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?

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

    To Board a Cruise Ship–and Never Get Off Meet the retirees who never stop moving.

    The Most Subversive Way to Travel Perhaps the humble bicycle, a transportation mode that puts people in contact with one another and gives them back that control they seem to crave, offers a unique opportunity to remake those realities for the better.

    Fowl Plague

    Pandemics have threatened humanity in the past–and avian influenza may well be the next one due.
    Duncan Geere
    Aug 4, 2017

    The ID Question

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

    Breaking the Cycle

    The future of reproductive health in India, from early ideas about population control to on-the-ground interventions happening now, to a world where men and women share contraceptive responsibility.
    Hannah Harris Green
    Sep 26, 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.

    5 Artifacts, Animations, and Charts on the Story of Vaccination

    Resistance to vaccination has existed ever since vaccination was first discovered.
    Hugh Garry
    Feb 2, 2015 1 min read

    The Forgotten Woman Who Unlocked the Greenhouse Effect

    In 1856, American scientist Eunice Foote detailed the mechanics of what we now call the greenhouse effect. Yet we know very little about her. We don’t even know what she looked like.
    Ian Steadman
    Mar 15, 2019 4 min read

    Saving Africa’s Animals With Minecraft

    “We are the Rangers” campaign uses gaming to teach kids about conservation.
    Duncan Geere
    Oct 23, 2015 1 min read