WIRED

IN AN AGING WORLD, the ability to spot the early signs of conditions such as osteoporosis and sarcopenia could save billions of dollars in healthcare spending, slow down the onset of frailty, and ultimately improve the quality of life of the older population. It is a vision that has always inspired Wareed Alenaini, first as a young girl growing up in a small town in Saudi Arabia and now as founder and CEO of health technology startup Twinn Health. “The older members of my family would always complain to each other about their chronic conditions and the medications they took,” she remembers. “Even back then I realized that those diseases could have been prevented if they had been detected earlier. Now with artificial intelligence (AI) and modern imaging techniques, we have the…

RE: “I SAW THE FACE OF GOD IN A SEMICONDUCTOR FACTORY” Brilliant, essential, deep, but also hugely entertaining writing from Heffernan, the gonzo philosopher/reporter who can do anything—including unpacking the global and cultural meaning of the all-powerful semiconductor industry in Taiwan. —Susan Dominus What this article fundamentally misses is that TSMC is simply a high-tech contract manufacturer, like, say, the maker of lawn tractor engines. TSMC produces the designs or etches the patterns onto silicon wafers, which are the intellectual property of other companies. Those designs, produced by engineers at Intel, Nvidia, Apple, and others, are the true secret sauce of the modern products which rely on them. —Brian Pinto RE: “BRANDON SANDERSON IS YOUR GOD”“Grateful for the hit piece—manure that nourished so many great responses.”—Trevor RE: “TURN YOUR OWN WRENCHES” In my undergraduate course in automotive…

THE MASSES WHO settled in to remote or hybrid work during the pandemic are waking up to the fact that Zoom-mediated labor isn’t all it was promised to be. Instead of being liberated from unnecessary drudgery, demands on their time have ballooned, they feel permanently on call, and some can’t shake the sense that they’re working harder than ever for less pay. They’re experiencing a lesson that everyone who’s ever used so-called labor-saving devices has learned the hard way: Expectations swell to fill the gaps left by the time you save. Women have always felt this most acutely; if a washing machine saved you hours on doing laundry, then you had to fill that time with other displays of devotion to your family. Zoom is no different: The hour you save…

IT WAS A reasonabledeath. Hewas90 and took the inevitable final turn in late March. “I think this is it,” my brother said from the nursing home. “They brought in the snack cart.” I went to Baltimore and fished a ginger ale out of a bowl of melting ice and sat by the bed. My father, dying, came in and out of stillness. He couldn’t hear well, so my brother and I yelled a stream of non sequiturs: “Remember when you ran that marathon?” “Ivy is doing a ballet recital!” “We love you!” I reminded him that he had wanted me to put all his writing online. “I’m going to do that!” I said. He looked straight at me—a last moment of connection—and brightly lit up. “That’s great!” he said. (Or something…

THE FUTURE OF the metaverse looks shakier than ever. Tech companies that have gone all in on the concept, like Meta, are faced with building out a platform that ostensibly already exists but has failed to achieve any real popularity. Even the video game industry, which has been exploring the idea through virtual worlds like Linden Lab’s Second Life for years, has doubts that the metaverse will ever live up to its promise. But in this nascent stage, there is also potential: The people building the metaverse could avoid repeating the mistakes that are baked into most of the digital platforms we use every day. As it stands, the metaverse is “not yet set,” says Micaela Mantegna, an affliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, so it might…

AS THE SUN SETS, Andrew McCarthy scans the skies for bad omens: twinkling stars and wispy contrails. But he’s not an oracle or mystic. McCarthy is an astrophotographer, and these subtle clues are indicators of a hazy atmosphere that could foil his attempts to take pin-sharp pictures of the cosmos. From his backyard in Florence, Arizona, McCarthy creates arresting images of distant stars and celestial bodies. He is perhaps best known for his shots of the moon, which capture the intricate details of every crevice and crater. But deep space is his favorite subject—his Instagram feed, @cosmic_background, which has more than half a million followers, crackles with the deep purples and royal blues of nebulae and supernovas. Taking such ambitious photos requires skill, knowledge, and patience. First, McCarthy must wait for a…