Science

The Most-Read WIRED Science Stories of 2018

Feast your mind on stories about brain-eating amoebas, the science of wildfires, and a criminal twist to the genetics revolution.

In compiling the most-read stories for each section of WIRED.com, Science's list was refreshingly devoid of any Facebook news. Instead, our Science readers sought out loftier pieces, ones that answered queries like, what is the free energy principle? Or how concerned should I be about brain-eating amoebas? For anyone seeking out an intense education on topics ranging from a rogue vaccine trial to the mystery of the average body temperature, the list below will satisfy your science tooth. And if you want to share any of these stories on Facebook, we won't mind.

  • closeup of Karl Friston in a suit jacket and tie
    Photograph: Kate Peters
    01

    The Genius Neuroscientist Who Might Hold the Key to True AI

    Karl Friston’s free energy principle might be the most all-encompassing idea since the theory of natural selection. But to understand it, you need to peer inside the mind of Friston himself.

    Read More
  • Getty Images
    02

    A Brain-Eating Amoeba Just Claimed Another Victim

    Naegleria fowleri lays waste to cells in the brain, leading to a grisly demise in the very rare cases when it manages to lodge itself in a victim's nasal cavity.

    Read More
  • Chad Wys; Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program
    03

    The Dying Scientist and His Rogue Vaccine Trial

    Running out of time to prove he'd found a miracle cure, Bill Halford teamed up with a Hollywood executive and recruited a band of desperate patients.

    Read More
  • Jeremy Harbeck/NASA
    04

    The Race to Understand Antarctica’s Most Terrifying Glacier

    Read More
  • Getty Images
    05

    98.6 Degrees Is a Normal Body Temperature, Right? Not Quite

    Fever is a more flexible concept than people assume, as new crowdsourced data helps show.

    Read More
  • JOSH EDELSON
    06

    The Terrifying Science Behind California’s Massive Camp Fire

    Lots of wind along with very dry vegetation turned the Northern California wildfire into a high-speed menace that tore through Paradise and Butte County.

    Read More
  • Kamil Bialous
    07

    Saving Baby Boy Green

    Thanks to advances in neonatal care, Baby Boy Green joined a generation of premature babies whose survival would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

    Read More
  • Tim Kopra/Johnson Space Center/NASA
    08

    A SpaceX Delivery Capsule May Be Contaminating the ISS

    Read More
  • Jake Naughton
    09

    The Mad Scramble to Claim the World's Most Coveted Meteorite

    In rural Peru, a chunk of rock made landfall with a tremendous blast. Meteorite hunters rushed to get a piece of the action. Then things got weird.

    Read More
  • Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
    10

    The Creepy Genetics Behind the Golden State Killer Case

    Read More

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Andrea Valdez is the editor of WIRED.com. Before arriving at WIRED in 2017, she worked at Texas Monthly for 10 years, first as a fact checker, then as a columnist, and, ultimately, as the editor of texasmonthly.com. She is the author of How to Be a Texan: The Manual. Valdez ... Read more
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