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.

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

    Does Siri Believe in God? A theological guide to chatbots and the world’s major religions.

    Scientists Like Me Are Studying Your Tweets–Are You OK With That? As researchers, we have a responsibility to acknowledge that factors like the type of data, the creator of that data, and our intended use for the data are important when it comes to using public information.

    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 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
    Oct 24, 2018

    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

    Fowl Plague

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

    Snowbot Wars–Can Robots Dig Us Out?

    The yearly Autonomous Snowplow Competition challenges engineers to build giant snow-clearing Roombas.
    Duncan Geere
    Feb 25, 2015 2 min read
    Some cinema-style popcorn in a red and white striped carton

    Ten Stories of Science and Tech Hollywood Should Tell Next

    With the stories of Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking both up for Oscars, here’s 10 more historical characters from the fields of science and engineering crying out for the Hollywood treatment.
    Alice Bell
    Feb 20, 2015 4 min read

    Gone Gone Gopher

    Today we “browse the web,” but we almost ended up “digging around in Gopherspace.”
    Richard Baguley
    Jul 28, 2015 4 min read