Wired Magazine: Tech Support

Gabriela Farfan, the Smithsonian's curator of gems and minerals, answers the internet's burning questions about gemstones. Are all minerals crystals? How are diamonds cut? How do geodes form? Is the Hope Diamond actually cursed? This rock and mineral expert answers all these questions and more.

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier answers the internet's buzzing questions about instruments and musical theory. What is the difference between black and white piano keys? What makes up the rhythm section? What makes a bass line sound funky?

Mechanical engineer and Stanford professor Chris Gerdes answers the internet's automotive questions. Why aren't solar powered cars a thing yet? How do self-driving cars see? How can Teslas crash when on auto-pilot? Is hacking a big threat to autonomous cars? Chris answers all these questions and much more!

Dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah returns to answer more of the internet's burning questions about skin and dermatology. Can the skin develop a dependency on chapstick? What causes dry skin? What lives on the skin's microbiome? If we shed skin cells everyday, why don't tattoos fade away?

Professor of Egyptology and Archaeology Laurel Bestock answers your questions about ancient Egypt from Twitter. What did ancient Egyptians sound like? Why is King Tut so enduringly popular? What ancient Egyptian medicine and tools do we still use in modern times? Why did they practice mummification? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Egyptology Support.

Cardiologist Dr. Sunil Rao answers your questions about the heart from Twitter. How do you measure your maximum heart rate? Is broken heart syndrome real? What is cholesterol? Can low dose aspirin help prevent heart attacks? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Heart Support.

Professor of marine biology Dr. Kory Evans answers your questions about fish from Twitter. Why are orcas attacking boats? What is the fastest creature in the sea? How do octopi change colors to match their environment? Are jellyfish immortal? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Marine Biology Support.

Professor of urban planning Kate Nelischer answers your questions about real estate and the US housing crisis from Twitter. Why are homes so expensive? How is AirBnB affecting the housing market? Why can't millennials afford a home? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Housing Support.

Paleoanthropologist Dr. Steven E. Churchill answers your questions about cavemen and early human evolution from Twitter. What happened to the Neanderthals? Is there a chance Big Foot is real? What did humans eat before the discovery of fire? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Caveman Support.

Rebel Moon director Zack Snyder answers your questions about filmmaking from Twitter. What actually is a director's cut? How does audience feedback shape creative decisions? What do filmmakers do to prepare for film shoots? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Blockbuster Support.

Survivalist Donny Dust answers your questions about primitive skills and surviving in the wild from Twitter. How do you start a campfire without any matches? If igloos are made of ice, how do they keep you warm? What is the most nutritious insect to eat? What does it mean to die by exposure? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Survivalist Support.

Celebrity personal trainer Magnus Lygdbäck answers your questions about fitness and exercise from Twitter. What is the best way to lose belly fat? How much should you rest between sets? Should you drink water before, during or after a workout? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Workout Support.

Tara Stoinski, chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, answers your questions about primates from Twitter. Why do gorillas pound on their chest? How do apes communicate with one another? Why do chimpanzees have wars? Are there social hierarchies within primate groups? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Ape Support.

Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Bender answers your questions about mental health from Twitter. Can you develop a personality disorder? Is stress contagious? What does the Rorschach test actually prove? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Mental Health Support.

Dr. Ed Barnhart, an American archaeologist, answers the internet's burning questions about the ancient Maya civilization. Why was the Maya calendar year only 260 days? Who did they sacrifice? Did they build more pyramids than the Egyptians? This Maya expert answers all these questions and much more.

Biomedical scientist Dr. Andrea Love answers your questions about pseudosciences and false health claims from Twitter. What red flags should you look out for when gauging trust in health influencers? How harmful are cell phone towers to our health? Are organic foods actually free from pesticides? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Pseudoscience Support.

Musician and violinist Andrew Bird answers the internet's burning questions about playing the violin. What is the secret to vibrato? Why are violins so expensive? Is there a trick to properly tuning a violin? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Violin Support.

Professor of English and Medieval Literature Dr. Dorsey Armstrong answers your questions about the Middle Ages from Twitter. Why is it called the "Middle" Ages? What activities did people do for fun? Why were animals tried in court for crimes? Answers to these questions and many more await—it's Medieval Support.

Former Wall Street stock trader Lance Breitstein answers your most asked stock market questions from Twitter. Why did they pick a bull and a bear to describe market conditions? What’s the driving force behind a stock’s movement up or down? How does a stock’s value actually impact a company’s well-being? When the market “crashes” why can’t it just be un-crashed? Answers to these questions and more await—it’s Stock Market Support.

Pyrotechnician Patrick Cyrana joins WIRED to answer your burning questions about fireworks. How are fireworks designed? How do they get their color? What is the most dangerous firework statistically? Who invented fireworks? How do you become a professional pyrotechnician. Patrick answers all of these questions and more—it’s Fireworks Support.

Meteorologist, Author, and Storm Chaser Cyrena Arnold answers your questions about extreme weather from Twitter. How accurate is the science in the new film "Twisters?" What is the difference between El Niño and La Niña? Why are scientists predicting a super-charged storm season for 2024? Answers to these questions and plenty more await—it's Severe Weather Support.

Professor of Ancient Greek History Paul Christesen joins WIRED to answer your questions from Twitter. What do we know about the original Olympics? How did Ancient Greece elect leaders? Is the film ‘300’ accurate? Was there a huge outdoor statue of Athena in Acropolis as in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? What exactly did we lose when the Library of Alexandria burned? Why did ancient Greeks place a coin in the mouth of the recently decesased? These questions and plenty more are answered today on Ancient Greece Support.

Prompt Engineer Michael Taylor joins WIRED to answers your questions from Twitter about artificial intelligence prompts. What is a prompt engineer and why do companies employ them? What are some general tips to improve the AI prompts we use? Why do AI-generated hands have the wrong number of fingers so often? What is AI “hallucinating?” How long will ChatGPT remember the context of your conversations? These questions and plenty more are answered on Prompt Engineer Support.

Etiquette expert William Hanson joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about proper manners and polite behavior. Why is “no elbows on the table” a rule? Is there a proper way to stir tea? Or cut a piece of cheese from a charcuterie board? Who decides what proper table etiquette is? Why should we even care about etiquette in the first place? Etiquette expert William Hanson answers these questions and many more on Etiquette Support.

'Pod Save America' hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor join WIRED to answer your burning questions about American democracy and elections. Does the United States have honest elections? Could we have a 51st state by the time we have our 51st president? What's Project 2025 and why are we hearing more about it? Are technology and social media undermining democracy? How can a presidential candidate win the popular vote but still lose the presidency? Jon and Tommy answer these questions and many more on Democracy Support.

Roller coaster engineer Korey Kiepert joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about roller coasters and the people who design them. How do roller coasters work? Who invented the first roller coaster? How are roller coasters tested? What the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world? How do they stay on the rails while looping and speeding down the track? Engineer Korey Kiepert answers each of these questions plus plenty more on Roller Coaster Support.

Former Chief Urban Designer of The City of New York Alexandros Washburn joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about city planning. How does the New York City Subway compare to others worldwide? What are the pros and cons of rent control initiatives? Which city can lay claim to being "smartest" in the world? Or has the best airport? What challenges will the urban designers of tomorrow need to meet? Alexandros Washburn answers these questions and many more on City Planning Support.

Joey Chestnut, the number one ranked competitive eater in the world, visits WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about competitive eating. How do competitive eaters train? What do competitive eaters do after a competition? Do they even taste what they're eating? How does one begin a career in competitive eating? Joey Chestnut answers these questions and plenty more on Competitive Eating Support.

Professor and department head for the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University Bill Crossley answers questions about airplanes and aerospace engineering from Twitter. How do airplane wings generate the necessary amount of lift to achieve flight? Can a plane fly with only one engine? Could electric airplanes replace fuel-burning ones? Is severe turbulence still safe to fly through? Why do commercial planes fly at 35,000 feet? Are planes safer than cars statistically? How much does it cost to build an airplane? Answers to these questions and many more await on Airplane Support.

Microbiologist Dan Buckley joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about microbiology. What's the fastest known bacteria? Is the zombie fungi from "The Last Of Us" realistic? Why is cat poop is dangerous for pregnant people? How did metal-eating bacteria come about? How does horizontal gene transfer work? What microbes should we be most concerned about? Dan Buckley answers these questions and many more await on WIRED Microbiology Support.

Archaeologist Cat Jarman, a Viking Age specialist, joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the Vikings. When did the Viking Age begin? How do we know about the Vikings? Where did they voyage to? How did they navigate so effectively? Did Vikings really sacrifice humans? Were the Vikings actually more violent than other cultures of their day? Answers to these questions and many more, today on Viking Support.

Volcanologist Jenni Barclay joins WIRED to answer the internet's lava-hot questions about volcanoes. How do volcanoes cause lightning? What would happen if you fell into a volcano? What do volcanologists study day-to-day? Are there any super volcanoes in the world overdue for an eruption? Why does Iceland have so many active volcanoes? These questions and many more are answered on Volcano Support.

Private investigator Mike LaCorte joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the profession of private investigator. How often are the people they're hired to watch cheating on their partner? What are PI's allowed and not allowed to do on the job, legally? Has anyone ever caught him investigating them? Answers to these questions and more await on Private Investigator Support.

Neuroscientist and Psychologist Dr. Richard J. Davidson joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about our emotions. Are men truly less emotional than women? Can stress cause your brain to shrink? What are chemical imbalances and what do they do to our emotions? Why do we have emotions at all? Dr. Davidson answers these questions and more on Emotion Support.

Historian Mark Lee Gardner joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the Wild West era. Who was the most dangerous outlaw in the old west? What did folks use for toilet paper way back then? How accurate is the depiction of life in the old west in "Red Dead Redemption 2?" Old west historian Mark Lee Gardner covers these questions and plenty more on Wild West Support.

Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the first languages first form? Was there once a single common language that all the others evolved from? When were swear words invented? Have words like "dude" and "bro" become gender neutral? Who came up with the word poop? Is "unalived" a real word now? Answers to all of these questions and plenty more await on Etymology Support.

Historian Mikki Brock joins WIRED to answer the internet's bubbling cauldron of questions about witches, witchcraft, and witch hunting through the ages. Can men be witches or only women? Do witches really cast spells and create potions? Who came up with the concept of witches flying on brooms and why? Why do cartoon witches always have such a pointy nose? Why do we associate black cats with witches? Why did the Salem Witch trials start? Answers to these questions and an entire coven more await on Witchcraft Support.

Pierogi from Scammer Payback on YouTube joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about scams and scambaiting. Why do scammers ask victims to buy gift cards? What are some of the biggest scammer red flags? Do they ever get caught? How many scams are out there? Should I mess with scammers for fun if I identify one? What software and hardware does Scammer Payback use? How can those creepy sex bot internet commenters lead to a scam? Pierogi answers these questions and many more on Scambaiting Support.

Historian Angus Konstam joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about pirates. Where did the stereotypical pirate accent come from? What did pirates do for fun? Why do we associate parrots and eyepatches with pirates? Who’s the most famous non-fictional pirate in history? Is Jack Sparrow real? Did pirates use sunscreen? Answers to these questions and many more await on Pirate Support.

Professional cult deprogrammer Rick Alan Ross joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about cults. What makes a cult a cult exactly? What are some signs you’re in one? How do cults differ from religions? Can a family be a cult? And why are Americans seemingly so susceptible to cults? Rick Alan Ross tackles these questions and many more on Cult Support.

Japanese history researcher Yasutsune Owada joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about samurai. What caused the ultimate downfall of the samurai? What was samurai warfare like? What was it like to train to become a samurai? Did women ever become samurai? What did Ronin stand for? And did samurai ever use firearms on horseback? Answers to these questions and many more await on Samurai Support.

Demographer Jennifer Sciubba joins WIRED to answer the internet's questions about population and demographics. What is demography? What perspective can demographics provide about populations and societies? Do fertility rates really matter? Where do most people emigrate from when coming to the United States? And is immigration a net positive or negative? Answers to these questions and plenty more await on Population Support.

Former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Air Safety Investigator Gregory Feith joins WIRED to answers the internet’s burning questions about aviation accidents. What’s the safest seat on an airplane? How likely are you to be in an aviation accident? At what stage of flight to most accidents occur? Can a flock of birds really bring down a jet? Why don’t planes have parachutes to prevent crashing? What happens if a window on a plane cracks during flight? And what really happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? Answers to these questions and many more await on Aviation Accident Support.

Arctic explorer and adventurer Mark Wood joins WIRED to answer the internet's ice cold questions about polar expeditions. How does an average person travel to the arctic? Can they? What does it take to prepare for an arctic expedition? Where precisely is the North Pole? What kind of animals live there? What do you do if you’re face to face with a polar bear? Answers to these questions and plenty more await on Polar Expedition Support.