Aaron Swartz Wired Exclusive

Find out how Tom and Gary throw a decentralized dance party.

Deep under New York City, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is working on the country’s largest and most expensive transportation project. Over 50 years in the making, this $8.24 billion railway will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal. Follow Engineer Bill Ury, on an inspection of this massive subterranean project from beneath 38th Street in Manhattan to Sunnyside Yards in Queens.

Stirring images of an underground city set the stage for this subterranean journey through East Side Access, the country's largest transportation project. Get a detailed look at the bold vision for this massive railway expansion and learn why it could only happen in New York.

Go behind the scenes at one of America's most technologically advanced arenas, as an overnight conversion crew transforms Barclays Center from a sold-out concert venue to a basketball stadium for the Brooklyn Nets in only eight hours.

In this episode of The Window, we take you high above the arena floor into the rafters of Barclays Center for a rare view of what it all looks like from the lights.

Get up close and personal with the folks behind Barclays Center's spectacular overnight conversions. Learn what it takes for their 40-person crew to radically transform this hi-tech arena from a sold-out concert venue into the Brooklyn Nets' basketball stadium overnight.

Get a bots'-eye view of the "human exclusion zone" in a massive warehouse where an army of high-tech robots finds and fulfills up to 30,000 orders a day.

Follow a robot as it works its day job—transforming the world of e-commerce by hustling packages around the giant warehouses that propel the modern economy. New robot minions: Welcome to the team.

If founder Elon Musk is right, Tesla Motors just might reinvent the American auto industry—with specialized robots building slick electric cars in a factory straight from the future. That's where the battery-powered Model S is born.

Tesla Motors is challenging the giants of the global auto industry with all-electric cars—and a new approach to building them. Take a look at their assembly lines, and the philosophy behind them.

Lockpicking: Kwikset SmartKey

It's time to build the armor and weapons for WIRED's giant robot mech and give it a paint job with realistic battle scarring. Watch as Stan Winston School and the artists from Legacy Effects turn our hulking friend into an incredible work of art ... a work of art that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

Preorder a Tesla today—but don’t expect to get behind the wheel for another 2-3 months. We go inside Tesla’s rigorous quality testing that each of its vehicles must undergo before hitting the road. From water and drive tests to a 101-point checklist, see the exhaustive inspection these electric beauties go through.

Yoshimio, Hisham Akira Bharoocha, and Ryan Saywer join forces for a music mashup; later, we get a sneak peek of the dance medley from Jonah Boakaer and AIRLOCKS for the New York stop of Station to Station.

YOSHIMIO, Sawyer, and Bharoocha gathered in the lobby of Pittsburgh's Union Station for a gorgeous impromptu drum show, which then segued into an energetic outdoor turn by the Kansas City Marching Cobras. Dancers flipped, shook, and pulled onlookers from the crowd along with them — drums rocketing into the night sky.

Artist, Victor talks about the founding of his church and the history of the lands.

When hosting a party where genetically modified foods are what’s for dinner, is it proper etiquette to warn your GMO-averse friends ahead of time? Mr. Know-It-All offers sage advice on how to handle.

Community’s Dan Harmon teamed up with voice actor and writer Justin Roiland to create the new animated comedy Rick and Morty. The two sit down to talk about their Adult Swim show, which focuses on the crazy adventures of a sociopathic, ingenious scientist and his less-than-genius grandson.

Take a look inside the first commercial-scale solar energy plant to use nothing more than the sun, molten salt, and a whole lot of mirrors to send power to the people. If the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy facility works as promised, it could be a model for the future of renewable energy.

Outside Tonopah, Nev., a construction team of 600 is working to get the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy project up and running by 2014. WIRED has an exclusive look inside the construction of this first-of-its-kind renewable-energy power plant.

MIT Surveillance Video of Aaron Swartz, January 2011

You'd think the Angry Nerd would be square in the targeting sights of The Big Bang Theory. You'd think he'd love the show. And yet…and yet….

Consider it sound you can see. Find out how Ashik and Jenelle Mohan of Born of Sound are using audio recordings to create works of art, bringing to life a child’s laugh or heartbeat in a fluid, vibrant print. Brought to you by Intel.

Temperature, carbon output, water usage—that's all data that a farmer could use to get better crops. And it's also available, via satellite, to the average smart phone. In this World Economic Forum discussion, Wim Bastiaanssen, a water resource engineer at Delft University, argues that this tech could someday feed the world.

Pertinent question about the Mr. Peabody and Sherman cartoon: Why? It's a half-century-old cartoon with no brand recognition. But more to the point, all these expensive reboots tend to take away the things that made the original kids' shows…weird.

Aimed at helping multisport athletes improve their training, the GPS-enabled timepiece stores running, swimming, and cycling stats all on your wrist, while also tracking heart rate.

Solar, wind, and nuclear don’t make climate change worse, but they don’t meet the world’s energy needs. What can? Coal, and in the April issue Charles C. Mann writes about cleaning up the dirty, cheap fuel. Also this month: keeping your garden green, how mobile messaging captured our kids (and $19 billion from Facebook), and Mike Judge takes on Silicon Valley.

Inkjet cartridges are comprised of 95 percent water, but what’s inside the other 5 percent? We break apart the compact containers to find out what’s inside the mostly liquid assets.

The 1990s saw the rise—and fall—of virtual reality. While everyone could imagine a technology that allowed us to be somewhere else, no one was able to make it happen. No one, that is, until an 18-year-old named Palmer Luckey invented the Oculus Rift. We speak with Luckey and other Oculus employees about how they managed to crack one of technology's toughest riddles and make VR feasible for the first time. Music: "Disco Kerosene" Performed By Circa Tapes (http://circatapes.bandcamp.com/)

With Darth Disney holding the keys to Star Wars, the fate of the expanded universe is at stake. Since the movies are only a fraction of the franchise’s stories, Angry Nerd makes a desperate plea to the only one who can help save the unabridged material: George Lucas.

A fully functional portable computer that weighs in at only 29 lbs.? Now we’re talking. With features like word processing and a calculator, the 1984 LCD-286 PC computer was like carrying a filing cabinet with you on the go.

The upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake is completely unnecessary. Instead of fixing flicks that ain't broke, why not reboot the films that can actually be improved upon?

The design phase is over, and now it's time to prove that the 14-foot-tall creature can be built. As the team starts to build the prototype, challenges arise due to the creature's size and scale.

We go inside the latest addition to a fleet of lighter-than-air vehicles—the most advanced blimp in the air.

Find out how the tech, aviation, and design of Goodyear's new airship stack up to its predecessors.

Blimps have come along way from the Zeppelin days; find out what's in store for the future of Goodyear's new airships.

Mike Seymour breaks down the tech behind the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flick, including the facial animation effects. Plus, find out how an improvised, off-camera moment turned into one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

Released in 2006, the Microsoft Zune was intended to be a competitor to Apple’s iPod. It didn’t stand a chance then and it doesn’t stand a chance now. See what happens when we go medieval on this week’s gadget, as recommended by Mark and Todd from Barely Political.

The British are coming. Can the new crime drama Gracepoint (based on the U.K. hit Broadchurch) find success stateside and join the shortlist of Brit expats that found their footing on red, white, and blue T.V.s, like The Office, House of Cards, and Shameless?

It’s the only deep-diving research submersible in the United States, and nearly 50 years after its first expedition it’s getting an upgrade. Take an exclusive tour of the Alvin submarine, and see how the updated vessel is continuing to push the boundaries of deep-water exploration

The technological upgrades on the U.S. Navy-owned Alvin submersible allow the deep-sea diving vessel to go to new depths. Reaching 98 percent of the sea floor, the submarine is able to explore complex hydrothermal vents and ecosystems.

Designer Ethan Imboden at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

The technological advances in remotely operated vehicles (R.O.V.) have allowed researchers to uncover new ocean depths, like the 1986 footage of the Titanic by the Alvin submersible. Find out what lies ahead for the future of deep-sea exploration from the scientists who are taking the plunge.

Christina Tosi at WIRED by Design, 2014. In partnership with Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA. To learn more visit: live.wired.com

2014 was the year comic book movies got a little bit more comic book-y. Angry Nerd counts down the top five happenings, from the return of the super heroines to DC's TV domination.

In the new series “Agent Carter” Marvel expands its universe to the small screen with help from Industrial Light & Magic. Creating high-quality visual effects was nothing new for the the award-winning team, but working against grueling weekly delivery dates proved to be a monstrous challenge. Mike Seymour finds out how they did it.

The new Will Forte TV show “The Last Man on Earth” is sort of a funny version of “I Am Legend,” without the vampire zombies. But science fiction comedy has a grim history on American television, as even fans of “Alf,” “Mork & Mindy,” or “3rd Rock from the Sun” would have to admit. Angry Nerd hopes Forte’s approach escapes the curse.

Tech writer Brent Rose debunks a study claiming smartphones are as good as wearables at tracking activity. From the Fitbit Charge HR to the iPhone 6, Brent's stress tests uncover compelling results that demonstrate why wearables with heart rate monitors win.

Some virtual reality headsets are better than others. But which one is actually the toughest? Find out as we give the Oculus Rift DK2, Samsung Gear VR, and Nintendo Virtual Boy a dose of real-world damage.