The revolutionary tech that could help us speed through outer space

PLUS: A Saudi prince's attempt to silence critics on Twitter, and the hypocrisy of bungled college reopenings. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 09.06.20 It's an old plotline: Boy meets girl, boy wins girl, girl decides it might be time to break up with boy. For Rashied Amini, that's when the story takes a twist. As a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, he's trained to think about risk, probability, and failure potential. Back in 2014, Amini's girlfriend had even said, half-jokingly: How about a cost-benefit analysis of our relationship? As Stephen Marche writes this week on Backchannel, that got Amini's wheels turning. Before he knew it, he was building an elaborate spreadsheet charting the costs and benefits of his relationship. As he recalls, the bottom line was that the numbers showed they should stay together. The girlfriend left anyway. But the work didn't go to waste. Amini thought his deep dive into what makes a relationship tick—when it's worth staying, when it's time to let go—might be useful for a lot of people. Thus was born an unusual dating app, Nanaya. It's not so much a matchmaking service as a utility for predicting where you are in your journey to finding "the one" and how to maximize your chances of meeting an optimum partner—or not, if the numbers say you're not ready. (It will also tell you if you should break up with your current SO.) The service has amassed hundreds of thousands of users. Amini, who is still single, admits he doesn't use the data himself when he's dating, although it has helped him know himself better. As Marche writes: "Take it from the systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab: Some matters of the heart cannot be quantified." Mark Robinson | Features Editor, WIRED   BACKCHANNEL Gravity, Gizmos, and a Grand Theory of Interstellar Travel BY DANIEL OBERHAUS For decades, Jim Woodward dreamed of a propellantless engine to take humans to the stars. Now he thinks he's got it. But is it revolutionary—or illusory?   BACKCHANNEL A Saudi Prince's Attempt to Silence Critics on Twitter BY BRADLEY HOPE AND JUSTIN SCHECK An ongoing investigation reveals how Mohammed bin Salman's team allegedly infiltrated the platform—and got away with it.   IDEAS The Flagrant Hypocrisy of Bungled College Reopenings BY C. BRANDON OGBUNU Higher education has ignored its main mission: to teach critical thinking. It's time to take the adults back to school.   BACKCHANNEL The Oysters That Knew What Time It Was BY JO MARCHANT Scientists long believed that biological clocks were predominantly driven by internal rhythms. Then came a fraught discovery—about mollusks and the moon.   IDEAS No, Public Trust in Scientific Institutions Has Not Eroded BY DANIEL ENGBER But given what we've seen during the pandemic, maybe it should.   SPONSORED CONTENT SimpliSafe Home Security Blankets Your Home With 24/7 Protection It feels good to fear less. SimpliSafe stands up to the unexpected, from burglars to burst pipes. As more than 3 million customers already know, fear has no place in a place like home.     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions