This year radically changed what live events—at least those that weren’t canceled—look like. It also taught organizers some lessons.

From record-beating scientific discoveries to an elephant baby boom, this year was about much more than just a global pandemic.

This year saw plenty of destructive hacking and disinformation campaigns—but amid a pandemic and a historic election, the consequences have never been graver.

If streaming can’t cure your stay-at-home blues, a spinning platter just might do the trick.

Eric Green, head of the nation’s top genomics research institute, looks back on how far the field has come and shares his bold vision for the future.

Last generation, PCs outpowered consoles by a significant margin. This time around, the game is much closer, and the software is catching up too.

2020 was a great year for ransomware gangs. For hospitals, schools, municipal governments, and everyone else, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

After a year of protests against racial inequality and industry vows to do better, Black founders are still getting left out of Silicon Valley’s financial engine.

With lots of research, arrows, and an inviting color palette, artists helped transform complex research into useful information.

Michael Almereyda’s future-minded Shakespeare adaptation (with a WIRED cameo) is 20 years old. Now it feels like an eerie premonition.

This experimental Android phone has a screen that rotates, exposing a second, smaller screen underneath.

Among the misery and isolation of 2020, my secret Instagram became a portal to solace and a newer self.

Between glimpses of a medical cure and winning science’s shiniest prize, this proved to the gene-editing technology’s biggest year yet.

It was a mistake that cost 300,000 lives.

Phone calls. Web searches. Location tracks. Smart speaker requests. They’ve become crucial tools for law enforcement, while users often are unaware.

These organic LED panels, usually seen on pricier TVs, are finally dipping to more affordable prices.

Mathematicians have long pondered a deceptively easy puzzle about the reach of a goat tied to a fence. Until now, they’ve only found approximate answers.

The pandemic and the election forced social media platforms to police false information like never before—but we have no clue if that solved anything.

From ransomware schemes to supply chain attacks, this year melded classic hacks with extraordinary circumstances.

Got some new cash to spend? Some of our favorite gadgets and gizmos we've tested and recommend are still discounted.

Plus: Dozens of reporters get hit by an iMessage exploit, continued fallout from the SolarWinds hack, and more of the week’s top security news.

The hottest app of early 2010 faded quickly when it was flooded with unwanted nudity. Smarter content moderation is helping to revive it.

As the Trump era wanes, there is a sense of optimism about what the accord could achieve, five years in—but only if countries meet their targets.

These are the games, both old and new, that we relied on to blow off steam, to hang out online, or just to feel better this year.

Jon Petersen's latest book, The Elusive Shift, shows how games like Dungeons & Dragons came to be known, controversially, as RPGs.

"OK Google, help me set up my Google Nest Mini."

The future is here, and it's atmospherically superior.

Adorable puppies and baby cheeks don't just make us feel good—they change our behavior in surprising ways.

Wait, isn’t that fancy new TV supposed to deliver bright, beautiful images? If yours is a little dimmer than expected, we can help.

Two new disaster movies, Greenland and Songbird, came out this month. Whether they succeed or not may change the genre’s fate.

If you were just gifted a new phone, smartwatch, or home entertainment device, here's what to do with it.

You might’ve missed them when they came out. Here’s what you should catch up on—and how to stream them.

The social media giant would have you believe that Apple’s privacy update will hurt the little guys. But Facebook’s motives aren’t so altruistic.

This round of next-gen gaming consoles comes with features that make the most of 4K and HDR. But you'll still get some benefits without shelling out.

It’s also a contender for the worst product name of 2020.

Despite some big-name disappointments, this was a great year for gaming. And more than a few came out of nowhere to steal our hearts.

Total traffic deaths fell during pandemic lockdowns. But fatalities per mile traveled rose, due to faster driving, fewer cops, and more drug use.

The high-altitude tree is vital to its ecosystem, but it’s being decimated by a fungus. Its admirers are fusing old and new methods to bring it back.

Prioritize people who are immunocompromised for early vaccination.

From turntables to smart water bottles, here are the things that brought the WIRED gear team irrational delight in this most atypical year.

David Silver of DeepMind, who helped create the program that defeated a Go champion, thinks rewards are central to how machines—and humans—acquire knowledge.

In a weird way, I’ve known Ray Holt all my life, but I never knew what he had accomplished—or how his inventions wove their way into my own family.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna's mRNA platforms are amazing—but they could easily have been overtaken by more conventional rivals.

Our sardonic superhero needs to get the timing just right to crash through the sunroof and beat up the bad guys.

During a global pandemic, the fear of missing out was replaced by something else: dread over not experiencing what could have been.

If our government wants to implement a tech-forward agenda, it needs someone who looks at broken infrastructure with a debugger’s eye.

In Washington state, scientists, coastal communities, and state agencies are banding together to manage the growing threat of harmful algal blooms.

2020 wasn't just a year for big-budget blockbusters. Here are the best debuts from smaller shops—that are all worth playing into 2021.

Thanks to a rounded design and improved drivers, the company’s newest smart speaker outshines the competition.