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The first vaccine, the psychology of poker, and our failed pandemic. Plus: Twitch's chess grandmaster, plastic rain, and a new space toilet. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions Jul 2020 It's a new month—so it's the perfect time to catch up on what you've missed from WIRED. From our latest cover story documenting our failure to insure ourselves against pandemics to the story of the first vaccine, and from the chess player taking Twitch by storm to the human truths revealed in a game of poker, there are plenty of great ways to use your free articles this month. Interested in reading everything WIRED has to offer? Subscribe here.   We Can Protect the Economy From Pandemics. Why Didn't We? BY EVAN RATLIFF A virologist helped crack an impossible problem: how to insure against the economic fallout from devastating viral outbreaks. The plan was ingenious. Yet we're still in this mess.   The Grandmaster Who Got Twitch Hooked on Chess BY CECILIA D'ANASTASIO Hikaru Nakamura is the top-ranked blitz chess player in the world—and his channel has seen a meteoric rise as he coaches streamers in the ancient game.   How Covid-19 Contact Tracing Works on Your Phone BY DAVID NIELD Developers are working on track-and-trace systems to keep infection levels low. The apps aren't here yet, but here's what they do—and how you can enable them.   Spies Can Eavesdrop by Watching a Light Bulb's Vibrations BY ANDY GREENBERG The so-called lamphone technique allows for real-time listening in on a room that's hundreds of feet away.   Poker and the Psychology of Uncertainty BY MARIA KONNIKOVA The game has plenty to teach about making decisions with the cards we've been dealt—on and off the table.   Who Discovered the First Vaccine? BY CODY CASSIDY As the world scrambles to develop an inoculation against Covid-19, it's worth understanding the early, extraordinary history of the technique.   Plastic Rain Is the New Acid Rain BY MATT SIMON Researchers find that over 1,000 metric tons of microplastic fall on 11 protected areas in the US annually, equivalent to over 120 million plastic water bottles.   Why NASA Designed a New $23 Million Space Toilet BY DANIEL OBERHAUS Later this year, astronauts on the American module of the ISS will be able to test out the toilet before NASA puts it on crewed vehicles for deep-space missions.     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