AJ Dellinger

Bio

AJ Dellinger is a politics and innovation writer at Mic, where he writes about climate change, sustainability, environmentalism, technology, and social media. He also covers news about the tech industry, politics, and current events. AJ's bylines have also appeared in Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, CNET, Engadget, Digital Trends, and others. Prior to joining Mic, AJ was nights and weekends editor at Gizmodo, technology reporter at Newsweek and International Business Times, and staff writer at the Daily Dot. His reporting has been cited in a number of major publications and appeared in academic texts. He has appeared on Cheddar TV, WGN Radio, and served as a panelist and moderator at Structure Security Conference. AJ resides in Madison, Wisconsin, and spends much of his free time fretting way too much about basketball. You can follow AJ on Twitter at @ajdell and learn more about his work at www.ajdellinger.com.
Honolulu police spent $150k on a robot dog to monitor homeless people
By AJ Dellinger
Last spring, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government passed the CARES Act to free up billions of dollars to states and local governments so they could extend aid to people in need. The Honolulu Police Department, which…
Uber accidentally offered its drivers a basic human right, which it would never do on purpose
By AJ Dellinger
Imagine the relief that you would feel if, out of nowhere, someone offered to cover a major monthly expense for you. That is what Uber drivers thought was happening when they received an email from the company that offered them the opportunity to…
Say hello to the planet's fifth ocean
By AJ Dellinger
New music and movies are available on Friday, but new oceans apparently drop Tuesday. This week's new hot new release is the Southern Ocean, an absolute banger released by the National Geographic Society. Earlier this week, the organization…
An oddsmaker explains why aliens are most likely to attack the U.S. first
By AJ Dellinger
For decades now, there have been unexplained objects making their way across our Earthly skies — UFOs and other unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) that appear to be technology so advanced that even the U.S. military has no idea what they might be.…
There's a solar eclipse tomorrow. Here's what you need to know
By AJ Dellinger
On Thursday, a ring of fire will appear in the sky. No, it's not whatever god you choose to believe in bringing us our much deserved comeuppance — the rapture will have to wait. Instead, the fireball in the sky will come courtesy of a partial solar…
Add climate change to the long list of reasons the U.S. should legalize weed
By AJ Dellinger
There are plenty of reasons to legalize weed, from deescalating the drug war that has wrongly incarcerated tens of thousands of people to expanding the ability to study and understand the effects of the drug. But here's one more: to protect the…
How to make sure your houseplant obsession isn't killing the planet
By AJ Dellinger
Millennials might not be having kids (multiple economic collapses, a global pandemic, and looming climate crisis aren't exactly sexy), but they are still taking up the role of caregivers. The recipients of that care just happen to be houseplants.…
Newly uncovered IRS documents reveal exactly how the rich swindle the rest of us
By AJ Dellinger
If you're a part of the ultra-rich, the 1% of the 1%, you play by a different set of rules. Never has that been so abundantly clear than in a new report published by ProPublica on Tuesday. The investigative outlet obtained the tax records of some of…
This is what a massive swarm of cicadas looks like on a weather radar
By AJ Dellinger
Over on the East Coast of the United States, there appears to be rain on the radar, leaving Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area set for a downfall. And it's true area residents may want their umbrellas, but it won't be for the rain. The giant…
Jeff Bezos is going to space, which is the most divorced guy thing imaginable
By AJ Dellinger
At some point — perhaps while reading about the mistreatment of Amazon employees or dealing with the inconvenience of the company's inability to fulfill the promises of the service that you pay for — we've all wanted to fire Jeff Bezos into space.…
We might have AI-powered murder drones to worry about now, a U.N. report suggests
By AJ Dellinger
In March 2020, as a civil war raged in Libya between the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord and the insurgent Libyan National Army, a drone known as a lethal autonomous weapons system (LAWS) was introduced to the battlefield. While…
Overdraft fees hurt Black and Latinx customers the most. This bank just eliminated them
By AJ Dellinger
Overdraft fees are predatory bullshit — a tool that banks use to run up a profit, capitalizing off their customers when they are at their most vulnerable. Ally Bank, one of the largest banks in the country, rightly recognized the burden that these…
Get in losers, we're going to Venus
By AJ Dellinger
Get in losers, we're going to Venus. On Wednesday, NASA announced two new missions that will explore our sister planet for the first time since 1994. Before the end of the decade, NASA will send two probes to Venus with the goal of mapping the…
RIP Trump's blog, which lasted less than a month and was bad the whole time
By AJ Dellinger
The grind of the media business has claimed yet another victim. Donald J. Trump, former president of the United States turned editor-in-chief of the blog "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump," has abandoned his publication, making him the latest victim…
The G7 countries promised to go green, then poured money into fossil fuels instead
By AJ Dellinger
In the last few years, the world's biggest contributors of greenhouse gases were seemingly getting serious about climate change. Member countries of the G7 — the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan — have all…
You can lower your carbon footprint with an app. Should you?
By AJ Dellinger
Awareness of the reality and the severity of climate change is on the rise. More and more people are coming to terms with the facts that the planet is warming, humans are responsible, and there is very little time left for us to address it. That has…
Nearly 40% of heat-related deaths are directly due to climate change
By AJ Dellinger
When it comes to weather-related deaths, it's not storms or floods or other catastrophes that lead to the most loss of life. It's heat. Extremely hot temperatures and heat waves have been a leading killer over the last three decades. According to a…
We might blow past the Paris Agreement's warming threshold before 2025
By AJ Dellinger
We just got the weather report for the next five years, and it is going to be a scorcher. According to a new forecast published by the World Meteorological Organization, there is a 90% chance that we set a new record for hottest year ever by the end…
7 Asian American creations the world couldn't live without
By AJ Dellinger
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. While it's worth having a dedicated time to celebrate the people of Asian descent who have enriched our country, society, and personal lives, 31 days is simply not enough to capture all of…
A court ordered Shell to reduce its emissions by 45%, which could spell trouble for other polluters
By AJ Dellinger
Usually when a company is taken to court for polluting or other violations of the law, they are hit with a fine and a slap on the wrist. But on Wednesday, a court in the Netherlands handed down a different kind of punishment. In a landmark ruling…