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

    It’s Time For a New Kind of Power Fantasy Games can–and must–offer different definitions of fantasy, including fantasies of safety and peace.

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

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

    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?

    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

    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

    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.

    Stop, Drop, and Scroll

    How Big Data and smart sensors are changing firefighting
    Stephanie M. McPherson
    Oct 28, 2015 3 min read

    Powered by Sunshine, Funded by Everyone

    Putting solar panels on school roofs has widers benefits for their communities and kids.
    Alice Bell
    Nov 17, 2014 2 min read

    The Global Network of DIY Tear Gas Masks

    Activists across the world are using social media to share homebrew instructions for staying safe at protests.
    Alice Bell
    Oct 20, 2014 4 min read