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The 47 Best Shows on Netflix Right Now
Streaming services are known for having award-worthy series but also plenty of duds. Our guide to the best TV shows on Netflix is updated weekly to help you know which series you should move to the top of your queue. They aren’t all surefire winners—we love a good less-than-obvious gem—but they’re all worth your time, trust us.
Feel like you’ve already watched everything on this list that you want to see? Try our guide to the best movies on Netflix for more options. And if you’ve already completed Netflix and are in need of a new challenge, check out our picks for the best shows on Hulu and the best shows on Disney+. Don’t like our picks or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.
Wednesday
After spending the summer honing her psychic powers by tracking down serial killers, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) returns to Nevermore Academy—but this school year is more of an Addams Family reunion. With her mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), drawn into an onsite committee role by suspicious new principal Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) joining the school after developing electric powers, and eccentric Grandmama (Joanna Lumley) turning up, Wednesday barely has a chance to investigate a new string of murders or a conspiracy surrounding a shady psychiatric hospital. The perils of the show’s protracted three-year gap between seasons is hard to overlook in places—Pugsley now towers over Wednesday, explained as a growth spurt, and you’ll almost certainly need to rewatch the first season to remember what’s going on—but this is a welcome return for Netflix’s spooky, ooky teen drama.
Love, Death + Robots
Developed by Deadpool director Tim Miller, Love, Death + Robots is one of Netflix’s most exciting animated offerings—an anthology series where the only common thread is each episode’s unique interpretation of that eponymous trio of themes. Now in its fourth season, viewers are treated to wild concepts that include psychic street gangs in a postapocalyptic future (400 Boys), a re-creation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Live at Slane Castle performance of “Can’t Stop” in marionette form (directed by David Fincher, no less), and, in a rare hybrid of live action and CGI, a priest (played by Rhys Darby) meeting an alien envoy that thinks God has been reborn as an Earth dolphin. Wildly experimental, Love, Death + Robots constantly juggles animation styles and genres and practically vibrates off the screen with sheer visual energy. You never know what you’re going to get with this show—and that’s half the fun.
Sneaky Pete
Just released from prison, Marius (Giovanni Ribisi) steals the identity of former cellmate Pete Murphy in order to hide from the dangers of his old life. On the run from a vicious gangster played by Bryan Cranston (who also jointly created the show), Marius nestles in with Pete’s motley crew of estranged family. They’re delighted to be reunited with their long-lost relative, but he finds taking over another man’s life might be even more dangerous than the past he’s running from. Originally an Amazon Prime series, this three-season drama can now be binged in its entirety on Netflix.
Grace and Frankie
The brainchild of Friends cocreator Marta Kauffman, this sharp sitcom sees Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as the titular Grace and Frankie, longtime acquaintances forced into living together after their husbands leave them late in life—for each other. The show follows this contemporary odd couple as they deal with their ex-husbands’ coming out, their adult children’s drama, and each other’s maddening personalities, all while building a genuine friendship and trying to prove to themselves and the world that age is just a number. Taking cues from Arrested Development, Grace and Frankie‘s chief comedic currency is awkwardness, as their two extended families—the rich, business-minded Hansons and the borderline hippy Bergsteins—bring their neuroses and baggage to bear while navigating adult familial relationships. Think of it as a modern-day Golden Girls—just with more swearing and drug use.
Sakamoto Days
Taro Sakamoto used to be the worst of the worst, a hitman par excellence, his lethal skills making him a legendary figure in the criminal underworld. Then he fell in love, got married, and retired to run a convenience store with his wife Aoi and their daughter Hana. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly leave his old job on the best of terms, and now a cadre of killers are out for the billion yen bounty on his head. Luckily, Sakamoto’s lost none of his skills—even though he’s let himself go in other areas—but can he protect his family without breaking Aoi’s strict “no killing” rule? Based on the manga by Yuto Suzuki, this comedy action anime is a blast. Now into its second season, with new episodes dropping each Monday, it’s appointment viewing you won’t want to miss.
Sweet Tooth
Based on the comic book by Jeff Lemire, Sweet Tooth kicks off 10 years after “The Sick,” a viral pandemic that killed most of the population and led—somehow—to babies being born with part-human, part-animal characteristics. The series follows Gus (Christian Convery), a half-deer hybrid boy who leaves the wilderness in search of his mother, and “Big Man” Tommy Jeppard (Nonso Anozie), a grizzled traveler who becomes his reluctant guide, protecting him from surviving humans who hate and fear the hybrids. Over the course of three seasons, Gus and Jeppard are drawn into conflict with scientist Aditya Singh (Adeel Akhtar), whose research into the origins of The Sick sees him take on an almost religious obsession with Gus, all while tensions mount between the increasingly diverged species of humans and hybrids. Part sci-fi, part fantasy, part mystery, Sweet Tooth offers viewers a postapocalyptic dystopia unlike any other.
Squid Game
The Korean sensation that became a global phenomenon, Squid Game’s blend of Hunger Games’ shocking elimination battles and Parasite’s condemnation of exploitative capitalism turned it into one of Netflix’s biggest-ever hits. It started off simply enough—hundreds of desperate people recruited to compete in a series of playground games with a deadly twist, the survivor winning a ₩45.6 billion ($35.8 million) jackpot. But now, with its third and final season, the stakes are higher than ever, and even perennial survivor Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) might not be able to win this round. Intense, brutal, and frequently graphic, Squid Game remains gripping to the very end.
Trainwreck
Little else is as fascinating as a real-life disaster born of sheer hubris. The strange mix of “saw that one coming” and “get the popcorn,” as you watch events unfold makes for captivating viewing. That’s the special sauce for Trainwreck, Netflix’s series of documentaries exploring some of the biggest, well, train wrecks of recent history. From the crack-cocaine-fueled tenure of Toronto’s disgraced mayor Rob Ford to the avoidable errors that saw a luxury cruise liner turned into an infamous “poop cruise,” each installment is a fascinating exploration of how badly things can go wrong when the wrong people are in charge. Netflix oddly categorizes each Trainwreck as its own movie, but it’s really a loosely connected anthology, and while some cases require their own multi-episode arcs to excavate the wreckage (shoutout to Woodstock ’99), there’s no particular starting point—simply pick your favorite screw-up and just try to look away.
The Survivors
Years ago, Kieran Elliott (Charlie Vickers) survived a storm that trapped him in a sea cave, but his brother Finn and friend Toby died in the rescue attempt. Fifteen years later, he returns to his hometown with his partner Mia (Yerin Ha) and their baby Audrey for a memorial, finding that everyone from neighbors to his own mother still blame him for the tragedy. While those deaths still haunt the small town community, they may also have obscured another tragedy—teenager Gabby Birch went missing the same night. Now, out-of-town investigator Bronte (Shannon Berry), the only person who still cared about the long-cold case, has wound up dead herself, and everyone in Kieran’s life seems to be connected. Adapted from the novel by Jane Harper, this Australian murder mystery from Glitch creator Tony Ayres is a darkly compelling miniseries.
Glitch
To those in the northern hemisphere, this Australian supernatural drama might be one of the best-kept secrets of the past decade. Centered on a small town in Victoria, an entire community is shaken when seven people rise from their graves, seemingly in perfect health but with no memory of who they are or how they died. As police sergeant James Hayes (Patrick Brammall) and local doctor Elishia McKellar (Genevieve O’Reilly) try to contain and examine “The Risen,” Hayes’ world is rocked when he learns his own late wife Kate is among them. Over the course of three seasons and 18 episodes, the reasons for the dead’s return is teased out, starting with simply “how” and “why” but building up to something that questions the rules of reality. A fantastic ensemble cast and brilliant pacing make this a must-see.
Dept. Q
Edinburgh police detective Carl Morck (The Crown‘s Matthew Goode) used to be one of the best—until his arrogance got his partner paralyzed and a uniformed officer killed, and saw him narrowly survive a bullet through his own neck. After returning to work following a lengthy period of mandatory leave, Morck finds himself heading up the new Department Q—an underfunded, under-staffed operation in the precinct’s dank basement, dedicated to solving the iciest of cold cases. Gathering a team of misfits, including Rose (Leah Byrne), eager to please but recovering from a breakdown, Akram (Alexej Manvelov), a Syrian refugee, and Morck’s still-bedbound partner James (Jamie Sives), the department has a lot to prove—but solving the disappearance of Merritt Linguard (Chloe Pirrie) might be a good start. Based on the novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, Dept. Q is a brilliant blend of Scandi noir and gritty British crime drama.
Sirens
First The White Lotus, then The Perfect Couple, and now Sirens—Meghann Fahy is making a career out of starring in shows where we get to see awfully rich people doing awfully bad things to each other. Here, she plays down-on-her-luck Devon, drawn into the luxurious world her sister Simone (Milly Alcock, imminently Supergirl) inhabits by proxy, working as an assistant to billionaire’s wife Michaela (Julianne Moore). It’s never clear how willingly Simone got involved with the charismatic Michaela, who may be a mentor or cult leader or something else entirely, nor how overprotective or paranoid Devon is, but the hook of this glossy, dark comedy is in finding out.
The Eternaut
Juan Salvo (Ricardo Darín) was settling in for a card game with his friends. Then the snow started falling—unusual enough for Buenos Aires in the summer, and downright terrifying when everyone touched by the freak weather event drops dead. But as Salvo desperately tries to find his daughter and ex-wife among the few survivors, an even deeper horror emerges. Adapted from a beloved Argentinian comic book by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López, The Eternaut offers a unique piece of postapocalyptic drama, focusing on grounded, authentic characters before spinning off into wilder sci-fi directions.
Blood of Zeus
This adult animated take on Greek mythology returns for its third and final season, bringing the odyssey of demigod Heron—son of Zeus and mortal woman Electra—to a brutal conclusion. After years of manipulation, power plays, and betrayals, the season picks up with the Olympian gods and their Titan predecessors lined up against each other, the fate of the world hanging on the outcome of the ultimate family feud. Heron and his estranged brother Seraphim may be the only ones able to bring peace—so it’s rather inconvenient that Heron is dead. From start to finish, Blood of Zeus has impressed with smart writing that offers compelling twists on the classic myths, all brought to life with top-tier animation and phenomenal voice acting, and it doesn’t disappoint as it reaches its finale. One of Netflix’s best animated series.
You
Based on the novels of Caroline Kepnes, You is an often deeply disturbing series. During the first season, bookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) falls in deranged-love-at-first-sight with aspiring author Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail). In subsequent ones, he relocates to Los Angeles, where heiress Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) became the focus of his attention, and then to London, where he poses as an unassuming university professor before meeting his match in Kate Galvin (Charlotte Ritchie). At each turn, the globe-hopping saga of murderous obsession has become more and more unsettling. In the fifth and final season, Joe returns to New York with his new wife, Kate, but the darkness and brutality that’s followed him around the world is never far behind. Often shocking, You is a gripping thriller that hits the same sinister sweet spot as early (read: good) seasons of Dexter.
The Four Seasons
Three couples—lovebirds Kate and Jack (Tina Fey and Will Forte), glamorous Danny and Claude (Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani), and fraying Nick and Anne (Steve Carrell and Kerri Kenney-Silver)—have known each other since college, maintaining their decades-long friendship with a series of regular vacations together. But when Nick finally splits with Anne—who was about to surprise him with a vow renewal—the group’s dynamic completely changes. It sounds like the premise for a depressing drama, but The Four Seasons is instead a surprisingly life-affirming comedy, bolstered by fantastic performances across-the-board. A loose adaptation of the 1981 movie of the same name, this eight-episode miniseries—cocreated by Fey—sometimes takes things in more farcical, physical comedy directions, but maintains a charming sense of warmth and humanity throughout.
Black Mirror
Black Mirror returns with six new episodes that continue to explore humanity’s complicated relationship with technology. Although the new, seventh season includes a couple of rare sequels to previous Black Mirror episodes, the anthology format means every episode remains accessible. That means you can jump right in with the heartbreaking “Eulogy,” where Paul Giamatti’s Phillip dives through his own fractured memories of a lost lover. Or you can start with the sinister “Plaything,” in which a gaming journalist gets murderously obsessed with a strange life-sim game, partly inspired by series creator Charlie Brooker’s own background. (In a very meta twist, you can play the game for real.) Whether you’re a longtime fan or this is your first encounter with poignant tech dystopias, all of Black Mirror awaits your viewing.
North of North
Young Inuk woman Siaja (Anna Lambe, True Detective: Night Country) married straight out of high school, then spent years trapped in the shadow of her shallow, selfish husband, Ting—the golden boy of their small town of Ice Cove, nestled far in the Arctic Circle. A brush with death—and possibly the goddess Nuliajuk—gives her the push to make a fresh start, but an explosive breakup in a community of only 2,000 people means Siaja’s personal life is now everyone’s business. Netflix’s first Canadian original series, this sharp sitcom is packed with warmth and humor, while its on-location shooting in Iqaluit (the real-life capital of the Arctic Canadian territory of Nunavut) delivers breathtaking natural beauty along with the laughs.
Devil May Cry
Building on the success of Castlevania, Netflix’s take on Capcom’s Devil May Cry series continues the streamer’s strong track record of animated video game adaptations. For those who’ve never picked up a controller, the series follows half-demon devil hunter Dante, a stylish slayer with a penchant for slicing up hell’s worst offenders. This eight-episode spectacular sees Dante (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch) clashing with the horrific White Rabbit (Hoon Lee), a twisted monster aiming to tear down the barrier between Earth and hell. Animation fans will also appreciate one of the final performances from the venerable, sadly-passed Kevin Conroy as the villainous US Vice President Baines. Devil May Cry may be unashamedly in love with its own early 2000s origins—as evidenced by a soundtrack filled with songs from the likes of Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach—but this slickly animated action masterpiece is a hellishly good time.
Adolescence
A quiet English town. 6 am. Police raid the house of Jamie Miller on suspicion of murdering an innocent girl. Jamie is 13 years old. A shocking mini-series, this isn’t a whodunit, but a whydunit. Its four episodes—each masterfully shot in a single real-time take—explore how boys are radicalized online to hate women, and the horrifying effects it has. The powerhouse cast includes cocreator and writer Stephen Graham (Bodies, A Thousand Blows) as Jamie’s father Eddie, Ashley Walters (Bulletproof) as Detective Boscombe, the arresting officer and investigator of Jamie’s crime, and Erin Doherty (The Crown) as the psychologist evaluating Jamie. Each brings this incredibly difficult material to life, but it’s newcomer Owen Cooper as Jamie who most astounds, turning from petrified to cheeky to vitriolic in a terrifying heartbeat. Adolescence is harrowing but important viewing.
Pantheon
Originally an AMC+ show, both seasons of Pantheon are now available on Netflix. Good timing too, since its nightmarish scenario of digitally uploaded human consciousnesses and exploration of the impact such technology would have on society feels worryingly prescient. With plot threads weaving between isolated Maddie Kim, whose dead father may have been reborn as an “Uploaded Intelligence,” Caspian Keyes, a genius teenager whose entire life is a Truman Show–style lie, and Vinod Chanda, an engineer investigating UI, this hard sci-fi outing—based on the short fiction of Ken Liu—offers a dark examination of virtual immortality. A uniquely brilliant adult animated series.
Zero Day
Cards on the table: A significant part of the appeal here is seeing the iconic Robert De Niro in his first major English-language TV role (he previously appeared in the Argentinian Nada, aka Nothing). He doesn’t disappoint with his performance as former US president George Mullen—pulled out of retirement to oversee a commission investigating a colossal cyberattack that left thousands of Americans dead and the terrifying warning that “this will happen again”—commanding the screen with his trademark gravitas. Director Lesli Linka Glatter wrings great drama from the whodunit of it all (Russians? hackers? hedge fund bros?), but with Mullen handed unprecedented powers to track down the culprits, the real nail-biting moments come from its suddenly timely explorations of abuses of power. With a powerhouse cast that includes Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, and Jesse Plemons, Zero Day is an engaging political thriller, and at six episodes it makes for a great binge-watch.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Influencers have been known to hawk nonsense diets and spurious “wellness” regimens, but few have ever done it like Belle Gibson, the real-life Australian influencer who went as far as faking brain cancer for attention. And while she hailed alternative diets and whole foods for keeping her nonexistent illness at bay—launching an app and cookbook in the process—actual cancer sufferers paid the price for her extreme narcissism and greed. This dramatized limited series—“a true-ish story … based on a lie,” as Netflix puts it—makes for uncomfortably gripping viewing as it charts the rise and fall of Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever, with a flawless Aussie accent) and her rivalry with Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Cary), a fellow influencer and actual cancer patient. Better than doomscrolling reels on Instagram or TikTok, and a reminder that everyone should be a lot more skeptical of anything influencers are shilling on social media.
The Night Agent
Special agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) is back, and the stakes have never been higher. While the first season of The Night Agent wove a compelling spy drama out of the idea of a mole at the heart of America’s intelligence services, the newly arrived second season takes a more global approach—Sutherland hunts down a stolen chemical weapon project, drawing him back into the orbit of tech savant and sometime love interest Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), while Iranian diplomatic aide Noor Taheri (Arienne Mandi) offers secrets to the CIA in return for asylum, and a deposed Eastern European dictator aims to manipulate everything from behind bars. Sure, the show’s mix of politics and spook work won’t surprise genre diehards, but it weaves together its many influences—and many more plot threads—into a supremely entertaining thriller.
Asura
The four Takezawa sisters are close but have little in common. Eldest Tsunako (Rie Miyazawa) is already a widow; repressed Takiko (Yû Aoi) and rebellious Sakiko (Suzu Hirose) are always at each other’s throats; and second-born Makiko (Machiko Ono) tries to balance keeping the peace with being a housewife and mother to her own two children. Yet when Takiko learns that their father Kotaro (Jun Kunimura) may have a second, secret, family, the sisters’ bonds are put to the test as they struggle to uncover the truth. Asura is far more than a turgid family drama—it’s equal parts heartwarming and hilarious, capturing the complexities of the relationships between its quartet of protagonists. Keeping the 1970s setting of Kuniko Mukōda’s original novel allows Palme d’Or– winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) to craft a gorgeously shot period piece that still feels incredibly timely and modern.
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld
You know the drill—everyday teenager learns she has superpowers and is destined to fight the forces of darkness. Except Jentry Chau (voiced by Ali Wong) is not like any other teenage girl—she’s known about the supernatural her whole life (her uncontrollable fire powers were a giveaway) and spent a lifetime avoiding it. Sent to study in Korea for her own safety, Jentry is drawn back into the mystic world after being attacked in Seoul by a jiangshi named Ed (Bowen Yang). Brought back to her home in Texas by her great-aunt, Jentry has to survive not only the formidable mogui Mr. Cheng, who intends to drain her soul and powers, but the horrors of high school, culture shock, and the pain of her own past. Taking the “high school is hell” metaphor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, adding a dash of Gravity Falls’ mystery, and rooting it all in Asian mythology, Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is one of Netflix’s freshest animated shows in years.
No Good Deed
Take Selling Sunset and add a grisly tragicomic twist and you just about have No Good Deed. A dark comedy from Liz Feldman, creator of Dead to Me, this eight-part series starts with Lydia and Paul Morgan (Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano) putting their gorgeous home on the market, and descends into darker territory as prospective buyers go to ever more desperate attempts to get their hands on the house, nosy neighbors interfere, and the grisly history of the house itself threatens to come to light. Buoyed by a stellar cast including Teyonah Parris, Abbi Jacobson, Luke Wilson, and Denis Leary, this is a glossy, witty, and possibly only slightly exaggerated take on the brutality of the Los Angeles property market.
A Man on the Inside
The latest show from comedy mastermind Michael Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), A Man on the Inside features Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk, a retired engineering professor who’s lost all direction since his wife passed. But when private investigator Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) needs a man of his demographic to go undercover in a retirement community to investigate allegations of resident abuse, Charles may find an unlikely new lease on life—if he can figure out how to use his smartphone, that is. Reflecting on end-of-life realities as much as it plays up Charles’ fish-out-of-water situation, it’s a show that’s equal parts poignant, melancholic, and achingly funny—and it’s based on a true story, to boot.
Black Doves
Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is wife to the UK defense secretary, mother to two children, and bored with her picture-perfect life. Spectacular cover then, since she’s actually a spy for the mercenary organization Black Doves, selling state secrets to the highest bidder. But when her real love Jason (Andrew Koji) is killed, Helen is determined to find out who killed him and why—and her pursuit of the truth threatens both her public and private lives. Paired with assassin and old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw, in a very different spy role to his turn in the James Bond films) at the behest of stern operator Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), Helen’s obsession could have led to a dour, gritty thriller, but Black Doves bucks the grim-dark trend to serve up a pulpy, colorful outing with enough heart to balance its violence. At only six episodes (with a second season already confirmed), it’s a brisk watch too.
Arcane
Animated series based on video games can run the gamut from cheap cash-ins to half-decent if forgettable tie-ins, inaccessible to anyone but hardcore devotees. Yet Arcane stood out by making its connections to Riot Games’ League of Legends almost optional. While its central figures, orphaned sisters Vi and Jinx, are playable characters in the game, this steampunk saga of class war, civil uprising, and the people caught in between is entirely accessible. The second and final season, released in a trio of movie-length blocks of three episodes apiece, escalates the conflict between the warring factions but never loses its central focus on the fractured relationship between sisters. With a gorgeous painterly art style, strong characters, and frequently shocking story beats, Arcane is one of the best animated series in years—and it has racked up plenty of awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, to prove it.
Cobra Kai
Picking up decades after Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence’s iconic fight at the end of the first Karate Kid movie, Cobra Kai initially follows a washed-up Johnny as he reopens the Cobra Kai karate dojo, finding new purpose after defending his young neighbor Miguel (Xolo Maridueña, Blue Beetle) in a fight. Over the course of six seasons, the stakes get higher—and frankly, increasingly, gloriously, ludicrous—as rival martial arts schools start cropping up all over California. Alliances are forged and broken with alarming regularity, and everything gears toward a global battle for karate supremacy. It’s all a little bit tongue-in-cheek, and with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their 1980s roles, the show is an unabashed love letter to the classic action flicks, but thanks to some seriously impressive fights and stunt work, it’s a retro-styled delight.
Heartstopper
One of the most joyful shows on Netflix returns for another school year of teen drama and heartfelt queer romance. In the long-awaited third season, things heat up between the central couple, with Charlie (Joe Locke) preparing to say three little words to Nick (Kit Connor) for the first time, while Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao (William Gao) try to have the perfect romantic summer before Elle starts art college. Heartstopper‘s return also sheds some of its earlier cloying tendencies, growing up alongside its talented young cast and giving them more serious material to work with, tackling more mature themes of sex, eating disorders, and gender dysphoria—all without losing the warmth and charm that made audiences fall in love with the show in the first place. The show younger LGBTQ+ viewers need now, older ones needed years ago, and one that everyone needs to watch, whatever their sexuality.
The Boyfriend
“Anyone can fall in love with anyone” is the opening narration to The Boyfriend, Japan’s first same-sex dating show—a bold and progressive statement that reflects the shifting tide of opinion in the country. Throwing nine single men together in an idyllic beach house for a summer and charging them with running a coffee truck, the over-arching concept is to see who’ll pair up, but the series is as interested in exploring the friendships that emerge between the cast as it is the romantic relationships. Unlike Western dating shows, there are no scandals, no dramatic twists, no betrayals, and the “challenges” are adorably focused on confessing feelings. The gentleness of it all adds an almost relaxing quality, with the men discussing their emotions—and the nature of being queer in Japan—earnestly. An absolutely joyful example of reality TV.
Kleo
If you’re pining for more Killing Eve, then this German thriller may be the next best thing. Set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the series follows the eponymous Kleo (Jella Haase), a Stasi assassin imprisoned by her agency on false treason charges. Released after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she seeks revenge on her former handlers—but West German detective Sven (Dimitrij Schaad), the only witness to her last kill, may have something to say about that. As dark and violent as you’d expect given the period and the themes of betrayal and vengeance, Kleo is lightened by its oft-deranged sense of humor and a charismatic lead duo who brilliantly bounce off one another—chemistry that’s only heightened in the second season as Kleo’s pursuit of her old allies intensifies, attracting attention from international spy agencies in the aftermath of the Cold War.
Sweet Home
Based on the Korean webcomic by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, Sweet Home offers a very different vision of apocalyptic end times—rather than pandemics, disasters, or even zombies, this posits an end of the world brought about by people’s transformation into grotesque monsters, each unique and seemingly based on their deepest desires when they were human. The first season is a masterclass in claustrophobic horror, as the residents of an isolated, run-down apartment building—chiefly suicidal teen Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang), former firefighter Seo Yi-kyung (Lee Si-young), and Pyeon Sang-wook (Lee Jin-wook), who may be a brutal gangster—battle for survival. The second and third seasons explore what remains of the wider world, delving into the true nature of both monster and man—and if there’s any hope for what remains of humanity. With phenomenal effects work blending prosthetics, CGI, and even stop-motion animation for some disturbingly juddering creatures, this stands apart from the horror crowd.
Star Trek Prodigy
Paramount+’s loss remains Netflix’s gain, as the streamer’s license rescue of this great Star Trek spin-off warps into its second season. After escaping a distant prison planet and becoming Starfleet cadets under the watchful eye of Star Trek Voyager’s Admiral Janeway (voiced by the venerable Kate Mulgrew), the ragtag crew—led by aspiring captain Dal R’El and bolstered by astrolinguist Gwyndala, engineer Jankom Pog, energy being Zero, scientist Rok-Tahk, and indestructible, gelatinous Murf—find themselves cast through time on the most dangerous mission of their young lives. While aimed at younger audiences and intended as an intro to the wider Trek universe and its ethics, Prodigy packs in plenty for older Trekkers to appreciate, particularly with a slate of returning Star Trek legends voiced by their original actors. Prodigy is something of a sleeper hit, but one of the best Trek shows in years.
Supacell
One by one, five Black Londoners awaken to strange superpowers. Struggling father Andre (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) develops superstrength, nurse Sabrina (Nadine Mills) unleashes phenomenal telekinetic might, drug dealer Rodney (Calvin Demba) races at superspeed, and wannabe gang leader Tazer (Josh Tedeku) turns invisible. But it’s Michael (Tosin Cole, Doctor Who) who may be the most pivotal, realizing he can leap through time and space and learning he only has three months to save his fiancée’s life. Created by Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu, Supacell is a show about superpowers, but not necessarily superheroes, with its fantastic cast offering up a far more realistic and human exploration of now-familiar ideas than anything you’ll find in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And the mystery of why—and how—only Black people seem to be gaining powers builds up to a more powerful punch than an Asgardian god of thunder. A smart, modern, and refreshing take on the genre.
The Good Place
After suffering an improbable and humiliating death, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) finds herself in “The Good Place,” a perfect neighborhood inhabited by the world’s worthiest people. The only problem? She’s not meant to be there. Desperate to not be sent to “The Bad Place,” she tries to correct her behavior in the afterlife, with the help of her assigned soulmate, philosophy professor Chidi (William Jackson Harper). A twist at the end of the first season remains one of the best ever, while the show’s ability to sprinkle ethical and philosophical precepts into a sitcom format is frankly astounding. With a sensational cast rounded out by Manny Jacinto, Jameela Jamil, D’Arcy Carden, and Ted Danson, The Good Place more than earns its place in the good place of TV history.
3 Body Problem
In 1960s China, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, gifted scholar Wenjie Ye witnesses her physicist father being beaten to death for his research, only for her to be recruited to a secret project relying on that same knowledge. Fast-forward to the present day, and physics is broken: Particle accelerators around the world are delivering impossible data, while scientists are being plagued by countdowns only they can see. Meanwhile, strange VR headsets appear to be transporting players to an entirely different world—and humanity’s continued existence may rely on there being no “game over.” Game of Thrones’ creators D. B. Weiss and David Benioff and True Blood executive producer Alexander Woo reimagine Chinese author Cixin Liu’s acclaimed hard sci-fi trilogy of first contact and looming interplanetary conflict as a more global affair. Wildly ambitious, and boasting an international cast featuring the likes of Benedict Wong, Rosalind Chao, Eiza González, and GOT alum John Bradley, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem serves up the opening salvo in a richly detailed and staggeringly complex saga.
Ripley
Perhaps best known nowadays from 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley starring Matt Damon, novelist Patricia Highsmith’s inveterate criminal Tom Ripley has a longer, darker legacy in print and on the screen. For this limited series, creator Steven Zaillian goes back to Highsmith’s original text, presenting Ridley (a never-more-sinister Andrew Scott of All of Us Strangers) as a down-on-his-luck con man in 1950s New York who is recruited by a wealthy shipbuilder to travel to Italy and persuade the businessman’s spoiled son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return home. But once in Italy, Ripley finds himself enamored with Dickie’s lavish lifestyle—and will do anything to take it for himself. Shot in black and white to really sell its noir credentials, this is an instant contender for the finest interpretation of Highsmith’s works to date.
Beef
Ever been cut off in traffic? Ever had it happen when you’re having a really bad day? Ever just wanted to take the low road, chase the person down and make them pay?! Then—after a few deep breaths—Beef is the show for you. It’s a pressure valve for every petty grievance you’ve ever suffered, following rich Amy (Ali Wong) and struggling Danny (Steven Yeun) as they escalate a road rage encounter into a vengeance-fueled quest to destroy the other. Yet Beef is more than a city-wide revenge thriller—it’s a biting look at how crushing modern life can be, particularly in its LA setting, where extravagant wealth brushes up against inescapable poverty and seemingly no one is truly happy. Part dramedy, part therapy, Beef is a bad example of conflict resolution but a cathartic binge watch that clearly resonates—as evidenced by its growing clutch of awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Limited Series.
Loudermilk
Something of a sleeper hit for years—its first two seasons debuted on AT&T’s now-defunct pay TV channel Audience in 2017, before its third season appeared over on Amazon—all three seasons of this bleak comedy are now available on Netflix. Ron Livingston stars as Sam Loudermilk, a vitriolic former music critic and recovering alcoholic who proves almost pathologically incapable of holding his tongue when faced with life’s small frustrations—a personality type possibly ill-suited to leading others through addiction support groups. It’s dark in places, and its central character is deliberately unlikeable, but smart writing and smarter performances shape this into something of an acerbic anti-Frasier.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Adapted from the beloved graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, animated by one of the most exciting and dynamic studios in Japan, and voiced by the entire returning cast of director Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action adaption, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off would have been cult gold even if it was a straight retelling of its eponymous slacker’s battles against lover Ramona Flowers’ seven evil exes. Yet somehow, in a world devoid of surprises, this packs in killer twists from the very first episode, making for a show that’s as fresh and exciting as ever. Saying anything else would ruin it—just watch.
Blue Eye Samurai
In the 17th Century, Japan enforced its “sakoku” isolationist foreign policy, effectively closing itself off from the world. Foreigners were few and far between—so when Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine) is born with blue eyes, nine months after her mother was assaulted by one of the four white men in the country, it marks her as an outsider, regarded as less than human. Years later, after being trained by a blind sword master and now masquerading as a man, Mizu hunts down those four men, knowing that killing them all is the only way to guarantee her vengeance. Exquisitely animated—which makes its unabashed violence all the more graphic—and with a phenomenal voice cast bolstered by the likes of George Takei, Brenda Song, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Kenneth Branagh, Blue Eye Samurai is one of the best adults-only animated series on Netflix.
Pending Train
Netflix: License one of Japan’s best SF dramas in years. Also Netflix: Do nothing, literally nothing, to promote it, not even create an English subbed trailer. Which is where WIRED comes in—Pending Train is a show you (and Netflix) shouldn’t sleep on. When a train carriage is mysteriously transported into a post-apocalyptic future, the disparate passengers’ first concern is simply survival. Between exploring their new surroundings and clashing with people from another stranded train car over scarce resources, one group—including hairdresser Naoya, firefighter Yuto, and teacher Sae—begins to realize that there may be a reason they’ve been catapulted through time: a chance to go back and avert the disaster that ruined the world. A tense, 10-episode journey, Pending Train offers a Japanese twist on Lost, but one with tighter pacing and showrunners who actually have a clue where they want the story to go.
One Piece
Mark one up for persistence: After numerous anime adaptations ranging from “awful” to “not too bad,” Netflix finally strikes gold with its live-action take on the global phenomenon One Piece. Despite fans’ fears, this spectacularly captures the charm, optimism, and glorious weirdness of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga, manifesting a fantasy world where people brandish outlandish powers and hunt for a legendary treasure in an Age of Piracy almost verbatim from the page. The perfectly cast Iñaki Godoy stars as Monkey D. Luffy, would-be King of the Pirates, bringing an almost elastic innate physicality to the role that brilliantly matches the characters rubber-based stretching powers, while the crew Luffy gathers over this first season—including swordsmaster Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu), navigator and skilled thief Nami (Emily Rudd), sharpshooter Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson), and martial artist chef Sanji (Taz Skylar)—all brilliantly embody their characters. A lot could have gone wrong bringing One Piece to life, but this is a voyage well worth taking.
The Chosen One
Based on the comic American Jesus by writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsman) and artist Peter Gross (Lucifer), The Chosen One follows 12-year-old Jodie (Bobby Luhnow), raised in Mexico by his mother Sarah (Dianna Agron). While the young boy would rather hang out with his friends, his life—and potentially the world—changes forever when he starts exhibiting miraculous powers, attracting dangerous attention from sinister forces. While this could have been yet another formulaic entry in Netflix’s expansive library of supernatural teen dramas (the Stranger Things vibe is particularly strong), the decision to shoot on film and in a 4:3 aspect ratio make this a visual delight, unlike almost anything else on the streamer at present. There’s an English dub, but stick to the original Spanish with English subs for a better viewing experience. (Confusingly, there’s another show with the exact same title on Netflix, a 2019 Brazilian series following a trio of relief doctors in a village dominated by a cult leader—also worth a watch, but don’t get them confused!)
Compare Our Picks
Others We Tested
Courtesy of Petkik
Petkit Eversweet Max for $90: This techy automatic fountain can be either cordless or battery-powered (lasting up to 83 days), and the drinking bowl is made of stainless steel, but the reservoir is plastic. Because of the shape of the basin with the chunky battery and reservoir bowl, it’s a little awkward to clean. The app logs every time a pet drinks and compares it over time to determine whether your cat’s drinking habits have changed. The app also keeps track of when the filter needs replacing and when you last added water. However, it doesn’t monitor or show you how much water is left in the basin; you have to check manually. The design also made it a bit difficult to clean and refill easily.
Enabot Rola Smart Pet Water Fountain for $50: This automatic fountain is cordless and runs on a rechargeable battery that lasts up to 60 days (although it can stay plugged in too). It has a wireless pump that uses magnetic induction—this pump was one of the easiest and most hassle-free to clean of all I tested. The fountain has a stainless steel top that holds a decent amount of water even when not running. Although the tank is plastic, and I’m wary of plastic now because of its propensity to harbor bacteria (plus it doesn’t keep water as cold). The app gives reminders of when the water’s low, the fountain needs cleaning, or the filter needs replacing, plus it automatically stops dispensing water and sends you a reminder to refill via app. It also logs the number of times your pet drank and for how long, monitoring hydration patterns over time and comparing the stats to average time used. A complaint I had is that this fountain wouldn’t stay on Continuous stream mode, even when plugged in, instead automatically switching to the Sensing stream.
Homerunpet Wireless Pet Fountain for $60: This cordless fountain can be used as a traditional fountain plugged in on its base, or can be detached and moved around the house with 30 days of battery life. I don’t love that this fountain is all plastic, but it’s easy to see water levels from the outside, the top and filter layers are super easy to remove, clean, and replace, and the wireless (basically silent) pump makes it a whole lot easier to clean. Plastic doesn’t keep the water as cold or clean as stainless steel, so you’ll have to clean it a lot more often. The fountain only begins bubbling when a cat (or human) approaches to save battery power, and there’s no option to control the flow (and no connected app). I like the wireless pump, but I’m really over plastic at this point.
Photograph: Kat Merck
Wonder Creature Cat Fountain for $20: My two cats have cycled through several water fountains over the past few years, but this no-nonsense version has been a stalwart. The inside is lit by a blue LED (bright enough to glow in the dark), and a clear viewing window on the side makes it easy to monitor the water level from afar. I also like the dishwasher-safe metal bowl and the fact you can remove parts of the yellow and white “flower” to create a fountain configuration your cat likes (waterfall, low bubble-up, tall bubble-up). The only major downsides are the fact it requires very frequent cleaning and filter changes due to the plastic body, and that there is no reservoir to hold water in case of power outage or pump malfunction. When I go on vacation I have to swap it out for an old-school gravity dispenser. —Kat Merck
Happy & Polly Gothic Cat Drinking Fountain for $60: If you prefer gothic decor to neutral blandness, this ghostly ceramic cat fountain from Happy & Polly may tempt you to bite. The water bubbles up out of the top of the ghost and pools on the ceramic top. It’s fairly quiet at around 35 decibels, but it gets loud when the water is running low, and I worry about the motor burning out, as the 1.5-liter capacity can run dry fast. While the ceramic finish is easy to clean, it is fiddly to take apart. You will want to clean it once a week to prevent it from becoming slimy, and you must change the filter once a month. —Simon Hill
Petkit Eversweet Solo 2 for $45: I love three key features of this fountain: The bowl sits on top of a wireless charging base, so you don’t have to fiddle with cables, it is super easy to clean, and it’s very quiet at around 25 decibels. A flashing light warns you when the water is running low, and you can check when the filter needs to be changed in the app. There’s an optional smart mode that pumps intermittently and a night mode to turn the light off. Pleasingly, all three of our cats drink from this fountain, though that does mean I have to refill it often, as it only holds 2 liters. —Simon Hill
Photograph: Simon Hill
Oneisall Stainless Steel Pet Fountain for $50: This drinking fountain is about as simple as they come. As it’s designed for cats or small dogs, it has a large bowl, but some cats will prefer that. I love the mostly stainless steel construction, as it’s easy to keep clean and less prone to dirt and bacteria buildup. You can even stick parts into the dishwasher to clean. This fountain can also hold up to 7 liters of water, so you don’t have to refill as often. It’s fairly quiet at around 35 decibels, but it gets louder when the water is running low (a red light warns you when it needs a refill). You should clean once a week and rinse the filter. The filter packs are relatively affordable at $15 for a pack of eight, and you need to swap them once a month. —Simon Hill
Petlipo Cordless Cat Water Fountain for $57: This all-plastic pet fountain sits on dock for easier tank cleaning and is rechargeable for up to 60 days of cordless power, has a wire-free pump, a large 2.6 liter capacity, and three customizable water flow modes (induction, timer, and continuous flow). The heavy duty filter is encased in a plastic cage and only needs to be replaced every 4 to 5 weeks. I had no issues while using this fountain, but at nearly $60, thats egregiously expensive for being made out of cheap (and bacteria-harboring) plastic. Although it’s a solid fountain, I’d spend less and grab one of stainless steel picks.
Not Recommended
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Petcube Ceramic Pet Water Fountain for $90: I really wanted to love this fountain; although its basin is plastic, it had a ceramic top, which is more hygienic than plastic (and I had never tested a ceramic model before), and the brand makes some of my favorite pet cameras. However, setup was a bit confusing, it took a long time to get the base charged to power the fountain’s water flow, and the sensor to begin water flow is only triggered from one side, making placement awkward. After a few days, it would only run while plugged in, soon its stream was barely strong enough to reach the top, and after just over a week it stopped working altogether. Also, it’s egregiously expensive for a pet fountain.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Cat Mate 3-Level Pet Fountain for $28: This tall automatic Cat Mate fountain sets itself apart with three tiers for cats who like to drink at every level. Cleaning the motor requires disassembly using tools and extended soaking. Because of the long distance the water has to travel, evaporation caused the water to need to be refilled about every other day. Plastic also harbors bacteria, and previous plastic models I’ve owned have had mold issues. The basin is quite large and sits flat. Because of this, some debris would sit in the bottom and front of the large basin rather than moving back to the filter system behind. The plastic material and lack of ergonomic gravity design caused this fountain to be dirtier than others.
Whisker City Free Fall Cat Fountain for $30: This huge fountain is better suited for dogs—with a large 150-fluid-ounce bowl and a waterfall design. Although the basin has a small splash pad to help offset the waterfall noise, this was one of the loudest fountains I tested. The evaporation from the waterfall-like system also caused me to refill it every other day. Because of the structure of the fountain, my cats had to bend their head at an awkward angle. They tended to avoid drinking from the basin because of that, and their heads got slightly wet from the splatter of the waterfall. The basin is also not angled so crumbs and debris sit at the bottom of the bowl.
Petkit EverSweet Solo SE for $26: This very simple, straightforward fountain has a square-shaped body, is translucent to easily see water levels from he outside, and has a nearly silent 25-decibel cordless pump to circulate water from the basin to the top level, where 60 milliliters of water is always available for drinking, even in case of power failure. The basin sits on a base and all parts easily detach, making it easier to clean. This fountain doesn’t have multiple modes or an associated app—you’ll have to check water levels manually. I noticed this fountain wasn’t as cold as some of the others, and because of the design of the top, debris often pooled in the dipped areas, which made me clean it often.
I used each of these for a week as my cats’ main source of water. As mentioned, I noted the ease of setting up, evaluated parts and filters, and generally compared the various types of water fountains—spigot, bubbling, or waterfall. Some flows were continuous and some were intermittent (my cats didn’t prefer intermittent). Cats may also be intrigued and want to play with the machine rather than drink, so be sure to give them time and keep another water source around until they are fully adjusted to the new gadget.
Cats sometimes struggle to consume enough water, which can lead to potentially lethal UTIs and blockages in male cats especially. This is one of the reasons vets are moving more toward encouraging owners to give their cat at least a partially wet food diet, as this helps them consume more moisture, especially since cats don’t naturally consume as much water as dogs. Unlike dogs, cats are generally quite particular in their likes and dislikes, and cats can see stagnant water as potentially harmful. (If the cat was in the wild, stagnant water has more potential for harmful bacteria). Cats are more drawn to moving water in nature, and these fountains help encourage them to drink more by emulating what they’re naturally drawn to.
While automatic water fountains are better for your cats’ overall water consumption, they do require a bit more work and money. Rather than refilling a bowl, these take a little more elbow grease—but it’s worth it for your cat’s health. Along with routine refilling and cleaning, you’ll need to disassemble the fountain to clean all parts, including using a brush for the bowl and tubes. You may also have to disassemble the motor to deep-clean because of mineral buildup. These also have different types of filtration cartridges in specific shapes for the brand’s fountains, which require you to buy and change out filters, usually monthly but sometimes more often.
Let’s be honest, a lot of these fountains are pretty much the same. I looked especially for the overall design—I am a fiend for stainless steel because of the potential of porous plastic harboring harmful bacteria. I also favor a wide reservoir without high sides to help reduce the chance for whisker fatigue. I prefer fountains that have a small basin reservoir of water available at all times, in case of low water levels or power failure. I took into account ease of setting up, refilling, and cleaning, as well as overall design. And of course, there were some that my cats took to straight away, and some they didn’t seem to favor as much.
After prolonged testing, I now look for these three things and encourage you too as well: a cordless pump for easier (and safer) cleaning, constructed from stainless steel so it’s more hygienic, and a window to monitor water levels (especially if it’s not connected to an app).
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Top Website Builders
Publishing a website is still more complicated than it has any right to be, but the best website builders streamline the process. Instead of juggling a bunch of files on a server and learning the ins and outs of networking, website builders do exactly what’s written on the tin. Piece by piece, using a drag-and-drop interface, you can design your website the way you want with immediate feedback, rather than spending time buried in code and hoping it comes out on the other end.
There are dozens of website builders, and most of them range from decent to straight-up bad. Any web host with a bit of ambition has a website builder floating around, even if it’s slow, clunky, and lacking features. I focused on finding the best tools for building your website that go beyond just an add-on, and these are my favorites. If you’re after something simpler than a full-blown website, check out our list of the Best Portfolio Websites.
Table of Contents
Best Website Builder for Most
Squarespace via Jacob Roach
You’ve heard of Squarespace over and over again, I’m sure, and that’s not an accident. It’s an inviting website builder that made a name for itself with bold, striking templates. Beneath the veneer of attractive, but seemingly simple, websites, you’ll find one of the most capable website builders on the market. That balance of power and usability is what sets Squarespace apart.
It feels like a creative tool. Where other website builders lag and stutter to get a new element on your page, Squarespace feels fluid. Your dashboard gives you quick access to edit your site, and around every corner, Squarespace feels designed so you never have to look up a tutorial. I started a simple photography website, and within an hour, I had a custom course page set up, an appointment schedule with automated confirmation emails, and services (with pricing and the ability to accept payments) configured.
Squarespace isn’t cheap, but it also doesn’t meddle in restrictive, low-cost plans. Even on the Basic plan, you have access to ecommerce tools and space for multiple contributors.
Squarespace Pricing and Plans
Best Cheap Website Builder
Hostinger via Jacob Roach
Hostinger is better known as a web hosting provider, but it has a surprisingly robust website builder that you can use on its own or for free as part of a hosting package. You don’t get the same world-class template design and dense feature-set of a more expensive builder like Squarespace, but that’s OK. Hostinger’s website builder will run you just a few bucks a month, and based on my testing, it feels heavily angled toward newcomers.
You sacrifice some power for convenience, but there’s an awful lot you can accomplish with Hostinger. Integrations with PayPal, Stripe, and Square allow you to quickly set up e-commerce. Add-ons with WhatsApp give you live chat capabilities, and Printful support means you can sell print-on-demand merchandise. And, if you outgrow the website builder, Hostinger allows you to export your website’s content to WordPress.
Where Hostinger wins for me is through its AI tools. Just about every website builder these days has AI integrated in some way, but it’s around every corner at Hostinger. You need to pay extra for some of these AI features—the logo generator, for example, requires credits—but they give you a great starting point for mocking up the look, feel, and tone of your website.
Hostinger Pricing and Plans
Best for Small Businesses
Wix via Jacob Roach
Wix is undoubtedly the biggest competitor to Squarespace, and I had a hard time putting one above the other. Ultimately, Wix ended up in the backseat due to higher prices and a slightly less intuitive interface. That’s partly because of how powerful Wix is. Rather than corral you in an elegant (if restrictive) website-building workflow, Wix gives you a ton of options.
First, templates. You get a few hundred elsewhere, but Wix offers over 2,000 templates. At the time of writing, there are 223 pages of them on Wix’s website. They aren’t all winners, but I was able to mock up a quick photography portfolio website within a few minutes by browsing the templates and uploading a few photos.
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.
If you want to solve a tricky problem, it often helps to get organized. You might, for example, break the problem into pieces and tackle the easiest pieces first. But this kind of sorting has a cost. You may end up spending too much time putting the pieces in order.
This dilemma is especially relevant to one of the most iconic problems in computer science: finding the shortest path from a specific starting point in a network to every other point. It’s like a souped-up version of a problem you need to solve each time you move: learning the best route from your new home to work, the gym, and the supermarket.
“Shortest paths is a beautiful problem that anyone in the world can relate to,” said Mikkel Thorup, a computer scientist at the University of Copenhagen.
Intuitively, it should be easiest to find the shortest path to nearby destinations. So if you want to design the fastest possible algorithm for the shortest-paths problem, it seems reasonable to start by finding the closest point, then the next-closest, and so on. But to do that, you need to repeatedly figure out which point is closest. You’ll sort the points by distance as you go. There’s a fundamental speed limit for any algorithm that follows this approach: You can’t go any faster than the time it takes to sort.
Forty years ago, researchers designing shortest-paths algorithms ran up against this “sorting barrier.” Now, a team of researchers has devised a new algorithm that breaks it. It doesn’t sort, and it runs faster than any algorithm that does.
“The authors were audacious in thinking they could break this barrier,” said Robert Tarjan, a computer scientist at Princeton University. “It’s an amazing result.”
The Frontier of Knowledge
To analyze the shortest-paths problem mathematically, researchers use the language of graphs—networks of points, or nodes, connected by lines. Each link between nodes is labeled with a number called its weight, which can represent the length of that segment or the time needed to traverse it. There are usually many routes between any two nodes, and the shortest is the one whose weights add up to the smallest number. Given a graph and a specific “source” node, an algorithm’s goal is to find the shortest path to every other node.
The most famous shortest-paths algorithm, devised by the pioneering computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra in 1956, starts at the source and works outward step by step. It’s an effective approach, because knowing the shortest path to nearby nodes can help you find the shortest paths to more distant ones. But because the end result is a sorted list of shortest paths, the sorting barrier sets a fundamental limit on how fast the algorithm can run.
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