Wired Magazine // Current

The Science of G Force

In this pod Wired writer Joshua Davis learns more about G-Froces by not only talking to a NASA's chief G-force researcher but... more

joshdavis
added this

12-year-old Revolutionizes the Solar Cell

William Yuan, a seventh-grader from Portland, OR, developed a three-dimensional solar cell that absorbs UV as well as visible... more

J_Jammer
added this

Condé Nast to launch Wired in the UK and Italy

"Condé Nast will launch a UK version of Wired magazine and its accompanying website next year and has hired the Jewish... more

saverio
added this

WIRED arriverà presto in Italia

"Wired" il famoso magazine nato a San Francisco nel '93 avrà dal 2009 una versione italiana e una per il... more

salvatoreditaranto
added this

The WIRED Fisherman

Can a boatload of high-tech fishing gear transform Wired writer Joshua Davis into a professional angler?

joshdavis
added this

How's About Something Positive Regarding Mankind's Possible Future?

'The End Is Nigh' and 'We're All Doomed', right? Ever wonder if that's just a state of mind, or even... more

dearmat23
added this

Life, death and Twitter on the African Savannah

For veteran wildlife ranger Joseph Kimojino, the traditional tools of his trade -- binoculars, off-road jeep and a rifle -- have been supplemented by Twitter, Flickr and a blog.

A ranger in Kenya's acclaimed Mara Triangle wildlife park, Kimojino is a member of the Masai tribe. He first learned how to click a computer mouse in November. Now he blogs about the Mara Triangle and posts wild animal photos on Flickr nearly every day.

Kimojino's online outreach is an effort to raise awareness and money for the park, and it's urgent: Without the funds he raises online, his employer, the Mara Conservancy, would go broke. Admission fees from park visitors are the conservancy's primary source of revenue, but tourism dropped to almost zero during Kenya's post-election violence, and hasn't snapped back.

But the park's online efforts are working. Despite relatively modest traffic, the blog raised $40,000 from donations in March. Kimojino's Facebook page drew about $2,000; and a handful of safari companies bought advertising on the blog in exchange for sponsoring rangers.

"All the rest has been from single donations from individuals around the world, from donations as small as $5 to our biggest, which was $5,000," says William Deed, the experienced blogger behind the park's online outreach effort.

Kenya's wildlife is seriously threatened by poaching, except in parks like the Mara Triangle, which employs rangers to protect animals. The rangers' salaries are paid from park fees, but tourism has dropped 90 percent. To keep the conservancy running, the park's online outreach needs to raise $50,000 a month until the tourists return -- a job that's fallen into Deed's lap.

Two years ago, Deed, 28, was an office temp in Rotherham, England, "a really shitty, shitty town near Sheffield," he says. Deed was so bored with his lot, he started a blog about the banalities of waiting in line.

The blog became popular, and within months, Deed was recruited by the conservationist blog network WildlifeDirect, brainchild of famed Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey and his son-in-law, Emmanuel De Merode.

Deed's assignment: Help wildlife rangers set up blogs about mountain gorillas and other animals in the Congolese guerrilla stronghold of North Kivu.

Eastern Congo was much less boring than Rotherham, Deed found. After surviving more than a dozen evacuations and being ultimately driven out of the park by Laurent Nkunda's rebels, Deed found a more peaceful but no less adventurous assignment with the Mara Conservancy. For veteran wildlife ranger Joseph Kimojino, the traditional tools of his trade -- binoculars, off-road jeep and a rifle -- have... more