How do you feed the world, make biofuel, and remain sustainable? In this World Economic Forum discussion, MIT chemical engineer Kristala Prather says that microbes might provide an answer.

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.

Jay Silver and his co-founder's concept was simple: Hook up everyday objects to small circuits and turn them into touchpads. See how their MaKey MaKey invention kit is changing the way we interact with the world. Brought to you by Intel.

David Eisenberg, co-founder and CEO of Floored, explains how his company transforms real estate floor plans into 3D experiences using Intel's agile technology, allowing consumers to skip the walkthrough and take a virtual 3D tour instead. Brought to you by Intel.

Infrared5 co-founders Chris and Rebecca Allen are revolutionizing the multi-screen experience. With their popular computer game Brass Monkey they’re bringing people together with socially, multi-screen experiences that turn smart phones into game controllers and PC/Tablets into consoles. Brought to you by Intel.

Director Peter Jackson and FXguide’s Mike Seymour reveal how a pivotal seven-minute action sequence in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was created with a combined 98 hours of footage from aerial shots, green-screen sets, live-action shoots, and complex CG environments.

CuteCircuit co-founder and creative director Francesca Rosella believes in technology you can wear. She explains how, with the help of co-founder Ryan Genz, CuteCircuit is able to create interactive fashion—like a dress that’s illuminated by LED lights or a skirt that displays a message—with technology that integrates seamlessly into garments. Brought to you by Intel

Hollywood is always trying to sell us crazy computer interfaces. Wavy hands and holograms? Never gonna happen. But now Fox News is in on the game, too—and the Angry Nerd is unfairly unbalanced about the network's giant, newsgathering touch screens.

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.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers’ sidekick-turned-nemesis undergoes drastic brainwashing to become The Winter Soldier. But is it really possible to completely change someone’s attitudes and beliefs? In this special WIRED edition of Science Friction, host Rusty Ward dives into the science behind brainwashing. Click here to check out more Science Friction.

With optogenetics, the ability to restore and enhance brain function is becoming a reality. In this World Economic Forum discussion, Nature magazine neuroscience editor I-han Chou explains how the radical method works and the ethical issues it could cause.

In Brick Mansions, parkour co-founder David Belle shows off his wall-climbing, window-jumping, rail-surfing action skills. So why isn't Belle the new Bruce Lee? This should be the greatest genre in cinema history. Angry Nerd blames the French.

Watch a preview of our new documentary series, Teen Technorati, which follows 40 students under the age of 20 as they compete for a Thiel Fellowship. Created by investor Peter Thiel, the $2 million fund awards $100,000 to 20 winners who will have to drop out of school to further develop their individual medical, technology, and design-based projects. From team challenges to a lightning pitch in front of the judges, see who makes the cut as the next generation of young, innovative entrepreneurs.

20 winners. $100,000 each. The chance to bring an idea to life. We follow 40 student finalists as they compete for a coveted and controversial Thiel Fellowship. Their projects range from cancer research to new app technology, but there's just one catch if they win—they'll have to drop out of school. Meet the 2014 Thiel Fellowship finalists.

In this episode of Teen Technorati, the 40 finalists are split up into teams and tasked with building a bridge made out of LEGO. Only one team emerges as the winner, but during the challenge the finalists’ leadership and problem-solving skills begin to surface. Plus, fellowship hopefuls Ishaan Gulrajani, Lucy Guo, Darby Schumacher, and Catherine Ray explain the concepts behind their individual Thiel projects.

With the two-minute lightning pitches fast approaching, the 40 Thiel Fellowship finalists are beginning to feel the pressure. In this episode, they partake in icebreaker and team-building games to help calm nerves and prep for their big onstage speeches. Also, finalists Ryan Orbuch, Thomas Hunt, and Jake Davidson tell us about their tech-and science-focused projects.

Angry Nerd has been to the future and he brings back an important message: don’t see the new X-Men movie. With a scrambled timeline and inclusion of too many sub-franchises, the film adds a new dimension to the “days of future past” continuum: straight confusion.

Starting a hybrid car is as easy as pushing a button, but what’s really beneath the hood? For starters, a 100-lb rechargeable battery pack containing smaller nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries, similar to those in your cell phone.

Angelina Jolie stars in Disney’s new Maleficent, featuring a forest world of detailed visual effects. Mike Seymour delves into how facial movement experts Digital Domain, worked to re-create realistic, fully digital counterparts to the story’s three fairies.

The big day is finally here and the finalists only have 2 minutes to convince judges that they should be one of 20 to receive a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship. As the students take the stage, see who stands out—and who comes up short—in the final lightning pitches.

It’s almost time for the lightning pitches, but as the pressure mounts can the Thiel Fellowship hopefuls keep their cool? In this episode, the finalists run through their strategies—and lack thereof—as they get ready to present to the judges. Plus, finalists Alexander Koren and Andrew Ninh explain their medical- and tech-based projects.

The lightning pitches are over, but the finalists continue to sweat in the mentor matches. Judges and industry head honchos meet with each of the 40 students to find out more about their projects. Can the fellowship finalists effectively articulate their concepts and business plans, or will the tough questions and high-pressure one-on-ones prove to be too much?

The deliberations are over and the judges are ready to notify the 2014 Thiel Fellowship winners via Skype. Find out which 20 kids will have their lives changed forever as they win a $100,000 grant and drop out of school to pursue their dreams.

After a weekend of activities and final pitches, the 40 students get ready to pack up their things and head back to reality until the 20 fellowships are awarded. In this episode, the students reflect back on what they’ve learned over the past few days, and what they’ll do if chosen as a 2014 Thiel Fellow.

In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the mutant clan goes head-to-head with the Sentinels—a group of dystopian-era robots. Effects experts MPC created the Sentinels’ special effects using a follicle-like animation, comprised of tiny scales. Mike Seymour explains how they accomplished the technically complicated designs.

Intended to pick up where the original show left off, the web series “Star Trek Continues” has brought about a wave of nostalgic appreciation for the classic sci-fi show. After a successful Kickstarter campaign and now, with two full webisodes under its belt, the show, by producer/director/super fan/star Vic Mignogna, is ushering in brand-new voyages of the starship Enterprise.

She’s double-majoring in computer science and human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon. She also just won a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship to develop a platform for customizable education-based games. Get to know teen technorati Lucy Guo.

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Ray just received a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship. Armed with a B.S. in computational physics, the mathematics whiz is planning to fix everything that’s wrong with wheelchairs. Get to know the teen technorati.

In 1978 Mattel elevated handheld gaming to the next level with the Football 2. Realistic game sounds, plus the ability to pass the ball? Touchdown!

Chris Dixon, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, thinks you should reconsider the power of bitcoin. In conversation with WIRED’s Steven Levy, the tech entrepreneur and investor explains why the digital payment system has the potential to enable new behaviors and innovations.

With degrees in mathematics and physics from U.C. Berkeley, 19-year-old Rebecca Jolitz is planning to revolutionize the satellite development industry. Get to know the 2014 Thiel Fellow and find out what first inspired her love of science.

Musicals. They’re great. But jukebox musicals? That’s an entirely different—and often terrible—story. Even with Clint Eastwood behind the camera of the new stage-to-film rendition of Jersey Boys, there’s only so much Dirty Harry can do for the destined-to-flop silver screen adaptation.

From the transporter room to the sick bay, take a full tour of the stage used in Star Trek Continues. Modeled after the original set used in the late '60s, Vic Mignogna takes us behind the painstakingly recreated USS Enterprise.

As the 2014 Thiel Fellows prepare to move to San Francisco for the summer, the reality of the fellowship starts to sink in. Having to drop out of school, dealing with parental judgment—is it all really worth it to pursue their ideas and projects in Silicon Valley?

The fellows who’ve moved into the campus house start to settle in—all the while gearing up for orientation. In this episode, the teens hear advice from current and past fellows on the challenges they'll face, including how to make the most of their $100,000 grants.

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.

Eighteen-year-old Darby Schumacher is trying to create a safer and healthier world for newborns. The 2014 Thiel Fellowship finalist is working to develop an alert system that tracks vital signs in babies to help combat Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The Tennessee native explains what prompted her to start the project and why she wants to become an entrepreneur.

Back in San Francisco, fellows Shantanu Bala and Kaushik Tiwari visit the community workshop and prototyping studio TechShop. As they tour the space and check out equipment, Shantanu develops new ideas that he can apply to his project of building new computer interfaces that use a sense of touch to get information.

The Thiel fellows get a dose of Silicon Valley life as they visit Google’s collaborative workspace, The Garage. After a demo of Google Glass, the group gets hands-on with an innovation exercise to hone their creativity and team-building skills.

It’s more than just a prop. Vic Mignogna, who stars as Captain Kirk in “Star Trek Continues,” shows us the famous Captain’s chair and explains how the set designer re-created a replica of the original version, down to the hand-poured control buttons.

A bunch of talented teens all under 20 years old move in together. Sounds like the plot of a new MTV show, but for the winners of the $100,000 Thiel Fellowship, it’s reality. In this episode of Teen Technorati, the fellows give us a tour of their San Francisco and Oakland apartments, where they’re working on their projects and bringing their ideas to life.

He's the maestro of motion capture performance. From Gollum in Lord of the Rings to Caesar in the new Planet of the Apes movies, Andy Serkis is the greatest actor you've never seen. So where is this man's Oscar? The Angry Nerd has words for the Academy—doesn't he, my Precious?

In this episode, Thiel fellow Rebecca Jolitz takes us on a tour of the NASA Ames Research Center, where she worked while attending UC Berkeley. The entire group also pays a visit to lunar transportation company Moon Express for lessons on space, technology, and how to turn the impossible into a reality.

Now you know what to do if a Planet of the Apes situation occurs, but is an ape takeover actually plausible? Host Quinn Beswick breaks down the likelihood of a primate invasion.

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?

Seventeen-year-old Thomas Hunt isn't old enough to vote, but he's conducting research that may one day cure cancer. Get to know the Thiel Fellow, take a tour of the lab where he's working to help make history, and find out what inspired him to get involved in cancer research.

It's time for the bi-annual Under 20 Summit, where past, present, and future Thiel Fellows connect with one another and meet with mentors. In this Season 2 finale, the winners of this year's Thiel Fellowship reflect on their progress thus far, and share their goals for the future.

Why drive a regular cop car when you can patrol the streets in a massive beast? Watch what happens when the San Diego police department upgrades their regular vehicle to Bodock the Giant Creature.

Angry Nerd is on location at #SDCC2014, and he's got a bone to pick with cosplay fans waiting to get into the coveted Hall H. Plus, he stops by a signing with the cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron to give Marvel a piece of his mind about the new Ant-Man movie.

Chris Nolan showed up to #SDCC2014 to promote his new sci-fi flick Interstellar and Angry Nerd has a few choice words for him. Watch as he gives Nolan a piece of his mind, talks to a few cosplay fans, and gives advice to the Marvel world.