Last year was a rough one for Yahoo. Today CEO Marissa Mayer announced layoffs, cutbacks, and consolidation to help the company regain its footing. The post Yahoo Will Lay Off 15 Percent of Its Workforce appeared first on WIRED.

Although scientists have intensively studied household pests, almost nothing has been done to survey everyone else—and everyone else turns out to be the silent majority -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Views of green pastures or trees might relieve anxiety and improve attention. A parking lot? Not so much.Gazing out of the widow onto green pastures or a peaceful copse of trees while sitting an exam will actually help students score higher. And not just a little bit either—a new study has found that students' capacity to pay attention increased 13% with a green view outside their classroom window.Read Full Story

The concept won even though it quite deliberately did not include space for people, or even cargo. The post MIT Students Just Won a Competition to Design a Hyperloop Pod appeared first on WIRED.

Although the method of a hack attack can be deciphered, the culprits often remain a mystery -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

It's good for your health

A congressional hearing about climate change gave a glimpse of each party's strategy with regards to climate change. The post The House Science Committee Thinks the Paris Climate Agreement Stinks appeared first on WIRED.

In an unassuming research lab, Volkswagen is solving problems that Tesla and Google haven't come close to cracking.We were rolling eastward across the San Mateo Bridge in an Audi A7 at a dutiful 55 miles per hour, and I was riding shotgun accompanied by two of the car's engineers. With a sticker price topping $70,000, the A7 is a fancy car, but not an uncommon one along the stock-option-paved highways of Silicon Valley. I looked around at the drivers around us, knowing they hadn't a clue about what was happening right beside them. Traffic was getting thick, as rush hour approached. Outside the window, the water of the San Francisco Bay was a dull green, like patinated copper, pitted by tiny waves. A bright blue sky. Our car's test driver was smiling pleasantly, hands on his thighs, not touching the steering wheel at all.Read Full Story

Google-owned company DeepMind have created an artificial intelligence which can beat a professional at the ancient Chinese boardgame of Go - a feat thought to be a decade away. This article was... -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

There's nothing new about the coin flip that was used in Monday night's Iowa caucus, except our ability to document it. The post Relax, Twitter. Iowa’s Caucus Coin Flip Is Perfectly Normal appeared first on WIRED.

How Patty McCord created what Sheryl Sandberg called "the most important document ever to come out of the Valley."It's easy to forget that before it became the streaming giant it is today with hits like Making a Murderer, House of Cards, and Orange Is the New Black, Netflix was a DVD-by-mail business. It's hard to imagine now that the world's largest subscription streaming video service keeping television networks on their toes was once a retail business disrupting Blockbuster.Read Full Story

Flexible plastic sensor sends molecular test results to a smartphone -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Belkin's WeMo Switch is a simple product: any device you plug into it can be turned on or off from your Android or iOS device, no matter where you are. The post Belkin’s Smart Switch Lets You Use Your Phone to Control Dumb Appliances appeared first on WIRED.

With a new round of funding, Modsy aims to launch its 3-D design tool out of beta this summer.Shanna Tellerman wants to help you redecorate your home. She's not a designer, furniture aficionado, or personal shopper. She's the founder and CEO of a company called Modsy that rolls all of the aforementioned jobs into one mobile app to make redesigning a room easier (and more fun). Today, the year-old company is announcing the closing of a Series A round of $8 million led by Norwest Venture Partners, putting its total funding at $11.75 million.Read Full Story

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after blasting off, killing all seven astronauts on board -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

And that's a good thing. The post Intel Knows It Isn’t Where It Wants To Be On Diversity appeared first on WIRED.

The iPhone maker is working on the opposite of 3D Touch, allowing users to push virtual buttons without touching the display.With the iPhone 6s, Apple added a new dimension to the multitouch screen. Its 3D Touch display not only sensed touch, but the amount of pressure applied to the screen. This pressure-sensing display allows developers to add a whole new way that users can interact with their apps via Peek and Pop gesture support.Read Full Story

Improper "pruning" of neural connections could lead to the development of mental illness -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

After a setback

Not all behavior preceding a crime looks particularly suspect, and not all suspect behavior precedes a crime. The post Can You Spot the Suspicious Behavior in These Photos? appeared first on WIRED.