New York is a city of columns. Architecturally, at least, the cityscape gives that impression. Buildings of varying scale, color, physical shape, density, and panache decorate the skyline with a seeming vertical imperviousness. In fact, one could even stipulate that these buildings are working toward a kind of alloyed beauty. “Despair and resilience are recurring…

Hope everyone enjoyed a relaxing August break because September is here and so, too, is yet another Democratic presidential primary debate. The party’s 10 leading candidates are set to gather onstage in Houston tonight for the third Democratic debate of the 2020 election cycle. And unlike the previous multi-night, 20-person speed-dating extravaganzas, this time’s one-night-only…

For nearly three years, the December 2016 cyberattack on the Ukrainian power grid has presented a menacing puzzle. Two days before Christmas that year, Russian hackers planted a unique specimen of malware in the network of Ukraine's national grid operator, Ukrenergo. Just before midnight, they used it to open every circuit breaker in a transmission…

Hello, and welcome to a spankin' new edition of The Monitor, WIRED's culture news roundup. What's the new news today? For starters, CBS All Access' adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand is rounding out its cast. Also, Oscar nominee—and self-pleasure enthusiast—Hailee Steinfeld might be the new Hawkeye. Here we go!Hailee Steinfeld Might Be the New…

Humans unleash mountains of plastic into the sea each year, and that rate is only accelerating as plastic production grows around the world. The confounding bit is that scientists know little about where all that plastic is ending up—in gyres like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, yes, but that’s just a fraction of the debris…

Growing up in the 1960s and '70s, Steven B. Smith couldn't wait to escape the small, nearly all-Mormon town of Springville, Utah. In those Cold War years, many Mormons believed the apocalypse was imminent, in the form of a nuclear holocaust. "We were truly living in the last days before the Earth would be destroyed…

Time to shelve the beach reads and get a bit more serious. As fall approaches, it brings with it scores of Significant New Books—perfect for stimulating your brain on chilly days and nights. From genre fiction (Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, the best Stephen King in years) to nonfiction (memoirs by Carmen Maria…

Paul Brest didn’t set out to transform philanthropy. A constitutional law scholar who clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Harlan and is credited with coining the term “originalism,” Brest spent…

This week, as they do every year around this time, Apple executives rotated through a few mostly predictable announcements. There are new iPhones with fun camera tricks, a new Apple Watch with an always-on display, and surprisingly affordable gaming and streaming TV subscriptions. But maybe the most significant addition to Apple's hardware stable didn't make…

Another consumer finance business is lining up investors for its largest cash infusion yet. Affirm, founded by PayPal’s Max Levchin, is said to be raising as much as $1.5 billion…