Hold a magnet under black oil and it erupts into spikes. That ferrofluid is a colloid of iron-oxide nanoparticles; the spikes are the Rosensweig instability, and the same liquid seals hard drives and cools loudspeakers.
Backstreet Boys’ Into the Millennium residency at Sphere has holiday dates left from December 26 through January 2, 2027, plus an F1 Afterparty on November 21. Which sections show the band and the screen best, what the floor is like, what tickets cost, the setlist and what to know before show night.
Form Energy stores electricity for about 100 hours by rusting and un-rusting iron. Here is the chemistry, the West Virginia factory, the Minnesota deals and why multi-day storage matters next to lithium in 2026.
A sun, a cloud and a raindrop each stand for a whole number. Raindrops count one by one, so a
Six portable Bluetooth speakers compared, from the $24 Soundcore Select 4 Go to the JBL Boombox 4, with Wired’s top pick, the JBL Flip 7, plus lab test results and Amazon prices.
Sprinkle water on a hot skillet and the drops suddenly skate instead of vanishing. That vapor cushion is the Leidenfrost effect: film boiling that lifts and insulates the liquid, with roots in a 1756 tract and uses from reactors to cryogenics.
Metallica’s Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere has 14 nights left, from November 5 through March 13, 2027. Which sections show the band and the screen best, what the floor and Snake Pit are like, what tickets cost, the setlists and what to know before show night.
Tesla’s two-seat Cybercab, with no wheel or pedals, now gives paid rides in Austin, with Dallas next. Here is how to ride one, what trips cost, whether you can buy one, what is inside, and why regulators are asking questions.
Six air purifiers compared, from the $76 Levoit Core 300-P to the Coway Airmega Mighty2, Wirecutter’s new top pick, with lab test results and Amazon prices.
Green curtains, red skies, pink hems and the purple ribbon called STEVE: each aurora color comes from a particular gas at a particular height. Here is the code, why your phone sees more than you do, and how to catch the next display.
A Mercedes EQS drove 1,205 km on one charge with a solid-state battery, and a $14,000 MG4 wears the label in China. But no car on sale has an all-solid-state battery yet. Here is what semi-solid means, which cars use it, and when the real thing arrives.
The Eagles’ Sphere residency returns November 13 with 14 nights left through January 2027. Which sections show the band and the giant screen best, which seats to skip, what tickets cost, the full setlist and what to know before show night.
Five riders in red, blue, green, yellow and purple jerseys just finished a sprint to the line. There were no
Six cordless stick vacuums compared, from a $140 Levoit to the Dyson V15 Detect, with expert test results, runtimes and current Amazon prices.
Fifty years ago a Hawaiian voyaging canoe sailed about 2,500 miles to Tahiti with no compass, charts or radio, steered by a Micronesian master navigator reading stars, swells and birds. How Mau Piailug did it, what it proved about the first Polynesian voyagers, and the revival it started.
Japan built thousands of hydrogen balloons from paper and potato-root paste and set them loose on the jet stream toward America. How the Fu-Go balloon bombs worked, how the US kept them secret, and the picnic near Bly, Oregon, that ended in the only mainland deaths from enemy action in World War II.
A Bell Labs engineer hunting static on transatlantic phone calls built a rotating antenna on Model T wheels and found a faint hiss that kept time with the stars. How Karl Jansky traced it to the center of the Milky Way and started radio astronomy.
Seven carry-on suitcases compared, from the $129.99 Samsonite Freeform to the $729 Briggs & Riley Baseline Essential, with expert test results, specs and Amazon prices.
In June 1859 an American settler on San Juan Island shot a pig that kept raiding his potatoes. Within weeks, US troops and British warships faced off over a vague line in a treaty. How the Pig War nearly began, and why nobody fired.
On November 14, 1963, a fishing crew off Iceland watched a volcano rise out of the sea. The island it built, Surtsey, was closed to all but scientists before the eruption ended, and it has been showing how life colonizes new land ever since.
Vegas calendar
Events27Curated major Vegas concerts, residencies, and sports. Dates can shift - confirm tickets before you go.
