The Power of Play: A Reading List A crash course on how fun and leisure can change the world

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

    Sartorial: A Reading List A crash course in how science and technology is changing how we express ourselves through style.

    Red Planet: How We’ll Govern Mars Technical and engineering obstacles are solvable when it comes to interplanetary colonization–the real challenge is governance.

    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?

    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?

    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

    The ID Question

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

    A Visual History of the Future

    Decades ago, artists’ imaginings formed high expectations about the world to come. Were these just fantasies–or was it the work of pioneers whose visions of the future actually helped to shape it?
    Darren Garrett
    May 30, 2018

    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.

    How Cutting-Edge Materials Will Change the Look of the Cities of the Future

    Smart glass, metal sponges, and more of the discoveries that will define where we live and work.
    Rowena Fletcher-Wood
    Apr 19, 2016 6 min read

    Comic: A Factory in a Petri Dish

    If and when humans move to Mars, some of our most important machines will not be robotic–they’ll be biological.
    Daniel Locke
    Aug 4, 2016 9 sec read

    Millennials Are Right to Kill the American Car

    If previous generations were given this many choices–and were faced with a driverless-car future in the coming decades–would cars, that romantic idea of hitting the open road in a sleek ride, play such an outsized role in the past 75 years of American culture?
    Elizabeth Minkel
    Mar 8, 2019 4 min read