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Articles by Sandra Upson
Livestream Replay: Why Is Silicon Valley Still a Boys’ Club?
Sandra UpsonLauren GoodeEj Dickson Sep 18, 2026 7:00 AM How are women really faring in Silicon Valley? Watch our livestream replay for the scoop. In 2026, as DEI and woke were declared over, WIRED set out to investigate the state of gender in Silicon Valley. As tech titans embraced Trump and the right, as Mark Zuckerberg declared that “masculine energy” was needed and Elon Musk cut federal female workers most of all, the backlash was in full swing.
Sandra Upson
Sandra Upson Sandra Upson is a features editor at WIRED. Prior to joining WIRED she was a senior editor at Medium and the executive editor of Backchannel, which she cofounded with Steven Levy. She has also written or edited for Scientific American, Newsweek, IEEE Spectrum and The Wall Street Journal, among other places. She is based in the San Francisco office.
We Surveyed 634 Women Who Work in Tech. They Let Loose
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We Surveyed 634 Women Who Work in Tech. They Let Loose
Comments Back to top Comments Back to top WIRED Women Women Still Face Too Much Bullshit—in Silicon Valley and Beyond A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work Inside the Perimenopause Industrial Complex The Search for Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful Woman A New Startup Lets You Freeze Your Eggs For Free. But Is Anything Ever Free? Justice for CSS Features Editor TopicsWIRED WomensurveysWomen in techGoogleMeta
Submit Your Questions: Why Is Silicon Valley Still a Boy's Club?
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
Submit Your Questions: Why Is Silicon Valley Still a Boys’ Club?
In 2026, as DEI and woke were declared over, WIRED set out to investigate the state of gender in Silicon Valley. As tech titans embraced Trump and the right, as Mark Zuckerberg declared that “masculine energy” was needed and Elon Musk cut federal female workers most of all, the backlash was in full swing. In our effort to understand the state of women in tech, we found frustrated females, confusion over who are the new AI girlbosses, and a total lack of interest in talking about gender at all.
What Do Americans Spend on Housing?
If there’s one thing that brings people together, it’s the ridiculously high cost of housing. Want to buy a place? Good luck with that. If you do luck into homeownership, enjoy those skyrocketing bills. In late April and May, WIRED asked readers how they’re thinking about homes in 2026. More than 200 people responded, sharing how they’re living and at what cost, how their towns have changed, and what compromises they've had to make. Their top concern, by far? Affordability. The price of everyday goods.
What Do Americans Spend on Housing?
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
What Do Americans Spend on Housing?
If there’s one thing that brings people together, it’s the ridiculously high cost of housing. Want to buy a place? Good luck with that. If you do luck into homeownership, enjoy those skyrocketing bills. In late April and May, WIRED asked readers how they’re thinking about homes in 2026. More than 200 people responded, sharing how they’re living and at what cost, how their towns have changed, and what compromises they've had to make. Their top concern, by far? Affordability. The price of everyday goods.
Submit Your Questions: AI Is Changing Your Job—Now What?
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
AIスタートアップのつくり方──大胆に、奇妙に、そしておそらく失敗する現実を受け入れよ
現在、地球上には10,000以上の人工知能（AI）系スタートアップが存在すると言われている。その数はチーターの生息個体数よりも、現存するメタセコイアの木の本数よりも多い。もちろん、これはあくまでも推定値にすぎない。スタートアップは生まれては消えていくからだ。それでも2024年だけで、2,000社以上のAIスタートアップが初めての資金調達を行なった。 投資家たちが何十億ドルもの資金をAIに注ぎ込むいま、こう問いかける価値はあるだろう──AIブームに乗って大量に誕生したこれらの新興企業は、いったい具体的に何をしているのか？ わたしはできるだけ多くの新進AI創業者に話を聞くことにした。目的は勝者を予想することではなく、AI製品をつくる現場の実情を知ることだった。AIツールが業界の人々の仕事をどう変えたのか、群雄割拠の状況で競い合うことがどれほど恐ろしいものなのかを理解したかった。...
Livestream: Welcome to the Chinese Century
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
Livestream: Welcome to the Chinese Century
Whether you realize it or not, you’re already living in the Chinese century. From batteries to milk to electric vehicles, China is undoubtably doing it better—while the rest of us kick our feet up and watch. China is soaring ahead of the US in a space race called by Trump; China is putting up buildings in a day’s time; China is light-years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to solar energy.
Cómo fundar una startup de IA en tiempos de caos
Se dice que la Tierra alberga más de 10,000 startups de IA. Son más abundantes que las chitas (o guepardos). Superan en número a las secuoyas. La cifra es una suposición, por supuesto: startups vienen y startups van. Pero el año pasado, más de 2,000 de ellas consiguieron su primera ronda de financiamiento. Ahora que los inversores invierten miles de millones en IA, cabe preguntarse: ¿Qué hacen todas estas criaturas del boom? Decidí acercarme al mayor número posible de fundadores recientes de IA.
How to Build an AI Startup: Go Big, Be Strange, Embrace Probable Doom
Earth, it’s said, is home to more than 10,000 AI startups. They’re more abundant than cheetahs. They outnumber dawn redwoods. The figure is a guess, of course—startups come, startups go. But last year, more than 2,000 of them got their first round of funding. As investors shovel their billions into AI, it’s worth asking: What are all these creatures of the boom doing? I decided to approach as many recent AI founders as I could.
Livestream: Tech Went All in on Trump. Now What?
The tech industry’s embrace of President Trump has left many of us asking the same question: What the hell happened to Silicon Valley? Is this merely a Big Tech ploy to negotiate favorable business circumstances, or does it point to a long-term ideological shift? On Tuesday, WIRED's panel of experts will discuss the impact that Trump has had on tech, and vice versa.
大西洋が壊れるまで、どれくらい？ 科学者兄妹が出した答えが世界を揺るがした
アイスランドの南西端沖に大西洋の「縁海」と呼ばれる海域がある。グリーンランドとアイスランドに挟まれたアーミンガー海は、北半球で最も強い風の吹く場所のひとつだ。Google マップの評価は星3つ。あるレビューには「とても風が強い」とある。ここはまた、ちょっと奇妙なことが起きている場所でもある。20世紀に入ってから地球の温度はどんどん高くなっているのに──熱帯ではさほどでもなく、北極と南極の気温上昇が大きい──アーミンガー海の温度はほとんど変わっていない。年によっては温度が下がったことさえある。 恐ろしい地図を見るのが好きならば、19世紀終わりの平均気温と2010年の平均気温を比べた地図を見るといい。地球全体は気候変動でお馴染みの上昇を示すピンクと赤で彩られているのに、北大西洋を見ると、一カ所、妙に青い斑点がある。もし地球温暖化が毛布だとしたら、アーミンガー海とその周辺は虫に食われた穴のように見える。これを科学者たちは「温暖化の穴」と呼ぶ。 「温暖化の穴」は実は大きな問題かもしれない。なぜなら、AMOCに変なことが起きているのを示す兆候なのかもしれないから。AMOC（Atlantic...
When Will Climate Change Break the Atlantic? Two Scientists Have An Answer. Original
This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration, with photography by Emilie Henriksen. Off the southwest tip of Iceland, you’ll find what’s often called a “marginal” body of water. This part of the Atlantic, the Irminger Sea, is one of the stormiest places in the Northern Hemisphere. On Google Maps, it gets three stars: “very windy,” says one review. It’s also where something rather strange is happening.
He Was an FBI Informant-and Inspired a Generation of Violent Extremists
Listing the Atomwaffen Division and the Order of Nine Angles as a lasting influence, Butcher also disclosed the nature of MKU’s “alliance” with 764, which was forged by the users “Xor” and “Kush” (both of whom are still unidentified).
Por qué los tiradores olímpicos parecen ciborgs
En los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024, como en los otros más recientes, hemos a los atletas de tiro, entró en el campo de tiro, salir con una pistola de aire comprimido en la mano. La pistola es la parte menos amenazadora del escenario. No, la medalla de oro a los mejores gadgets olímpicos se la llevaría lo que llevan en la cara: un par de lentes ciborgianos que parecen de Locutus de Borg.
Tesla nunca inició un registro oficial de inversión en México, solo hizo “anuncios a medios”, dice la secretaria de Economía
“No tenemos registros de inversión de Tesla, es lo único oficial. Lo oficial es lo que se registra y no hay registro. Nunca han registrado inversiones. Hicieron anuncios en medios pero no han hecho ningún trámite oficial, institucional conforme a la Ley de Inversión Extranjera en México”, dijo el lunes ante medios. Además, añadió, no le parece que haya riesgo de que la amenazas arancelarias de Trump se hagan realidad.
¿Se romperá el océano Atlántico? Dos científicos conmocionan al mundo con su respuesta
Frente al extremo suroeste de Islandia se encuentra lo que suele denominarse una masa de agua "marginal". Esta parte del Atlántico, el mar de Irminger, es uno de los lugares más tormentosos del hemisferio norte. En Google Maps tiene tres estrellas: "muy ventoso", advierte una crítica. También es en ese lugar donde está ocurriendo algo bastante extraño.
How Soon Might the Atlantic Ocean Break? Two Sibling Scientists Found an Answer-and Shook the World
A gigantic, weather-defining current system could be headed to collapse. Peter and Susanne Ditlevsen had a simple yet controversial question: How much time might we have left to save it?
How Soon Might the Atlantic Ocean Break? Two Sibling Scientists Found an Answer-and Shook the World
Off the southwest tip of Iceland, you’ll find what’s often called a “marginal” body of water. This part of the Atlantic, the Irminger Sea, is one of the stormiest places in the northern hemisphere. On Google Maps it gets three stars: “very windy,” says one review. It’s also where something rather strange is happening. As the rest of the planet has warmed since the 20th century—less in the tropics, more near the poles—temperatures in this patch of ocean have hardly budged.
The 10,000 faces that launched an NFT revolution
One day in the spring of 2017, the two men were talking about Watkinson’s nieces; the girls had started collecting different kinds of toys with an enthusiasm that reminded them of their own youthful hobbies. Watkinson wondered what it would take for someone to feel as excited about collecting digital trading cards. The main problem, of course, was that because any digital good can exist in limitless, identical copies, no single instance of it is special.
The 10,000 Faces That Launched an NFT Revolution
by Sandra Upson | Nov 11, 2021 | News | Within 24 hours, all the Punks were gone; one man who saw the post amassed 758 of them. Within days, collectors started to buy and sell—but right away, they ran into trouble. When someone tried to buy a Punk, a horrific bug in the smart contract caused the payment to travel not from the buyer to the seller—but to go straight back to the buyer. The lucky buyer ended up with both the Punk and the money being offered, and the seller got nothing.
The 10,000 Faces That Launched an NFT Revolution
On June 11, 2017, in the late afternoon, Erick Calderon was in the back room of the tile-importing warehouse he owns, printing product stickers. The printer was slow, so he padded across the blue-carpeted floor, past his cryptocurrency-mining rig, to his computer. He opened up Reddit and glanced at the latest posts.
Covid, Schools, and the High-Stakes Experiment No One Wanted
Seth Daub was riding high. It was the first days of March 2020 and he was looking forward to a blitz of travel: an education conference in Los Angeles, then another in Washington, DC, followed by a quick trip to New York to take in some Broadway shows. An elementary school principal in Orlando, Florida, Daub had recently collected data showing that his once nearly failing school was on a much better path. “High expectations yield high results!” he liked to say with gusto.
A guide to safely holiday road-tripping through a pandemic
As I plan my family’s holiday road trip in a few weeks’ time, my mind keeps turning to The Oregon Trail. Just like in the game (and the lives of actual early travelers), we’ll be traversing several Western states, dodging deadly illness, and rationing food. But if I’m honest, gamifying my thoughts has been an escapist treat, a way to not face my true fears of hurtling down the road in a thin steel box for days on end. The reality is scary.
A Guide to Safely Holiday Road-Tripping Through a Pandemic
As I plan my family’s holiday road trip in a few weeks’ time, my mind keeps turning to The Oregon Trail. Just like in the game (and the lives of actual early travelers), we’ll be traversing several Western states, dodging deadly illness, and rationing food. But if I’m honest, gamifying my thoughts has been an escapist treat, a way to not face my true fears of hurtling down the road in a thin steel box for days on end. The reality is scary.
How an Epic Series of Tech Errors Hobbled Miami’s Schools
On the morning of August 31, the first day of school, the 345,000 students in Miami-Dade County’s public schools fired up their computers expecting to see the faces of their teachers and classmates. Instead a scruffy little dog in banana-print pajamas appeared on their screens, alongside an error message. “Oh bananas!” read one message from the district’s online learning platform.
The Devastating Decline of a Brilliant Young Coder
On Friday, September 13, 2019, Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn, cofounders of the San Francisco internet security firm Cloudflare, stood on a slim marble balcony overlooking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A cluster of the company's executives stood near Prince, ready to shout out a countdown. “Louder! Loud!” Prince urged them.
The Devastating Decline of a Brilliant Young Coder
On Friday, September 13, 2019, Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn, cofounders of the San Francisco internet security firm Cloudflare, stood on a slim marble balcony overlooking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A cluster of the company's executives stood near Prince, ready to shout out a countdown. “Louder! Loud!” Prince urged them.
Portraits in Precocity: Gifted Child Artists Dazzle Their Audience [Slide Show]
Young Picassos and budding Rembrandts reveal an artistic mind-set at early ages Psychologists have long debated whether exceptional achievement demands raw talent or hard work. The development of artistic skill in children offers a window into the complex forces that define the first stages of mastery. As the drawings in this slide show reveal, some children discover new techniques and produce more complex compositions than others of the same age.
Costa Rica's Zero-Carbon Plan Could Be a Model for the World
Carlos Alvarado Quesada has heard all the naysayers before. In February, the 39-year-old president of Costa Rica committed to ridding the country of fossil fuels by 2050. If successful, Alvarado's plan could make Costa Rica the first zero-emissions country. With a population of merely 5 million, this leafy Central American nation is not a major contributor to the world's climate crisis. So why bother then?
Ditch the Super Bowl for a Who's Who of Superb Owls
This Sunday, the subreddit /r/superbowl will host a gathering of hoo-ligans. They’ll be fans of the Nocturnal Flying League. Real birds of a feather. Starting at 6 pm ET, the Superb Owl community will kick off an Ask Me Anything with biologist James Duncan, who has spent his entire adult life studying owls and a mere three weeks playing football.
Watch Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Launch Its New Shepard Rocket
Matthew Staver/Bloomberg/Getty Images Matthew Staver/Bloomberg/Getty Images Update: This launch is now scheduled for January 23 at 8:50 am CST. Blue Origin is planning to soon launch its New Shepard rocket on its tenth mission from the company's Corn Ranch landing pad in West Texas. The vehicle will carry a bevy of NASA-sponsored payloads into suborbital space, where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
At Y Combinator, Startups Manage Molecules Rather Than Code
This week, a couple of hundred venture capitalists descended on the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California, for Y Combinator's twice-annual Demo Day. The event showcases graduates of the famous incubator's training program to investors who hope to sniff out the next Dropbox, Airbnb, or Stripe, all of which emerged from Y Combinator. But increasingly, the entrepreneurs marching onto the stage are as likely to be experts at manipulating molecules as writing lines of code.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 10: What Is Real?
"What is real?" Dolores asks Arnold, in a flashback, at the beginning of Westworld's second season. He responds: "That which is real is irreplaceable." Season 2 of the HBO series has played with the nature of reality as if it were a feather dangled before our paws. Is this person real? What about this world—where do the simulations, parks, and memories end, giving way to something more fundamental?
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 9: The Many Lives of the Man in Black
As the second season of Westworld approaches its end, the world is closing in on the Man in Black. A philanthropic family man in real life and a model of depravity within Westworld, he had built a wall to separate his two selves. But in Episode 9, the divide between those lives comes crashing down. The premise of this episode is familiar enough. In the Westworld universe, a recurring theme is that you can't always tell a human from a host.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 8: The Great Ghost Nation Mystery
In the canon of Westworld, the Ghost Nation does not play by the rules. They sometimes vanish into thin air. Their minds are impervious to Maeve's (Thandie Newton) takeover attempts and Ashley Stubbs' (Luke Hemsworth) voice commands. They collect human captives for unknown reasons. They are totally mysterious, living on Westworld's margins and never emerging as full characters—until now. Because of their puzzling nature, the Ghost Nation has invited a plethora of fan theories. Are they humans?
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 7: Decoding da Vinci
In the show Westworld, Anthony Hopkins plays the master architect Robert Ford. He designed the sentient robots that populate Delos Inc.'s sumptuous parks. He has an artist's discerning eye, the life-breathing gift of an inventor, and the calculating menace of a sociopath. And he has continued to loom over Westworld's happenings, despite having been killed by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) at the end of Season 1. In the seventh episode of the show’s second season, he returns to center stage.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 6: Back to Life
Westworld, faithful watchers, has come galloping back to life. Now that you've persevered through several episodes of Leaky Brain Bernard staggering around in a daze, the endless build-up of Maeve’s quest for her daughter, and Dolores as an indomitable but ho-hum ice queen, you have finally been given an episode with some real blood in its veins. It begins with Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) in a host examination room, at an undisclosed point in time.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 5: More Dead Than Alive
There are many things that Westworld is. It is artful. Its scenes are sculpted with the same beauty and care that went into building the robots' exquisite bodies. It explores with delicacy the adjacent modes of consciousness that accompany sophisticated artificial intelligence. And then there are the things that Westworld is not. Warm, intimate, relatable, human? Nope, not lately. There is, for starters, the total absence of meaningful relationships.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 4: More Human Than Human
If you thought watching Westworld was like flipping through a blood-soaked college philosophy textbook, you weren’t wrong. Its meditations on the nature of the mind are growing increasingly knotty, putting flesh and bones to the meandering thought experiments that keep undergrads up at night. Episode 4 of Season 2 opens in a sleek apartment.
What's the Deal With Facebook and the Blockchain?
On Tuesday Facebook reorganized the duties of its product executives, in the process creating an unusual new division: David Marcus, formerly head of Facebook’s Messenger app, will now lead a team of fewer than a dozen people dedicated to blockchain technology, according to Recode. He’ll be joined by notable executives including Kevin Weil, former VP of product at Instagram, and James Everingham, VP of engineering at Instagram. It’s not clear what the company is up to here.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 3: Robot, Human, and Everything in Between
Westworld watchers, we knew this moment was coming. The second season's third episode, "Virtù e Fortuna," opens not in Westworld but in an India-themed park. Where Westworld is an emblem of the colonization of Native American land, this park represents Britain's takeover of the subcontinent, and the racial-social hierarchy is clearly encoded: Women in saris and men in turbans—the hosts—walk amidst people dressed in turn-of-the-20th-century British garb.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 2: The Façade Is Crumbling
Fellow watchers of Westworld, we have cracked the façade. The second episode of Season 2 opens on Dolores' (Evan Rachel Wood) face. Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) asks if she knows where she is; she guesses she is in a dream. He corrects her: "No, you're in our world." The camera pulls back to reveal them seated at a window of a high rise, looking down on the sparkling lights of a metropolis at night.
'Westworld' Recap, Season 2 Episode 1: No More Heroes
A favorite motif of Westworld is the shattering of its heroes. Bernard isn’t only a thoughtful-yet-murderous host, he’s Arnold! Then there’s gallant, love-struck William—oh wait, he’s the Man in Black! Sweet, all-suffering Dolores—crap, she’s also the crazy killer Wyatt. Season 2 of the futuristic drama is no different. But this time the reversal is on a grander scale. The hosts have been consumed by bloodlust, leaving humans as hapless underdogs in a hell of their own making.
What Hearings? Advertisers Still Love Facebook
All that noise in Washington won't mean much for Facebook's bottom line.
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