Awesome Wired

Most paper airplanes have straight-edged wings that stick out from their center. But this peculiar paper flyer looks more like the core of a toilet paper roll than something that can get airborne. WIRED and paper airplane expert John Collins show us how to make one of these surprisingly aerodynamic paper planes.

All kinds of bad things happen to people in the movies. But we all know that fiction can exaggerate what people can live through in the interest of drama. Emergency physician Italo Brown is here to set us straight on the survivability of film boo-boos from Scarface to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

WIRED continues its great series in which experts in their respective fields analyze scenes from TV shows and movies to evaluate their accuracy and likelihood in real life. Annie Onishi, a general surgery resident at Columbia University offers the play-by-play this time.

Each July, Pyro Spectactulars by Souza produces hundreds of fireworks shows to celebrate America’s Independence Day. Wired spent a little time with pyrotechnics expert Jim Souza to walk us through some of the science and magic behind the scenes of these explosive spectacles.

Jonna Mendez used to be the Chief of Disguise at CIA. She sat down with Wired to look at the right and wrong ways spies behave in movies and TV shows, particularly regarding how they disguise themselves, as well as the tools they use to conceal their identities.

There are lots of different schools of thought on how playing video games can both positively and negatively affect our brains and bodies. WIRED spent some time trying to separate myth and opinion from hard science and data in this fascinating report on the subject.