From your brain to audiences' ears, tech is transforming music and performance formats on this tonal tour. By Robert Andrews.

M Dot Strange, the first YouTube filmmaker to make it to the big screen, draws on Kabuki, the Brothers Quay and early Ninja Gaiden in his frenetic tale. By Jason Silverman.

General Motors commits to domestically engineered lithium-ion batteries for its future plug-in hybrid vehicle. Should the government continue to fund battery research that excludes Japanese input? In Autopia.

Postal-reform legislation could give the government the authority to open letters without a warrant. In 27B Stroke 6.

Acts confronted with selling their music on the popular website express concerns remarkably similar to the ones music labels have aired for years. In Listening Post.

Two new experimental P2P clients, BitThief and BitTyrant, promise better download speeds at the expense of all that is good about sharing. In Monkey Bites.

A new, Democrat-controlled Congress plans to reintroduce stem cell legislation as one of its first priorities. In Bodyhack.

Readers opine on the best blogfights of 2006, our legal predictions for 2007 and the right to choose your own destiny. Plus: Links to our most popular blogs.

A new patent application conjures a mutant Segway/Tony Hawk rolling death machine. In Gear Factor.

Sluggish sales of Rockstar's critically acclaimed schoolyard adventure might beat the crap out of any hopes for a sequel. In Game|Life.

The Amazon.com chief turns rocket man, releasing video of his aerospace company's successful launch. In Furthermore.

A powerful scanner that tracks neural activity by the millisecond is helping scientists see in granular detail what happens inside the brain when it's sick, emotional or in pain. By Randy Dotinga.

Scientists are getting good at deciphering how and why neurons fire inside the human brain, thanks to powerful, if portentous-looking, brain scan technologies.

The Andean empire built great cities but left no written record -- just some mysterious knotted strings called khipu. Can an anthropologist and a few mathematicians crack the code? By Gareth Cook from Wired magazine.

Piergiorgio Welby, terminally ill in the last stages of muscular dystrophy, had had enough. He wanted doctors to pull the plug, allowing him to slip away. The Italian government and the Roman Catholic Church stepped in and said no. Who should have the last say here? Commentary by Tony Long.

What happens when the democratic ideals of social networks on the internet meet a real-world paradise? By Jason Daley from Wired magazine.

Wired News begins a new feature today, highlighting a daily historical fact from the world of technology. Some will be obvious; others will be obscure or have only the flimsiest ties to tech. We hope that all will entertain and, perhaps, enlighten you. Today: Happy birthday, Sir Isaac. Compiled by Tony Long.

Steamy novels written for cell phones -- and on them -- are taking off in Japan. By Lisa Katayama.

He's a renowned avant-garde filmmaker. But he's also a TV producer, cartoonist, graphic artist and composer -- and a big fan of the internet. The man who brought Twin Peaks to life talks about his online efforts, his new film and transcendental meditation. By Wired magazine's Scott Thill.

When bloggers weren't busy taking cash bribes or collecting free laptops courtesy of Microsoft, they spent 2006 pissing in the link pool. Here's our look back at the blogosphere's best arguments, attacks, slights and scrums from the past year. By Michael Calore.