TBT: The "10-Year Challenge" is just a harmless meme—right?

PLUS: The best WIRED stories from this month a year ago. View this email in your browser  01.09.20 You've seen the 10-year challenge memes where people post a photo of themselves now next to a photo of themselves 10 years ago. But what if we told you it might all be a ruse? Just hear us out: Let's say you wanted to train a facial recognition algorithm on aging. What would do? Would you, maybe, start a meme where people would post their faces now right next to photos of themselves 10 years ago so you could mass train AI on how aging actually works? Read more about the 10 Year Challenge, along with the best WIRED stories from this month last year below.   Facebook's '10 Year Challenge' Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right? Opinion: The 2009 vs. 2019 profile picture trend may or may not have been a data collection ruse to train its facial recognition algorithm. But we can't afford to blithely play along. The Best Stories From This Month, Last Year Google Takes Its First Steps Toward Killing the URL Google wants to get rid of URLs. But first, it needs to show you why. Ford's Shelby GT500 Is the Most Powerful Mustang Ever The latest take on the muscled-up Mustang has more than 700 horsepower and might corner as well as it sprints. Watching Our Weight Could Be Killing Us Body size and food consumption might not be the be-all, end-all of health and well-being. So why are we so obsessed with how we look and what we eat? Screens Might Be as Bad for Mental Health as … Potatoes The science of how technology affects happiness needs a huge statistical upgrade. A new paper charts a path toward better research. And Now, the Weather: Mars-like, With a Chance of Apocalypse Extreme cold from a broken polar vortex is hitting the US at the same time as extreme heat is scorching Australia. Not so good if a habitable planet is your jam. If Edible Insects Are the Future, We Should Talk About Poop Insects are touted as a major new source of protein, but scaling up Big Cricket could mean new problems—such as what to do with all their "frass." GET WIRED Get 1 year of WIRED access for less than $1 a month.   Tech news and analysis you won't find anywhere else.   Subscribe now     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