TikTok has finally unveiled how its "For You" algorithm works

PLUS: Zoom education, Zoom encryption, and counting aliens. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 06.18.20   IDEAS If the Virus Slows This Summer, It May Be Time to Worry BY ROXANNE KHAMSI We hoped that Covid-19 would be a seasonal infection. We hoped wrong.   DEALS 20 Last-Minute Father's Day Gifts on Sale Now BY MATT JANCER If you want to show your appreciation for Dad with something more than a phone call, one of these deals might make the old man smile. But you better hurry!   PHONE HOME The Trouble With Counting Aliens BY DANIEL OBERHAUS A new study estimates that there might only be 36 communicating extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. But that number doesn't tell the whole story.   SOCIAL MEDIA How TikTok's 'For You' Algorithm Actually Works BY LOUISE MATSAKIS For the first time, the social media company is opening up about its most mysterious feature.   WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Coronavirus Researchers Are Dismantling Science's Ivory Tower—One Study at a Time BY MAIMUNA S. MAJUMDER Homebound scientists were looking for ways to help battle the pandemic. I put out a call on Twitter, and the Covid-19 Dispersed Volunteer Network was born.   PRIVACY Zoom Reverses Course and Promises End-to-End Encryption for All Users BY LILY HAY NEWMAN The videoconferencing platform had previously said that only paid accounts would get the feature—a move privacy advocates roundly decried.   BACKCHANNEL Screen Share: A College Teacher's Zoom Journal BY ANNE FADIMAN For 15 years, Anne Fadiman and her students huddled in cozy classrooms to study the craft of writing. Then came Covid-19.   GLOBAL RIFT Baidu Breaks Off an AI Alliance Amid Strained US-China Ties BY WILL KNIGHT The search giant was the only Chinese member of the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a US-led effort to foster collaboration on ethical issues.   WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? What Will Science, Tech, and Life Look Like After Covid-19? BY WIRED STAFF What happens next? Writers share stories of a world—and a future—transformed by a viral cataclysm.     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