Gallery: The Recluse Who Hunts Assassins (the Insect Variety)
Ilana Panich-Linsman01WiredKB-11.jpg
To catch kissing bugs, Brown strings up a white sheet and illuminates it with an incandescent light bulb. He often finds kissing bugs crawling on the floor near it, drawn to the light.
Ilana Panich-Linsman02WiredKB-14.jpg
Brown holds a kissing bug in his bare hands. Scientist caution people who collect kissing bugs never to touch them with their bare hands.
Ilana Panich-Linsman03WiredKB-01.jpg
Brown keeps bug he catches in expired pill bottles in his freezer.
Ilana Panich-Linsman04WiredKB-12.jpg
Brown notes the location, time and date where each bug was found and slips it in the a pill bottle with the bug.
Ilana Panich-Linsman05WiredKB-05.jpg
Brown spends much of his time wandering his property.
Ilana Panich-Linsman06WiredKB-09.jpg
Brown climbs an eight-story tower he built besides his house for ham radio.
Ilana Panich-Linsman07WiredKB-13.jpg
Brown finds a kissing bug on the radio tower.
Ilana Panich-Linsman08WiredKB-02.jpg
Brown holds a "kissing bug" that he pulled out of a pill bottle in his freezer. Scientist caution people who collect kissing bugs never to touch them with their bare hands.
Ilana Panich-Linsman09WiredKB-04.jpg
Brown surveys his land. He lives on 153 acres in Lexington, Texas.
Ilana Panich-Linsman10WiredKB-07.jpg
Brown chooses to live a quiet, isolated life immersed in nature.
I Tried to Make My Backyard Mosquito-Free. Here’s What Worked
After years of testing repellents, traps, and sprays, I found a few ways to keep the bugs at bay—and plenty that aren’t worth the effort.
Christopher Null
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
WIRED Ghost Stories
Five hauntings from the other side of technology.
Treat Yourself to Deals on Our Favorite Phone Chargers
Avoid the scariest thing this Halloween (your phone at 1 percent) with Anker's 20 percent off sale on all charging gear.
Kat Merck
Demi Adejuyigbe Thinks You Should Only Post 3 Times a Day
The comedian sees being online as similar to visiting the zoo. “I don’t need to interact with that,” he says. “It’s just a thing that I enjoy, and then I walk away.”
Miles Klee
20 Best Gifts for Men, Manly Men, and Manly Man Men
When you need something that’s as mannishly masculinized as you can get for the Man™ in your life, we have you covered.
Matthew Korfhage
Cool, Cool, Cool, Palmer Luckey and Ben Lamm Made a Genetically Modified Military Dog Startup
Warhound came out of stealth on Wednesday with $200 million in funding and a mission to create “elite working dogs” equipped with "advanced body armor."
Kate Knibbs
An AI Agent Joined a Listserv of Top Internet Researchers. The Reply-All Chaos Is Still Unfolding
Hysteria over the agent's appearance in a 7,500-person group reveals that internet experts have outdated notions of privacy.
Olivia Snow
A Supply Chain Attack Put Malicious Anthropic Claude Extensions on Thousands of Devices
Thanks to a lucky break, flawed code in a tainted Claude extension prevented the attacker from fully worming their way into some 5,000 developer machines.
Lily Hay Newman
A Decade-Long Experiment Is Unlocking the Mysteries of the Ocean’s ‘Deep Reefs’
Scientists left structures up to 100 meters under the surface. Here’s what they found when they retrieved them 10 years later.
Byrd Pinkerton
The PHP Meltdown Shows How AI Makes Bugs More Exploitable
Security researchers used AI tools to help uncover years-old vulnerabilities in the PHP web scripting language. Then the AI-assisted attacks began.
Lily Hay Newman
Can This High-Tech Lockbox Keep Your Holiday Gifts Safe?
Hyve’s smart porch lockbox can secure incoming gifts—if your delivery driver uses it and there’s still room inside.
Christopher Null