The race to crack battery recycling—before it’s too late

PLUS: The greening Arctic, how to make virtual parties fun, and the perils of #cottagecore. [View this email in your browser]( | [Manage newsletter subscriptions](newsletter=wir) [[(image) WIRED Daily Newsletter Logo]11.30.20]( [Arctic Tundra of the Yukon]( [CLIMATE CHANGE]( [Beautiful Yet Unnerving Photos of the Arctic Getting Greener]( BY MATT SIMON [Using tricked-out drones, scientists are watching vegetation boom in the far north. Their findings could have big implications for the whole planet.]( [poker table]( [GET WIRED PODCAST]( [Was This Poker Player's Luck Too Good to Be True?]( BY MARK ROBINSON [On this week’s Get WIRED podcast, features editor Mark Robinson talks to writer Brendan Koerner about an unconventional poker player and the woman who called him out.]( [Collage of images of group of 4 at a party, woman alone on her computer on the couch, and screenshots of Zoom and Gather]( [IDEAS]( [A Mission to Make Virtual Parties Actually Fun]( BY GRETCHEN MCCULLOCH [Let's be honest, Zoom birthdays and happy hours are bad. But an emerging type of platform known as “proximity chat” could offer a better option.]( [battery]( [BLACK MASS]( [The Race To Crack Battery Recycling—Before It’s Too Late]( BY DANIEL OBERHAUS [Millions of EVs will soon hit the road, but the world isn’t ready for their old batteries. A crop of startups wants to crack this billion-dollar problem.]( [[GET WIRED]( [The Cyber Week Sale is here. Now with free stickers!]( [Get one year of WIRED for just $10 $5.]( [Tech news and analysis you won't find anywhere else.]( [Subscribe now.](]( [Person resting in hammock]( [DIGITAL CULTURE]( [My Life Is Little House on the Prairie. I Blame TikTok]( BY EMMA GREY ELLIS [Homesteading used to be a dream for another time. Then cottagecore happened.]( [Old Lyft car with fuzzy pink moustache]( [RULES OF THE ROAD]( [Ride-Hail Companies Are Making Life Harder for Scooters]( BY AARIAN MARSHALL [Officials in many cities feel they couldn't rein in Uber and Lyft. Now they're being stricter with other innovative forms of transportation.]( [instagram reels videos on a phone]( [CLONE WARS]( [All the Social Media Giants Are Becoming the Same]( BY ARIELLE PARDES [Which major platform has a news feed, disappearing posts, private messaging, and a live broadcasting feature? That would be … all of them.]( [A collage with a space ship and astronaut.]( [FICTION]( [The Future of Work: ‘The Long Tail’ by Aliette de Bodard]( BY ALIETTE DE BODARD [“Everyone onboard the scavenging habitat knew there was no correlation between the unreality and what lay underneath.”]( [First Baptist Church]( [REWRITING HISTORY]( [The Quest to Unearth One of America's Oldest Black Churches]( BY ANGELA WATERCUTTER [First Baptist Church was founded in secret in 1776. It’s been hidden under a parking lot in Colonial Williamsburg for decades—a metaphor for the failures of archaeology and American history.]( [(image) Condé Nast Spotlight | The breaking news and top stories everyone is talking about. All in one place. The most popular stories from Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest and more. STAY INFORMED]( [(image) WIRED Logo]( [(image) WIRED on Facebook]( [(image) WIRED on Twitter]( [(image) WIRED on Instagram]( [(image) WIRED on LinkedIn]( [(image) WIRED on YouTube]( [Podcasts]( This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( or [Manage your newsletter subscriptions](newsletter=wir)