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

A Noxious Problem

Smog in cities and smoke in the home cause a huge range of short- and long-term health conditions. Why is the world’s biggest public health crisis only getting worse?
How We Get To Next

Fowl Plague

Pandemics have threatened humanity in the past–and avian influenza may well be the next one due.
Duncan Geere

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 to Dress for Ultimate Privacy

In the age of surveillance, achieving invisibility through fashion isn’t a futuristic idea–it’s already possible.
Emily Reynolds
5 min read

Who’s to Blame When a Therapy Bot Goes Wrong?

Deploying bots in a medical setting demands a whole new ethical framework.
Natalie Kane
5 min read

Body Hacking Has a Place in Hospitals

Instead of bedroom surgeons risking sepsis, medical researchers are using augmentation to make hospital wards more, not less, human.
Andrew Williams
5 min read