death
Can Being Reminded of My Death Improve My Life?
WIRED’s spiritual advice columnist on whether apps that send reminders of your mortality can help you live a better life.
How Body Farms and Human Composting Can Help Communities
Like every other aspect of our society, how we handle death and dying needs to change in the face of climate change. This method may be a path forward.
Predicting Death Could Change the Value of a Life
New technology promises to forecast the length of your life. But for disabled people, measuring mortality can prove fatal.
The Morbid War Over Online Obituaries
“Obituary pirates” scrape websites and publish their own versions of death notices, reaping commissions on flowers and gifts.
How ‘Big Funeral’ Made the Afterlife So Expensive
It's time to reevaluate the cost of death care—and its environmental impact.
How Stardew Valley Bridged a Connection to My Grandfather
Gardening in this relaxing, chill game brought me back to my childhood, but broke my heart when I had no choice but to grow up and face reality.
How to Pay Your Respects During a Virtual Funeral
The pandemic has forced many of our mourning rituals online. Here are some basic rules to make sure you’re not unintentionally causing offense.
How to Write a Living Will
When my dad passed away without a will, my family had so many unanswered questions. These resources can help make it easier for those you leave behind.
How Tech Could Help Us Contemplate Our Own Mortality
Monks stared at skulls to ponder the inevitability of death. We stare at our phones.
The Ethics of Rebooting the Dead
The notion of resurrecting people as digital entities is becoming less hypothetical. But just because something can be done, doesn’t always mean it should.
This Pandemic Must Be Seen
If we could watch what’s really going on in hospitals, there would be no more complacency.
The Future of Work: ‘Remembrance,’ by Lexi Pandell
“Having no consciousness at all, surrendering to the dark nothingness of death, was better than existing with a partial one.”
Upon My Death, Play the Following Messages
A startup called Memories lets you record videos to be sent posthumously—one of many companies seeking to give you more control over your ending.
When Doctors and Patients Talk About Death Over Zoom
During the Covid-19 pandemic, palliative care specialists are discovering that technology can add a lot to these difficult discussions.
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How to Grieve and Support Others During a Pandemic
What can you do for a friend when you can't give them a hug? We talked to some experts to find out.
Covid-19 Is Not the Spanish Flu
A widely cited stat about death rates seems to argue otherwise, but it's surely incorrect. So how'd it end up in the research literature?
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Will Your Cat Eat Your Corpse?
The short answer is maybe. The long answer won't make you feel any better.
The Future of Death Tech Has No Rules—Yet
Mortuary startups, like one that plans to freeze and shatter corpses, have run afoul of some fusty regulations.
How to Reduce Gun Violence: Ask Some Scientists
Researchers have clear policy suggestions on how to see fewer gun deaths. They'd have many more, if they weren't starved for funding and data.
Now Even Funerals Are Livestreamed—and Families Are Grateful
With friends and relatives dispersed, a growing number of funeral homes will stream services, and demand is increasing.
Inside the Cafés Where People Go to Talk About Dying
Mortality is inevitable. Death Cafés just give you a safe space to talk about it.
Why Nevada's Execution Drug Cocktail Is So Controversial
A sedative, an opioid, and a paralytic sit at the core of legal and ethical debates over the state-sanctioned killing of death row prisoner Scott Dozier.
A New Way to Dispose of Corpses—With Chemistry!
Alkaline hydrolysis is a clean, green method for dissolving a body into its chemical building blocks; the runny remains just wash down the drain.
Silicon Valley's Immortalists Will Help Us All Stay Healthy
All over Silicon Valley and elsewhere, executives follow weird revitalization fads. They think the code of aging can be hacked and death made optional.