On Tuesday, Twitter hosted a small press event at its headquarters in San Francisco. It was a hot day, a welcome break from the city’s characteristic fog. The second floor of the newly remodeled building was filled with employees in T-shirts and sundresses, buzzing with excitement among tables stocked with popcorn and cupcake shooters. Tech…

For a question with so much riding on it—does using politically correct language actually make a person less of a jerk?—the test was deceptively simple.Here’s what you do: Show people a sketch of a cartoon person—circle-for-head, ovals for arms and body—with a dotted line linking it to an equally cartoony thing, a balloon-animal dog. Over…

Mayak, a nuclear processing facility in Russia's Ural Mountains, was trying to create an unusually compact and radioactive material for a physics experiment in Italy.AlamyOn October 2, 2017, scientists from an Italian laboratory issued an alert: They had detected radioactive ruthenium-106 in the air in Milan. It was not enough to be dangerous, but it…

Phil Barker/T3 Magazine/Getty ImagesThese days, any moderately skilled virtual assistant can serve your immediate needs—tell me the weather, play me a song—and anticipate the things you’ll need later. Ask Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google's Assistant to set a reminder, and at some point you’ll get a nudge on your smartphone or smart home device…

Good day, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s culture news roundup. What’s happening this week? For one, it looks like we might have a new Snake Eyes. Also, Netflix is adapting a New Yorker sci-fi story and Phoebe Robinson is going to Comedy Central. Let’s get started!Crazy Rich Asians Star Henry Golding…

The four-year-old, Southern California athletic brand Vuori has picked up a $45 million growth equity investment from the investment firm Norwest Venture Partners. The company, which says it’s profitable, will…

Elena Lacey; Getty ImagesTBH, I'd almost forgotten about Tumblr. Despite the fact that it's been on my iPhone's home screen for years, I never open it. Until Tuesday, when word went around that WordPress owner Automattic had bought the microblogging service from Verizon, the only person I could remember following on the service was Wil…

Its generally agreed that Higher Education in the United States has gradually become more and more unaffordable. Students are dependent on external financial resources for which many of them do…

When Judge Amy Berman Jackson emerged into the courtroom through a door cut seamlessly into the wooden veneer of the wall, she commanded my full attention.I have served powerful women many times before in my life—senators, secretaries of state, opposition leaders—and knew how to bow before them. Today was a variation on the theme: I…

WebKit, the open source engine that underpins Internet browsers including Apple’s Safari browser, has announced a new tracking prevention policy that takes the strictest line yet on the background and…