Angela Watercutter

Everyone Speaks Incel Now After migrating from misogynist forums to social media feeds, terms like “looksmaxxing” and “mogged” are now impossible to avoid.

Incel slang is now so ingrained in the mainstream discourse that its origins have been obscured. How did we get here?

Sadly, so do I

The Guy Behind the Most Nostalgic Sites on the Internet From Bop Spotter to his collection of long-lost and rarely-seen YouTube videos, Riley Walz makes the future of the internet look like its past.

I actually still think about this conversation a lot

www.wired.com/story/riley-...

Omg Riley...

SCOOP: A White House staffer appears to be operating the anonymous pro-Trump X account JohnnyMAGA with nearly 300,000 followers.

More here:
www.wired.com/story/a-whit...

AI Will Never Be Conscious In his new book, “A World Appears,” Michael Pollan argues that artificial intelligence can do many things—it just can’t be a person.

In his new book, “A World Appears,” Michael Pollan argues that artificial intelligence can do many things—it just can’t be a person. www.wired.com/story/book-e...

‘Heated Rivalry’ Is Bringing New Fans to Hockey. Does the Sport Deserve Them? Obsession over a show about two closeted hockey players has brought new fandom to the sport just ahead of the Olympics. But men's hockey's lack of support for LGBTQ+ players and fans is notable.

A lot of people are sharing that clip of the US men's hockey team laughing about the women's team with Trump/Kash Patel. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how, despite the Heated Rivalry effect, hockey culture still sucks: www.wired.com/story/winter...

How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance From threat modeling to encrypted collaboration apps, we’ve collected experts’ tips and tools for safely and effectively building a group—even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.

News you can use, from the @wired.com security team (who are the best in the biz).

They asked technologists, activists, aid groups, and cybersecurity experts for guidance on how to organize and collaborate in an age of surveillance. Here’s the result:

How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance From threat modeling to encrypted collaboration apps, we’ve collected experts’ tips and tools for safely and effectively building a group—even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so many people writing to me to ask about encrypted/secure/private tools for comms, collaboration, and organizing. So @lhn.bsky.social and I talked to experts and assembled this: the Wired guide to organizing in an age of surveillance. www.wired.com/story/how-to...

The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone has become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point.

as a Canadian, I'm actually very in favor of this rebrand. "Kennedy promptly declared that he 'didn’t give a shit,' twice telling Eriksson to 'fuck off.'" www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn't What You Think After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone’s become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point.

After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone’s become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point. www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone has become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point.

Very happy to have edited this hot take on the Olympics curling controversy.

(Hint: It’s not really a hot take.)

www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

A couple fascinating things I learned reporting this:

1. Much of the plant life on the field was people in costume.
2. The finale required 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics.
3. That was a real couple that got married during the Lady Gaga number.

So many more details here in the piece. Go read!

Inside Bad Bunny’s Historic Super Bowl Halftime Show Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance required 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics, nearly 400 costumed extras, and a lot of ingenuity. And yes, that was a real couple featured in the wedding.

It’s been really fun to watch Bad Bunny’s “plant people” go viral. That was by design. The team behind Left Shark also came up with the idea to have the grasses be people. Production designer Bruce Rodgers had a feeling they’d get memed. He just knows these things.

www.wired.com/story/bad-bu...

Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE The recent request goes against decades of precedent and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions.

"The recent request goes against decades of precedent and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions." | Wired
www.wired.com/story/social...

The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Fandom Is Tearing Itself Apart The breakout hockey romance has sparked legions of enthralled fans, along with obsessive, parasocial behavior that’s starting to get called out.

Back in December, I wondered when the good vibes around Heated Rivalry would buckle under intense fan scrutiny. From "pedo" allegations to racism, that moment has arrived, but some stan accounts are now self-regulating. @ohheybrittany.bsky.social gets into it: www.wired.com/story/the-he...

Figure Skaters at the 2026 Winter Olympics Are Pushing the Limits of What’s Possible For years, quad axel jumps seemed impossible. Then Ilia Malinin landed one in 2022. As he heads to the Milano Cortina Games, everyone wants to know what’s next.

www.wired.com/story/figure...

The Physics Behind the Quadruple Axel, the Most Difficult Jump in Figure Skating Are you speechless watching US figure skater Ilia Malinin on the ice? Science explains how it’s possible the Quad God can do more than four full rotations in the air.

www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

How Ilia Malinin Revolutionized Figure Skating with His Quadruple Axel On Friday, the US Olympic skater known as the “Quad God” will compete in his last event of the 2026 Winter Games. Everyone will be watching to see if he does his famous quad axel—and a backflip, too.

If people on your TL are freaking out about Ilia Malinin at the Olympics and you don’t understand the fuss, a few primers here. (No spoilers.)

www.wired.com/story/how-il...

The Physics Behind the Quadruple Axel, the Most Difficult Jump in Figure Skating Are you speechless watching US figure skater Ilia Malinin on the ice? Science explains how it’s possible the Quad God can do more than four full rotations in the air.

www.wired.com/story/2026-w...

How Ilia Malinin Revolutionized Figure Skating with His Quadruple Axel On Friday, the US Olympic skater known as the “Quad God” will compete in his last event of the 2026 Winter Games. Everyone will be watching to see if he does his famous quad axel—and a backflip, too.

Anyone else locked in to watching the Quad God today?

www.wired.com/story/how-il...

Right??? I mean, I’m biased but…

“The team behind Left Shark also came up with the idea to have the grasses be people.” An amazing sentence.

Tune in to my smart colleagues!

Massive report here from Leah. Incredible reporting.

The plant people, he said, are “really fun and funny because Benito's funny. He's got a real genuine heart and sense of humor.”

Inside Bad Bunny’s Historic Super Bowl Halftime Show Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance required 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics, nearly 400 costumed extras, and a lot of ingenuity. And yes, that was a real couple featured in the wedding.

It’s been really fun to watch Bad Bunny’s “plant people” go viral. That was by design. The team behind Left Shark also came up with the idea to have the grasses be people. Production designer Bruce Rodgers had a feeling they’d get memed. He just knows these things.

www.wired.com/story/bad-bu...

By Slashing Foreign Aid, Trump Is Fueling the Spread of HIV in Uganda Reporting from Uganda, The Intercept saw how Trump’s effort to slash foreign aid is encouraging the transmission of HIV.

For the Interept, I reported from Uganda about the effects of USAID cuts on LGBTQ people, HIV prevention activists and sex workers—and tried to tell the story from the POV of these important but criminalized communities. Please read and share.
theintercept.com/2026/02/09/t...

The 🏈 🐰 🎤 breakdown courtesy of @d-jacks.bsky.social @alanayzola.com @wired.com