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?

    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?

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

    The Aesthetics of Feeling Safe Rape is added to the lengthy list of the things a woman should keep in mind before going out, in addition to skin oil and bra lines and the effect that gravity can have on our hair.

    Your Classroom Is Making You Fail Almost everyt traditional classroom design makes it harder to learn–yet the fixes are often simple.

    The Way We Work: A Reading List A crash course in new developments in employment and labor.

    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

    Disability Futures

    We can’t think about the future-of health, of technology, of community-without centering disability; it cuts across every other kind of experience. Disability is central to all of our lives.
    Kenny Fries
    Apr 30, 2019

    The Human Machine

    A series about the increasingly blurred lines between us and our machines.
    Ian Steadman
    Aug 23, 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.

    Steven Johnson: In Conversation With Brian Eno

    “Cheating is actually all I ever do.”
    Steven Johnson
    Dec 18, 2015 9 min read

    Going Places: A Reading List

    A crash course in the impact of transportation technology on the modern world.
    How We Get To Next
    Feb 7, 2017 4 min read

    The Brain in the Machine

    Reclusive Creatures creator Steve Grand is now building a farm–with animals made of code.
    Simon Parkin
    Oct 21, 2015 9 min read