Our most-read stories of 2021

PLUS: Scientists Accidentally Discover Strange Creatures Under a Half Mile of Ice, and more

View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 12.31.21   DEEP FREEZE | 6-MINUTE READ Scientists Accidentally Discover Strange Creatures Under a Half Mile of Ice BY MATT SIMON Researchers only drilled through an Antarctic ice shelf to sample sediment. Instead, they found animals that weren't supposed to be there.   BACKCHANNEL | 18-MINUTE READ The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill BY MEGAN MOLTENI All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! At the heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences.   BACKCHANNEL | 15-MINUTE READ The Unsettling Truth About the 'Mostly Harmless' Hiker BY NICHOLAS THOMPSON His emaciated body was discovered in a tent, just a few miles from a major Florida highway. His identity—and troubled past—were discovered by the internet.   BACKCHANNEL | 22-MINUTE READ The Cold War Over Hacking McDonald's Ice Cream Machines BY ANDY GREENBERG Secret codes. Legal threats. Betrayal. How one couple built a device to fix McDonald's notoriously broken soft-serve machines—and how the fast-food giant froze them out. GET WIRED New Year, New Ideas. Give yourself the gift of information. Get the print edition of WIRED and exclusive subscriber-only stories for just $29.99 $5. Subscribe now.   BIG FISH | 5-MINUTE READ Humans Have Broken a Fundamental Law of the Ocean BY MATT REYNOLDS The size of undersea creatures seemed to follow a strange but stable pattern—until industrial fishing came along.   OPINION | 5-MINUTE READ Psychologists Are Learning What Religion Has Known for Years BY DAVID DESTENO Social scientists are researching what humans can do to improve their quality of life. Their findings echo what religious practices perfected centuries ago.   UNBOXING | 35-MINUTE READ Amazon's Dark Secret: It Has Failed to Protect Your Data BY WILL EVANS Voyeurs. Sabotaged accounts. Backdoor schemes. For years, the retail giant has handled your information less carefully than it handles your packages.   ZZZZZ | 4-MINUTE READ Why You Stay Up So Late, Even When You Know You Shouldn't BY ASHLEY LAURETTA There are certain traits that lend themselves to "revenge bedtime procrastination." There's also a way out.     Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   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   Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.