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

    The Boundaries of Artificial Emotional Intelligence If our virtual assistants and emotional laborers are all turning out to be soothing, female-voiced AI, will it close certain gaps for human women? Or will it ratify them?

    It’s Time For a New Kind of Power Fantasy Games can–and must–offer different definitions of fantasy, including fantasies of safety and peace.

    The Roots of an Epidemic From apartheid labor policies to everyday sexism, socio-political issues influence the spread of TB disease and the effectiveness of health responses. To tackle the epidemic, we need systemic changes.

    How to Dress for Ultimate Privacy In the age of surveillance, achieving invisibility through fashion isn’t a futuristic idea–it’s already possible.

    Batteries Not Excluded The supercomputer in your pocket and your next car rely on them–so what will we do if we run out of lithium?

    The ID Question

    Who decides who you are? You, or the world around you?
    Anjali Ramachandran
    Nov 22, 2017

    Isla del Encanto

    Puerto Ricans have always found opportunity in the limits placed upon them. Exploring the island’s agricultural future–from community gardens to research hubs, bakers to growers to distillers.
    Alicia Kennedy
    Apr 16, 2019
    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

    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.

    A.I. is Defending the Earth From Asteroids

    Imagine some scientists from NASA are meeting with the president of the United States. There’s a piece of space coming toward us; it is rocky, and icy, and big, and the risk of it hitting the Earth is much larger than anyone is comfortable with. Even if there’s time to act, there won’t be much […]
    Ian Steadman
    Aug 30, 2016 6 min read

    Firefighting Robots and Their Farming Siblings

    Developing countries get a new way to battle wildfires and detect disease in crops.
    Vas Panagiotopoulos
    Nov 20, 2015 3 min read

    The Evolving Battle for Urban Public Space

    Social spaces are the beating heart of our cities–and a constant source of conflict and tension.
    James Gleave
    Apr 25, 2016 4 min read