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The 40 Best Movies on Hulu This Week
In 2017, Hulu made television history by becoming the first streaming network to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, thanks to the phenomenon that was The Handmaid’s Tale.
While Netflix has largely cornered the streaming market on original movies—and even managed to persuade A-listers like Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Martin Scorsese to come aboard—Hulu is starting to find its footing in features too, securing the exclusive rights to a large number of Oscar-nominated movies like A Real Pain and Anora. Below are some of our top picks for the best movies (original and otherwise) streaming on Hulu right now.
Still looking for more great titles to add to your queue? Check out WIRED’s guides to the best TV shows on Hulu, best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Disney+, and the best movies on Amazon Prime. Don’t like our picks, or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.
John Wick
It’s been more than a decade since Keanu Reeves introduced audiences to one of cinema’s most enigmatic vigilantes: John Wick, a very talented hit man who is forced out of retirement after a couple of low-level Russian gangsters decide to steal his beloved 1969 Mustang and kill his puppy Daisy in the process. What the men fail to realize is that John isn’t just your average mark. The film has since spawned three sequels, a prequel TV series (The Continental), and the recent spinoff film Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. A fifth film is on the way.
The Monkey
It’s hard to take a story about a homicidal toy monkey all that seriously. Fortunately for audiences, Osgood Perkins doesn’t really try. The director’s follow-up to Longlegs (see below) is an adaptation of an old Stephen King short story about a wind-up toy that wreaks bloody havoc wherever it goes. Theo James stars in dual roles as twin brothers whose childhood was haunted by the toy and who now, as adults, must do their best to end its murder spree. Perkins creates some seriously memorable—and gory—set pieces yet never loses his sense of humor.
Raising Arizona
H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) is a petty criminal who falls in love at first sight with Edwina (Holly Hunter), the police officer tasked with taking one of his many mug shots. Following a prison stint, H.I. swears off his criminal past, and Ed leaves the police force so that they can marry and raise a family. But when it turns out that Ed is infertile, H.I. hatches a kidnapping plan to make her dreams of becoming a mother come true. The Coen Brothers were still in their cinematic infancy with Raising Arizona, their sophomore effort, which remains hilarious—and endlessly quotable—to this day.
One Hour Photo
While the title of this thriller might be lost on anyone who has never held an actual camera that isn’t also a phone, it does not lessen the impact of this taut psychological thriller. Robin Williams is absolutely haunting in the role of Sy Parrish, a lonely photo technician (remember those?) at the local Walmart-ish big box store who becomes obsessed with one of his regular customers and what he believes is their ideal family. But when a crack appears in that seemingly picture-perfect family life, Sy’s unhinged side begins to emerge in increasingly terrifying ways. That Williams didn’t earn an Oscar nod for his performance remains one of the Academy Awards’ most glaring snubs.
Take Shelter
Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon is one of this generation’s most celebrated actors, and the scope of his talent is on full display in this engrossing psychological thriller from Jeff Nichols, who has featured Shannon in every one of his films. Here Shannon stars as Curtis LaForche, a loving husband and father who is being haunted by apocalyptic visions of an impending storm. To protect his family from the danger he believes is coming, Curtis becomes obsessed with creating an underground shelter—alienating his friends and family and losing his job in the process. When Curtis shares his visions with his wife, Sam (Jessica Chastain), she is convinced that he is suffering from the same paranoid schizophrenia his mother began experiencing at about the same age. But what if his visions are real?
Presence
Steven Soderbergh remains Hollywood’s premier experimental filmmaker, making a career out of embracing new technologies and narrative styles to keep audiences on their toes. In the case of Presence, he offers a totally unique take on the haunted house genre. In the wake of a tragedy, a family—parents Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and teenage kids Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang)—move into a new house, only to realize there is something else living amongst them. It’s a slow burn in the best way possible, and a film that will keep you guessing.
28 Weeks Later
Five years after Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s post-apocalyptic triumph with 28 Days Later, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo took the reins to continue telling the saga of the Rage Virus that has overtaken London. In this case, the US military has taken control of the island of Great Britain in an attempt to restore order and keep the survivors safe. The story focuses on a family—parents Don (Robert Carlyle) and Alice (Catherine McCormack) and kids Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton)—who might hold the key to a cure. It makes a perfect preshow to a screening of 28 Years Later, the newest entry in the series, which reunited Boyle and Garland.
Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything
Just over two years after Barbara Walters’ death, documentarian Jackie Jesko delves into the life of the trailblazing journalist who knew exactly which questions to ask someone to elicit an emotional response—and how to get under her interview subjects’ skin, too. Many of the people Walters both inspired and occasionally annoyed (see: Katie Couric and Oprah Winfrey) offer their insights into Walters and the important role she played in breaking down barriers for the female journalists who came after her.
Idiocracy
Like Office Space before it, Mike Judge’s Idiocracy wasn’t an immediate hit upon its release in 2006. But it has gained a much wider and more devoted following since then. A totally average man (Luke Wilson) and woman (Maya Rudolph) agree to take part in a top-secret experiment that will see them sleep for a year then reemerge into a new world. But the duo are forgotten about when the military base where they’re hibernating shuts down. When they’re eventually rediscovered in 2505, the world has degraded in such a way that Wilson’s Joe is now the smartest man in the world—a problem for Joe, and the world at large.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout
Tom Cruise returned to theaters in May as Ethan Hunt for what is presumably his last go-round as the secret agent the government turns to for its most unenviable missions. While Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning was breaking box office records, Hulu went back to the beginning—and then some—by bringing the first six (of eight total) M:I movies into their library. If you want to watch them in order, you’ll kick it off with Brian De Palma’s 1996 original. If you’d rather go straight to the series’ best entry, choose 2018’s Fallout, which marks Christopher McQuarrie’s sophomore outing as director of the franchise. (He has directed all of the films since 2015’s Rogue Nation, including The Final Reckoning.) The sixth film is the first to feature a returning director, who opted to pair the action with more emotion than previous entries had seen. Between that and an extended cast that includes Henry Cavill and Vanessa Kirby—plus the return of Michelle Monaghan—it marks a different kind of Mission for Hunt.
The Order
We previously included The Order in our list of “The 10 Best Movies You Missed in 2024,” and we stand by that claim. Fortunately, the time has come for Hulu subscribers to right that wrong. Justin Kurzel directs this gritty tale of corruption and extremism from the Pacific Northwest to Middle America. Terry Husk (Jude Law) is an FBI agent who believes that a series of daylight robberies he’s investigating are linked to a local white supremacist group that is attempting to fund a war on America. The investigation eventually leads him to Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), the unlikely leader of The Order, a neo-Nazi group. That the film is based on a true story makes it all the more heartbreaking.
Small Things Like These
Eight months after winning the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy delivered just as powerful a performance in this adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novella. It brings Murphy back to the kind of films he’s best known for—quiet, character-driven indies about working class people. Here, he plays Bill Furlong, a coal merchant, husband, and father of five daughters who witnesses a disturbing scene with a young girl at the local convent and school for girls. When he feels compelled to investigate further, and question the young girl’s treatment, Bill puts a target on his own back—and that of his family—when the convent’s Mother Superior (Emily Watson) believes Bill is asking too many questions. Ultimately, despite veiled threats from the sister, his compassion overwhelms his fear of retribution.
Longlegs
Between It Follows, The Guest, and Watcher, Maika Monroe has become this generation’s scream queen. She adds to that genre resume in this offbeat thriller from Osgood Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins) playing Lee Harker, an FBI agent who has a sixth sense when it comes to murder investigations. But something feels eerily familiar when she’s asked to investigate a string of murder-suicides that some of her colleagues believe is the work of a possible serial killer. Monroe delivers yet another great performance as Lee, but it’s Nicolas Cage who delivers the most unhinged (to the point of being unintentionally comical) performance here.
Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus—which is set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986)—is about a scenario you’ve probably heard before: a group of people journeying around space find an abandoned space station, which they decide to investigate. This, of course, leads them right into the arms/faces of the Alien franchise’s regular cast of extraterrestrial baddies (see: facehuggers, chestbursters, and Xenomorphs). Writer-director Fede Álvarez, who helmed the 2013 Evil Dead reimagining, manages to bring new life to a decades-old franchise with this sequel.
A Complete Unknown
Timothée Chalamet shines in James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic, which earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Chalamet. The film follows Dylan’s early career, beginning in January 1961—when he hitchhiked from Minnesota to New York City to meet and perform for his musical idol, Woody Guthrie. That’s also where the then-19-year-old met folk musician Pete Seeger (played by Edward Norton, who snagged a Best Supporting Actor nod), who became one of Dylan’s earliest champions. Seeger was also instrumental in Dylan’s game-changing performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, which is where the movie culminates. Whether you know everything or nothing about Dylan, it’s a fascinating story.
Anora
Anora, who prefers to be called Ani (Best Actress winner Mikey Madison), is an exotic dancer whose services are called upon when Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled son of a Russian oligarch, comes to the club where she works, asking for a dancer who speaks Russian. Their VIP room evening turns into a (paid) sexual encounter outside the club … then another, then another. During a spontaneous trip to Las Vegas, the two get married, with Ani believing she has found her happily-ever-after. Vanya’s parents are less optimistic and make it clear that Vanya has two choices: his marriage or their money. Director Sean Baker, the critically acclaimed filmmaker behind The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021), has yet again made a powerful dramedy that highlights the plight of marginalized characters.
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
“If you’re Sly Stone, there’s no blueprint for what comes next.” That’s the basic idea behind Sly Lives!, Questlove’s brilliant follow-up to the equally compelling Summer of Soul—the rockumentary that won the Roots’ drummer an Academy Award in 2022. He could well be headed for Oscar recognition once again with this deep dive into the rise and fall of the groundbreaking band Sly & The Family Stone, and the higher standards to which Black artists have traditionally been held. Questlove knows what he’s talking about, and so he serves as a perfect guide into this side of the music industry. The film was hauntingly timed, too. Stone passed away on June 9.
Alien
Though it arrived in theaters in 1979, Alien has lost none of its potency in the intervening years—which isn’t something most fortysomethings can say. By now you probably know the story by heart: The crew aboard the spacecraft Nostromo, including warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), put a presumably slight pause on their trip back to Earth in order to respond to a distress call from a nearby planetoid. But what they discover is a bizarre alien life-form that seems to delight in knocking off crew members in new—and frequently terrifying—ways. Can you say Facehugger? Or Chestburster? Alien is also noteworthy for being the film that kicked off a bona fide, and legendary, sci-fi/horror franchise—and introduced the world to Ridley Scott, who changed the genre game yet again with his next feature, Blade Runner. If you’re itching for more Alien content, Noah Hawley’s new prequel series, Alien: Earth, just arrived on Hulu, too.
Prometheus
Though the fifth film in the Alien franchise was met with mixed reviews upon its initial release in 2012, it’s one of those movies that has grown better with age and each successive viewing. Ridley Scott directs a script cowritten by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, which follows a team of scientists (led by Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green) who are traveling the galaxy in the hopes of unlocking the mysteries of how humankind came to be. But not every creature they encounter is as interested in finding the answers to life’s big mysteries. The (kinda) prequel marks Michael Fassbender’s first appearance in the franchise, playing a jack-of-all-trades android (a role he reprised in 2017’s Alien: Covenant). Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, and Ben Foster round out the stellar cast.
A Real Pain
Kieran Culkin continues his run as Hollywood’s most lovable scene-stealer in this buddy-ish road trip comedy written, directed, produced by, and costarring Jesse Eisenberg (who earned an Oscar nod for the screenplay). David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) travel to Poland in honor of their late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Despite going down two very different paths in life and their opposing personalities, the two find a way to reconnect and prove that blood is thicker than water. Culkin nabbed his first-ever Oscar for the role, while Eisenberg was gifted Polish citizenship.
Arcadian
Nicolas Cage does what Nicolas Cage does best (read: chew quite a bit of scenery) in this postapocalyptic thriller in which a father, Paul (Cage), and his twin sons Thomas (Jaeden Martell) and Joseph (Maxwell Jenkins) are three of the only people remaining on earth. Making this scenario even more challenging is the fact that they are terrorized at night by homicidal creatures dead-set on ridding the planet of all humans. When Thomas goes missing, Paul must venture out into the night to find him—an ill-advised adventure that ultimately leaves Paul wounded, fighting for his life, and relying on his sons to keep them all alive.
Nightbitch
Marielle Heller writes and directs this adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s 2018 novel—a bitingly dark horror-comedy about the challenges of motherhood. Amy Adams reveals a ferocity rarely seen in the six-time Oscar nominee’s previous performances. Here, she’s a stay-at-home mom simply known as Mother who begins to resent her husband (Scoot McNairy) and even her young son for stripping her of her previous identity as an artist. And at the same time, she begins to think that maybe she’s turning into a dog. Which all makes a lot more sense in the context of the movie.
Thelma
June Squibb is the action hero you didn’t know you needed. In the decade since her Oscar-nominated turn in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, the 95-year-old actress has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors. Here, she plays the eponymous grandma who is swindled out of $10,000 by a phone scammer targeting elderly citizens. When the authorities seem reluctant to take any real action, Thelma grabs a gun and her motorized scooter and takes the law into her own hands. Best of all? This vigilante comedy is based on writer-director Josh Margolin’s own grandmother.
Ad Astra
At an unspecified date in the near future, US Space Command Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) learns that mysterious power surges originating from an old space station are posing a threat to Earth. When he finds out that the activity can be traced back to the Lima Project—a search for extraterrestrial life led by his father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), who has been lost in space for 30 years—Roy journeys into the unknown. When cowriter/director James Gray announced the project, he very boldly stated that he was hoping to create “the most realistic depiction of space travel that’s been put in a movie.” Did he succeed? Watch and make your own determination.
Late Night With the Devil
In the 1970s, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is a late-night talk show host who is constantly chasing Johnny Carson’s ratings but simply cannot compete. He scores the highest ratings of his career when he sits down for an interview with his beloved wife, Madeleine (Georgina Haig), who is dying of cancer. When she passes away shortly afterward, Jack halts production on his show entirely. When he’s eventually ready to come back to work he’s even more determined to compete with Carson, so he decides to throw an occult-themed Halloween show for the ages, complete with a psychic (Fayssal Bazzi), a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon), and a possessed teen (Ingrid Torelli) who seems to know more about Jack and Madeleine’s relationship than he bargained for. Many critics have deemed Late Night With the Devil the best horror movie of 2024—and with good reason.
Babes
Pamela Adlon’s directorial debut does for motherhood what Bridesmaids did for marriage. New Yorkers Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) are lifelong best friends with decades of history and traditions but now find themselves facing very different chapters in their lives. Dawn, who is struggling with postpartum depression, is trying hard to balance the demands of being a working mom and partner to her husband, while Eden has never been burdened by such demands. But when she discovers she’s pregnant after a one-night stand and determines that she is ready to be a single mom, their friendship begins to fracture in ways they never would have imagined. Glazer and Buteau’s chemistry as BFFs is undeniable in this brash comedy that isn’t always pretty, in part because of its brutal honesty.
Kinds of Kindness
Just three months after Poor Things scored four Oscar wins in 2024, Yorgos Lanthimos got much of the gang back together—including Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley—for Kinds of Kindness, which debuted at Cannes. Unlike his previous works, this one is an anthology film, or what came to be marketed as a “triptych fable.” Just like the writer-director’s other movies, it is born from a place of absurdist comedy and over-the-top performances from its stars. Sex cults, reanimation, sandwiches, murder-happy bosses, and John McEnroe’s smashed tennis racket all play a part in the wildly fun festivities.
Immaculate
Sydney Sweeney produced this religious horror flick and also stars as Cecilia, a young nun (yep, you read that right) whose traumatic brush with death has convinced her that God saved her for a higher purpose. When she is invited to join a convent in the remote Italian countryside that assists older nuns at the end of their life, she happily accepts—then quickly comes to realize that all may not be what it seems.
Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) is a man who should have it all: the one-time race car driver and founder of the Ferrari car company oozes charm, wealth, and excitement. But behind the scenes, the walls are closing in on him. Set during the summer of 1957, Michael Mann’s biopic finds Ferrari (the man) on the verge of bankruptcy, mourning the death of his son, and desperately trying to hide his past indiscretions from his estranged wife—who helped build the car company and who holds the key to his financial future. Though the film earned mixed reviews, it does a solid job of telling the complex story of a complicated man. But its biggest selling point is Penélope Cruz’s bravura performance.
Perfect Days
Nearly 60 years into his career as a filmmaker, Wim Wenders managed to make one of his best films yet with Perfect Days—which is saying a lot when you consider that this is the same director who made Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987). Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) is a toilet cleaner in Tokyo who is blissfully content with the simplicity of his life, as it allows him the time to indulge his more personal passions: music (he’s an avid collector of cassette tapes and allows his favorite music to set the soundtrack to his life), books, and nature. The movie is not punctuated by any overly dramatic storylines; just the quiet interactions that Hirayama has with those around him—family, coworkers, total strangers—and the way those interludes impact him. It’s that poetic simplicity, and Yakusho’s wonderful performance, that gives the film its heart.
Origin
Writer-director Ava DuVernay finds a way to yet again change the language of cinema with what is both a biopic and a historical document. The movie is based on the life of Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for her work at The New York Times. It follows Wilkerson’s journey to write her 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents—a project that took her from the US to Germany to India to research the troubling history of each country’s caste system and the parallels that exist between them.
The Contestant
On January 11, 1998, 22-year-old comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu entered an apartment in Japan where he lived, nude and with no human contact, for 15 months as part of an understandably controversial game show titled Susunu! Denpa Shōnen. Hamatsu had no idea his life was being broadcast. This riveting documentary delves into not just how anyone ever allowed this experiment to happen, but the real-world effects—cultural, psychological, and beyond—it had on both Hamatsu and the tens of millions of viewers who were somehow drawn into witnessing his on-camera abuse.
Anatomy of a Fall
Between her starring roles in The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, German actress Sandra Hüller made it clear that when it comes to scripts, she knows how to pick ’em. In this compelling courtroom drama, Hüller plays a successful writer turned murder suspect when her husband (Samuel Theis) is found dead outside their home on a snowy day. Ultimately, it might be her son (Milo Machado-Graner) and/or his guide dog (Messi, the movie’s real star) who ultimately seal Sandra’s fate. It’s a smart, twisty, and well-acted mystery that will keep you guessing.
BlackBerry
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton is practically unrecognizable in this immensely entertaining recounting of the rise and fall of BlackBerry—the must-have cell phone that had the world entranced before the iPhone came along. Howerton costars as Jim Balsillie, the very real negotiator who, alongside Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel), gave the world its first smartphone. Which is a lot more dramatic (and darkly humorous) than it sounds.
The Royal Hotel
Ozark star Julia Garner reunites with director Kitty Green (The Assistant) for this taut psychological thriller in which BFFs Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) decide to backpack their way through the Australian outback. When they’re offered the chance to live and work at a remote hotel in order to replenish their dwindling bank accounts, they jump at the chance—despite Hanna feeling that something isn’t quite right with their place of employment or its clientele. She’s on to something. Garner has played one badass character after the next, and The Royal Hotel is no exception.
Self Reliance
New Girl’s Jake Johnson makes his feature directorial debut with this wonderfully weird and occasionally dark meta comedy, which he also wrote and stars in. Tommy Walcott (Johnson) is living a pretty ordinary existence until he’s approached by Andy Samberg (as Andy Samberg), who offers him the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to win $1 million as part of a massive reality competition. The only thing Tommy needs to do is not get murdered for 30 days, despite being hunted by dozens of contract killers whose job is to ensure that no contestant walks away with the big prize. The catch? Contestants can only be killed when they’re entirely alone. So Tommy takes it upon himself to partner up with another contestant, which is where Maddy (Anna Kendrick) comes in. Since they both have a cool mil to gain and a lot to lose (aka their lives) if they don’t triumph, they make a pact to spend every waking moment of the next 30 days together. Just when you think you know where Self Reliance is headed, it goes ahead and surprises—and in the best ways possible.
No One Will Save You
Home invasion thrillers are never in short supply, but the really effective ones are hard to come by. Kaitlyn Dever shines—and proves yet again that she can shoulder the weight of an entire film—as Brynn Adams, a seamstress living a solitary existence in her childhood home and mourning the loss of her mother and closest friend. When she wakes up one night to discover that someone is in her house, that someone turns out to be something. A home invasion thriller with extraterrestrials might not have been on your must-watch Bingo card, but No One Will Save You is 93 minutes well spent.
Miguel Wants to Fight
Miguel (Tyler Dean Flores) is 17 years old and has never been in a fight. So when he learns that he’ll be moving away from the place and people he has known all his life, he enlists his pals to help him get into his first fistfight. It’s probably not the first coming-of-age ritual to spring to mind, but it’s certainly among them. A talented cast of young actors make this comedy—cowritten by Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion—immensely watchable.
Sanctuary
Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott) has just been handed the keys to the castle following the death of his hotel magnate father. Rebecca Marin (Margaret Qualley) is a dominatrix who believes she deserves some of the credit—and half the cash—that comes with Hal’s new CEO position. Sexual politics have rarely played out as twisted, or darkly funny, as they do in this mesmerizing, and often claustrophobic, thriller from Zachary Wigon.
Corsage
Vicky Krieps delivers yet another top-notch performance as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who—following her 40th birthday—longs to recapture the freedom of her youth. Marie Kreutzer writes and directs this fictional biopic (Empress Elisabeth is real, though the story told within takes plenty of creative liberties), which sees the royal rebelling against her lack of power to affect any real change, despite her title. Even more so, it’s about a woman who is desperate to hold on to the power that youth and beauty entitle her to—regardless of the consequences.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Environmentalism meets heist movie in director Daniel Goldhaber’s thriller about a group of young people who try to—as the title implies—expose the fragility of the oil industry. It’s not often that a movie examining the fight against the climate crisis is also an edge-of-your-seat adventure, but here those elements come together beautifully. (You can give cinematographer Tehillah de Castro a bit of credit for that.) Smart, prescient, and nearly unprecedented, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is more than worth the stream.
Rye Lane
Raine Allen-Miller’s directorial debut offers a playful twist on the typical rom-com. Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson) are both twentysomethings reeling from recent break-ups. After a chance—and rather awkward—first meeting, the pair spend a day wandering around South London, bonding over their shared experience, finding cheeky ways to get over the mourning of their previous relationships, and maybe discovering that romance is not dead after all.
Triangle of Sadness
Think of it like Gilligan’s Island, but with more class commentary and vomit. When a bunch of rich people head out to sea on a luxury yacht, their plans are thwarted when a terrible storm leaves many of them stranded on a beach where none of their money or power can help them survive. That already gives away too much, but suffice to say, if you like The Menu-esque critiques of the excesses of wealth with just as many dark-comedy twists, this Oscar-nominated film is right for you.
Fresh
Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a single woman who is on the lookout for a partner but tired of the online dating scene. When she meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), a quirky, handsome stranger, she decides to give him her number. The two hit it off on the first date and eventually find themselves making plans to spend a weekend away—which is when Noa realizes that Steve has been hiding a few disturbing details about himself. Ultimately, Fresh stands as a lesson in the horrors of dating in the digital age (both real and imagined).
Palm Springs
Given the existence of Harold Ramis’ near-perfect Groundhog Day, it takes a whole lot of chutzpah for a filmmaker to add another picture to the infinite-time-loop rom-com canon. But writer-director Max Barbakow did it anyway with Palm Springs, and audiences are thankful he did. Building upon the rules originally established in Groundhog Day, Palm Springs offers its own unique twist on the story. Instead of showing one person (Bill Murray’s Phil Conners) slowly being pushed to the brink of insanity because he’s the only one who seems to be experiencing the phenomenon, Palm Springs has three wedding guests—Nyles (Andy Samberg), Sarah (Cristin Milioti), and Roy (J. K. Simmons)—living the same day again and again and working together to find a way out of it.
Tech
Data visualization emerges a key driver of decision-making at organizational and community levels
Data visualization has emerged as a powerful tool for enabling data-driven decision-making across diverse domains, including business, medicine, and scientific research. However, no comprehensive analysis has previously addressed the types of decision-making problems supported by data visualization or how its role has evolved.
Researchers have conducted a systematic review of significant data visualization research over the past 16 years, classifying and analyzing the studies within a multidimensional decision-making framework. They determined that data visualization primarily facilitates decision-making at the organizational and community levels. Their study is published as part of the 2025 IEEE 18th Pacific Visualization Conference (PacificVis).
Although earlier efforts primarily addressed “evaluative” decision-making, recent trends indicate increasing support for a broader range of decision-making types, including “constructive” and “cognitive dominance” decision-making. Moreover, the structure of decision-making problems addressed by data visualization has expanded from “largely structured problems” to “semi-structured problems.”
The findings indicate that data visualization increasingly supports advanced decision-making by experts in fields such as business and public policy, particularly concerning semi-structured problems.
The findings of this study clarify the current scope of decision-making support provided by data visualization and offer insights to guide the development of new visualization techniques. They also highlight the need for further research into visualization methods capable of supporting individual-level decision-making and unstructured problems.
More information:
Midori Sugihara et al, Contribution of Data Visualization to Decision-Making: A Classification of Data Visualization Research Based on the Characteristics of Decision Problems, 2025 IEEE 18th Pacific Visualization Conference (PacificVis) (2025). DOI: 10.1109/PacificVis64226.2025.00033
Citation:
Data visualization emerges a key driver of decision-making at organizational and community levels (2025, August 28)
retrieved 28 August 2025
from https://techxplore.com/news/2025-08-visualization-emerges-key-driver-decision.html
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part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Isn’t it amazing how fast summer goes by? The kids are back in school, and it’s time for the annual REI Labor Day Sale. This year’s event kicks off today, August 22, and ends on Labor Day, September 2. Many items are up to 30 percent off, and REI Co-op members save 20 percent on any REI Outlet item. To get the member discount, add the promo code LABORDAY2025 at checkout.
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REI tents are some of the best deals around, even more so during sales. If you’d like to learn more, see our guide to the best backpacking tents and best car camping tents.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
REI’s Base Camp tent is WIRED’s favorite car camping tent. It’s extremely well designed and proved plenty weatherproof in our testing. The traditional dome tent design, with two crossed poles and two side poles, holds up well in wind, and the tent floor is high-quality 150-denier (150D) polyester. There’s loads of storage pockets, double doors, great vents, and huge windows, making it comfortable even in summer heat.
The Wonderland 6 is REI’s replacement for the Kingdom 6 and looks to be, for the most part, very similar. We haven’t tested this one, but my almost 20-year-old Kingdom 6 is still going strong. For the most part, it’s made of the very same ripstop nylon used in the Wonderland. With plenty of mesh, this will have better ventilation than the Base Camp above, but the rainfly doesn’t come as low and the hoop design isn’t quite a strong. For summer camping, though, this is a great option.
The REI Half Dome 2 is the best budget two-person backpacking tent. We’ve toted it on many a backpacking trip and found it to be plenty sturdy, quick to set up, and capable of fitting two people and their gear. It even comes with a footprint (which I never bother with, but it’s nice to have it if you have to deal with prickers or pointy rocks). I really like the color options this year too, which blend in with its surroundings rather than stand out.
The Big Agnes Copper Spur series is our top pick for freestanding ultralight tents. This is a high-quality, well-designed tent that’s lightweight, easy to set up, and roomy enough to be liveable in the backcountry. The “awning” design (with trekking poles or sticks) is a nice extra and the mix of 15D nylon, and 20D ripstop, while to feels fragile, as held up well over time.
I’ve only spent two nights in this tent, but so far it’s my favorite solo freestanding tent. I like the generous amount of mesh at the top, which provides some nice ventilation on warm summer nights and is perfect for falling asleep under the stars when the weather permits. The Osmo fabric continues to live up to the hype, with much less water absorption than nylon tents in rainy weather, and there’s a good amount of room for storing all your stuff. The bikepacking friendly version, with shorter pole segments that fit better on a bike, is also on sale for $390 ($130 off).
Bikepacking is my favorite way to travel these days, and while you don’t have to have any special gear, bikepacking tents, with shorter pole sections, are easier to pack in panniers. They’re also nice when traveling by kayak or motorcycle, and they work just fine for backpacking too. The Sea to Summit Telos TR2 Bikepack tent is otherwise a clone of regular Telos 2-person tent. At 4lbs 9oz for the 2-person version it’s light enough and the floor area of 28.2 square feet is roomy enough for 2 with gear.
Deals on Day-Hiking Packs and Backpacks
Be sure to read through our guide to day-hiking packs. While we haven’t published our guide to ultralight backpacks yet, several of our picks are on sale right now and noted below.
Photography: Scott Gilbertson
I just started testing this pack this summer as part of an upcoming ultralight backpack guide. It’s very comfortable, carrying a 25-pound load without issue. I haven’t lived out of it for more than a night yet, but so far I like it, and it’s very reasonably priced. Interestingly, there’s a comment on REI saying that you’re better off going with the Flash 55 and just removing the top lid to save some weight. That’ll save you some cash right now, as the Flash 55 is also on sale for $139 ($50 off).
Nemo’s Resolve is a great pack that incorporates a low-waste footprint into the design. It uses solution-dyed fabrics, and eschews straps and buckles in favor of bungees and pull-tabs. This does make adjusting it fussier, but once you’re used to it and have the fit dialed in, it’s not an issue. The Resolve is a comfortable pack. While technically frameless, it feels like it has some structure. and it sits nice and high on your back. At 1 pound, 15 ounces, it’s also pretty light.
The Osprey Talon is perhaps the most tried-and-true day-hiking pack on the market, and for good reason. It’s light and comfortable, and the 33L capacity can swallow a ton of gear and haul it well. This 33L iteration weighs just 2 pounds, 12.5 ounces and sports 100D high-tenacity nylon that’s been coated with a non-PFAS DWR. Annoyingly, there’s no rain cover, but that omission aside, it’s a superb daypack.
Topo Designs makes some of our favorite bags, from the Mountain Cross, which Gear editor Jeremy White says is “best bag in the world”, to the Global Briefcase, which is on our list of the Best Messenger Bags. Neither of these bags, sadly, are currently in the 60 percent markdowns but many others are!
Sleeping Bag Deals
Whether you need a cheap car camping bag, or something more robust for fall and spring trips, we’ve got you covered. Be sure to read our best sleeping bags guide for even more options.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
REI’s Magma line of down gear are some of the best deals around. The Magma 15 sleeping bag has long been an affordable bag that’s perfect for shoulder season trips when the temp potentially swing lower than you’re expecting (the comfort rating is 21 F). There’s three lengths and three widths, making it easy to get something that’s perfect for your body, and the 850-fill-power goose down (bluesign-approved) packs down nice and small. If you don’t need the shoulder season coverage the Magma 30 is also on sale for $262 ($87 off), and makes a great summer sleeping bag.
I’ve just started testing this as a budget option for ultralight quilts. So far, I’ve been impressed. Like the sleeping bag version above, this is 95 percent of what you get from far more expensive bags. It’s light (20.3 ounces for the medium), packs down small, includes straps to keep it on your sleeping pad, can be completely unzipped and used like a comforter, or snapped up in a proper footbox on colder nights.
The Boost is a hybrid bag that would work for backpacking, but it can also be adjusted to a semi-retangular shape to make it more comfortable for car camping. There are arm holes, which makes reading in it a bit easier, and you can reach out to open or close the “WarmZip” center zipper, which cinches down the Boost to make it more like a traditional mummy bag.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The “mummy” design of mummy bags is about optimizing for warmth, not comfort. But let’s face it, most of us are not sleeping in situations where our survival is at stake. Therm-a-Rest has addressed this with what it calls W.A.R.M. fit, which stands for “with additional room for multiple” positions. Indeed, this bag is very roomy for a mummy design. I was able to draw my legs up when side-sleeping and spread out considerably more than with most bags. If you toss and turn through the nights and don’t want a quilt-style bag, this would be my top pick.
The Siesta is our favorite sleeping bag for car camping. You really shouldn’t need to spend a lot of money on a sleeping bag for car camping. Should your best efforts to cocoon warmth around you fail, there is, after all, a car to retreat to. That’s why we love the REI Siesta Hooded 20—it’s plenty warm and affordable. The Siesta’s rectangular cut makes it a roomier, more comfortable bag, and the 20-degree rating makes it enough for three-season trips, and unlike most rectangular bags, the Siesta has a hood, which helps on those cold nights. We also like that you can zip two Siestas together.
The Zenbivy Bed (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is hands-down the most comfortable backcountry sleeping experience I’ve ever had. It wouldn’t be my top pick for extreme situations, but so long as your expected temperatures fit in Zenbivy’s range (the comfort rating is 35 degrees Fahrenheit), it doesn’t get more comfortable than this. The Zenbivy isn’t just a sleeping bag. It’s a sheet, hood, and quilt-style bag that can be combined in various ways.
Deals on Sleeping Pads
Good sleep in the backcountry can be frustratingly elusive, but one good place to start is with a quality sleeping pad. Whether you’re looking for the an ultralight, ultraminimal packing pad or a plush 4-inch-thick car-camping behemoth, there’s deals on both right now.
Courtesy of Nemo
This is our favorite all-around backpacking sleeping pad. The Tensor All-Season hits all the sweet spots. It weighs an acceptably light 18.2 ounces, provides a good 3 inches of padding, and has an R rating of 5.4. That works out to the best padding and R rating for the weight. It’s also mercifully quiet—none of that annoying crunching noise every time you roll over.
If you’re gearing up for a winter trip, this is a good deal on a great winter sleeping pad. The Tensor Extreme Conditions has the highest R value of any pad we’ve tested, yet somehow manages to pack down to about the size of a Nalgene water bottle and weighs just 21 ounces (587 g). It’s one thing to claim an R value in lab tests though—a subzero night on the snow in a Wisconsin winter was the real test. This pad performed extremely well. Paired with a Z-Rest (see below) and a –10F sleeping bag, it kept me toasty down to 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Photograph: Thermarest
The Z-Lite Sol weighs next to nothing (10 ounces for the small), folds up small enough to lash to the outside of any pack, and can double as a chair, extra padding on cold nights, table, you name it. I am too old and too soft to be the sort of ultra-minimalist who gets by with just a Z-Lite for sleeping, but I still have one around on almost every backpacking trip I take.
Sea to Summit’s Ether Light XT is a 4-inch thick ultralight sleeping pad—the ever-popular Therm-a-rest X-Lite is only 3—making it the best ultralight option for side sleepers. I also like the baffle design better than the Therm-a-rest as well, and it seems to be a little more durable. Note that this is an REI Outlet deal; the XT has been replaced by a newer model.
The big fat camping pad that started the trend of big fat camping pads, the Megamat is a revelation. Trust me, you have no idea how comfortable tent camping can be until you sleep on a Megamat (or a MondoKing, see below). The 4-inch-thick Exped MegaMat is soft and surprisingly firm thanks to the closed-cell foam inside it, which relieves pressure and feels about as close to the mattress in your bedroom as you’re going to get in the woods.
When I sold my Jeep I had to give up my overlanding dreams and return to being a mere camper, but this Megamat, which cuts in to fit around the wheel wells of an SUV, has brought some of those overlanding dreams back to life. I throw this in the back of my wife’s Rav4, and while it’s not a perfect fit (check Exped to see which vehicles are supported), it’s close enough that I can get a good night’s sleep in the car.
If you get a Megamat, get this pump to go with it. I love this pump not so much for the inflating (though that is nice too, it speeds things up), but for the deflating. You can get all the air out and the mattress back in its stuff sack in no time with this thing. It’s well worth the money, especially on sale.
Deals on Stoves and Camp Gear
We’ve filtered through all the camping gear deals to highlight our favorite camp stoves, water filters, and more.
Photograph: Coleman
REI sales are the time to grab this upgrade stove. Sure, the basic version below gets the job done, but the cast iron burners of the Cascade are so much nicer and more durable. The griddle plate is also handy, perfect for cranking out pancakes. My only gripe is that I wish there were an option to get two griddles, as I find the grill not nearly as useful.
Walk around any campground in America and you’ll likely see dozens of these, for good reason. They’re easy to use, last a long time, and aren’t all that expensive. The 10,000-BTU burners are plenty to cook on just about any pan you have (I use cast iron pans on mine), and the electronic ignition means you don’t have to keep track of a lighter.
The MSR PocketRocket 2 is our top pick isopro backpacking stove for most people. It’s lightweight (2.6 ounces) but has wide enough arms to support just about any one- or two-person pot. It’s simple to use, even while wearing gloves, and it’s efficient—at sea level (OK, technically 947 feet), it boiled 1 liter of water in 3 minutes, 47 seconds. You can even get it to simmer, though the flame radius is small, so fancier cooking isn’t easy. See our next pick if that’s your goal.
If you want to cook in the backcountry, like legitimately cook with ingredients, not rehydrating food, the best stove I’ve tested is the Firebox Nano with the gas burner and diffusion plate. The Firebox Nano is a twig stove, so you have that option as well (I am fortunate to live somewhere I can use this feature), but with summer burn bans in many places, it’s really the gas burner and diffusion plate that are the centerpiece here. Together, they spread out the flame enough that cooking on a 10-inch pan is pretty much like cooking on my stove at home. This is a nearly miraculous achievement for a stove setup this small and light (8 ounces).
This is a backpacking must-have for me. It turns cleanup from a tedious chore to a couple of seconds’ work. I’ve even perfected cleaning burnt pans with it: Boil water in the pan to loosen the burnt bits and scrape them out. It’s not a massive savings, but you might as well grab one while it’s a couple bucks cheaper.
The word “ultralight” means different things to different people, and this pot may or may not qualify for you, but if you’re cooking for a group, this 3-liter pot is about as light as it gets. This is my go-to pot for family backpacking trips. The hard-anodized aluminum is sturdy and provides good heat transfer. The ceramic nonstick coating makes for easy cleanup (especially paired with the GSI scraper below). You can also nest the 2L version ($51) inside this one for more cooking options on the trail. If you want to go nuts with it, I haven’t tried it, but you can theoretically also nest the 1.3L version ($45) inside the 2L.
Photograph: Scott-Gilbertson
The MSR Gravity Aitoflow filter is a must-have for backpacking with a group. All you have to do with this filter is scoop up 10 liters of water in the dirty water bag, attach the hose, connect your water bottle, and sit back and relax. The filter is good enough to keep you safe from all the usual protozoa and bacteria, and the flow rate is a solid 1.5 liters per minute when the filter is clean.
The MSR Guardian is our pick for trips with sketchy water sources because it filters down to 0.02 microns, which will remove even viruses. It is heavy at 22 oz. (617 g), and may be overkill for trips in the US, but it’s a great option for overseas. I really like that it’s designed to be self-cleaning, which makes field maintenance incredibly easy, and that it screws right onto a Nalgene bottle. Also, because it’s a pump filter it’s very fast, you can crank out a couple of liters in hardly any time at all. The gravity fed version is also on sale for $232 ($78 off).
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
If you want to bring a chair backpacking, this is the one to get. It’s just about the lightest on the market at 18 ounces, and it packs down nice and small. Nemo also solved the main problem with all pole chairs: The included base pad keeps it from sinking in soft ground.
The thing to keep in mind when you shop REI brand gear is the company’s basic proposition: you get 90 percent of the designer item, for 70 percent of the price. It’s a strategy that works quite well and has generated some really great, affordable gear. This chair is a good example of that. It’s not as nice as the Nemo above, but it’s still comfortable (it does wobble a little, side to side when you move) and nearly half the price.
This camp chair is the coziest way to hang out around the fire. It is somewhat huge, heavy, and awkward to fold up and carry, but so long as you have room for it in your vehicle, there’s no better way to relax under the stars with your loved ones.
I’ve noticed that, when trying to lighten their load with a smaller, lighterweight backpack, people then struggle to fit all their gear. The answer for sleeping bags and clothing is this compression stuff sack, which smashes anything soft down to about half the size of the same item in a regular stuff sack. This works well with sleeping bags and clothing, especially puffer jackets, but also fleece and merino wool.
Deals on Outdoor Apparel
Looking for Labor Day deals on new rain gear or hiking clothes? We’ve got you covered with guides to the best merino wool t-shirts and clothing, best rain jackets, and best puffer jackets.
Photograph: Patagonia
Patagonia’s Nano Puff series has been a hit since it launched years ago. If you want a technical midlayer that you can also wear around town, this is the jacket to get. The fill is synthetic, but it’s impressively warm and manages to stuff down almost like a down jacket.
Mammut’s 800-fill-power down Broad Peak IN hoodie stuffs down remarkably small (into its own pocket), weighs little for the warmth it provides, making it a good all-around puffer. The fill weight is 4 ounces, which I think is the perfect amount of down those active winter days with temps in the 20- to 30-degree range. It’s also light enough (13.5oz) to bring for cool evenings and mornings during shoulder season trips.
When the weather gets down well below freezing, and the wind makes your cheeks burn, this is the jacket I turn to. With a base layer at the bottom, wool sweater over that, then this jacket, I was toasty warm walking in the early morning chill of winter (usually –10 Fahrenheit in January). If you’re familiar with Rab (which is a much bigger brand in Europe), this replaces the Axion Pro. The shell is lightweight (20D) Pertex ripstop nylon that’s nicely windproof and water-resistant.
Courtesy of REI
The best budget rain jacket you can buy, REI’s Rainier Jacket is impressively waterproof and reasonably long-lasting for $70. The durable water repellent (DWR) is PFAS-free, but still pretty good. You also get taped seams and an adjustable hood, two nice features you generally don’t find in jackets this cheap.
Arc’teryx’s Beta AR rain jacket is one of the burliest rain jackets I’ve tested. The Beta AR uses 40D fabric for most of the face, with reinforced 80D patches in high wear areas, all of it with Gore-Tex Pro 3L membrane. It’s been the only Gore-Tex jacket I’ve tested that hasn’t wetted out yet, and the pit zips provide excellent ventilation. At 1 lb. 0.3 oz. it’s not the lightest jacket out there, but you’d be hard pressed to find anything else this durable at this weight.
REI’s Sahara Shade Hoodie offers UPF 50+ fabric (a polyester and spandex blend) to protect you from that high-altitude sun (or any sun). It’s soft and stretchy, so you have a good range of movement, and there are thumbholes in the sleeves to keep them from riding up and exposing your arms. The three-panel hood has a drawstring you can use the cinch it down and keep your neck covered as well.
Photograph: Darn Tough; Getty Images
You can’t go wrong with a pair of Darn Tough merino wool socks. There’s a bunch of styles and colors to choose from, but remember to go with more merino than not if you’re hoping to get several days out of them. Anything over 30 percent nylon starts to smell quickly in my testing.
The awesome wool shirt from Fjällräven is about as northwoods as it gets. It’s also nice and warm and soft, at least on the inside; my kids do not like the outside.
Paddleboard and Kayak Deals
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
This is my favorite paddleboard for lazy days at the lake. The LowRider Aero is large and stable, making it great for beginners. It’s surprisingly nimble and easy to steer too, with very good tracking ability. I also love the two-in-one kayak/SUP hybrid design, which means you can turn it into a full fishing rig with Bote’s various add-ons.
Oru’s foldable kayaks are genius—all the boat, none of the size. The Lake is light, reasonably fast, and the cheapest way to get into the world of folding kayaks. As with all Oru’s offerings, the Lake folds origami-style into a roughly 30-inch square that’s just 15 inches deep—small enough to fit in a car trunk or hall closet.
Deals on Bikepacking Gear
If you’ve got backpacking gear, and a bike, you can go bikepacking. All you need is a way to strap your backpacking gear to your bike. Below are some deals on our favorite racks and panniers to help you get started bikepacking.
Courtesy of REI
This nearly universal rack is easy to get on and off thanks to the quick release system. Thanks to testing bike I probably move racks more than most people, but it’s still nice to have a rack that’s easy to take off when you don’t need it. I clips into M5 or M6 mounts, but you can add a Ortlieb Thru-Axle M6 Connector (also on sale) to mount it directly to the thru axle if you don’t have any other ways to attach it.
These waterproof panniers pair well with the Quick-Rack above, though they are small enough to mount on your forks if you aren’t doing anything too technical. These have a combined capacity of 29L though they are on the shallow side at about 13-inches deep (that’s where bikepacking tents with shorter pole section come in handy. These are rated IP64 which makes them dustproof and waterproof against splash water. If you want something bigger, and completely waterproof, Ortlieb’s justly popular 20L Back Roller Panniers are also on sale for $150 ($50 off) for a pair.
I’ll be honest, I’d love to have a pair of Tailfin’s 5L fork packs, but they’re out of my budget so I get by with these Ortlieb fork packs. They’re slightly bigger than the Tailfin bags, and haul my gear just as capably, so I don’t know why I want anything else. They’re waterproof, lightweight, and swallow an impressive amount of gear and food for a 5.8L bag.
From creating art and writing code to drafting emails and designing new drugs, generative AI tools are becoming increasingly indispensable for both business and personal use. As demand increases, they will require even more computing power, memory and, therefore, energy. That’s got scientists looking for ways to reduce their energy consumption.
In a paper published in the journal Nature, Aydogan Ozcan, from the University of California Los Angeles, and his colleagues describe the development of an AI image generator that consumes almost no power.
AI image generators use a process called diffusion to generate images from text. First, they are trained on a large dataset of images and repeatedly add a statistical noise, a kind of digital static, until the image has disappeared.
Then, when you give AI a prompt such as “create an image of a house,” it starts with a screen full of static and then reverses the process, gradually removing the noise until the image appears. If you want to perform large-scale tasks, such as creating hundreds of millions of images, this process is slow and energy intensive.
A light-based approach
The new diffusion-based image generator works by first using a digital encoder (that has been trained on publicly available datasets) to create the static that will ultimately make the picture. This requires a small amount of energy. Then, a liquid crystal screen known as a spatial light modulator (SLM) imprints this pattern onto a laser beam. The beam is then passed through a second decoding SLM, which turns the pattern in the laser into the final image.
Unlike conventional AI, which relies on millions of computer calculations, this process uses light to do all the heavy lifting. Consequently, the system uses almost no power. “Our optical generative models can synthesize countless images with almost no computing power, offering a scalable and energy-efficient alternative to digital AI models,” said Shiqi Chen, lead author.
The researchers tested their system on various images used to train AI models, including those of celebrities and butterflies, as well as full-color pictures in the style of Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
The results were comparable to those of conventional image generators, but were created with much less energy. This breakthrough has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of AI-generated content significantly.
The technology could also find its way into a variety of applications. Because the system is so fast and requires minimal energy, it could be used for things like creating images and videos for virtual and augmented reality displays, or for small devices like a smartphone or wearable electronics, such as AI glasses.
Written for you by our author Paul Arnold, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
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please consider a donation (especially monthly).
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More information:
Shiqi Chen et al, Optical generative models, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09446-5
Daniel Brunner, Machine-learning model generates images using light, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-025-02523-9
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