Artists and scientists are searching for ever more light-absorbing materials. To find out what's behind the quest for ultra-blacks, WIRED's Arielle Pardes talked with artist Stuart Semple and physicist John Lehman about these amazing materials.

Crime scene analyst Matthew Steiner teaches the techniques forensics experts use to investigate bloodstain patterns, ranging from easy to difficult. Matthew explains how different types of forces create different bloodstain patterns in the crime scenes, and demonstrates how they can analyze these patterns to figure out how a crime was committed.

Let’s say you’re on an interplanetary mission to Mars, millions of miles from the nearest hospital, and something in your body goes awry. Say, a routine body scan reveals a potentially life-threatening blood clot. What on Earth, or in space I guess, do you do? Well now we have the answer to that question.

Michael Grab's mind-bending rock formations aren't held together by glue or steel rods. Shockingly, his rock piles are stacked using only the laws of gravity. His rock formations have taken the internet by storm, and brought an even greater attention to rock balancing.

Dr. Martin Blaser, MD, uses the power of Twitter to answer the internet's questions about the coronavirus. When should we expect to see mutations? Does COVID-19 have a lifespan? Is coronavirus the 0.01% that soaps and sanitizers can't kill? Dr. Blaser is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Rutgers University and chair of the Human Microbiome.

Have you ever played a card game then decided to see how high you could stack the cards? Bryan Berg has made card stacking an art form. He holds numerous Guinness World Records (so many he's lost count), and keeps upping the ante on the difficulty. Stacking a house of cards on a running dryer? Why not!

Artist Andres Amador takes "playing with sand" to a whole new level. His free-flowing and fractal-inspired works of art exist for only a short amount of time, eventually getting swallowed up by the ocean's tides. But, in that timeframe, Andres is able to create unique pieces that are indelible and impactful.

Brie Larson, Van Jones, and Elijah Allan-Blitz joined the WIRED25 event to discuss what divides us, and their approach with VR films to bridge those gaps.

Dr. Celia Hodent, Drew Blackard, and Irene Au joined the WIRED25 event to discuss how cognitive science, UX research, and dark patterns play into video game design.

Nia DaCosta spoke with Jason Parham at WIRED25 about black trauma, making old horror stories modern, and how the pandemic is affecting the film industry.

The Conway Knot had been a mathematical puzzle for half a century, until Dr. Lisa Piccirillo came along and solved it in a week. She spoke with physics teacher Rhett Allain at WIRED25 about impossible problems, "sliciness," and thinking outside the circle.

Patrice Peck, journalist and creator of the newsletter Coronavirus News for Black Folks, spoke with Alan Henry at WIRED25 about the need to reach underrepresented groups and the power of trustworthy information, now more than ever.

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab for City National Bank | As part of a series of one-on-one conversations with business leaders, City National Bank CEO Kelly Coffey and Angela Benton, founder and CEO of consumer data company Streamlytics, discuss the optimism, communication, and empathy critical to success as business leaders. Explore more of the series with City National Bank Member FDIC. *This was shot in accordance with the Covid-19 guidelines set as of the date of filming.

In 2021 employers and employees will have to fundamentally rethink the modern workplace. In this WIRED briefing, Matt Blowers, chief operating officer for ISG’s global fit out business talks to WIRED editor Greg Williams about the challenges that lie ahead – and how they can be met. ABOUT WIRED WIRED brings you the future as it happens - the people, the trends, the big ideas that will change our lives. An award-winning printed monthly and online publication. WIRED is an agenda-setting magazine offering brain food on a wide range of topics, from science, technology and business to pop-culture and politics. CONNECT WITH WIRED Events: http://wired.uk/events Subscribe for Events Information: http://wired.uk/signup Web: http://bit.ly/VideoWired Twitter: http://bit.ly/TwitterWired Facebook: http://bit.ly/FacebookWired Instagram: http://bit.ly/InstagramWired Magazine: http://bit.ly/MagazineWired Newsletter: http://bit.ly/NewslettersWired

Leading Queen’s Counsel, wife of the former British Prime Minister, and committed campaigner for women’s rights, Cherie Blair set up The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in 2008. The Foundation was created to help women build small and growing businesses in low and middle income countries so that they can contribute to their economies and have a stronger voice in their societies. In this session from WIRED Smarter 2020, Cherie share's more about the newly-redeveloped mentoring platform, ahead of a relaunch of its Mentoring Women in Business programme. ABOUT WIRED SMARTER Curated by WIRED’s award-winning editorial team, WIRED Smarter gathers the disruptive minds across business, technology, retail, finance and politics to investigate how innovation, technological advances and world events are changing the way we interact with customers. CONNECT WITH WIRED Events: http://wired.uk/events Subscribe for Events Information: http://wired.uk/signup Web: http://bit.ly/VideoWired Twitter: http://bit.ly/TwitterWired Facebook: http://bit.ly/FacebookWired Instagram: http://bit.ly/InstagramWired Magazine: http://bit.ly/MagazineWired Newsletter: http://bit.ly/NewslettersWired

Herman Narula is the co-founder and CEO of Improbable, a gaming startup which enables developers to make extraordinary multiplayer games. At WIRED Live 2020, Herman explores the impact of virtual worlds around us, with an exclusive look at a COVID simulation.

Tim Drier works with scientific glass all day, but what if he took some of those techniques he's perfected for scientific glass and applies them to standard barware? Watch as Tim takes us step-by-step through his process of making beautiful drinking glasses. Tim Drier is a scientific glass blower for Dow Chemical.

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with Dropbox | Illustrator and designer Sophia Chang talks about her mission to empower women within sneaker culture and using Dropbox to collaborate.

"Jungle Cruise" stars Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson take the WIRED Autocomplete Interview and answer the internet's most searched questions about themselves. What was Emily's first film role? Does she speak Spanish? What does Dwayne Johnson eat in a day? And why is his nickname "The Rock?" Emily and Dwayne answer all these questions and much, much more! JUNGLE CRUISE debuts in theatres and on Disney+ with Premier Access starting July 30th.

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with Dropbox | How do you eliminate waste from the eyewear industry? The team behind King Children discuss their sustainable business model and using Dropbox to collaborate.

Director Neill Blomkamp sits down with WIRED to talk about the innovative camera rig his team created for his video game-inspired horror film, Demonic.

Diego Tinoco, Jessica Marie Garcia, Brett Gray, Sierra Capri, Jason Genao, and Julio Macias answer the web's most searched questions about themselves and 'On My Block.' Does Diego have tattoos? Was Sierra in 'Hidden Figures'? What's Jessica's favorite color? Who is Jason's celebrity crush? What school did Brett go to? Is Julio single?? The 'On My Block' cast answers all these questions and much, much more! On My Block Season 4 releases October 4 on Netflix

This conversation with Amy Webb, founder of the business strategy firm Future Today Institute, and Kirk Skaugen, the executive vice president of Lenovo, was moderated by WIRED’s senior global director of audience development and analytics Indu Chandrasekhar. (This session was sponsored by Lenovo.)

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with Intel | What will it take to transition our electric grids to renewable energy grids of the future? Michael Bates, Global Manager of Energy at Intel, looks to apply Intel technology and convene our ecosystem of partners to solve some of the big industry challenges in the energy vertical. That starts with figuring out how to make clean, renewable energy that is also highly distributed and intermittent, look and act like "always-on" centralized power without the element of fossil fuels. As a leader in fostering smart energy solutions, Intel is dedicated to furthering technologies that help address our ever-changing energy needs, in a world that desperately needs results.

If you want to make sure you are getting the best deals on Black Friday, WIRED reviewer (and expert shopper) Louryn Strampe has some buying tips on how to score what you want at the best price.

Who better to test the latest in kitchen technology than "Eat Out America" stars Matty Matheson and Benny Blanco? Is there a better way to make sushi? What about corn on the cob? What if there was ONE appliance to rule them all? See how these kitchen gadgets stack up for our talented guest correspondents. *Matty and Benny are not actual WIRED correspondents. Matty Matheson and Benny Blanco are back with Season 2 of “MATTY & BENNY EAT OUT AMERICA” https://www.eatoutamerica.org/

Sponsored Conversation by Moen. A conversation with Moen's Mark-Hans Richer.

In "The World According to Jeff Goldblum," Jeff Goldblum explores the globe, learning about a variety of different topics. So, who better than Jeff to step in as a WIRED correspondent* for a day and review a gaggle of unique travel gadgets. Jeff looks at everything from the world's tiniest vacuum to a paper camera. *Jeff is not an actual WIRED correspondent.

Astrophysicist Janna Levin, PhD, is asked to explain black holes to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert. Special thanks to our host Janna Levin who’s literally written the book on black holes ‘Black Hole Survival Guide’ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622603/black-hole-survival-guide-by-janna-levin/For more science and space insights follow Jann on twitter at @JannaLevin

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with AWS | Chatboxes serve an important role in customer service, and some require knowledge of many languages to run globally, which can be costly and time-consuming. Autodesk uses AWS Inferentia to help its chatbox, AVA, route questions through multiple ML models at once and generate responses in milliseconds - serving 5x the amount of customers at half the cost.

Turntablism is the art of using the turntable as a musical instrument. DJ Shortkut explains turntablism in 15 levels of difficulty, from easy to complex. Shortkut starts with the very basics of scratching all the way to complicated techniques like beat juggling. Director: Tim Cruz Director of Photography: Grant Bell Editor: Cory Stevens Talent: DJ ShortKut Producer: Adam Davis-McGee Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Melissa Cho Production Manager(s): Peter Brunette, Andressa Pelachi Casting Producer: Nick Sawyer Camera Operator: Oliver Lukacs Audio: Paul Cornett Production Assistant: Eric Bittencourt Props: Modernica Props Post Production Supervisor(s): Nicholas Ascanio, Alexa Deutsch Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen Assistant Editor: Billy Ward Music Supervisor: Lindsay Capacio Archive Credits: Getty Images Special Thanks: True Sound Recording

WIRED spoke with several experts about the explosion of surveillance technology, how police use it, and what the dangers might be. As tech advances, street cameras can now employ facial recognition and even connect to the internet. What does this mean for the future of privacy? Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey Editors: Shandor Garrison, Jason Malizia Experts: Albert Fox Cahn, Arthur Holland MIchel, Florian Matusek Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Eric Martinez Post Production Supervisor: Nicholas Ascanio Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen Assistant Editor: Billy Ward

With the ever-evolving challenges of an unpredictable world, how can you and your organization build collaborative, multi-faceted teams to tackle modern problems? Wired Brand Lab interviewed Deloitte Consulting CEO Dan Helfrich to explore the unique team formula and human-centric approach needed to drive meaningful business outcomes.

Kayla Abe, co-owner of Shuggie’s in San Francisco, talks about how she built a business by innovating food waste and turning “ugly food” into delicious and sustainable cuisine. She shares her lessons for other entrepreneurs on how to save money and help fight climate change in their own industries.

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab with L'Oréal | The scoop on the innovative and inclusive designs L’Oreal brought to the show

Produced by WIRED Brand Lab in partnership with Wilderness | The Okavango Delta in Botswana shelters endangered species amidst threats to its delicate ecosystem. Join WIRED Brand Lab's Marcus Jones on a journey to explore Wilderness Mombo —a pioneering safari lodge using technology for sustainability and wildlife preservation across its 45,000-hectare home, harmonizing with the wilderness for an eco-conscious future.

Founder of LCG Auctions Mark Montero visits WIRED to talk through the appraised value of five high-end pop culture collectibles. From an original Super Mario Bros cartridge for the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the very first iPhone and more, learn just how much these technological relics of the recent past are fetching on the collectors market.

Hematologist and medical oncologist Dr. Sanjay Juneja joins WIRED to answer some bloody interesting questions from the internet.

Produced by Wired Brand Lab with IBM | Developers monitoring robust cloud systems face numerous challenges with traditional software, reacting to issues as they occur. Even finding where to start can take longer than actually fixing the problem. But what if AI could help recognize and predict potential problems before they ever impact IT systems? Discover how IBM Instana on AWS with AI-driven analytics proactively detects and helps you resolve issues while providing insight to contextualize contributing factors.

"It just had this appeal to me because you can create the things you don't have." Meet Ekow Nimako, a Ghanaian-Canadian artist who uses black LEGO bricks to build jaw-dropping sculptures. While some of his masterpieces take nearly one-thousand hours to create, he has the ability to prototype a new design in just one day. We tour his home studios where he began creating his breathtaking art and explore some of his custom builds inspired by Black mythology.Director: Charlie JordanDirector of Photography: Dave SandersEditor: Jordan CaligExpert: Ekow NimakoCreative Producer: Wendi JonassenLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Brandon WhiteProduction Manager: D. Eric MartinezProduction Coordinator: Fernando DavilaCamera Operator: Jerome W. TanSound Mixer: Dave PlankProduction Assistant: Andrew VancePost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAssistant Editor: Justin Symonds

Are tech firms and big corporations solving problems or creating new problems to sell solutions? Activist Faye Wattleton has a perspective. Hear from the former president of Planned Parenthood and cofounder of quantum computing company EeroQ on how the next generation of companies can be designed to support the communities they start in, give back to the public, and make the world a better place.

"I got checkmated in 34 moves." Levy Rozman a.k.a. GothamChess plays chess against Stockfish 16, the strongest chess computer in the world, and analyzes the way it thinks in order to apply it to his own gameplay. With help from computer chess software engineer Gary Linscott, these chess pros identify why Stockfish is virtually unbeatable by a human, from opening move to endgame.The charts depicting minimax with alpha-beta pruning was created by Wikipedia user Maschelos and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.Director: Lisandro Perez-ReyDirector of Photography: Francis BernalEditor: Paul IsaksonTalent: Gary Linscott; Levy RozmanLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Paul Gulyas; Brandon WhiteProduction Manager: D. Eric MartinezProduction Coordinator: Fernando DavilaCamera Operator: Brittany BergerGaffer: Mar AlfonsoSound Mixer: Michael GugginoProduction Assistant: Albie SmithPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAssistant Editor: Andy Morell

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sits down with WIRED Contributing Editor Garrett M. Graff to talk about emerging technology, cybersecurity, and how the State Department is evolving to meet a new set of challenges. Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan Editor: Louis Lalire Host: Garrett Graff Guest: Antony Blinken Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Peter Brunette Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark Camera Operator: Ben Finkel Sound Mixer: Elijah Sutton Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds