Gregory Barber
Staff Writer
Gregory Barber is a staff writer at WIRED covering energy and the environment. He graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and English literature and now lives in San Francisco.
The US Inches Toward Building EV Batteries at Home
In an effort to reduce dependency on hard-to-source cobalt and Chinese manufacturing, US makers are finally getting into the cathode business.
Bitcoin’s Libertarian Streak Meets an Autocratic Regime
The cryptocurrency has come to symbolize financial freedom from governments. Many Salvadorans are unhappy about the way it was made an official currency.
Renewable Energy Is Great—but the Grid Can Slow It Down
Many solar and wind projects face a problem: getting the energy from where it’s made to where it’s needed.
Used EVs Are in Hotter Demand Than Ever
Congress is now considering a tax credit that could help low- and moderate-income buyers go electric.
Sodium Batteries May Power Your New Electric Car
As EV sales increase, supplies of lithium may get tight. So some companies are incorporating cells with sodium, which provides almost as big a charge.
Cars Are Going Electric. What Happens to the Used Batteries?
Used electric vehicle batteries could be the Achilles' heel of the transportation revolution—or the gold mine that makes it real.
To Make an Eco-Friendly EV Battery, Think From the Inside Out
Battery packs are designed to stuff a lot of energy into a small amount of space. Some think they should be built for recycling too.
Why It’s So Hard to Predict Where the Pandemic Is Headed Next
Human behavior has changed along with the virus and public health measures to contain it. For modelers, it’s a curveball.
The Delta Variant Is Making Covid a Pandemic of the Young
Children and teens have been spared the worst of the pandemic, but without vaccines they’re sitting ducks as the virus rages. What risks are they facing?
The Delta Variant Has Warped Our Risk Perception
Gone are the easy, thoughtless choices of hot vax summer. Making decisions that balance safety and sanity just got a lot more complicated.
The Dam Is Breaking on Vaccine Mandates
Hopes for a “normal” fall have been dashed by variants and low vaccine uptake. Businesses and the White House think requiring shots can turn things around.
These Bendy Chips Fit in Unusual Places
Researchers think these flexible semiconductors will be able to monitor your heartbeat or tell you whether your milk has spoiled.
GitHub’s Commercial AI Tool Was Built From Open Source Code
Copilot is pitched as a helpful aid to developers. But some programmers object to the blind copying of blocks of code used to train the algorithm.
The Lithium Mine Versus the Wildflower
The deposit could power millions of clean-energy car batteries. There’s just one roadblock: a rare, fragile species of buckwheat, for which a mine might mean extinction.
The Mayor of Reno Is Betting Big on the Blockchain
Hillary Schieve invests in cryptocurrencies herself, and she sees the technology as a way to improve government services.
When Musk Tweets About Crypto, It's Eloncoin All the Way Down
The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire has sent Dogecoin and Bitcoin on a roller coaster this month—and exposed weaknesses in the cryptocurrency market along the way.
US Teens Can Get Their Covid Shot. What’s Next for Schools?
Kids as young as 12 are now authorized for Pfizer’s vaccine. That could make it easier for campuses to reopen this fall—but it introduces a whole new set of decisions.
Coinbase Makes Its Debut—and Bitcoin Arrives on Wall Street
The big cryptocurrency exchange goes public through a direct listing, and it could make a bigger debut than Facebook.
Variant Hunters Race to Find New Strains Where Testing Lags
In countries without much sequencing, new versions of the Covid virus can go unnoticed. Scientists across Africa are collaborating to track them down.
The Ionizer in Your School May Not Do Much to Fight Covid
Manufacturers say the devices remove 99 percent of viruses. Researchers say such claims are unproven, and cheaper air filters are more effective.