How We Got To: The Smart Fridge From Francis Bacon to the Large Hadron Collider.

    Was Gamification a Terrible Lie? Turning work into play was sold as a miracle for increasing productivity–but was that ever really plausible?

    The Future of Money Depends on Busting Fairy Tales About Its Past Want to disrupt finance? Start here.

    The Way We Work: A Reading List A crash course in new developments in employment and labor.

    Let Robots Handle Your Emotional Burnout at Work But as robotics and computing evolve, some researchers foresee a future where technology can relieve the long-held emotional burden of some of these professions. They think we owe it to the service workforce to offer a new frontline of robotic protection. In fact, they think it’s far overdue–but does that actually mean just automating these jobs away?

    Beats: Food Food structures our day, and food systems shape our world

    A vast stack of containers on a ship

    Postcards From a Supply Chain

    A series that traces consumer goods back through the global shipping system to their source.
    Dan Williams
    Jan 21, 2015

    Disability Futures

    We can’t think about the future-of health, of technology, of community-without centering disability; it cuts across every other kind of experience. Disability is central to all of our lives.
    Kenny Fries
    Apr 30, 2019

    The Human Machine

    A series about the increasingly blurred lines between us and our machines.
    Ian Steadman
    Aug 23, 2017

    Beats: Space

    Space is where we project our dreams–and our nightmares–of the future.

    Beats: Food

    Food structures our day, and food systems shape our world

    Beats: Disability

    “Disable” is an active verb, and disability describes the social and environmental barriers that prevent access just as much as an individual body’s physical reality.

    Beats: Health

    Access to health care is as much a matter of public policy as it is the size of a person’s pocketbook; within a doctor’s office, many factors affect the quality of treatment.

    Mapping the Unmapped for Ebola

    Making maps is crucial to halting the spread of the deadly disease.
    Alice Bell
    Nov 12, 2014 2 min read

    Powered by Sunshine, Funded by Everyone

    Putting solar panels on school roofs has widers benefits for their communities and kids.
    Alice Bell
    Nov 17, 2014 2 min read

    Consumer Wearables Measure Air Quality in the Most Polluted Cities

    Crowdsourcing air quality readings could make life better for millions around the world.
    Duncan Geere
    Jun 19, 2015 2 min read