creating ‘Survival Guides’ to Cope With the ‘AO3 Apocalypse’
The fanfic site could be down for weeks due to a “security incident.” Users are not taking it well.
Ej Dickson
Anthropic Says It Will Revolutionize Biology—Some Day
In breathless press releases and posts, the company has touted its models’ ability to deliver scientific breakthroughs. But its IPO filing taps the brakes on just how fast its AI will lead to big discoveries.
Emily Mullin
Pour One Out for the Leap Second
The metric might not mean much to laypeople, but leap seconds have been a source of contention in the timekeeping community for years. Now, they’re dead.
Brian Kahn
Let’s Talk About the Super El Niño and Climate Change
Here’s what we know about the record-setting El Niño on a record-hot planet, and the most important questions scientists are trying to answer.
Fernanda González
Please Let the Internet Die
Online spaces are captured by oligarchs and saturated with slop—and they’re exacerbating humanity’s worst impulses. It’s time to start over.
Miles Klee
Oil Spills Wreak Havoc on the Bottom of the Ocean, Even a Decade Later
While oil is known to float, new research finds that over time it can permeate even extremely deep marine habitats, with animal populations declining by as much as 80 percent.
Bob Berwyn
An AI Breakthrough Has Made Decades of Computer Science Research ‘Irrelevant’
Anthropic and OpenAI say they’ve disproved a key tenet of computer science. Researchers are struggling with the fall but also feel like “overexcited bunnies” as they look at new questions to explore.
Isabella Ward