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Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop He shed his identity with the goal of disappearing for one month. Then the manhunt began. Written by Evan Ratliff. Originally published on November 20th, 2009. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Including what Elizabeth Holmes said to him last week. A WIRED exclusive interview with the comic auteur, as his first feature film hits theaters. The conversation between Katie Drummond and Nathan Fielder is performed by voice actors. These are not their actual voices. Written by Katie Drummond. Originally published on October 19th, 2026. Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back. Written by EJ Dickson. Originally published on September 14th, 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Microsoft spawned two billionaires. Paul Allen is the other one. Written by Paulina Borsook. Originally published on August 1st, 1994. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop A cat wearing a short tie plays music on a cat-shaped keyboard (“Pancake Meowsic Video,” 185,459 views). A woman performs sun salutations with a cat on her back (“Cat Loves Yoga,” 1,539 views). A man slaps two cats on an ironing board to the beat of “Atmosphere” (“Cat Slap Joy Division,” 357,605 views). Written by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Originally published on August 31st, 2012. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Soon, hundreds of new top-level domains, including .meow and .fart, could be added to the internet. WIRED goes inside the backroom shenanigans of ICANN, the organization at the helm. Written by Pete Millspaugh. Originally published on October 6th, 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Right now, there are no rules to keep you from owning a bitchin’ corporate name as your own internet address. Written by Joshua Quittner. Originally published on October 1st, 1994. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Our most powerful 21st-century technologies—robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech—are threatening to make humans an endangered species. Written by Bill Joy. Originally published on April 1st, 2000. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Lost time. Lost jobs. Lost friends. Lost family. Lost Lives. How Israeli checkpoints suffocate Palestinian life in the occupied West Bank. Written by Lama Rabah, Sabrina Slipchenko, Charles Boutaud, Firas Tawil and Elena DeBre. Originally published on September 30th 2026. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Digging through manuals for security cameras, a group of gearheads found sinister details and ignited a new battle in the US-China tech war. Written by Amos Zeeberg. Originally published on April 4th, 2023. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Dispatches from the New American Holiday: Writer Bruce Sterling takes the kids to the Temporary Autonomous Zone, where survival is a personal choice. Written by Bruce Sterling. Originally published in WIRED on November 1st, 1996. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No IVF. No surrogacy. No polygenic tests. Emma Waters is leading a national fight against fertility tech—with her hot husband’s permission, of course.For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to more of The Big Story here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop The novelist makes the Earthly rituals of sex, marriage, childbirth—and all of human life—appear delightfully outlandish. For more of the most ambitious, future-defining stories from our favorite human writers, subscribe to The Big Story newsletter: https://www.wired.com/newsletter/the-big-story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DC went to YC to talk OS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Trump told crypto enthusiasts exactly what they want to hear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Platforms combining plants and recycled garbage could offer a cut-price solution for reviving polluted bodies of water. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A controversial new surveillance system in Paris foreshadows a future where there are too many CCTV cameras for humans to physically watch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenResearch released the first results of the most comprehensive study on giving unrestricted cash grants to impoverished Americans. Researchers say it will flame both sides of the debate over welfare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The software company has pushed back hard against claims that its algorithms helped make rent in the US too damn high. Property owners and managers aren't entirely convinced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Alphabet-owned driverless car service is getting aggressive against alleged vandals after a series of violent incidents in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Republican VP nominee's Venmo network reveals connections ranging from the architects of Project 2025 to enemies of Donald Trump—and the populist's close ties to the very elites he rails against. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The music streaming service has added a comment function under podcasts. Who is it for, anyway? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French politicians’ pledge to make swimming possible in the iconic river is a way to ward off criticism about the cost of the clean up operation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a roundabout bid to win public opinion (and a juicy tax abatement,) Riot Platforms is preparing for its prized bitcoin mine to be annexed by a miniscule village in rural Texas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new resolution echoes what 16 members of Congress have already said to the White House: It must do more to free one of the most storied crypto-focused federal agents in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arab and Muslim workers at Meta allege that its response to the crisis in Gaza is one-sided and out of hand. “It makes me sick that I work for this company,” says one employee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the latest iOS overhaul prompted by European Union rules, the smartphone maker will give third-party developers access to its payment technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fortnite creator Epic Games says Apple rejected its App Store rival for being too similar to its own—a move it deemed “arbitrary, obstructive,” and in violation of EU rules. 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

The new government could bring about a renaissance in UK tech and bolster the country’s precarious post-Brexit startup pipeline. That’s if politics don’t get in the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former customers of bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox are preparing to be reunited with their lost bitcoin—and it's a $9bn windfall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A hot ocean provides the energy hurricanes need to grow—and can limit the cooling that happens in their wake, making it likelier that the storms that follow will be powerful ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Upside Foods is slashing staff, citing legislative, regulatory, and funding headwinds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the latest big tech reprimand, European Commission officials say the tech giant must offer another option for EU users to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With polls suggesting voters are about to swing toward the far right or hard left, the AI industry is starting to freak out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Having humans rate a language model’s outputs produced clever chatbots. OpenAI says adding AI to the loop could help make them even smarter and more reliable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Toxic air kills over half a million children every year, yet only once has air pollution been listed as a cause of death on a death certificate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

2022’s NASA mission proved it was possible to knock an incoming near-Earth object off course. But that creates debris—which might also be a threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US says a Chinese national operated the “911 S5” botnet, which included computers worldwide and was used to file hundreds of thousands of fraudulent Covid claims and distribute CSAM, among other crimes. 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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show Science, Spoken. A clinical trial reveals the first evidence of how the brain restructures physically in the first month on SSRIs—and the link between neuroplasticity and depression. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US military aims to maintain its dominance by building autonomous attack drones that collaborate with humans and overwhelm defenses in swarms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Solar winds at a million miles an hour and freaky magnetic turbulence are sparking some of the best light shows in centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Chinese-owned app is in serious trouble in Washington, but a survey of US creators suggests TikTok’s influencer economy is carrying on with business as usual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Scarlett Johansson pursues legal action against OpenAI for giving ChatGPT a voice she calls “eerily similar to mine,” she might claim the company breached her right to publicity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing you a special episode from our Business, Spoken show. Check it out wherever you're listening. Tech companies have laid off more than 400,000 people in the past two years. Competition for the jobs that remain is getting more and more desperate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They predict the ups and downs of Bitcoin based on planetary movements, and their super-secretive clientele listens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ken Segall is the reason so many Apple products start with “i.” Now he says it’s time to drop the prefix entirely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We wanted to bring you one of our favorite stories from 2023: The wide-ranging scams, often disguised as game promotions, can all be linked back to one network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The emotional mimicry of OpenAI’s new version of ChatGPT could lead AI assistants in some strange—even dangerous—directions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Loaded with ever more renewables, the grid will need to store a whole lot of energy. Enter: a new kind of magic school bus—one that can both charge and give power back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alexey Pertsev, cofounder of the crypto-anonymizing tool, has been sentenced to over five years behind bars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wearable AI gadgets from Rabbit and Humane were panned by reviewers, including at WIRED. Their face-plants show that it’s still tough to compete with big tech in the age of ChatGPT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neuralink experienced a mechanical issue with its first human brain-computer interface implant. Its novel design may make it more prone to failure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had both a brain parasite and mercury poisoning at the same time. Just how rare is each condition? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OpenAI released draft guidelines for how it wants the AI technology inside ChatGPT to behave—and revealed that it’s exploring how to ‘responsibly’ generate explicit content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ChatGPT developer OpenAI says that artists and other content owners will be able to request that their work be excluded from use in AI development. Many details of the scheme remain unclear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With little incentive for US farmers to test their cattle, and many undocumented laborers on dairy farms, the full scale of the outbreak is unclear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Biden administration is asking tech companies to sign a pledge, obtained by WIRED, to improve their digital security, including reduced default password use and improved vulnerability disclosures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Joe Biden will update the directives to protect US critical infrastructure against major threats, from cyberattacks to terrorism to climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FCC voted 3-2 to restore net neutrality rules that had disappeared during the Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The FCC voted 3-2 to restore net neutrality rules that had disappeared during the Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WIRED found thousands of ads running on Meta’s social platforms promoting sexually explicit “AI girlfriend” apps. Some human sex workers say the platform unfairly polices their own posts more harshly. 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 new rule from the US Federal Trade Commission invalidates most noncompete agreements, frequently used to bind tech workers. It could unlock higher wages, and more entrepreneurship and innovation. 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 Bitcoin halving is imminent. Crypto mining companies are reaching for every trick in the book to survive 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

Sales of vegan meat are trending downward in the US, with companies scrambling to win back customers. 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

Smooth-talking scammers known as “Yahoo Boys” use widely available face-swapping tech to carry out elaborate romance scams. 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

AngryGF offers a perpetually enraged chatbot intended to teach men better communication skills. WIRED took it for a spin. 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

Elisa Shupe was initially rebuffed when she tried to copyright a book she wrote with help from ChatGPT. Now the US Copyright Office has changed course—but there’s a catch. 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 employees are staging sit-ins and protests at company offices in New York and California over “Project Nimbus,” a cloud contract with Israel's government, as the country's war with Hamas continues. 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

Want one of the fastest-growing jobs in the US? Get used to being 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

H5N1 has infected cattle across the US and jumped from a mammal to a human for the first time. Experts fear it may someday evolve to spread among humans. 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

Transparency advocates say that Eric Schmidt's pursuit of “personal” connections with AI companies in China represents a concerning conflict of interest. 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

In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland had not done enough to protect its citizens from climate change—blowing open the door for further cases against governments. 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