year in review – The News Desk

2Jan

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Technology

The 18 Best EVs Coming in 2024

The Ioniq 7 is expected to be one of the last models to use the Hyundai Group’s E-GMP platform. In 2025 we’ll see the first vehicles based on its next-gen EV platforms: eM and eS. The eM will apparently allow for a 50 percent improvement in range on a single charge, as well as supporting Level 3 autonomous driving or higher. It will also employ the group's “Integrated Modular Architecture,” standardizing key components like battery and motors. The eS is an EV platform for commercial Purpose Built Vehicles like those used for ride pooling, cargo hauling, and deliveries.Range Rover ElectricPhotograph: Land RoverLand Rover has taken its time getting there, but the full electric Range Rover has finally been slated for production in 2024. On-road testing has already begun in all sorts of condi...

1Jan

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The 15 Most Anticipated Shows of 2024

US release date: January 14, MaxDeath and Other DetailsMandy Patinkin goes full Hercule Poirot (minus the pristine mustache) as Rufus Cotesworth, the world’s greatest detective. He’s trapped on a luxury ocean liner with some of the world’s richest and most powerful people, one of whom may be a murderer. It’s up to Cotesworth and his sidekick to figure it all out.US release date: January 16, HuluExpatsNicole Kidman’s first big move to the small screen, in Big Little Lies, was an impressive feat for the Oscar winner. Her more recent television output, including the second season of Big Little Lies, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers, Roar, and the utterly baffling Faraway Downs, has been more miss than hit. Could this Prime series, based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s bestselling novel, turn it aro...

The Foods the World Will Lose to Climate Change

30Dec

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The Foods the World Will Lose to Climate Change

There’s no denying it: Farming had a rough year. Extreme weather spun up storms and floods, unseasonal freezes and baking heat waves, and prolonged parching droughts. In parts of the world in 2023, tomato plants didn’t flower, the peach crop never came in, and the price of olive oil soared.To be a farmer right now—or an agronomist or an agricultural economist—is to recognize how closely those weird weather events are linked to climate change. In fact, when the United Nations Climate Change Summit, known as COP28, ran in Dubai earlier this month, it featured a 134-country pact to integrate planning for sustainable agriculture into countries’ climate road maps.As the agriculture sector looks toward 2024, crop scientists are working to get ahead of ruinously unstable weather. They are envisi...

Spying on Beavers From Space Could Help Save California

29Dec

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Spying on Beavers From Space Could Help Save California

For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building rodents are today hailed by scientists as ecological saviors. Their ponds and wetlands store water in the face of drought, filter out pollutants, furnish habitat for endangered species, and fight wildfires. In California, Castor canadensis is so prized that the state recently committed millions to its restoration.While beavers’ benefits are indisputable, however, our knowledge remains riddled with gaps. We don’t know how many are out there, or which direction their populations are trending, or which watersheds most desperately need a beaver infusion. Few states have systematically surveyed them; moreover, many beaver ponds are tucked into remote streams fa...

The 15 Best Movies You Missed in 2023—and Where to Watch Them

28Dec

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The 15 Best Movies You Missed in 2023—and Where to Watch Them

While Barbenheimer was undoubtedly the biggest movie story of 2023, the year in film was one jam-packed with dozens of truly great movies—not all of which managed to generate the nonstop headlines or mainstream traction that an iconic doll and the “father of the atomic bomb” did. It was a stellar year for first-time directors as well, as evidenced by films like Emily, The Unknown Country, and A Thousand and One.If you’ve seen Barbie, Oppenheimer, and many of the year’s higher-profile movies, here are 15 that you maybe haven’t seen that are definitely worth your time.If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.BlackBerryBetween Air and BlackBerry, business origin stories had a big year in 2023. While the latter go...

WIRED’s 11 Noteworthy Long-form Stories of 2023

27Dec

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WIRED’s 11 Noteworthy Long-form Stories of 2023

Personally, I think you should spend your holiday season reading all of WIRED’s standout features. Start here, work backward. Have fun!But fine, if you insist on spending some of that time with family or friends, we’ve also come up with 11 picks for more focused perusal. Not necessarily the best or most popular stories—as editors, we can’t choose favorites among all our precious children—but a collection that captures the wild range of life and weirdness on this planet in 2023. There’s AI, of course, and TikTok. Hardware and software. Stories that take you inside the biggest hacks of recent history, and personal quests to confirm family lore. Stories are important. We have to believe that, or we wouldn’t be here. And we’ll be here again next year, with even more stories to share. ...

27Dec

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The 10 Best Albums of 2023

The best albums of 2023 were actually released in 2022. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé dominated the year through global stadium tours, blockbuster movies, and countless digital column inches. Beyoncé began the year by performing a lucrative and divisive private concert in Dubai and ended it in Kansas City when her Renaissance tour, an inclusive celebration of queer history and incandescent joy, came to a close. It is estimated that the tour generated $579 million in ticket sales. Swift, meanwhile, embarked on the Eras Tour, cannily marketing the idea of performing classic songs on stage as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.The long lives of Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Swift’s Midnights (plus her ongoing mission to rerecord the studio albums for which she no longer owns the masters) hint at the in...

The Best TV Shows You Missed in 2023—and Where to Watch Them

26Dec

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The Best TV Shows You Missed in 2023—and Where to Watch Them

Even if you believe, as some do, that the world has moved from Peak TV to Trough TV, there are still more shows released in any given year than any one person could consume (trust us, we tried). Between major networks, cable television channels, and streaming services, there’s just too much to watch. You’re bound to miss your new favorite binge-watch. We’re here to help. Below are our picks for the best TV shows you might have missed in 2023.If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.A Spy Among FriendsIn the midst of the Cold War, MI6 intelligence officer Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) is shocked to learn that his longtime friend and colleague Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) has been secretly working for the KGB for t...

The Hollywood Strikes Stopped AI From Taking Your Job. But for How Long?

25Dec

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The Hollywood Strikes Stopped AI From Taking Your Job. But for How Long?

That, in turn, led to increased interest in what protections organized labor could provide workers, even as some unions, like the United Auto Workers and Teamsters, seemed to fall behind on addressing AI’s potential to encroach on jobs. In a recent piece for Harvard Business Review, MIT engineering professor Yossi Sheffi argued short-sightedness on these issues affects both workers and employers, since disengaged staffers could become part of a workforce that’s even less prepared if and when automation comes to their industry.Sheffi wrote the piece in September, when both SAG and WGA were deep into their strikes. At the time, he noted that other industries should “take to heart” what was happening in Hollywood. “Resolving these issues [between the actors and writers and the studios] will ...

The Race to Put Brain Implants in People Is Heating Up

25Dec

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The Race to Put Brain Implants in People Is Heating Up

In September, Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink announced the much-anticipated news that it would start recruiting volunteers for a clinical trial to test its device. Known as a brain-computer interface, or BCI, it collects electrical activity from neurons and interprets those signals into commands to control an external device. While Musk has said he ultimately wants to merge humans with artificial intelligence, Neuralink’s initial aim is to enable paralyzed people to control a cursor or keyboard with just their thoughts.Rival efforts to connect people’s brains to computers are also moving forward. This year, Neuralink competitor Synchron demonstrated the long-term safety of its implant in patients. Other startups tested novel devices in human subjects, while new ventures came ...